Tiffany Vogt

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Spotlight On: Psych’s Maggie Lawson

In NiceGirlsTV, TV Watchtower on March 10, 2010 at 7:51 pm

Working steadily since landing her first television appearance in the mid-1990’s, Maggie Lawson has been slyly scene-stealing for the past 15 years. After a string of guest appearances in shows like “Unhappily Ever After,” “Step by Step,” Cybill,” “Boy Meets World,” and “Home Improvement,” she began testing the feature film waters with appearances in the films “I’ve Been Waiting for You” with Sarah Chalke and Markie Post and “Pleasantville” with Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon.

Working around some top notch comedians and drama film stars only continued to shape Maggie into the engaging actress she is today. With a few more quick stops to appear in the cult favorite “Felicity” and the dramatic juggernaut “ER,” Maggie next landed a seven episode arc on the series “Party of Five” starring Matthew Fox (“Lost”) and Scott Wolf (“V”), as well as a role alongside Justin Timberlake in the film “Model Behavior.” With an eye for cool leading men, Maggie continued her lightening streak working on the television series “Inside Schwartz” with Breckin Meyer and a brief appearance in the series “Smallville” with Tom Welling.

Then, in 2002, after landing the lead role in the film “Nancy Drew,” Maggie went on to star in the films “Winter Break” with Milo Ventimiglia, “Spellbound” with Dave Annable and “Love Rules” with Joey Lawrence. She also managed to score the leading role on the comedy series “It’s All Relative.” Then, once it ended, she appeared briefly on the cult series “Tru Calling” which starred Eliza Dushku (“Dollhouse”) and Matt Bomer (“White Collar”), and the series “Crumbs” which starred Fred Savage and Eddie McClintock (“Warehouse 13”).

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An Evening With “Cougar Town” at the Paley Festival

In NiceGirlsTV, TV Watchtower on March 10, 2010 at 3:02 am

After a clip from “The Lucy Show” from the Paley Center’s archives and a quick introduction by Bill Lawrence, the lights dimmed for a preview of an upcoming episode of “Cougar Town,” much to the audience’s delight.  Not wanting to spoil the episode, suffice it to say, it caused much laughter with references to blumpy blankets, cat fish, gay-traps, and provided a very funny take on whether men and woman can be friends.

Attending the “Cougar Town” panel were cast members:  Courteney Cox, Brian Van Holt, Dan Byrd, Josh Hopkins, Ian Gomez, Christa Miller, as well a co-creator/writer Bill Lawrence, co-creator/writer Kevin Biegel, and moderator John Griffiths of US Weekly.  Explaining the absence of Busy Philipps, Bill Lawrence humorously said, “It’s a spoiler – but Busy’s been let go!”  But before there could be a roar of outrage from the audience, he hastily added that Busy was actually in Hawaii on vacation. Imagine the chaos that would have caused!

As the evening’s moderator John Griffith’s noted, “Cougar Town” is credited with reinvigorating the story of a single mom raising a teenager – in spite of the show’s outrageous and somewhat misleading name.  In an attempt to clarify how the show fits into the television landscape, Kevin Biegel explained that “Cougar Town” is actually an “adult family show.”  It is a successful blend of both family issues and provocative adult situation comedy.

Explaining the genesis of the show and how its lead Courteney Cox came to be involved, Bill Lawrence shared, “The one thing we were afraid about was the show would only work if you can buy into it being completely self-deprecating and have no vanity whatsoever — you will let people see you in your most embarrassing situations right from the start — and I think [Courteney] is the one actress at her level in Hollywood that was immediately like, ‘Yeah, who gives a sh*t.’”  She was the perfect choice to cast for the lead of the series as they needed someone who had no vanity and yet had vulnerability.  They really wanted Courteney because as Bill noted, “It starts from the top, [Courteney] has allowed the writers to make fun and jokes about anything.” Despite an initial hesitation to tell her the name of the show, it was Courteney’s fearless attitude about portraying a single mom in her 40’s, daring to embrace life to the fullest and on her own terms without regard to what anyone else would think, that was crucial in making the show the success that it is.

As to how they decided to select the venue of the show, because both Bill and Kevin were from Florida they felt it brought a distinct and refreshing venue to portray and explore.   Trying to tie in her own southern roots, Courteney volunteered, “My family lives in Florida, but I’m from Alabama,” which prompted Brian Van Holt to happily toss out his own southern ancestry, “I’m from the south as well — Southern California!”

 Turning back to the inspiration of the show, because the message of the show is to have fun and make no apologies, Bill admitted that he took the opening scene of the pilot episode right out of his own life after he caught his wife, Christa, who had just had their 3rd child standing in front of the bathroom mirror, opening her robe and then exclaiming with a profane expletive.  He also emphasized that they did not use a body double for that scene in the pilot.  It was all 100% Courteney Cox.  He noted that because Courteney is so brave and fearless – she is not just a star, but a true leader of the ensemble.  When asked about what it was like to play a woman in her 40’s on television, Courteney optimistically said, “I don’t have that many more good years, but the ones I have I’m pretty psyched about!”

As far as other sources of inspiration, Bill Lawrence apparently has the memory of an elephant and can remember conversations nearly verbatim, which frequently turns up as the inspiration for or storyline fodder in future episodes.  For example, Josh shared that one day he was playing his guitar outside of his trailer when Bill was driving by in his golf cart, which promptly came to a screeching halt, and Bill told him, “You know, that’s going to be in the next episode!” and next thing Josh knew, in the very next episode Grayson was playing a guitar.  When asked if she contributes to the writing on the show, Christa quickly pointed out, “I don’t come up with ideas, I think that’s why our marriage works.”  To which Bill smirked and happily said “I’m so glad you said our marriage works!”

Commenting on whether or not either Christa or Courteney are anything like their characters, Bill said that, while Courteney is nicer than her character, Christa is slightly meaner than her character.  To which Christa immediately exclaimed, “I am!” and everyone laughed – though it is not certain whether she was being facetious or not.  This was obviously in a spirit of fun and got laughter all around, also prompting Ian to tell Bill that he is welcome to his couch for the night if he needs it!  Commenting further about Christa’s friendship with Courteney, Bill said, “The coolest thing is the way that these two have developed a relationship in real life that we can all kind of feed off of and steal from.”

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Everything you need to know about FlashForward which returns March 18th– what answers we have gotten and what questions remain?

In Airlock Alpha, TV Watchtower on March 10, 2010 at 2:31 am

When “FlashForward” first aired last September, it was heralded as the next big sci-fi sensation. However, as the episodes unveiled, the series proved to be a bit more difficult to track than originally anticipated. So the intricate storylines and heavy sci-fi basis (alternate realities) quickly left the viewers confused. Added to the fact that the series has been on hiatus since early December, many viewers may not really remember that the series is actually returning on March 18, 2010. Fortunately, ABC believes strongly in the show and has granted it not only a 1 hour clip-show to refresher viewers on Tuesday, March 16th, it also granted a 2 hour premiere to help re-introduce the characters and story to the returning fans as it rolls out the remaining 14 episodes starting on March 18th. Thus, this article aims to be a helpful primer on what has happened so far: where our characters left off and what will the show (hopefully) be addressing as it enters the back stretch of its freshman year.

ORIGINAL PREMISE

“FlashForward” is based on the premise that the entire world came to a screeching halt for over two minutes during which time there was a global black-out and nearly every person experienced some kind of cosmic phenomenon where they were able to glimpse where they would be and what they would be doing 6 months into the future – a “flashforward,” if you will. For some, this preview of their lives was terrifying and, for some, it was miraculous. The question of “what did you see?” followed by the hope and/or fear of whether those visions will come true has captivated the entire planet. People are no longer living for today and the future they make; they are living for the future that they saw in their visions.

With the rest of the world preoccupied, world leaders and government agencies struggle to figure out what caused the black-out and whether there is a sinister purpose behind it. Fueled by vital clues provided by piecing together the bits and pieces of what people saw in their visions, the FBI began tracking the individuals who were behind the black-out, what their ultimate motive was for it and whether it will happen again. The FBI’s Mosaic Investigation had begun to yield fruit once they discovered that this was not the first time such a black-out had occurred — though it remains to be seen whether the “flashforward” visions had ever occurred before as well.

Racing against the clock as the flashforwards begin to come true, the story follows our heroes who are struggling against the dual-pull of fate versus their visions.

THE HEROES

At the heart of the show is a family: the Benfords, which consists of Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife Olivia (Sonya Walger) and their daughter, Charlie (Lennon Wynn). Mark is an FBI agent whose flashforward vision gave him the initial clues he needed to set up the Mosaic Investigation. However, Mark is also a recovering alcoholic who fears what he saw in his vision: he was drunk and there were armed men searching to kill him. In turn, Olivia is a doctor and her vision was equally disturbing: she saw herself involved with another man – who she later found out was Lloyd Simcoe, the father of one of her patients. As for their daughter Charlie, who is 6 years old, all she could only say about her vision was that “there are no more good days” and that “D. Gibbons is a bad man.”

Another family whose fate is intertwined with the Benfords is the Simcoes: Lloyd Simcoe (Jack Davenport) and his son Dylan (Ryan Wynott). Lloyd is a physicist who believes he is responsible for causing the black-out. Plus, in his vision he saw himself talking on the phone – he did not see Olivia, though he has since found out about it when he recognized the Benford’s home while searching for his son Dylan (who went missing from the hospital, ending up at the Benford home). Dylan is Lloyd’s autistic son whose mother was killed during the black-out and, significantly, Dylan’s vision showed him being in the Benford house where he saw Charlie.

The third family deeply involved is the Starks: Aaron Stark (Brian F. O’Bryne) and his daughter Tracy (Genevieve Cortese). Aaron is Mark’s AA sponsor and in his vision he saw his daughter recovering from injuries in Afghanistan – a daughter whose funeral he had attended a few years before. Tracy miraculously appears several episodes into the series and appeared to be on the run from a mercenary group who she witnessed committing war crimes in Afghanistan.

Then closely associated with Lloyd Simcoe is Simon Campos (Dominic Monaghan), a genius quantum physicist and Lloyd’s shady business partner who may be more deeply involved in the conspiracy than he has let on. In a particularly creepy vision, Simon saw himself strangling someone in his flashforward.

Also crucial to the story is Mark’s FBI partner, Demetri Noh (John Cho) and Demetri’s fiancée Zoe (Gabrielle Union). Demetri did not have a flashforward and has since found out that he will be murdered on March 15, 2010. Demetri’s fiancée Zoe initially believed that in her vision she was at their wedding on the beach, but later, to her horror, found out that she was actually attending Demetri’s funeral.

Then at Olivia’s work, there is Bryce Varley (Zachary Knighton), a fellow doctor working at the hospital. Bryce was on the verge of shooting himself when his flashforward occurred which revealed that in 6 months he would be sitting in a restaurant awaiting the woman of his dreams. This revelation has revitalized Bryce and given him a new purpose in his life, despite the fact that he is dying from cancer.

Other key players are FBI agent Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) and her partner FBI agent Al Gough (Lee Thompson Young). In Janis’ flashforward she saw herself nearly 4 months pregnant – which seemed impossible as she does not date men. As for the doomed Al Gough, his flashforward haunted him so much (even more than Demetri’s) that he took drastic measures to ensure that his vision did not come true and stepped off the top of a building. Al wanted to remind them that they all have free-will – and he proved that the future is not set in stone and can be changed.

Last, but not least, is the Benford’s babysitter, Nicole Kirby (Peyton List). Nicole’s vision was also very disturbing and she too is desperate to prevent it from becoming a reality — she saw herself being strangled in her flashforward. But, in an effort to take back her life, she embraced life and took a job working part-time at the hospital with Olivia and Bryce.

An interesting side-effect of the flashforwards is that all these individuals’ lives have become even more entangled than they could have ever imagined.

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