Fall Preview: CBS' Vegas

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Vegas stars (l-r) Dennis Quaid, Michael Chiklis

Thispast spring, after actor Michael Chiklis met with Ralph Lamb, the real-life inspirationfor Chiklis and Dennis Quaid’s new western drama Vegas, “I walked away from lunch, called my wife, and said, ‘Wow!We have stories for years!”
In the mid 2000s, the MGM movie studio had commissioned abig-screen bio based on Lamb, a fourth-generation rancher who served as LasVegas’ Sheriff from 1960 to 1978, the period in which the soon-to-be gamblingand entertainment mecca was rising from empty desert.  The studio turned to author and screenwriterNicholas Pileggi, who had already depicted the period in his 1995 film Casino. But even as the writer’s first outline was delivered, everyone involved realizedthat with Lamb’s wealth of amazing stories, his life would make a great ongoingseries instead.
“It’s kind of what I call the low-hanging fruit of SheriffLamb,” says Greg Walker, who, after Pileggi then turned the idea intotelevision, was brought on board as the showrunner of Vegas.  “Every story Lambtells, you just realize it’s a no-brainer. They’re filled with such rich detail. With such vivid characters, you can’t help but think about how his worldcould come to life on screen.”
Reading Pileggi’s pilot, “I got to page five, and washooked,” Walker remembers.  “As soon asthe DC-6 flew over Lamb’s cattle, I was in. I loved the clash between the modern world and the Old West.”  Quaid, too, cites that first script as whatlured him to play the colorful sheriff in this, his first television series.  Vegaspits Quaid’s Lamb against Chiklis’ Vincent Savino, a Chicago gangster and savvybusinessman with designs on the budding gaming empire.  “It’s a story about how all that powercorrupts on both sides,” says Quaid. “Because the lines in Vegas were hazy back then.  It was a different set of rules.”
“In Vegas, youhave two men who are thrust into the spotlight of being kings,” Walkerexplains.  “One who wants it, in Savino,and one who’s reluctant, in Lamb.”  Withthe face-off between the two men and their allies – including on Lamb’s side,his younger brother Jack (Jason O’Mara) and the town’s Assistant DistrictAttorney Katherine O’Connell (Carrie Ann Moss) – as its underlying construct,“we created a hybrid procedural and character-based drama,” Walker says.  “The show has the adrenaline and satisfactionof solving a mystery, but at the same time, there are multiple characters’stories getting more and more complicated, with greed, envy and desire whirlingaround this world of crime.”
With Vegas’ 1960setting, Lamb and his deputies won’t be enforcing the law using fingerprints orcomputers or cell phones like in that other Vegas-set mystery, CSI. “He is also not a guy who’s going to put a gun in people’s faces week toweek,” Walker says. “He’s going to solve things with his own hands,man-to-man.”  That type of character, theshowrunner says, “is something Dennis is uniquely equipped to play.  There are very few men who have that kind ofstillness, that raw, masculine power.  Wejust don’t build them like that anymore.”
Vegas’ pilot wasshot, coincidentally, in the small town of Las Vegas, NM, where an oldcommercial row, last updated in the early 20^th Century, could begussied up with props and CGI neon to look like the Fremont Street of ‘60s SinCity; the series will build it all from the ground up in Santa Clarita,CA.  Undoubtedly, today’s audience willbe paying close attention to all that period detail, because we’re so intriguedby the town’s formative years.
“We’re all interested in how Vegas became Vegas.  Today it’s a fantasy world where you can getanything you want, and to watch how that was made is very captivating,” Walkernotes.  Like Lamb, the town itself is anatural for a Hollywood treatment, its story comprising two cinematic archetypes,the cowboy and the mobster.  “These aretwo worlds that we’re very familiar with, but we haven’t ever seen themtogether.  When they collide, there’ssomething very electric.”
VegasPremieres Tuesday, September 2510 PM Eastern / 9 CentralCBS

Fall Preview: CBS' Elementary

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Elementary stars Lucy Liu and
Jonny Lee Miller

Whenproducer Carl Beverly first posed the idea to Rob Doherty of transplantingSherlock Holmes to present-day New York, the writer’s response was Elementary.
“I daresay Sherlock is the most popular character inliterary pop culture from the last 100 years,” enthuses Doherty; perhaps that’swhy there have been so many prior filmic depictions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’sprototypical detective.  Doherty says itwas “one of the wonderful little details that Doyle crafted a very long timeago” that became the key to Elementary,his new CBS series adaptation starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.  The 19^th Century Holmes wasfamously addicted to opiates, “and that’s the way I’ve always looked at him, asan addict,” the writer explains – and not just to drugs.  “He’s driven by and very much addicted towhat he does for a living.  He enjoysunfolding the origami of a crime, matching wits with someone who thinks he’ssmart enough to get away with something horrible, and bringing that person tojustice.”
Yes, this new Holmes does have a literal addiction to dealwith, too.  Having just returned fromrehab – a vanishing he explained to his local police contact, Captain TobyGregson (Aidan Quinn), as a holiday in his native London – the hyper-observant detective“was previously used to being so ahead of everyone, and oozed confidence,”Doherty says.  “Now he’s left rattled,concerned that he may not be what he used to. I liked the idea of a person like him feeling a little bit of doubt forthe first time.”
That’s where Lucy Liu’s Dr. Joan Watson comes in.  As a former surgeon haunted by her role inthe death of a patient, Watson has now gone into business as a sober companion,hired by Holmes’ concerned dad to keep him in line.  That means accompanying him everywhere, wherethe new duo finds that “as a doctor, obviously she has many skills in forensicscience,” Miller says.  “So Holmes beginsto realize that she’s not just a companion, but she’s very useful.”
It was Doherty’s innovation both to alter this Watson’soccupation and to make Watson for the first time a female, who, he says, “hasmuch of the empathy Holmes is missing. In that way, she completes him.”  Asthe writer praises, Liu brings her innate strength to Watson, who needs to beable to stand up to this quirky and demanding Holmes. But it’s also theircharacters’ more vulnerable moments that both Miller and Liu say attracted themto Elementary.  Watson, Liu says, “is not going in withher ‘sober companion’ coat on.  I likethat she’s trying to bring a certain sense of humanity and understanding to herclient.”
Miller adds that “one of the things that struck me, reading[Doyle’s] books, is how colorful and funny the characters are.”  Doherty fully intends to weave that same witinto Elementary, which is why he isexcited that Miller’s embodiment of Holmes exhibits “a warmth, intelligence, anda fantastic sense of humor.”
But perhaps the most important quality that both Miller andLiu are bringing to their new show is  appreciation.  In filming Elementary’s pilot, “the first time I heard Jonny say ‘Watson!’ itwas a thrill to be creating that, to be part of history,” Liu reveals.  The British-born Miller feels it, too.  “There’s a reason why the Holmes stories keepbeing retold and redone,” he theorizes. “People play Hamlet a lot, and always want to play Shakespeare.  Good stories and good characters come back.” 
ElementaryPremieres Thursday, September 2710 PM Eastern / 9 PM CentralCBS

Fall Preview: CBS' Made in Jersey

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Made in Jersey stars British import Janet Montgomery

Lastseason, her second working on the Los Angeles writing staff of Franklin & Bash, the cable drama abouttwo wisecracking men, Dana Calvo realized she had something a little softer tosay.
A lifelong fan of female-focused shows like Sex and the City, Calvo says she enjoyedwatching that show’s fabulous foursome frolic around Manhattan, “and yet Ialways felt, ‘Wait, where’s the family?’ So I decided to write a show about a young woman and her life in full –friends, family and work.  I know it’snot really cool to say, but I wanted to write about a family that is warm andloving and wholesome.”
Drawing on memories of Christmases spent with herItalian-American extended family, the Moorestown, NJ native created the comedicdrama Made in Jersey and its heroineMartina Garretti, whose life and career straddle both sides of the HudsonRiver.  A lawyer like Calvo’s own sister,Martina crosses between her homespun life in the Garden State and her new jobas a first-year associate at a prestigious New York law firm.  Right away, just as in Working Girl – one of Calvo’s inspirations – Martina catches theattention of the firm’s founder, Donovan Stark (Kyle MacLachlan) with herunique body of knowledge.
Calvo knew that making Madein Jersey work would depend on finding just the right leading lady toconvey Martina’s combination of street and book smarts.  “I had a dream that we were going to cast aJersey girl right off a turnip truck, and her real story would mirror MartinaGarretti’s,” Calvo remembers with a laugh. Instead, after considering more than 100 candidates, producers consultedwith their casting director in the UK. There, in a video audition, was 26-year-old British actress JanetMontgomery.  As Calvo explains, “I sawthe tape, and knew right away ‘That’s her!’”
New Jersey has been heating up for more than a decade, fromthe time of The Sopranos to today’scurrent spate of reality shows featuring big hair and even bigger drama.  And that’s lucky for an English girl whoneeds to learn how to tawk.  Montgomery says she’d never previously spentany Jerseylicious time with the state’s Real Housewives – but once she startedher research, “those shows are totally addictive.  I watched a lot of them – and then I was toldnot to, because we don’t want our show to be that over-the-top.  Still, I feel they gave me a good idea ofwhat Martina would have grown up around.”
Montgomery worked with a dialect coach, and says that onceshe stepped out of her trailer in Martina’s considerable coif and jangly charmbracelet, she was able to find the character’s voice, which she says “now issecond nature.  I deliberately startedbig, but reined it back in to something that, while it’s obviously aworking-class accent, shows that she’s also an educated lawyer.”  The actress says she loves that Made in Jersey is a unique hybrid of lawprocedural and family drama – and so does CBS, so much so that after viewingthe original pilot, the impressed network requested the addition of a few morescenes with Martina’s mom (Donna Murphy) and the rest of the garrulous Garrettis.
“Family is really important to knowing who Martina is,”Montgomery explains, adding that her own working-class upbringing as thedaughter of a postal worker has given her a particular appreciation for thecharacter.  “I don’t have anyone else inmy family working in this industry.  Andso this character whose lives at work and at home are so different, and who hasa family who are very supportive and yet don’t fully understand her job – it’sbeen so much like my own life, it’s really amazing.”
Made In JerseyPremieres Friday, September 289 PM Eastern / 8 PM CentralCBS

Chuck Lorre's Vanity on Display

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Chuck Lorre

For the past decade and a half, Chuck Lorre’s sitcoms havebrought viewers a little something extra – whether they noticed it or not.

“When I was growing up, record albums had liner notes, wherethey added stuff that made the whole thing cooler,” Lorre remembers.  And so, rather than finishing off each of hisepisodes with a static production company logo, Lorre decided that “each showwould have something to read at the end – if you cared to.”
Now, after a full generation of Lorre’s fans has squinted tospy his words on their sometimes wobbly screens – remember VCRs? – the prolificwriter/producer of Two and a Half Men,Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly has compiled his nearly400 mini-essays into a new coffee table book, What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Bitter (Simon & Schuster, $100)

In his vanity card following the November 2 episode of Big Bang Theory, Lorre referred viewers to his web site, where he could blast Mitt Romney without having to have his message approved -- or more likely rejected -- by his network's censors.  The contents of that card, #397, earned lots of press, showing that like me, people really care what Lorre has to say on these things.  That's why this past summer, during the semi-annual Television Critics Association convention in Beverly Hills, I caught up with Lorre for the following exclusive interview, to find out how it feels to see his Bitter experience turning out so sweet.

Must-Hear TV:  What has it meant tohave that small amount of network airtime each week, to express what’s on yourmind?Lorre:  My vanity cards are on the air at the end of the show for maybe a second.  But it’s been a nice opportunity toexperiment with writing something other than a script, these little essaysabout things that would never have found their way onto the page.
MHTV:   Is it therapeutic to have a way to get thingsoff your chest?Lorre:  The only way to call it “therapy” would be if one might sayI was getting better.  It’s just a chanceto write in a way that hopefully is amusing to somebody.
MHTV:   Obviously they havebeen.  When did you notice they werecatching on?Lorre:  About 14 or 15 years ago, when I was doing Dharma & Greg, I noticed that therestarted to be web sites with my name on them. The late ‘90s on the Internet were the wild wild west.  I realized I could possibly lose control overmy own writing.  So, defensively, I hadto create a web site of my own in order to maintain some kind of control.
MHTV:  Proceeds from thebook benefit your charity, the Dharma-Grace Foundation.  What is its focus?Lorre:  I started the Dharma-Grace Foundation in 1999, to funnelfunds into the Venice [Calif.] Family Clinic, which provides free healthcare toanyone who walks in the door.  It’s ameaningful organization to me, having been without healthcare earlier times inmy life.  I know what that feels like –it’s a frightening thing.  Now the Foundationalso distributes money to other organizations that seem like they are doinggood work, in education as well as healthcare.
MHTV:  Some of the cardsare appearing in the book for the first time, having been originallycensored.  Why weren’t they originallyallowed to air?Lorre:  There are about a dozen of them, and there were differentreasons each time.  Sometimes they wereconsidered risqué, and sometimes the politics were not acceptable.  But I very rarely get political.  I try to honor the fact that CBS is not inthe business of broadcasting my political opinions.  So I’ve been very careful, and I try to seethe big picture and avoid any controversy. Lots of different people like to watch Two and a Half Men, Big BangTheory and Mike and Molly.  They’re coming to my house as guests, and itwould be rude to use that access to offend them.
MHTV:  You startedpresenting the cards on Dharma & Gregand Grace Under Fire, both of whichaired on ABC.  Has there been anydifference in doing the vanity cards on ABC versus now on CBS?Lorre:  No, both networks are very nervous about [the cards] ingeneral, and they scrutinize them.  Iimagine both networks would prefer that they didn’t exist at all.  But CBS has been patient and reluctantlytrudged forward with these things. There’s no upside to them.  They’rein the business of selling ad time, and making money, and vanity cards are nota profit source.  But my whole argumenthas always been, if they bring in just one more viewer who might be curious,that’s got to be good for CBS.
MHTV:  It is a smartinvestment – a random production company logo isn’t going to bring inanybody.  So why not write somethingfunny that might grab viewers?Lorre:  With DVRs, every second of television time is now availableto you.  Literally, every second can befrozen forever.  So it’s changed the waytime works in television.  It’s madeevery second more valuable or more problematic – your choice.
MHTV:  You have three showson the air on CBS, bearing your name each week. Do you still get that thrill of authorship, seeing your name on thisbook?Lorre:  It’s really gratifying any time you make something up and itbecomes a reality.  On Big Bang Theory, Wolowitz went intospace.  To walk onto the stage, and seethe Soyuz space capsule!  Made of balsawood, but it was still there.  It wasstartling and immensely gratifying. There was a guy with hammers and nails making it real.
MHTV:  And now there’ssomeone with a printing press making it real. Is it the same feeling?Lorre:  Very much so.  It’svery gratifying.  And the best news is,that it’s already written.  The best partof writing is having written.
MHTV:  Some of your morefamous vanity cards over the years have mentioned conflicts with coworkers andcostars.  Are those in the book?Lorre:  They’re all there.
MHTV:  So we can relive allkinds of sitcom history by this book, whether for good or for bad?Lorre:  That’s very wisely put. I wrote the cards at times in my life when that was the only way I knewhow to articulate my feelings, my frustrations and my fears.   My attempts at being funny sometimesfail.   But there they are.

TV's Top 10 Snowbound Moments

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Stuck at home during these wintry months, it’s easy to comedown with a case of cabin fever.  But whenthe weather outside is frightful, at least we have our televisions’ glow tokeep us warm.  And when the snow startsfalling on the screen as well, those are the situations which often precipitateTV’s biggest laughs.  Below, my Top Ten episodes where chilly situations have made for some warm memories.



1.  I Love Lucy, "Lucy in the Swiss Alps," aired March 26, 1956

Snowy setting:  Swiss chalet

The Wintry Scene:  After a mountaintop picnic in snow-laden Lucerne, TV’sfavorite foursome takes shelter in a cabin whose door is soon blocked by adrift.

Cracking Up:  When Lucy tries to sneak a snack of a sandwich leftover from lunch, her three hungry cabin-mates pounce, expecting their fairquarter-shares.

Breaking the Ice:  After a round of true confessions – Fred has beenovercharging the Ricardos $10 a month in rent; Ethel has been secretlyreturning it – Lucy and friends are rescued by a local oom-pah-pah band, whichRicky then books on his show to play the world’s unlikeliest rumba.

2.  The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "The Snow Must Go On," aired November 7, 1970

Snowy Setting:  Minneapolis newsroom

The Wintry Scene:  Mary is already nervous that Mr. Grant has put her incharge of the station’s live election night newscast.  And that’s before a blizzard knocks out the station’s phones and teletype.

Cracking Up:  Lacking election results and forced to ad-lib forhours, anchorman Ted Baxter resorts to his Jimmy Cagney impression and readingthe numbers on his driver’s license. 

Breaking the Ice:  Mary discovers inner strength as a boss when anovertired Ted responds to her threat of termination and agrees not to deliverunsubstantiated returns announcing Minneapolis’ new mayor.

3.  The Bob Newhart Show, "I'm Dreaming of a Slight Christmas," aired December 22, 1973

Snowy Setting:  Chicago medical office

The Wintry Scene:  When his longtime patient Mr. Peterson is too scaredto go home on Christmas Eve, psychiatrist Bob returns to the office just intime for a blackout during Chicago’s worst-ever storm.

Cracking Up:  Eager to return to wife Emily, Bob is dismayed to findthat the building’s elevators have shut down – and even more forlorn aboutremaining at his office’s party late enough to witness a performance by dentistJerry’s drunken barbershop trio. 

Breaking the Ice:  After abandoning his car in a snowbank, Bob trudgesfour miles in the cold to make it home to celebrate.  Too bad he didn’t think to load up first onthe warming Irish coffee his secretary Carol was serving at the party -- whereshe’d also spiked the water cooler. 

4.  Laverne & Shirley, "Ski Show," aired February 23, 1982

Snowy Setting:  California ski lift

The Wintry Scene:  The relocated Milwaukee bottlecappers take to theslopes in order to meet men.  But whentheir chairlift gets stuck in midair, all they may end up with is frostbite.

Cracking Up:   Panicking, Laverne tricks Shirley into surrenderingthe peanuts she’s kept for her afternoon snack. Then, trying to cheer themselves up, the two sing “Let It Snow” – andunfortunately it does.

Breaking the Ice:  The gals think they’ve “died and gone to Sweden” whentwo hunky blond mountain rescuers work to warm their frozen bodies and – thanksto quick thinking by Laverne – their lips.

5.   Taxi, "Scenskees from a Marriage," aired October 21, 1982

Snowy Setting:  New York City cab

The Wintry Scene:  Selfless cabbie Latka himself gets stuck when he’ssent to save a female coworker from a snowdrift.   Stranded and shivering, cabbie Cindy comesup with a convenient idea:  to avoidfreezing, she and her married rescuer must make love.

Cracking Up:  Following the advice of their priest, Reverend Gorky, Simkavows to make similar “nik nik” with one of Latka’s male coworkers.

Breaking the Ice:  Unable to agree who should be Simka’s conquest, thecouple decides to choose the way their indeterminate Eastern European home countryselects its president:  by throwing adinner party, with the last man through the door the winner.  But Alex refuses to do the deed, forcingLatka and Simka to divorce – and then immediately remarry.

6.  Newhart, "No Room at the Inn," aired December 20, 1982

Snowy Setting:  Vermont bed-and-breakfast

The Wintry Scene:  Former New Yorkers Dick and Joanna are excited tospend their first Christmas in New England, and even more thrilled that theirinn will be packed with customers from the Silverbird Ski Club.  But soon the Silverbirds, and all flights inand out of Stratford, are grounded.

Cracking Up:   The cooped-up Silverbirds squawk about a ruinedvacation, and heiress housekeeper Leslie pines for the family she can’t celebratewith.  But things get really dire when aprophetically named traveler named Joseph enters with his pregnant wife, whoproceeds to go into premature labor.

Breaking the Ice:  Providing excitement at last for the 24 Silverbirds –all of whom turn out to be physicians -- Joseph and his wife welcome theirChristmas Eve delivery.  As Dick notes,Christmases don’t get much more authentic than this – particularly when more strandedmotorists show up seeing shelter:  AlanWiseman and his two brothers.

7.  Family Ties, "Birth of a Keaton," aired January 31, 1985

Snowy Setting:  Columbus, OH public television station

The Wintry Scene:  The Keatons have airtime to fill during the annual on-airpledge drive at Steven’s workplace WKS – without Steven, who is trapped at homein the snow.

Cracking Up:  That’s not a high note that pregnant Elyse hits whilesinging an otherwise mellow Irish folk tune – it’s a labor pain.

Breaking the Ice:  With the roads impassable, Elyse faces the prospect ofgiving birth right there at the station. But her doctor arrives just in time, and the Keatons welcome  baby Andy. And the bonus:  with all the on-airdrama at WKS, $70 grand in pledges has come rolling in.

8.  Designing Women, "Stranded," aired December 7, 1987

Snowy Setting:  Tennessee motel room

The Wintry Scene:  When their co-workers get the flu on a business tripto St. Louis, it’s up to Atlantans Anthony and Suzanne to drive in and save the day.  But in an ever-worsening blizzard, they’reforced to spend the night together in a motel’s sole available room.

Cracking Up:  After initially spending hours in the Sugarbakerdelivery van, shivering despite wearing extra layers of Suzanne’s pink marabourobe and pantyhose, emasculated Anthony barges in and begs the designing diva for a share of the bed.

Breaking the Ice:  In their cozy refuge, the unlikely duo becomes fastfriends, their sudden mutual interest in Suzanne’s wigs and manicure making therest of the gang  realize later that somethingstrange indeed has happened amid the snow.

9.  The Nanny, "Schlepped Away," aired March 9, 1994

Snowy Setting:  Queens, NY apartment

The Wintry Scene:   The Nanny named Fran succeeds in convincing Mr.  Sheffield to take the entire clan on aCaribbean holiday.  But, after gettinglost in the white stuff en route to the airport, they’re soon marooned at her parents’much less exotic abode.

Cracking Up:  The adults in the group jump at the chance for some wine– but then learn to their chagrin that the Jewish Fine household has only super-sweetwines flavored “red” or “purple.”

Breaking the Ice:  Ultimately won over by the Fines’ warm ethnic ways,the whole Sheffield mespuchah engagesin a time-honored tradition, noshing on tongue and stuffed derma in front of Wheel of Fortune, before departing forthe tropics.

10.  Everybody Loves Raymond, "Snow Day," aired January 14, 2002

Snowy Setting:  Long Island, NY house

The Wintry Scene:  Ray and Debra’s golf getaway is scuttled by snow.  But even worse, a power outage forces them togather around the hearth with Ray’s meddling parents, brooding brother Robert,and their intended airport ride, Robert’s ex-girlfriend Amy.

Cracking Up:  Papa Frank is atypically charming as he teaches theyoungins his old-timey dance moves.  Butrelations soon sour when Debra blurts out her surprise about enjoying anevening with her in-laws.

Breaking the Ice:  Frank admits to having taken umbrage only because healways thought it was he and Debra against the rest of the family, who are,after all, “looneys.”  Then, as if toprove his point, the four members of the younger generation break into afevered dance to their own favorite tune, “Jungle Love.”

Happy Holidays, and to all, a White Christmas!

Fall Preview: CBS' Vegas

To contact us Click HERE

Vegas stars (l-r) Dennis Quaid, Michael Chiklis

Thispast spring, after actor Michael Chiklis met with Ralph Lamb, the real-life inspirationfor Chiklis and Dennis Quaid’s new western drama Vegas, “I walked away from lunch, called my wife, and said, ‘Wow!We have stories for years!”
In the mid 2000s, the MGM movie studio had commissioned abig-screen bio based on Lamb, a fourth-generation rancher who served as LasVegas’ Sheriff from 1960 to 1978, the period in which the soon-to-be gamblingand entertainment mecca was rising from empty desert.  The studio turned to author and screenwriterNicholas Pileggi, who had already depicted the period in his 1995 film Casino. But even as the writer’s first outline was delivered, everyone involved realizedthat with Lamb’s wealth of amazing stories, his life would make a great ongoingseries instead.
“It’s kind of what I call the low-hanging fruit of SheriffLamb,” says Greg Walker, who, after Pileggi then turned the idea intotelevision, was brought on board as the showrunner of Vegas.  “Every story Lambtells, you just realize it’s a no-brainer. They’re filled with such rich detail. With such vivid characters, you can’t help but think about how his worldcould come to life on screen.”
Reading Pileggi’s pilot, “I got to page five, and washooked,” Walker remembers.  “As soon asthe DC-6 flew over Lamb’s cattle, I was in. I loved the clash between the modern world and the Old West.”  Quaid, too, cites that first script as whatlured him to play the colorful sheriff in this, his first television series.  Vegaspits Quaid’s Lamb against Chiklis’ Vincent Savino, a Chicago gangster and savvybusinessman with designs on the budding gaming empire.  “It’s a story about how all that powercorrupts on both sides,” says Quaid. “Because the lines in Vegas were hazy back then.  It was a different set of rules.”
“In Vegas, youhave two men who are thrust into the spotlight of being kings,” Walkerexplains.  “One who wants it, in Savino,and one who’s reluctant, in Lamb.”  Withthe face-off between the two men and their allies – including on Lamb’s side,his younger brother Jack (Jason O’Mara) and the town’s Assistant DistrictAttorney Katherine O’Connell (Carrie Ann Moss) – as its underlying construct,“we created a hybrid procedural and character-based drama,” Walker says.  “The show has the adrenaline and satisfactionof solving a mystery, but at the same time, there are multiple characters’stories getting more and more complicated, with greed, envy and desire whirlingaround this world of crime.”
With Vegas’ 1960setting, Lamb and his deputies won’t be enforcing the law using fingerprints orcomputers or cell phones like in that other Vegas-set mystery, CSI. “He is also not a guy who’s going to put a gun in people’s faces week toweek,” Walker says. “He’s going to solve things with his own hands,man-to-man.”  That type of character, theshowrunner says, “is something Dennis is uniquely equipped to play.  There are very few men who have that kind ofstillness, that raw, masculine power.  Wejust don’t build them like that anymore.”
Vegas’ pilot wasshot, coincidentally, in the small town of Las Vegas, NM, where an oldcommercial row, last updated in the early 20^th Century, could begussied up with props and CGI neon to look like the Fremont Street of ‘60s SinCity; the series will build it all from the ground up in Santa Clarita,CA.  Undoubtedly, today’s audience willbe paying close attention to all that period detail, because we’re so intriguedby the town’s formative years.
“We’re all interested in how Vegas became Vegas.  Today it’s a fantasy world where you can getanything you want, and to watch how that was made is very captivating,” Walkernotes.  Like Lamb, the town itself is anatural for a Hollywood treatment, its story comprising two cinematic archetypes,the cowboy and the mobster.  “These aretwo worlds that we’re very familiar with, but we haven’t ever seen themtogether.  When they collide, there’ssomething very electric.”
VegasPremieres Tuesday, September 2510 PM Eastern / 9 CentralCBS

Fall Preview: CBS' Elementary

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Elementary stars Lucy Liu and
Jonny Lee Miller

Whenproducer Carl Beverly first posed the idea to Rob Doherty of transplantingSherlock Holmes to present-day New York, the writer’s response was Elementary.
“I daresay Sherlock is the most popular character inliterary pop culture from the last 100 years,” enthuses Doherty; perhaps that’swhy there have been so many prior filmic depictions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’sprototypical detective.  Doherty says itwas “one of the wonderful little details that Doyle crafted a very long timeago” that became the key to Elementary,his new CBS series adaptation starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.  The 19^th Century Holmes wasfamously addicted to opiates, “and that’s the way I’ve always looked at him, asan addict,” the writer explains – and not just to drugs.  “He’s driven by and very much addicted towhat he does for a living.  He enjoysunfolding the origami of a crime, matching wits with someone who thinks he’ssmart enough to get away with something horrible, and bringing that person tojustice.”
Yes, this new Holmes does have a literal addiction to dealwith, too.  Having just returned fromrehab – a vanishing he explained to his local police contact, Captain TobyGregson (Aidan Quinn), as a holiday in his native London – the hyper-observant detective“was previously used to being so ahead of everyone, and oozed confidence,”Doherty says.  “Now he’s left rattled,concerned that he may not be what he used to. I liked the idea of a person like him feeling a little bit of doubt forthe first time.”
That’s where Lucy Liu’s Dr. Joan Watson comes in.  As a former surgeon haunted by her role inthe death of a patient, Watson has now gone into business as a sober companion,hired by Holmes’ concerned dad to keep him in line.  That means accompanying him everywhere, wherethe new duo finds that “as a doctor, obviously she has many skills in forensicscience,” Miller says.  “So Holmes beginsto realize that she’s not just a companion, but she’s very useful.”
It was Doherty’s innovation both to alter this Watson’soccupation and to make Watson for the first time a female, who, he says, “hasmuch of the empathy Holmes is missing. In that way, she completes him.”  Asthe writer praises, Liu brings her innate strength to Watson, who needs to beable to stand up to this quirky and demanding Holmes. But it’s also theircharacters’ more vulnerable moments that both Miller and Liu say attracted themto Elementary.  Watson, Liu says, “is not going in withher ‘sober companion’ coat on.  I likethat she’s trying to bring a certain sense of humanity and understanding to herclient.”
Miller adds that “one of the things that struck me, reading[Doyle’s] books, is how colorful and funny the characters are.”  Doherty fully intends to weave that same witinto Elementary, which is why he isexcited that Miller’s embodiment of Holmes exhibits “a warmth, intelligence, anda fantastic sense of humor.”
But perhaps the most important quality that both Miller andLiu are bringing to their new show is  appreciation.  In filming Elementary’s pilot, “the first time I heard Jonny say ‘Watson!’ itwas a thrill to be creating that, to be part of history,” Liu reveals.  The British-born Miller feels it, too.  “There’s a reason why the Holmes stories keepbeing retold and redone,” he theorizes. “People play Hamlet a lot, and always want to play Shakespeare.  Good stories and good characters come back.” 
ElementaryPremieres Thursday, September 2710 PM Eastern / 9 PM CentralCBS

Fall Preview: CBS' Made in Jersey

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Made in Jersey stars British import Janet Montgomery

Lastseason, her second working on the Los Angeles writing staff of Franklin & Bash, the cable drama abouttwo wisecracking men, Dana Calvo realized she had something a little softer tosay.
A lifelong fan of female-focused shows like Sex and the City, Calvo says she enjoyedwatching that show’s fabulous foursome frolic around Manhattan, “and yet Ialways felt, ‘Wait, where’s the family?’ So I decided to write a show about a young woman and her life in full –friends, family and work.  I know it’snot really cool to say, but I wanted to write about a family that is warm andloving and wholesome.”
Drawing on memories of Christmases spent with herItalian-American extended family, the Moorestown, NJ native created the comedicdrama Made in Jersey and its heroineMartina Garretti, whose life and career straddle both sides of the HudsonRiver.  A lawyer like Calvo’s own sister,Martina crosses between her homespun life in the Garden State and her new jobas a first-year associate at a prestigious New York law firm.  Right away, just as in Working Girl – one of Calvo’s inspirations – Martina catches theattention of the firm’s founder, Donovan Stark (Kyle MacLachlan) with herunique body of knowledge.
Calvo knew that making Madein Jersey work would depend on finding just the right leading lady toconvey Martina’s combination of street and book smarts.  “I had a dream that we were going to cast aJersey girl right off a turnip truck, and her real story would mirror MartinaGarretti’s,” Calvo remembers with a laugh. Instead, after considering more than 100 candidates, producers consultedwith their casting director in the UK. There, in a video audition, was 26-year-old British actress JanetMontgomery.  As Calvo explains, “I sawthe tape, and knew right away ‘That’s her!’”
New Jersey has been heating up for more than a decade, fromthe time of The Sopranos to today’scurrent spate of reality shows featuring big hair and even bigger drama.  And that’s lucky for an English girl whoneeds to learn how to tawk.  Montgomery says she’d never previously spentany Jerseylicious time with the state’s Real Housewives – but once she startedher research, “those shows are totally addictive.  I watched a lot of them – and then I was toldnot to, because we don’t want our show to be that over-the-top.  Still, I feel they gave me a good idea ofwhat Martina would have grown up around.”
Montgomery worked with a dialect coach, and says that onceshe stepped out of her trailer in Martina’s considerable coif and jangly charmbracelet, she was able to find the character’s voice, which she says “now issecond nature.  I deliberately startedbig, but reined it back in to something that, while it’s obviously aworking-class accent, shows that she’s also an educated lawyer.”  The actress says she loves that Made in Jersey is a unique hybrid of lawprocedural and family drama – and so does CBS, so much so that after viewingthe original pilot, the impressed network requested the addition of a few morescenes with Martina’s mom (Donna Murphy) and the rest of the garrulous Garrettis.
“Family is really important to knowing who Martina is,”Montgomery explains, adding that her own working-class upbringing as thedaughter of a postal worker has given her a particular appreciation for thecharacter.  “I don’t have anyone else inmy family working in this industry.  Andso this character whose lives at work and at home are so different, and who hasa family who are very supportive and yet don’t fully understand her job – it’sbeen so much like my own life, it’s really amazing.”
Made In JerseyPremieres Friday, September 289 PM Eastern / 8 PM CentralCBS

Chuck Lorre's Vanity on Display

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Chuck Lorre

For the past decade and a half, Chuck Lorre’s sitcoms havebrought viewers a little something extra – whether they noticed it or not.

“When I was growing up, record albums had liner notes, wherethey added stuff that made the whole thing cooler,” Lorre remembers.  And so, rather than finishing off each of hisepisodes with a static production company logo, Lorre decided that “each showwould have something to read at the end – if you cared to.”
Now, after a full generation of Lorre’s fans has squinted tospy his words on their sometimes wobbly screens – remember VCRs? – the prolificwriter/producer of Two and a Half Men,Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly has compiled his nearly400 mini-essays into a new coffee table book, What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Bitter (Simon & Schuster, $100)

In his vanity card following the November 2 episode of Big Bang Theory, Lorre referred viewers to his web site, where he could blast Mitt Romney without having to have his message approved -- or more likely rejected -- by his network's censors.  The contents of that card, #397, earned lots of press, showing that like me, people really care what Lorre has to say on these things.  That's why this past summer, during the semi-annual Television Critics Association convention in Beverly Hills, I caught up with Lorre for the following exclusive interview, to find out how it feels to see his Bitter experience turning out so sweet.

Must-Hear TV:  What has it meant tohave that small amount of network airtime each week, to express what’s on yourmind?Lorre:  My vanity cards are on the air at the end of the show for maybe a second.  But it’s been a nice opportunity toexperiment with writing something other than a script, these little essaysabout things that would never have found their way onto the page.
MHTV:   Is it therapeutic to have a way to get thingsoff your chest?Lorre:  The only way to call it “therapy” would be if one might sayI was getting better.  It’s just a chanceto write in a way that hopefully is amusing to somebody.
MHTV:   Obviously they havebeen.  When did you notice they werecatching on?Lorre:  About 14 or 15 years ago, when I was doing Dharma & Greg, I noticed that therestarted to be web sites with my name on them. The late ‘90s on the Internet were the wild wild west.  I realized I could possibly lose control overmy own writing.  So, defensively, I hadto create a web site of my own in order to maintain some kind of control.
MHTV:  Proceeds from thebook benefit your charity, the Dharma-Grace Foundation.  What is its focus?Lorre:  I started the Dharma-Grace Foundation in 1999, to funnelfunds into the Venice [Calif.] Family Clinic, which provides free healthcare toanyone who walks in the door.  It’s ameaningful organization to me, having been without healthcare earlier times inmy life.  I know what that feels like –it’s a frightening thing.  Now the Foundationalso distributes money to other organizations that seem like they are doinggood work, in education as well as healthcare.
MHTV:  Some of the cardsare appearing in the book for the first time, having been originallycensored.  Why weren’t they originallyallowed to air?Lorre:  There are about a dozen of them, and there were differentreasons each time.  Sometimes they wereconsidered risqué, and sometimes the politics were not acceptable.  But I very rarely get political.  I try to honor the fact that CBS is not inthe business of broadcasting my political opinions.  So I’ve been very careful, and I try to seethe big picture and avoid any controversy. Lots of different people like to watch Two and a Half Men, Big BangTheory and Mike and Molly.  They’re coming to my house as guests, and itwould be rude to use that access to offend them.
MHTV:  You startedpresenting the cards on Dharma & Gregand Grace Under Fire, both of whichaired on ABC.  Has there been anydifference in doing the vanity cards on ABC versus now on CBS?Lorre:  No, both networks are very nervous about [the cards] ingeneral, and they scrutinize them.  Iimagine both networks would prefer that they didn’t exist at all.  But CBS has been patient and reluctantlytrudged forward with these things. There’s no upside to them.  They’rein the business of selling ad time, and making money, and vanity cards are nota profit source.  But my whole argumenthas always been, if they bring in just one more viewer who might be curious,that’s got to be good for CBS.
MHTV:  It is a smartinvestment – a random production company logo isn’t going to bring inanybody.  So why not write somethingfunny that might grab viewers?Lorre:  With DVRs, every second of television time is now availableto you.  Literally, every second can befrozen forever.  So it’s changed the waytime works in television.  It’s madeevery second more valuable or more problematic – your choice.
MHTV:  You have three showson the air on CBS, bearing your name each week. Do you still get that thrill of authorship, seeing your name on thisbook?Lorre:  It’s really gratifying any time you make something up and itbecomes a reality.  On Big Bang Theory, Wolowitz went intospace.  To walk onto the stage, and seethe Soyuz space capsule!  Made of balsawood, but it was still there.  It wasstartling and immensely gratifying. There was a guy with hammers and nails making it real.
MHTV:  And now there’ssomeone with a printing press making it real. Is it the same feeling?Lorre:  Very much so.  It’svery gratifying.  And the best news is,that it’s already written.  The best partof writing is having written.
MHTV:  Some of your morefamous vanity cards over the years have mentioned conflicts with coworkers andcostars.  Are those in the book?Lorre:  They’re all there.
MHTV:  So we can relive allkinds of sitcom history by this book, whether for good or for bad?Lorre:  That’s very wisely put. I wrote the cards at times in my life when that was the only way I knewhow to articulate my feelings, my frustrations and my fears.   My attempts at being funny sometimesfail.   But there they are.

TV's Top 10 Snowbound Moments

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Stuck at home during these wintry months, it’s easy to comedown with a case of cabin fever.  But whenthe weather outside is frightful, at least we have our televisions’ glow tokeep us warm.  And when the snow startsfalling on the screen as well, those are the situations which often precipitateTV’s biggest laughs.  Below, my Top Ten episodes where chilly situations have made for some warm memories.



1.  I Love Lucy, "Lucy in the Swiss Alps," aired March 26, 1956

Snowy setting:  Swiss chalet

The Wintry Scene:  After a mountaintop picnic in snow-laden Lucerne, TV’sfavorite foursome takes shelter in a cabin whose door is soon blocked by adrift.

Cracking Up:  When Lucy tries to sneak a snack of a sandwich leftover from lunch, her three hungry cabin-mates pounce, expecting their fairquarter-shares.

Breaking the Ice:  After a round of true confessions – Fred has beenovercharging the Ricardos $10 a month in rent; Ethel has been secretlyreturning it – Lucy and friends are rescued by a local oom-pah-pah band, whichRicky then books on his show to play the world’s unlikeliest rumba.

2.  The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "The Snow Must Go On," aired November 7, 1970

Snowy Setting:  Minneapolis newsroom

The Wintry Scene:  Mary is already nervous that Mr. Grant has put her incharge of the station’s live election night newscast.  And that’s before a blizzard knocks out the station’s phones and teletype.

Cracking Up:  Lacking election results and forced to ad-lib forhours, anchorman Ted Baxter resorts to his Jimmy Cagney impression and readingthe numbers on his driver’s license. 

Breaking the Ice:  Mary discovers inner strength as a boss when anovertired Ted responds to her threat of termination and agrees not to deliverunsubstantiated returns announcing Minneapolis’ new mayor.

3.  The Bob Newhart Show, "I'm Dreaming of a Slight Christmas," aired December 22, 1973

Snowy Setting:  Chicago medical office

The Wintry Scene:  When his longtime patient Mr. Peterson is too scaredto go home on Christmas Eve, psychiatrist Bob returns to the office just intime for a blackout during Chicago’s worst-ever storm.

Cracking Up:  Eager to return to wife Emily, Bob is dismayed to findthat the building’s elevators have shut down – and even more forlorn aboutremaining at his office’s party late enough to witness a performance by dentistJerry’s drunken barbershop trio. 

Breaking the Ice:  After abandoning his car in a snowbank, Bob trudgesfour miles in the cold to make it home to celebrate.  Too bad he didn’t think to load up first onthe warming Irish coffee his secretary Carol was serving at the party -- whereshe’d also spiked the water cooler. 

4.  Laverne & Shirley, "Ski Show," aired February 23, 1982

Snowy Setting:  California ski lift

The Wintry Scene:  The relocated Milwaukee bottlecappers take to theslopes in order to meet men.  But whentheir chairlift gets stuck in midair, all they may end up with is frostbite.

Cracking Up:   Panicking, Laverne tricks Shirley into surrenderingthe peanuts she’s kept for her afternoon snack. Then, trying to cheer themselves up, the two sing “Let It Snow” – andunfortunately it does.

Breaking the Ice:  The gals think they’ve “died and gone to Sweden” whentwo hunky blond mountain rescuers work to warm their frozen bodies and – thanksto quick thinking by Laverne – their lips.

5.   Taxi, "Scenskees from a Marriage," aired October 21, 1982

Snowy Setting:  New York City cab

The Wintry Scene:  Selfless cabbie Latka himself gets stuck when he’ssent to save a female coworker from a snowdrift.   Stranded and shivering, cabbie Cindy comesup with a convenient idea:  to avoidfreezing, she and her married rescuer must make love.

Cracking Up:  Following the advice of their priest, Reverend Gorky, Simkavows to make similar “nik nik” with one of Latka’s male coworkers.

Breaking the Ice:  Unable to agree who should be Simka’s conquest, thecouple decides to choose the way their indeterminate Eastern European home countryselects its president:  by throwing adinner party, with the last man through the door the winner.  But Alex refuses to do the deed, forcingLatka and Simka to divorce – and then immediately remarry.

6.  Newhart, "No Room at the Inn," aired December 20, 1982

Snowy Setting:  Vermont bed-and-breakfast

The Wintry Scene:  Former New Yorkers Dick and Joanna are excited tospend their first Christmas in New England, and even more thrilled that theirinn will be packed with customers from the Silverbird Ski Club.  But soon the Silverbirds, and all flights inand out of Stratford, are grounded.

Cracking Up:   The cooped-up Silverbirds squawk about a ruinedvacation, and heiress housekeeper Leslie pines for the family she can’t celebratewith.  But things get really dire when aprophetically named traveler named Joseph enters with his pregnant wife, whoproceeds to go into premature labor.

Breaking the Ice:  Providing excitement at last for the 24 Silverbirds –all of whom turn out to be physicians -- Joseph and his wife welcome theirChristmas Eve delivery.  As Dick notes,Christmases don’t get much more authentic than this – particularly when more strandedmotorists show up seeing shelter:  AlanWiseman and his two brothers.

7.  Family Ties, "Birth of a Keaton," aired January 31, 1985

Snowy Setting:  Columbus, OH public television station

The Wintry Scene:  The Keatons have airtime to fill during the annual on-airpledge drive at Steven’s workplace WKS – without Steven, who is trapped at homein the snow.

Cracking Up:  That’s not a high note that pregnant Elyse hits whilesinging an otherwise mellow Irish folk tune – it’s a labor pain.

Breaking the Ice:  With the roads impassable, Elyse faces the prospect ofgiving birth right there at the station. But her doctor arrives just in time, and the Keatons welcome  baby Andy. And the bonus:  with all the on-airdrama at WKS, $70 grand in pledges has come rolling in.

8.  Designing Women, "Stranded," aired December 7, 1987

Snowy Setting:  Tennessee motel room

The Wintry Scene:  When their co-workers get the flu on a business tripto St. Louis, it’s up to Atlantans Anthony and Suzanne to drive in and save the day.  But in an ever-worsening blizzard, they’reforced to spend the night together in a motel’s sole available room.

Cracking Up:  After initially spending hours in the Sugarbakerdelivery van, shivering despite wearing extra layers of Suzanne’s pink marabourobe and pantyhose, emasculated Anthony barges in and begs the designing diva for a share of the bed.

Breaking the Ice:  In their cozy refuge, the unlikely duo becomes fastfriends, their sudden mutual interest in Suzanne’s wigs and manicure making therest of the gang  realize later that somethingstrange indeed has happened amid the snow.

9.  The Nanny, "Schlepped Away," aired March 9, 1994

Snowy Setting:  Queens, NY apartment

The Wintry Scene:   The Nanny named Fran succeeds in convincing Mr.  Sheffield to take the entire clan on aCaribbean holiday.  But, after gettinglost in the white stuff en route to the airport, they’re soon marooned at her parents’much less exotic abode.

Cracking Up:  The adults in the group jump at the chance for some wine– but then learn to their chagrin that the Jewish Fine household has only super-sweetwines flavored “red” or “purple.”

Breaking the Ice:  Ultimately won over by the Fines’ warm ethnic ways,the whole Sheffield mespuchah engagesin a time-honored tradition, noshing on tongue and stuffed derma in front of Wheel of Fortune, before departing forthe tropics.

10.  Everybody Loves Raymond, "Snow Day," aired January 14, 2002

Snowy Setting:  Long Island, NY house

The Wintry Scene:  Ray and Debra’s golf getaway is scuttled by snow.  But even worse, a power outage forces them togather around the hearth with Ray’s meddling parents, brooding brother Robert,and their intended airport ride, Robert’s ex-girlfriend Amy.

Cracking Up:  Papa Frank is atypically charming as he teaches theyoungins his old-timey dance moves.  Butrelations soon sour when Debra blurts out her surprise about enjoying anevening with her in-laws.

Breaking the Ice:  Frank admits to having taken umbrage only because healways thought it was he and Debra against the rest of the family, who are,after all, “looneys.”  Then, as if toprove his point, the four members of the younger generation break into afevered dance to their own favorite tune, “Jungle Love.”

Happy Holidays, and to all, a White Christmas!