Peta Murgatroyd is a New Zealand born dancer who has been performing since the early age of 4. Peta has danced and competed all over the world and in 2004 she joined the cast of “Burn the Floor” on Broadway.  Peta is probably best known as part of the cast of the popular television show “Dancing with the Stars” where she has been partnered up with everyone from Metta World Peace to Donald Driver. She currently is dancing with Big Time Rush singer James Maslow on season 18 of the series. Media Mikes had the chance recently to speak with Peta about the show and her dancing career.

Adam Lawton: Can you tell us what first sparked you interest in dancing?
Peta Murgatroyd: I started ballet when I was 4 years old. I think that is something every mother starts out wanting their daughter to do. They want them to learn to be pretty and beautiful. I ended up absolutely falling in love with it and by 10 I knew that’s what I wanted to do as a career. I auditioned for the top ballet company in Perth, Australia and was accepted. During this time I changed schools and started attending a performing arts school. I had to make a lot of changes at this stage in my life. By the time I was 17 I was competing around the world and from there I started learning ball room dancing. I landed a spot in a show on Broadway which ended in 2009. After doing that for 6 years I felt I was at my peak and that it would be a good time/place to stop. I ended up turning to television and here I am.

AL: Was there ever a time early on in your career where you felt that maybe dancing wasn’t the right path for you?
PM: Absolutely! There were many times where I questioned not only myself but also my family as well. All of these things cost a lot of money. We were not poor but classes and everything were very expensive. I often had a job waitressing to help pay for some of my dresses and such. I often thought about if what I was doing was the right thing and if dancing was something I could make a career of. I always made sure that I did well with my schooling because I was just unsure as what was going to happen. I actually tried to give up my schooling at one point but my parents wouldn’t let me. I was traveling all over the world dancing while also studying for all of my classes and exams. In the end I put everything into dancing as I realized how much I did love it.

AL: How did you first get involved with “Dancing with the Stars”?
PM: The show was actually on in Australia and they had asked me to be on it however I wasn’t sure If I wanted to give up what I was doing at that time to be on a reality television show. That was just a lot to take on at a young age. When I was on Broadway the producers of “Dancing with the Stars” came to one of the performances and afterwards immediately handed me a contract to be on the show. That was pretty awesome! I didn’t have to audition or anything which was really cool. I let the first season go by as I wanted to watch how the show worked here in the U.S. My boyfriend at the time was actually on the show so I was able to watch him and really get a good idea of how things worked before I started on the next season.

AL:  What do you feel is the biggest challenge when getting paired up with your partner for the first time?
PM: There are lots of little challenges along the way but probably the biggest thing is just getting to know your partner and how they work with a woman in a room for six hours a day. (Laughs) Sometimes I might not know a lot about my partner beforehand so I look them up on Google. It’s really great to see how far you can push your partner and help them become a better dancer and progress through the contest week after week.

AL: Can you give us a little bit of an idea as to what goes on behind the scenes during the show?
PM: I wish they showed more of the rehearsal time. A lot of what they show is just a minute or two from a week’s worth of rehearsal. The producers choose those scenes and a lot of times they are trying to follow a story line. There is just so much more that goes on and there are a lot of funny moments that happen. They often tend to follow just one emotion. With me they tend to follow more of my serious side. That’s just one piece of my personality. I am always goofing and like to have a lot of fun. I wish the viewers could see all the different emotions and fun we have leading up to each performance.

AL: Are you working on any other projects after this season of the show wraps up?
PM: I am going to be performing for a week in Canada as part of a theater show there. I have a number of appearances and little shows booked here and there but my main focus after this season ends is to continue on with my acting. When I’m not working on the show that’s my time to go through scripts and go on auditions. When I am working on “Dancing with the Stars” I really have no time for anything else.

AL: Were you always interested in perusing acting alongside dancing?
PM: Acting was something that I always wanted to do and explore. I have found that I really enjoy character dances. I found I really know how to get into a character and I love the acting side of things.  Acting is certainly still new to me and I have been taking classes and working with a private coach to help me get stronger. Acting is something I would love to be able to crossover in to.

Photo Credit: Manfred Baumann

You might know William Shatner as Captain Kirk from “Star Trek: The Original Series”, or Denny Crane from “Boston Legal”, either way the man is a legend in the business. At age 83, he is still going strong and has tackled everything from acting to theatre to being an author. In 2012, he returned to the stage on Broadway with his one-man show, “Shatner’s World”. Since then he took the show on tour and now it will be playing in movie theaters for a special engagement on April 24th through Fanthom Events. Media Mikes had the special privilege to chat with Mr. Shatner about the show and his outstanding career.

Mike Gencarelli: You took “Shatner’s World” from Broadway, then touring and now to cinemas; what has been the highlight for you this journey?
William Shatner: The highlight is at the end of the evening…I think I am safe in saying that at every performance that I have done, the audience had stood up and applauded at the end. The emotion that comes over the footlights between me and the audience has moved me to tears many times. The audiences affection at the end of the evening is palpable and that is truly the highlight for me, Mike. And for the price of a movie ticket, you can see a Broadway play in theaters. This is a live capture of the Broadway play and it will be released in 700 theaters and you can see it for the price of only a movie ticket. So you can’t beat that.

MG: “Shatner’s World” calls back to your roots starting off in theatre; how was it returning back to that setting?
WS: I have been asked for years, since the last time I was on Broadway, to come back and do a play and in some cases a musical. But they needed to get at least a six month commitment and I didn’t have that time available. So I thought “I guess that’s it for me and Broadway”. But within months of saying that came an opportunity to go back to Broadway with this show and I even was able to go to the the exact theater where I was for my last Broadway play. So the irony of that, or the beautiful or symmetry of that is not lost on me.

Photo Credit: George Qua-Enoo Photography

MG: What was the the name of that last Broadway show?
WS: It was “A Shot in the Dark” with Julie Harris…many years ago.

MG: In “Shatner’s World”, you mentioned several struggles on your career early on; what would you say is your defining moment?
WS: I have the kind of career that was a slow build. Every time something sensational was going to happen it didn’t work out that way it was suppose to. There was this slow wave of attention and activity that I think actually climaxes in this one-man show. To go on stage alone for an hour and a half to two hours and hold an audience and get the kind of reaction I’ve been am getting, that is the cumulation of years of experience and attention. It didn’t happen suddenly, there was no defining moment. Instead, there was a series of small wavelets as apposed to a tsunami.

MG: Having such a full career, what were some of the hard decisions you had to make to cut out in order to get this show down to an hour and a half?
WS: There were many parts that didn’t make it, especially getting the show ready for Broadway. I had to sharpen and refine and reduce it to it’s supreme moments, if you will, where it epitomizes everything that I wanted to say. Not only stories but also extraneous words, so it is a difficult process. The core of this show was to say “Yes” to life. To give this idea, this concept, that life is precious and needs to be embraced with both ears and smothered by you because it is over so quickly. So the stories that went along with that core were the stories that I kept.

MG: I loved the energy that you brought to the stage; how do you channel all that energy running around on stage and still while being funny and charming?
WS: It is part of the entertainer’s magic, I guess, but that is my energy and it comes from my core. That is what I bring to you on stage, you being the audience. I feel that there is a magical link between me and the audience. I feel it and you feel it. I am there for you. We are having a love affair, the performer and the audience. I actually feel the embrace and perform to that and that is energizing to me.
MG: I have to honestly say that from just watching the show, I felt pumped and I didn’t even see it in person, so congrats on that as well for being very effective.
WS: I am so glad to hear you say that, thank you. That is a lovely compliment and I appreciate you saying it.

MG: You bet!, what would you say is biggest challenge doing a one-man show?
WS: There is a number of challenges. You are talking continuously for two hours and trying to remember the words. It is not unlike musicians doing a set and having the set numbers in front of them. They have clues as to what is next. So that is what I had but it still had to remember those words. So now that I haven’t done this in many months I am going to be in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand on June 19th, 20th, 21st doing the one-man show, which is what a thrill let me say, so I am going to have to re-learn the lines now. So that is a challenge but not only that but I am going to have to teach the show to an individual on how to work that software for the electronics and the media. So that is going to be a challenge in Las Vegas. Then I am going on a tour for a few selected dates in January and have to re-do that again. So the dint of the words and the expenditure of energy that is so orgasmic [laughs] and you have to be ready for it, so those are challenges also.

MG: You mentioned your musical career in the show; do you have any plans to go down that road again?
WS: Well, I have been asked to do a cover album…and I just may do that. I love music. I can’t sing or sustain a note but what I do have is the musicality of the language. Many languages, English among them, has an intrinsic melody and rhythm that needs to be sought out, if you will. It is one thing to speak like we do but another to find the heart of the language and I love that. So my ability to be able to combine that musicality of the words with a melody line that comes in behind it, it became a signature thing. I just love doing it and I am anxious to do it again, so whether it is an album or live. I did perform my newest album, which is called “Ponder the Mystery”. I did it three times with Billy Sherwood’s group in the Los Angeles area last year and it got a great response and I would love to repeat that.

MG: From being an actor, author, spokesperson etc; what is left on your bucket list that you want to do?
WS: Oh my goodness. I haven’t done anything in life. I feel unaccomplished and I feel like I have done nothing [laugh]. Being a performer, once the performance is over…it is gone. It is in the ether. It may have just as well not happened. The next night is the next challenge. It is a challenge of many kinds. It is a challenge of redoing that performance that only you can remember. The challenge is also that if there will be an audience for that performance. I am feeling that way right now. Doing all this publicity is an attempt to fill that gap that I hope that 700 theaters will be filled up with people coming to see the show on April 24th. There is so much to do and so little time left to do it.

Martin Freeman is known best by some as Tim Canterbury in BBC’s “The Office”. Some know (and love) him from “Love Actually. He has also donned the hat of Dr. John Watson in BBC’s “Sherlock”. Or if none of those ring a bell, he is also in a (quite unknown, rather small) trilogy called “The Hobbit” where he plays a young Bilbo Baggins. Either way, Martin has had such a diverse and incredible career to date and though his latest role could also be his best. He is making his U.S. television debut with FX’s “Fargo” playing the role of Lester Nygaard”. The show is an adapation of the 1996 cult classic movie. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Martin about the show, working with Billy Bob Thornton and his character.

Mike Gencarelli: What attracted you to the role of Lester Nygaard in FX’s “Fargo”
Martin Freeman: Well, just the fact that it’s well written. The script itself is well written, the whole thing, the whole first episode, which is what I based my decision on. It was a lovely episode. And with Lester I just got the feeling that this was going to be a role where you could give rein to a lot of stuff, to play a lot of stuff. Even within that first episode the range that he goes between is really interesting and so I knew that was only going to grow and expand in the next nine episodes and so it proved to be. In all the 10 episodes I get to play as Lester pretty much the whole gamut of human existence and human feeling. He does the whole lot and that’s exactly what you want to do as an actor. Noah [Hawley] treads that line very well between drama and comedy and the light and dark. I like playing that stuff.

MG: Talk to us about your character’s relationship with Billy Bob Thornton’s character in the show and how it developed over the 10 episodes?
MF: Well, yeah, again it was those initial scenes with Billy that really, really attracted me to doing the role because I thought they were just mesmeric. I really loved that it was like little doing plays, little two-handed plays. It develops without kind of saying too much and a lot off-screen. There are moments of on-screen development, but throughout the series it’s sporadic. But Lorne Malvo, I suppose, is a constant presence in Lester’s life because of the change that Lester has undergone as a result of meeting him. So, everything that Lester does, every way that he develops as a character, for good and bad, you could say is kind of down to that initial meeting with Lorne Malvo. So, there is a development. We don’t get as much screen time as I would like. I think we both really, really loved sharing actual space together and doing work together and we don’t get to do as much of that as we would want, but there is more to come.

MG: Did you do anything specific research about Minnesota or Minnesotans in preparation to play Lester?
MF: Not specifically, no. Ideally, what I would have wanted to do was spend some time there pre-filming because what I wanted to do was not, definitely not do a caricature and definitely not do something that was just comic or a way of going, oh, aren’t these people funny kind of thing. So, in an ideal world I would have spent a couple of weeks hanging out in bars or just speaking to people. The ideal world doesn’t exist and I wasn’t able to do that. But I worked very hard on the accent because, as I said, I didn’t want it to be like a comedy sketch. I wasn’t playing an accent. I was playing a character who happened to speak like that and to be from that place. So, not specific research. I listened to a lot of Minnesotans, put it that way. I listened to a lot of actual Minnesotans in an audio sense, I mean a visual sense. That’s why I didn’t really go back and watch the initial film with Fargo, love it as I do, because I wanted to, for my research of accent-wise, I wanted it to be actual Minnesotans and not actors playing Minnesotans. Any more than I would expect an actor who wants to play a Minnesotan should study me. They shouldn’t study me, they should study a Minnesotan. So, that was the kind of extent of my homework on that. So, rather than thinking what is it that makes Minnesotans different or specific or whatever, I think Lester is pretty universal. There are “Lesters” everywhere in every race and walk of life and country. There are people who are sort of downtrodden and people who are under confident and all that, so that was more a case of tapping into that in myself really.

MG: You’re no stranger to shorter TV series formats, like “Sherlock”; so what did you enjoy most about having “Fargo” be a limited series of 10 episodes?
MF: Well, I think my general outlook on life is that things should be finite and things are finite. You know, we all die. Everything ends. And so for me the idea of things going on and on and on, I don’t always find very attractive. But if it’s a show that I love and it keeps going on and it retains its quality then I’m delighted to be a viewer of it. But I’ve never done things that have gone on and on. Again, like you say, “Sherlock” is a finite job. We spend a limited time of the year doing that. It’s not even every year. “The Office” was 14 episodes totally by design because precisely of what I’m talking about, the attitude of retaining quality and leaving people wanting more rather than leaving people wanting less. This 10 episodes was kind of a clincher for me. When my agent sent it to me it was with the understanding that she said, you know, “You don’t go out for American TV because you don’t want to sign on for something for six or seven years, but this is 10 episodes. See what you think”. So, that was a big attraction. And then I read it, of course, and thought, well, man, this is going to take up four or five months of my life rather than seven years and I’m in. I like moving on, I like going on to the next thing. I like having something else to look forward to as well. I do have a low boiling pressure. I just want to do other things. I think that’s basically why it is and I want to leave something, hopefully, leave something behind that people go, oh, that was great, as opposed to, oh, why did they carry on with this? It was good for the first three seasons and then it all went wrong. I’m well aware that some things don’t go wrong after three seasons. Some of my favorite things are fantastic for a long time. But, yeah, for me personally, I like the hit and run approach. I love doing this for a bit and then doing something else for a bit and then doing something else for a bit. That’s the way I’m hardwired I think.

Matthias Clamer/FX

MG: Lastly, was there anything about Lester that you added to this character that wasn’t originally scripted?
MF: I suppose, yeah, because I think there always is and I don’t even know what is specific, what I could answer to that. But my job I feel is to take a good script and somehow make it better. And that’ every department’s job. It’s the camera department and the design department, you know, to make this script, which is hopefully very good, to make it even better. So an actor’s job is to put flesh on the bones of the character because even though it’s fantastically written you don’t just see the script up on screen. You know, that would be quite boring if you just read the script. You have to flesh it out and just the physicality, the placement of the voice, yeah, I mean all of that stuff can only be done by an actor. Sp yes, the answer is I hope I would have brought a lot to it, but specifics, I don’t really know. But I mean everything that you see on screen, some of that’s Noah and some of it’s me.

Jaleel White is known best for his role as Steve Urkel in “Family Matters”. But Jaleel has been one biggest guy over the last few years going from “Dancing with the Stars” to hosting his own reality series on Syfy “Total Blackout” to guest starring on “CSI” this past January. His latest gig is a absolutely riot called “BPOV”, which stands for Broke People on Vine. It is a new web series that airs on YouTube weekly. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Jaleel about the show. the craze of Vine and what we can expect.

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us how you got involved with Urban Hombre Media?
Jaleel White: I am a partner in the company along with Andres Izquieta, who is the CEO of Five Four Clothing. Five Four is an online based men’s club clothing brand. They put their clothes on everybody. So rather than have me be a brand ambassador for them, Andres reached out to me about branching out into production on the internet. The internet is something that we cannot ignore these days. It is bigger than just tweeting stuff. You need actual content on the internet. But this is a fun company and we are going to have a lot of good things coming up.

MG: I love the title for the show, “BPOV” (aka Broke People on Vine).
JW: Some people have said why call it “BPOV”. I really like the acronym because it is about a point of view of broke people because rich people on Vine ain’t funny [laughs]. Our director whipped up the logo, with a “South Park” version of me, which is cool. It is a great collaboration and we come up with the ideas collectively. So we are just keeping it real and having fun and we are going to keep pumping them out.

MG: So what is it about Vine that has people so hooked?
JW: A lot of my friends and people that I am familiar with are on Vine. I find myself at night just watching Vine on my phone like it is TV show. It is crazy really. After a long day, you are just lying around checking texts and emails and then you skip over to Vine and get stuck there for a half hour. By the time you are done, you aren’t going to watch TV; you are going to do to bed. Sometimes my daughter will come in the room and I will find something that is kid appropriate and we will then sit there and watch the same Vine like 15 times in a row [laughs].

MG: How many times did you have to watch these videos during shooting?
JW: What is really cool about the show is that I actually don’t get to see the Vines beforehand. Even if I like one and submit it for consideration, when the guys put together the top 10 reel I have no idea which ones are in there. If you watch you will see my eyes glance down sometimes because they want me to respond and react in real time. I am watching them for the first time right there. So even if it is one that I submitted, you are still getting an immediate and unknown reaction within the flow of the shot. When we did “Worst Job Interviews” episode and they guy was just hired at Krispy Kreme and does the back flip, that was an honest reaction from me and that was the first time I have ever saw that. We wanted my reaction to be the same reaction that you are viewers will experience. So that makes it fun.

MG: I love how the episodes run three minutes each; quick, tight and effective.
JW: It really channels to people’s attention spans right now. I don’t watch a half hour TV show every night before I go to bed as I would back when I was young kid. I will spend some time on Vine and that is it.

MG: How often can we expect new episodes?
JW: We are looking to keep putting them out, I think every Monday. Then down the line, we are looking to expand and putting them out even more. We will do some year-end stuff as well. It is just one of those things that it out there, it is what I do and I am big fan of Vine. I prefer to cover it then do my own Vines. To get to share these with people is just funnier for me personally. So that is the show man! Check it out and spread the word to your friends!

 

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Brian Henson is the son of Jim Henson, creator of “The Muppets” and the current chairman of The Jim Henson Company. For years Brian has been working with his family in the company as a puppeteer in roles like Jack Pumpkinhead in “Return to Oz” and directing//producing “The Muppet Christmas Carol” and “Muppet Treasure Island”. He was also behind the TV series “Farscape” as the Executive Producer. His latest venture is in reality TV on Syfy with the series “Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge”, which is similar to other Syfy shows like “Face/Off”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Brian about the TV show and also get the scoop on upcoming projects like “The Power of the Dark Crystal” and “Fraggle Rock: The Movie”.

Mike Gencarelli: How did the idea come about to do this show, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge?
Brian Henson: We were trying to think if there is a show that would make sense for The Jim Henson Company in the reality side of television programming. There aren’t many…because we are The Jim Henson Company. Almost everything we do has an element of fantasy or science-fiction in it. In many ways we are the opposite of reality. We make things that reflect on reality and allow you to objectively compare it to what we are presenting. But we decided that one area that is particularly exciting of our company is in the creature designing area. These artists, who are designing, conceiving and then building these creatures, really are like magic. They are extraordinary artists. We thought that doing a show around that aspect would be the most interesting area to the general audience. It is sort of like this secret world. There are no Academy Awards for creature designers. There are some creature designers who have won Academy Awards for costuming, make-up or special effects. Joe FREID, one of the Executive Producers, really shared the same enthusiasm in that area of our company and also has a strong background in reality TV programming. We went out to pitch it and Syfy loved it. We made it pretty close to the “Face/Off” format or even the “Project Runway” format. But what is different about it is that it is going into an area and a type of artist that is much different than anyone has ever seen. It is taking place in the Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and the prize really is a job with us.

MG: How do you come up with the challenges for the show like the first episode’s undersea creature?
BH: We basically kept making lists of creatures that we thought would be interesting. For season one, we said that none of the creatures should be allowed to use any compositing, puppeteer removal or some of the techniques that we would normally use in television or feature films. So that closed us up a little bit and kept us focused for season one. Then we had about 15-20 good ideas on the board and we basically produced what we thought was a good wide range of creatures. One thing that is great about creature making, which perhaps is not true of some of the cousins to our TV show, is they are very different depending on what kind of creature you are looking for and what kind of screen test you presenting at the end of the episode. It means that every episode is able to stand alone and be unique from the one before it, which is a lot of fun. You should also expect the challenges to be more and more ambitious as we go forward, which I think is pretty great.

MG: What are you feelings on CGI versus practical effects like puppet work?
BH: My take on it reflects my background and where I come from and where my dad came from, we are a performance oriented company. So what excites me is performing creatures and puppets. We do some CGI but we call it digital puppetry. The way we do CGI, is that we real-time animate 3D creatures using performers. So if it comes from performance and creating a real moment for the characters then that is what excites me and our company. So in that sense, I prefer the animatronic creatures to the CGI creatures. But that is also due to my background. If someone comes from key frame animation, they may prefer CGI to stop-action animation. But I think there is wonderful space for every technique. There is clearly a sacrifice you make when you decide to go CGI with a creature is that you are not actually creating a real moment that you then photograph. With most of our stuff besides the digital puppetry that we do, what you see has really been created and has been photographed and is now in the movie or TV show. It really happened and was really there. You can’t underestimate the value of that. It may mean that things are not quite as slick or accurate as CGI but it really happened and there is something really delicious and exciting about that. Certainly we have been seeing a big move towards CGI creatures but I think with films like “Where the Wild Things Are”, we are starting to see a movement back towards practical effects. But like I said there is definitely a space for both.

MG: I feel that this show actually brings this type of work back into the spotlight…
BH: Yeah, it’s been like a secret world. Nobody knows how these creatures are built and created. Nobody has done a show like this and it is really interesting watching them work.
MG: Yeah, one thing I would love to learn more about myself is the actual mechanics behind-the-scenes with these creatures.
BH: Well as you watch more of the series you will be more of that as well.

MG: Tell us about choosing your co-judges including Kurt Thatcher and Beth Hathaway?
BH: Initially we weren’t sure if we wanted to go with an all internal panel. Kurt is really an inside guy. Most of the work he has done in his career has been with our company. We wanted it to be as credible as possible because like I said the prize really is a job in the Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Kurt is the type of person who would do the hiring along with me who would also be making those judgment calls. At a certain point, we realized it was just too much Henson. So we reached out to Beth Hathaway, who is also a very experienced creature builder but her background is along the lines of Stan Winston and Rick Baker. It was actually really fun bringing her in since she is kind of an outsider but we just love her. It was good having her point of views and opinions on the judging panel.

MG: What do you see that the future has planned for this type of practical effects and for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop?
BH: I think there is a lot of opportunity for us to do more creature work. I think we are coming out of a time where the industry has been in a flux. I think people are now starting to stabilize and spend more money for cool fantasy/science-fiction characters. I think you will start to see more practical effects…but probably mixed in with some CGI, which is like what “Where the Wild Things Are” was. I think the best creatures yet to come are going to be a little bit of everything used to bring that creature to life.

MG: Do you have any update on The Power of Dark Crystal and Fraggle Rock movie?
BH: The truth is that it took me five years to get “Farscape” on the air. These things take time. Some of that time feels like you are just waiting around. There is a lot of things that need to come together in order to make these projects work. You need to have the right talent, financing and distribution partners. But I can tell you that these both in active development currently within our company. We are determined to get them made. It is big though and a lot of elements need to come together to get a movie made.

Photos courtesy of Syfy

 

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Photo: The CW

Probably best known as David, one of the rival “Warblers” on the popular television series “Glee,” Titus Makin, Jr. can now be seen on the popular new CW show “Star-Crossed.”  As Lukas, Makin gets the chance to help save the day with the occasional blast of humor.  While getting ready to take a break from filming and finish his new musical EP, Makin took the time to talk to me about his new show, “The Lion King” and a possible return to “Glee:”

Mike Smith:  Can you give the readers a brief introduction to your character, Lukas, in your new show “Star-Crossed?”
Titus Makin, Jr:  Sure.  Lukas Parnell is one of Emery’s  (Aimee Teegarden) best friends.  He’s the guy that shows her the ropes in her new high school.  He breaks down who people are, what they do and how it all works.  He’s also the “logical” guy…the tech savvy guy.  He’s the guy to go to if you need answers or need to know how to get into dangerous places.   (much brighter) And he’s also the comic relief!  He can cushion the blow of an otherwise dramatic situation.

MS:  What attracted you to the project?
TMJ:  The sci-fi aspect definitely attracted me to the project.  I’m a big sci-fi buff so as soon as I saw the word “spacecraft” I just said “sign me up!”  (laughs)  I also love the comedic aspect within the drama.  I love drama and sci-fi so to be able to play a comedic role within that?  What a dream come true.  I definitely was on board.

MS:  You really do a little bit of everything.  You act, you sing, you dance.  Do you have a preference among your talents?  Is there a dream project out there?
TMJ:  I really don’t have a preference.  I’m very content with both acting and music.  A dream project would probably be….you know, “Glee” pretty much touched everything that I love to do so in a way I’ve already done the musical dream project.  As far as the acting side goes, it’s probably to be able to do a film with Will Smith.  Of course, that’s probably everybody’s dream!  (laughs)

MS:  I know one of your fellow “Warblers,” Darren Criss has appeared on Broadway (Criss took a break from “Glee” to star in the musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”).  And desires to tread the boards?
TMJ:  Oh yeah.  I would love to be able to appear on Broadway one day.  I love the stage.  I love theater acting and I love musical theater.  That would be an honor.  I’ve thought about that before, but when I did that dream seemed so farfetched that I didn’t consider it for a while.  But now I think it would be amazing to one day jump into a great role.  I need to get a little older so I can jump into a good role in “The Lion King.”

MS:  As “Glee” prepares for its final season next year, do you know if there are any plans to have “the Warblers” return?
TMJ:  I definitely think so.  I haven’t heard much since I’ve been filming “Star-Crossed,” but I do keep in contact with a lot of the other guys and there is always hearsay about us coming back for a “competition” episode or some kind of dramatic moment.  Of course they never get confirmed.  But that’s the great thing about Ryan (Murphy, the creator of “Glee”).  He’s always willing to bring back fan favorites so I think there is a huge chance “the Warblers” will be back.

MS:  What else do you have coming up?
TMJ:  Other than waiting for “Star-Crossed” to air I’m going to dive back into music for awhile while we’re on our break.  I’ll be recording an EP down the road here so for me music is still doing well.

Dawn Wells is best known for her role as Mary Ann Summers, the young girl from Winfield, Kansas that takes an ill fated three hour cruise and ends up stranded on “Gilligan’s Island.”

Born in Reno, Nevada, Ms. Wells represented the state in the 1960 Miss America Pageant. She studied theater at the University of Missouri. After graduation she headed to Hollywood. In 1964 she won the role she is most identified with, Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island.” Following the show’s cancellation in 1967, she continued to work in television, appearing on such popular shows as “The Invaders,” “The Wild, Wild West” and “Bonanza.” She also appeared in a pair of films directed by Charles B. Pierce: “Windtalker” and ”The Town That Dreaded Sundown.”

She has continued to work steadily and can now be seen in the new Jason Lockhart comedy, “Silent But Deadly.” To promote her appearance, Ms. Wells sat down recently with Media Mikes to talk about her new film, her love of theatre and what Mary Ann has planned for the 50th Anniversary of “Gilligan’s Island.”

Mike Smith: Hello from Kansas City, just 3 hours north of Winfield, Kansas!
Dawn Wells: And an hour and a half west of where I went to college in Columbia, Missouri.
MS: M-I-Z Z-O-U
DW: (laughing) that’s it!

MS: Can I ask what attracted you to the film?
DW: Well, I’ve never played a grandmother. I’ve never played an elder role on film at all so I thought it would be fun. And I love the idea of supporting new talent. I thought it was cleverly written, the cast was great and I really enjoyed liked the idea of working with Jason. I’m at that stage in my life where I’m not trying to build a career. I get to do what I enjoy. I enjoyed it when I read it so I took the shot. I loved it.

MS: A few of your co-stars in the film are, like yourself, well known television personalities. Were you able to spend some time on the set talking about your various experiences on the small screen?
DW: Surprisingly, when you’re shooting on set there really isn’t a lot of free time to chat. We did get to know each other during rehearsals, of course. And after we finished filming. I’ve stayed close to many of them. Of course, Lee Meriwether and I both share the Miss America pageant together. And many of them I had worked with in the past on television.

MS: You’ve done everything – film, television, theatre – do you have a preference?
DW: I do enjoy acting in movies but I’ve always loved theatre best. I love the rehearsal time. I love having a live audience and being able to read an audience. I’ve had the chance to play so many interesting roles on stage.

MS: As a follow up, as an actor is it preferable to do a character on stage, where with each performance you can continue to discover your character or film, where you’re often pressed for time so you have to go by your instincts?
DW: Good point. On film you are rushed for time and many times you’ll finish a scene, move on and then think to yourself that there was something else you could have given during that scene. One main difference is reaction. If you’re doing a film, let’s say during the scene someone tips a cup over. Not a problem, you just do it again. On stage, you have to improvise. Let’s say I have a scene where I’m supposed to walk across the stage, grab a vase and toss it out a window. So I make my entrance, cross the stage and discover the vase is not there. You’re in the middle of the performance (laughs)…what can you do? Do I find something else to pick up? Do I walk off stage, grab the vase and then come back in? All those things go through your mind. It’s like a football game. You’ve got the play and you’ve got the play clock in your head. Theatre definitely keeps you on your toes because nothing is perfect. There’s really no such thing as a perfect performance. I remember George C. Scott once said, “you’re doing 8 performances a week. If you get 3 of them in a row good, that’s a miracle.”

MS: 2014 marks the 50th Anniversary of “Gilligan’s Island.” Are there any celebrations or gatherings currently planned that you might be taking part in?
DW: 50 years. Sadly I just returned from Russell Johnson’s funeral (NOTE: Johnson played “The Professor” on the popular show). I still catch the show on occasion. Simple and funny and in black and white. Alan Hale and Jim Backus. It was such a joy. It came out during some tough times in the 1960s, when the country was having some very tough times. And I think we helped people laugh.

MS: “Gilligan’s Island” and the Beatles. You both kept America going.
DW: (laughs)
DW: I’m not aware of any celebrations yet but I do have a book coming out in September. I’m just finishing up the last chapter. It’s kind of a “What Would Mary Ann Do?” Remember, when we were dropped off on the island there was no birth control (laughs). Mary Ann got the most fan mail. Everyone loved her. And I feel that she was the rudder. The book is funny…it has a lot of my advice. I’m not sure about the title yet. I don’t know if it will be “Mary Ann: Good Girl” or “What Would Mary Ann Do?” but I do know it will be fun.

MS: What else do you have coming up?
DW: Well, I’m finishing my book. I’m also going to be doing the play “Steel Magnolias” in North Carolina this March. I’m working on a documentary. This is going to be a very busy year for me.

Despite a successful career that had started almost a decade earlier, actress Vera Farmiga didn’t become a household name until her appearance as the psychiatrist caught in the middle in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar winning Best Picture “The Departed.” In 2010 she earned Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe Award nominations for her supporting turn opposite George Clooney in “Up in the Air. Since then she has starred in such films as “Source Code” and “The Conjuring.” She is also taking on another iconic role, that of Norma Bates, mother of young Norman, in the A&E series “Bates Motel.” As the second season approaches (it begins on March 3) Farmiga took some time to answer some questions about her preparation for the role, her family’s possible obsession with dark material and the rarity of having a second season while working in episodic television.

Mike Smith: Do you know quite a bit of the story line ahead of time? If so, do you like having that knowledge or would you rather be surprised as you go along?
Vera Farmiga: I’m still figuring what it is that is part of my process. You know, I’ve never had the luxury of a second season. I’ve done three series before and they all never had the opportunity to go beyond 13 episodes in the first season. So I know the first season I did feel a little disabled. Not that I couldn’t act… but I remember (writer) Carlton Cuse asking me “do you want some more clues?” And I wanted to sort of take it an episode at a time and not get ahead of myself. For me it was impossible to dig as deep initially with the root of this new character. I just had to – like it was like I felt like Norman Bates was this like huge voluptuous shrub that I just had to trust in this kind of a shallow root system. And sometimes I felt like I was like showing up to fix his toilet and my toolbox has been like packed by the wife. Do you know what I mean? I just reveled in the opportunity of a second season – television is a much slower process to discovering that background history, the personality, the psychology, the characters and their goals. And there were so many unknowns. And also, the cast is so much closer. There’s an intimacy. There’s a level of like sportsmanship now that we can throw harder jabs at each other. It’s the deeper level of trust that has been – and loved. It’s been established between us and the writers and between the actors. But, yes, for the second season I did ask for more clues. And I wantedto – I wanted to have the trajectory of the second season. I wanted to have more answers at the start, which I was provided with. So I think you’re in for a better second season.

MS: What is it that has been attracting you to more intense and scarier roles – “The Conjuring”…obviously the subject matter in “Bates Motel.” Is it in the blood? You’re sister Taissa is now on “American Horror Story.”
VF: Oh my God, you know, it’s like my own beautiful internal logic about why I choose to participate. Or I think actually the projects choose us. But why like there’s this magnetism oftentimes with dark subject matters is like… I don’t know. And actually to be honest with you, I do – I find dark stories uplifting. I think it’s like during the darkest moments of our lives that we see the light, right. There is a lot of darkness in “Bates Motel,” but again, there’s a lot of joy. I always look at things. And I choose to look at it through the lens of positivity. And I think our story is, yes it’s a story about dysfunction. It’s dark. But it’s a story about commitment and love and family and resilience and loyalty. I look at Taissa in “American Horror Story” and I just think, you know – I’m bias – you know, I’m practically her mother. And she’s just like this bright supernova that shines even brighter in the dark. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because our childhoods were so straight and narrow and full of light and love and goodness. I don’t know. Maybe that’s why we veer toward them more. But the object is to send light into the darkness you know, I mean that’s how I always look at it. So I am attracted to the sordid and the wacky, the unorthodox. But I love infusing it with lightness.

MS: When you first took on the role, were you worried before Seasons 1 how it would work setting it in the modern day? And why is it you think it does work so well?
VF: You know, I think – yes. I’d be lying if I didn’t have some reservation about it when I initially was presented with the offer. I thought there were so many things that can go wrong. And where we are being tethered, you know, we’re borrowing these characterizations or these plots points from like the most successful horror film ever. And that’s why that is a tall order but then it became to me simply a story – at the heart of the story it is this relationship between mother and son. But I didn’t feel any sort of pressure because everything that we knew about Norma Bates was through the fractured psyche of Anthony Perkins’ Norman.

MS: You’ve noted that what the audience “knows” about Norma came through the eyes of Anthony Perkins. Of course, that also means that the audience knows how Norma ends up. I know you are, in parts, trying to be faithful to the original film but, that being said, could you have another potential outcome for her? And if so, does this affect the way the character is written or how you portray her?
VF: The writers have always seen this as a strange love story between this mother and a son. And I don’t mean, you know, incest love. But it’s intense. And it’s…I mean it has to go in a certain direction. The relationship you see in the film, she’s very much portrayed as one type of person. And you don’t ever get to know that in her workings of how it got there, which is really fun in the film. I mean it’s great. And it’s a big surprise when you find out in the film. But here you get the luxury of taking that mess and putting it under a microscope and examining it and wondering how it got there and what the permutations were. And was there anything in at that wasn’t just ugliness because in the film, you know, she’s portrayed as a very abusive, harsh kind of ugly parent and it’s like, okay, well everyone gets mad at their parents sometimes. I mean everyone – every teenager in the world says I hate you. And they don’t hate them. It’s like the parent is such a complex thing to a kid. So it really was just, you know, it’s the love story of those two people and how they get to that place. And what it means and what that looks like. And it’s going to be amazing.

Back in 2006, the Independent Spirit Awards changed up their trophy system. Before 2006, winners at the awards show would receive an acrylic glass pyramid containing suspended shoestrings that symbolized the thin budget that independent movies would typically have to work with. They then changed it up to show a bird sitting atop of a pole with that the pole wrapped in shoestrings. So obviously the next logical step would be giving the winners a living, breathing bird. Right? Well that’s the plan at this year’s 29th annual awards. The host, Patton Oswald, was able to talk with me and other reporters at a press conference, to go over his avian stunt, comedic or not, as well as talk about what an honor it is to host this prestigious event.

Patton Oswalt is very familiar with the awards process. His first hosting duties were at the 39th annual Annie Awards where he was quick on his feet, especially when something went wrong, “I’m gonna be very, very aware if somebody reads the wrong cards. He read the wrong winner and I’ll try once again try to make a screw-up like that be delightful.” Even though he’s well known as a stand-up comedian, Patton has received recognition for his acting abilities throughout the years. Many people will remember him as the voice of Remy in “Ratatouille”, but his most recent portrayal as Matt Freehauf in “Young Adult,” landed him the New York Film Critics award for best supporting actor. So it’s understandable that Patton Oswalt would be ready to host the Independent Spirit Awards, but not a lot of hosts spend their time leading up to the awards preparing themselves for birds. but that’s what he’s been doing.

“I feel pretty ready. I’ve been down to the park a lot, chasing them around, yelling at them, so we’ll see,” Patton said jokingly. There should be no worries among animal activists or organizations. Patton says the birds will be well taken care of. The real challenge for him however, may actually be having to be around a bird, “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I have a paralyzing fears of birds…I don’t think it’ll affect my performance.” Patton says he wasn’t sure what kind of birds they would have though. Or even if they would be different for each nomination. He was sure that the winners would actually be able to keep their feathered prize, “They can keep them, they can set them free. Trust me, I know actors, I know directors, there’s all kinds of things they could do with birds, some I would rather not go into.” Patton said the birds will be cage free and actually be handled by the presenters and winners. With fears extinguished, Patton returned to the jokes by reassuring everyone that if anyone’s award…I mean bird…died days, months, or years later, the contingency plan would be to give the winner a baby cougar as a replacement.

It’s not odd for a comedian to host the Independent Spirit Awards. Previous hosts have included, Sarah Silverman, Steve Coogan and Eddie Izzard. When putting the jokes aside and getting to the meat of the night, anyone would gladly tell you they really look at the Independent Spirit Awards as a venue to see some great future filmmakers and actors as well as those who are deserving of some praise. Patton was no different. He really divulged a deep passion and appreciation for the awards, “For me, being the kind of film buff I am, this award show digs pretty deep into trying to find movies that took risks and rolled the dice. It rewards people that are clearly emerging that are going to be doing great stuff with their careers. What I also love is that they keep an eye open for veterans like Robert Redford and Bruce Dern who continue to take risks and seek out challenging, different material.”

Patton further proved his love for movies by rattling off some of his favorites at this year’s awards and he was not short of praise, “The crop of films they sent me was pretty stunning. ‘The Spectacular Now’ I thought was fantastic. I hope ‘Enough Said’ wins everything it gets nominated for. The documentary ‘The Act of Killing,’ I thought it was crucial. Hard to watch, but crucial. I really hope that Bruce Dern wins for ‘Nebraska’ because I thought he was just amazing. That guy’s had awards coming for a long time in my opinion, so that would be great.” Patton says he’s spent plenty of time catching up on movies and says that he was able to catch other award nominees like “Dallas Buyer’s Club,” “Short Term 12,” and the documentary “Computer Chess.”

With millions of viewers still choosing to watch the Oscars this year, it only seemed fitting that the last question for Patton Oswalt would be if the Independent Spirit Awards is a good predictor for the Academy. He didn’t shy away from the question, “I think it goes beyond that. I think that the Independent Spirit Awards are an important predictor of who you’re going to be rooting for in the Oscars, like ten years down the road. That’s what makes it so exciting for me, that this is like giving an award to Martin Scorsese in 1971 for ‘Who’s Knocking On My Door.’ You’re seeing people at the beginning of their, I’m going to use the word journey, but it really is. These are the future masters that you’re watching when they’re young and it makes it that much more crucial and stressful for me. I really want to do well by these guys because these are the people that are going to be making movies down the road that we’re going to be fighting over at the Oscars.”

For those interested (and how can you not be?), you can catch the 29th Annual Independent Spirit Awards on IFC, Sunday, March 1st. The fun begins at 10 p.m. EST/PST.

Don Jamieson is a veteran stand-up comedian who can be seen weekly on VH1 Classics popular television series “That Metal Show”. Along with co-host Jim Florentine and Eddie Trunk the trio spread the word of all things metal while incorporating in studio interviews with everyone from Zakk Wylde to Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. Media Mikes spoke with Don recently about his work on the show and about his upcoming comedy album titled “Hell Bent for Laughter”.

Adam Lawton: How did you first get connected with Eddie Trunk?
Don Jamieson: Jim Florentine and I were fans of Eddie’s radio show which is on here in the NY/NJ area. We usually always listened to his show on our way back from some awful comedy gig that was out in the middle of nowhere that we didn’t get paid for. The only solace we would have from those crappy gigs back in the day was to get in to the “Trunk Zone”. On his show Eddie would talk about all the bands that we grew up listening to and really loved. Eddie was just like as so we had to meet him. Today they call it stalking (laughs) but we basically just walked around some shows until we found him and we all ended up becoming best friends. It’s great to all be working together on the VH1 Classic show.

AL: What were the first ideas mentioned about doing the show?
DJ: After we had become friends with Eddie he would have us on his radio show as guests and we were basically doing what would become the television show however on the radio at that time. We just talked about music and sat in when there were guests. We broke each other’s balls then just like we do now and there was some good chemistry there. We figured we would try and find someone crazy enough to put this on television.

AL: What has fan reception been like since returning to New York for season 13?
DJ: We loved doing the show in Los Angeles and being recognized while walking up and down the Sunset Strip was pretty. However were all East Coast guys and we missed taping in New York. I look out in to the audience there and see a lot of the same people who I used to see at L’Amour’s in Brooklyn in 1986. It really is a lot of fun.

AL: Did the push to move back to NY come from you guys or from the fans?
DJ: The network controls everything. We may seem like we are in control of stuff but really we have less control than the Amish. (Laughs)

AL: You guys always seem to be having fun in front of the camera but can you tell us what it’s like behind the scenes?
DJ: There is a lot of farting going on. Not much else goes on other than listening to music while crop dusting one another. (Laughs) We usually go over notes a little bit but with all three of us being metal heads now for 35/40 years it’s easy for us to sit down and have a conversation with one another along with our guest/guests. We like to just try and stay loose. We break each other’s balls and have a good time while talking about music.

AL: Has there been one guest in particular that has stuck out as a personal favorite of yours?
DJ: There has been a bunch. I will always love the stuff we did with Brian Johnson, Lemmy and Alice Cooper. I love the classic guys as those are the bands I came up with. Lemmy is seriously like my idol! I wish he would have adopted me. As far as the television show goes I love guests who are very outspoken and who tell it like it is. The season we had Ted Nugent on and to me that’s the ultimate guest. That guy holds nothing back and shoots straight from the hip. Sometimes guys like that can be polarizing but at the same time you know you are going to watch. You can’t wait to see what they are going to say next.

AL: How much of the show would you say is scripted?
DJ: We never plan what we are going to say to one another. That was the tuff part about putting the show together was how three people were going to interview one guest. Luckily we had worked out some of those kinks on the radio over the years. I can look out the corner of my eye and see if Jim or Eddie has a question they want to ask. We have some good non-verbal cues of how we are going to sort things out. We are fans just like the people watching so the questions we ask aren’t scripted. Hopefully we are asking the stuff that fans like us want to know. My favorite interviews are always the ones where you don’t get to the questions you want to ask because things ended up going a totally different but cool way. We just save those questions for when the guest comes back next time.

AL: Can you tell us about some of the things you have going on outside of the show?
DJ: I have my second stand-up album coming out March 18th on Metal Blade Records and it’s called “Hell Bent for Laughter”. This is my second album with them and I did a lot of hard rock and metal jokes as compared to my last album. That has become such a big part of my life and it would be hard to get up on a stage and not talk about that stuff.

AL: Being that you have pretty close ties to the hard/rock metal community do you find yourself checking your material on that subject a little more now than in the past?
DJ: If something gets a laugh on stage I am going to keep doing it. When I did the Orion Festival with Metallica I did some jokes about them with James and Lars right there. If the jokes funny it’s funny and it’s nothing for anyone to get offended by. I think most people know that this stuff comes from the heart. When you are with your buddies you break each other’s balls. That’s how you show affection for one another. You never say just go up to your buddy and say “I love you” unless your drunk in a bar somewhere. (Laughs) You bust on them for 10 minutes and they know you care.

AL: You and the other guys from the show have started doing some live shows together. Do you have any of those coming up in the near future?
DJ: Jim, Eddie and I go out and do these really fun stage shows. Eddie tells a bunch of hilarious rock and roll stories and Jim and I will do some stand-up. We also do some Q&A with the audience which is a lot of fun. Sometimes we bring up special guests if the situation occurs. If people want to find out where we are going to be they can check out my website at www.donjamieson.com or Follow me on Twitter @realdonjamieson

DISNEY JUNIOR/RICK ROWELL

Lucas Grabeel is known best for his role of Ryan Evans in the “High School Musical” series. Lucas is currently voicing the character Deputy Peck in Disney Junior’s newest series “Sheriff Callie’s Wild West”. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Lucas about the new show and what we can expect.

Mike Gencarelli: What do you enjoy most about being on a show like “Sheriff Callie’s Wild West”?
Lucas Grabeel: I have done a few voice-over guest spots here and there on other TV shows but this is my first series regular position on an animated series. I was a little nervous at first since I had never done something like this on a day-to-day basis. I had all this dialogue, singing and playing multiple characters. I was worried about it at first but I ended up working with Jessica DiCicco, who is a voice-over veteran and she taught me so much. She made me comfortable. Once we got in the studio, we were having fun and laughing. Due to that it was such a great experience and was so much fun. On the flip side, once it was all done and we started watching it, I was just blown away how quite the animation is, how clever the writing is and how everything just came together. It is not only a great show for kids; I sit down with my girlfriend as well and watch it. I am a little biased being in it but we laugh and have a good time.

DISNEY JUNIOR

MG: Where did you come up with the voice for Deputy Peck?
LG: They said in the audition that he was a Barney Fife kind of deputy. It is a country western. I am originally from Missouri. So I basically did an impersonation of my dad and I put it up a couple of octaves. This gave him that high energy frantic feel.

MG: There is tons of great music in the show, what has been your favorite song?
LG: I love getting to sing on the show. Jessica and I also get to do the prairie dog trio, which is kind of my favorite part of the whole job [laughs]. They are just so adorable and funny that I always laugh. We have been recording it for the last two years but the song always pops back into my head is [singing as Peck] “Those peppers, those peppers, those peppers can’t be beat!” I do not know why but it always comes back [laughs].

MG: Tell us about the recording sessions? Are the song recordings separate?
LG: I was always recording with Jessica. So we would come in and record a couple of episodes during each session, the prairie dog songs along with probably two or three songs as well. We would do the episode first then go through and do the music. It was tons of fun. Being with Jessica and the whole group in the booth, everyone was just so nice to calm me down and allow me to get into this comfortable place. We would just laugh and have so much fun the whole time. It is such a great job.

DISNEY JUNIOR

MG: What was your biggest challenge for this role?
LG: This is my most put-on voice that I have ever done. All of the other voices I have done were closer to my natural voice. Doing a voice with the dialogue is one thing but trying to figure out how to sing, laugh, run and yell all together is the part of voice over that I didn’t understand at first. But that is what this whole experience has taught me. It was cool to approach it like acting. You become the character and then think through and put your head into that space and see how it should come together.

MG: What can you tell us about the new single “135n8”?
LG: I just released the single “135n8” on New Year’s Day. It is currently available on iTunes. It is a loungey dance track that I have been working on for a while. The video just came out February 11th on Billboard and it is also available now on my new YouTube channel. I will also be releasing some cool behind-the-scenes videos and featurettes in the coming weeks as well. It was a really cool experience to make the video because I got together some “High School Musical” people including dancers, choreographers and crew. We just came together and I said “Let’s make something exciting and push each other”. I think we did it and I am really excited about the video and I hope that people like it also.

In the last few weeks, we have been getting a chance to meet the new characters from Disney XD’s “Star Wars Rebels” including Chopper, the Grumpy Astromech Droid; Kanan, the Cowboy Jedi; Ezra, the Street-Smart Hero; Zeb, the Muscle; Sabine, the Explosive Artist; and Hera, the Pilot. This is really shaping up to be a really cool cast of new characters.

“Star Wars Rebels” is scheduled to premiere in fall 2014 as a one-hour special telecast on Disney Channel and will be followed by a series on Disney XD channels around the world.

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Meet Chopper, Grumpy Astromech Droid

In “Star Wars,” droids are always eager to help out their human masters, drop whatever it is they’re doing when called upon, and sometimes even sacrifice themselves to save others. Right?

Not quite. Introducing Chopper, a lazy, cranky (if ultimately goodhearted) astromech droid, and the latest character revealed from the highly anticipated “Star Wars Rebels” animated series.

“If Artoo is the family dog,” said Dave Filoni, executive producer of the show, “Chopper is the cat.” Chopper is an essential crew member of the Ghost, tasked with keeping the starship running and operable for its band of heroes. In reality, thanks to his many “unique” upgrades and customizations, no other alien, human, or droid could handle the job.

The design of Chopper, a.k.a. C1-10P, takes cues from early Ralph McQuarrie concept art for R2-D2, especially the expressive arms that fold out of his head. As “Star Wars Rebels” takes place four years prior to the events of “Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,” Chopper’s retro look creates an aesthetic continuity with droids of the original trilogy.

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Meet Kanan, the Cowboy Jedi

Not every guardian of peace and justice was lost to the tragedy of Order 66. Introducing Kanan, a survivor of the Emperor’s Jedi purge and one of the main characters of Star Wars Rebels.

Kanan, voiced by Freddie Prinze, Jr., is a less traditional Force-wielder than fans are used to seeing. He carries a blaster, is a little sarcastic, and keeps his past a secret. “I like to call Kanan ‘the cowboy Jedi,’” says executive producer Dave Filoni. As shown in this video, his Jedi robes are long gone, replaced with armor and a holster, though a samurai-like ponytail hints at his Jedi Knight origins.

In Star Wars Rebels, set between Episode III and IV, Kanan has been underground for years, evading the Empire. If the Imperials become aware of his existence “he’s going to get killed,” says art director Kilian Plunkett. He still has his lightsaber, but no longer uses it for fear of revealing his true identity — and has ultimately forsaken the ways of the Jedi Order.

Star Wars Rebels will show Kanan’s journey as he rediscovers himself, just as a rebellion begins to form against the Empire. According to Filoni, “He’s a gunslinger that needs to put the gun away and pick up the sword again, and fight for noble causes and selfless causes.” But what will happen when he chooses to reignite his Jedi weapon, fighting once again for a greater purpose?

The video closes with a tease of what’s to come: an encounter with the nightmarish Inquisitor, the Empire’s Jedi hunter.

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Meet Ezra, the Street-Smart Hero

In Star Wars Rebels, fans will see the rise of the Rebellion through Ezra: a 14-year-old con artist who learns to fight for a greater good. The seemingly-reluctant hero is revealed

Growing up on his own in the age of the Empire, Ezra has had to rely on his wit and cunning to get by. As voice actor Taylor Gray explains, “He’s very street-smart, he’s a pickpocket, he’s a little thief. But he’s doing it all because he needs to survive.”
Executive producer Dave Filoni adds that Ezra is not a bad kid. Although he may enjoy stealing from the Empire, his behavior has been influenced by the world around him – a world that is under Imperial control.

But his hard life has also made his world smaller. “He doesn’t really trust anyone,” says Rayne Roberts, creative executive of Star Wars Rebels. “That’s kind of his motto in life. He has that hard edge at times.” When audiences first meet Ezra, he is not yet a Rebel and is not yet interested in restoring freedom to the galaxy – but that will soon change when Ezra is introduced to his new surrogate family: the crew of the Ghost.

Greg Weisman, executive producer, says, “His eyes get opened to the fact that there are people who care, who are trying to fight the good fight. And he becomes one of them.” Still, there is more to Ezra than even he knows.

Ezra is Force-sensitive, Filoni reveals, though he is unaware that he is tapping into this mystical energy field. Ezra knows he has some strange abilities, but they’re “instinctive and reactionary.” It is only through his relationship with Kanan, a Jedi Survivor and crew member of the Ghost, that Ezra will learn the true nature of his power. Together, they will forge new paths and destinies – and a rebellion will rise.

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Meet Zeb, the Muscle

Every team needs a tough guy. Introducing Zeb, the (smart) muscle of the Ghost crew from Lucasfilm’s upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels. He is revealed for the first time in this video, featuring concept art, clay sculpts, and final renderings of the character, in addition to creator interviews.

Zeb is a well-trained honor guard and is highly educated, according to executive producer Dave Filoni, which juxtaposes his brutish, alien appearance. He’s voiced by Steve Blum, who says, “He’s got a bit of a chip on his shoulder, hates Chopper and is starting to build a relationship with Ezra, begrudgingly.”

Zeb’s favorite pastime: beating up Stormtroopers, or bucket heads, as he’s heard calling them. He’s an agile fighter, using his hands, feet, and acrobatics. But there is more to Zeb than pounding Imperials. “It’s just going to be exciting to develop him and his bizarre new species,” says Filoni, “and to explain to the audience where he came from.”

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Meet Sabine, the Explosive Artist

Sabine is a key member of the Ghost crew in Star Wars Rebels. As seen in this special video, featuring early design concepts, animation tests, and final art, Sabine is unlike any Star Wars character – especially in her love for blowing things up and tagging her work with graffiti.

Dave Filoni, executive producer of the animated series, discloses that Sabine is a Mandalorian. She has a great understanding of weapons and combat like few others, and has turned against the Empire. “She is spunky, she’s feisty, she’s got a little bit of attitude,” says actress Tiya Sircar, who is voicing the character. Additionally, Sabine is an artist, which is reflected in her hair, personalized armor, and graffiti calling cards. After the Ghost crew hits the Empire, Sabine makes sure the Empire knows who did it. Concept artist Amy Beth Christenson says that the Star Wars Rebels animation team has created a library of graffiti tags for Sabine, and is constantly adding to it.

In the end, Sabine is a strong, no-nonsense heroine. As Sircar says, “I think she’s kind of an inspiration.”

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Meet Hera, the Pilot

Hera is the heart of the Ghost crew from Star Wars Rebels. The Twi’lek is an ace pilot, able fighter, and is revealed to fans in this behind-the-scenes video featuring creator interviews, character sketches, and animation previews.

Hera is voiced by Vanessa Marshall, and is an especially gifted pilot. “I think she really makes flying the Ghost look easy,” says Joel Aron, CG supervisor. And while she’s strong-willed, Hera also keeps the group together, and can be warm and nurturing. “She knows how to talk to them to get the best out of themselves and to be part of that team,” Aron says. “That to me is the commander of a ship.”

Hera wears “utilitarian flight gear,” orange in color, with her Twi’lek head-tails hanging down her back. She’s not particularly glamorous, and is just focused on getting the job done. Like every member of the Ghost team, she has her reasons for rebelling against the Empire. Uncovering those reasons will be part of the Star Wars Rebels story, says executive producer Dave Filoni.

“Every time we get a script,” says Marshall, “I am breathless with anticipation. I cannot wait to read what’s next because I want to see where we’re going, too.”

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Meet the Inquisitor, the New Face of Evil

The next great villain from a galaxy far, far away is here. Fans attending Lucasfilm’s Star Wars Rebels panel today at New York Comic Con got the world’s first look at the Inquisitor, a black-clad, intimidating figure who will play a prominent role in the upcoming animated series.

In a new video screened at the end of the panel, Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni officially revealed the character, showing design sketches, a sculpted maquette, and disclosing that the Inquisitor is “tasked by Darth Vader to hunt down the remaining Jedi Knights.”

The panel, hosted by Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo, focused on the Empire and how it is central to the story of Star Wars Rebels. Hidalgo revealed that the series takes place about 14 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, a time in which the Emperor’s rule is secure and the Empire is seeking to expand its power to Outer Rim territories. Further details about the panel can be found on www.starwars.com.

If anything was made clear at today’s panel, it’s that the Empire is back — thanks to Star Wars Rebels.

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Here are some other really cool behind-the-scene look videos from “Star Wars Rebels”

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Photo Credit: truTV

Mark McGrath is known best as the front man of the rock band Sugar Ray. McGrath is also known for his work as a co-host of “Extra”, and he was the host of “Don’t Forget the Lyrics!”. Mark is taking over the role of host in truTV’s hit reality series “Killer Karaoke”, which premieres February 20th. Media Mikes had a chance to chat about the show with Mark and find out what can we expect.

Mike Gencarelli: You are no stranger to hosting; what drew you in for “Killer Karaoke”?
Mark McGrath: It was a slam dunk for me, honestly. It involves performances, karaoke and live animals. That is just the perfect triad for me. I said “I am in! It sounds like a typical night in the 90’s for me” [laughs]. I had seen the show last season and I was a big fan of it as well. It is interesting that when I first saw the show, I thought to myself that it was such a great hosting gig. Then I literally got a call two months later. It was just a no brainer. A good buddy of mine, Tony Yates, is the CEO of the production company, Zodiac and I worked with him before on “Don’t Forget the Lyrics”. I was always impressed with the way that Tony puts a show together. I spoke to Tony and he said the show was “Killer Karaoke” and I said “I’m in! Where do I sign?”

Mike: This show is very funny, I wouldn’t be able to not crack up if I was hosting…
Mark: I knew the show was going to be funny Mike, like I said I’m a fan but I was doubling over in laughter the entire season. I was ruining takes because I would just keep laughing and they would have to start over. It was so funny. The contestants are amazing. I think that the thing I took away most from the show was how funny it actually is watching the show in real-time and that the contestants can really sing. All of them sing better than I do [laughs]. That is the scary part, I am not kidding you! [laughs].

Mike: Tell us about the fresh, new format and how it differs from season one?
Mark: I think they really brought in some geniuses to increase the gameplay and really get you involved with these contestants and get an emotional component for them. The show just seems to have a little more gravitas now. Steve-O hosted the first season (read our interview here) and those were huge shoes to fill. He was a perfect match for this show, so I am honored to take the torch from him and carry on.

Photo Credit: truTV

Mike: What kind of hilarious and unexpected challenges the contestants can we expect from this season?
Mark: I think what is great about this show is that it is all about spontaneity. You never know what is around the corner. The contestants never know what they are facing. But they know that there will be a fear element. One of their biggest fears will be met. You throw a little bit of karaoke in there with a live audience and it is quite the fun afternoon. When you have live animals…you cannot control them. I am looking at the side of the stage and I am seeing 300lb animal handlers. I am wondering “What are those guys for” and then I look around and you see camel heads, snakes and spiders backstage. You just wonder “What are we in for today?” It is fun because you not only have the fear element but it is mixed with the surprise element and the laughter element. You never know what is going to happen. Then on top of all that you have to sing….on key. I think that is what makes this show so great, anything can happen…and it usually does.

Mike: I tell you one thing Mark, in the episode I watched this season, a contestant had to sing in a helmet full of spiders…I do not do spiders man [laughs].
Mark: Listen Mike, I don’t blame you dude. Let’s just say people literally come face to face with their greatest fears. Some of the things that these contestants have to deal with that you wouldn’t think would be to intimidating like Canadian Geese, let’s just say, you would be surprised. If you get two of them together in little pen, they start making these shrieks and it’s crazy. But they are wild animals man and you can’t forget that. These animals get treated really well man. In fact they get treated better than I do man, they kicked me out of my dressing room to bring in the Canadian Geese [laughs]. The earth has provided us with some pretty incredible creatures and “Killer Karaoke” is happy to put them on a TV show.

Photo Credit: truTV

Mike: How do you think you would do if you were put in these contestants’ shoes?
Mark: I am the biggest baby. This is something I found out about doing this show [laughs]. I am afraid of everything. I think “I am a man. I can handle this. I toured in the 90’s. I lived on a bus with 10 guys for 12 years. I HAVE SEEN IT ALL! Bring it on!” But I would never put my hand in a scorpion pit, no matter how much money is attached on the back of the scorpion. I am not grabbing it off the back of the SCORPION! I do not think that there is one challenge that I would do. There is one called “Leader of the Pack”, which is a dog challenge. It is the scariest thing to see those dogs running at you full force. Even with the protective suit on it would be very intimidating. I would be terrible man. I am afraid when I see a cockroach at night and I run. I am not kidding you. [laughs].

Mike: Lastly, on a musical note; please tell me you are planning to come back to the Eat to the Beat Concert series during Epcot International Food and Wine Festival this year?
Mark: Oh Mike, that is one of the things that I look forward to most all year. I have had the good fortune of playing there four years in a row now. It is interesting, when I first started playing my wife was pregnant and now last year, I brought my kids up on the stage, which is so cool for me. It is so much fun. I love coming down to Disney World for a week and spending the time with the kids and just having fun during the day and then getting to play three shows at night to some killer crowds. It is so much fun. So I am standing by the phone and I hope to be there again this year!

Created by: Nic Pizzolatto
Directed by: Cary Fukunaga
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Potts, Tory Kittles
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 60 minutes
Premiered: January 12, 2014

Episode 1: 3 out of 5 stars
Episode 2: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Episode 3: 3 out of 5 stars
Episode 4: 3.5 out of 5 stars

“True Detective” follows two Louisiana State Police Criminal Investigations Division homicide detectives as they hunt for a serial killer across seventeen years. The show flips back and forth between 1995 and 2012. There are extended flashbacks used with Det. Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Det. Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) being interviewed separately and are the grounds for the whole story. I liked the fact that “True Detective” takes the approach of a mini-series, which is becoming a popular format after shows like “American Horror Story”.

The show is very dialogue heavy and character driven. It is also edgy and quite provocative. I am a big fan of director Cary Fukunaga (2010’s “Jane Eyre”). I think he has a great vision for this show and he really does great things with this mini-series. Louisiana is also used almost as another character and intertwines well with the characters and the story. The performances are not good but quite amazing. We all know that McConaughey and Harrelson are great actors but these roles are perfect for them and they simply nail it.

The first episode of “True Detective” is spent introducing us to characters of Cohle and Hart. We start with them getting the case for the ritualistic murder of a former prostitute. Their investigation for the case is started and we get the lowdown. The story is well setup here and I liked the characters. I find that I don’t like a show’s characters I usually do not enjoy the show no matter how good. I think though there could have been a little more added to this episode since I was left wanting a little more…but I guess that was the point.

The second episode really get deeper into both McConaughey and Harrelson’s characters. You start to learn a lot about them and some of their secrets. The story starts getting some steam and you are drawn into trying to figure out what is going on and where they are going with this show. This episode also has Alexandra Daddario (“Texas Chainsaw 3D”) and she is quite a sight. After the first episode, I have to admit, I wasn’t really racing to place the next right away. After this one, I immediately had to watch episode three.

Episode three really gives deeper into our characters. We learn more of their flaws and their unique views on the world. There are some interesting details of the investigation revealed in this episode. There is also a bit of tension revealed between the two partners, which gives an interesting dynamic. Hart also experiences some relationship issues (and I am sure it is not the end of it either). There was some decent reveal about the investigation in this episode as they track the killer. Thought it ran a little slow compared to the first two episodes, it was equal with the first episode.

Episode four is packed with tension between Hart and his wife, as well as investigation details. It also goes deeper into Cohle’s issue with drugs and his background. I love the dialogue in this episode, not that it is weaker in earlier episodes but this particular episode is really sharp. I liked seeing the partners team up and work together closely. Another aspect of love about this show is the car drives. They always seem to have these deep conversations while driving and McConaughey leaves you speechless. This was probably my favorite of the four episode to date. Let’s just say shit goes down and it is quite freaking intense!

So I found that I am not completely in love with this show but with these performances and the Louisiana feel, I am hooked. There is something very simple about it that draws you in. It is very slow-moving but I am sure that there is going to be a solid payoff worth waiting for. I am dying to see where they are going to go with the remaining episodes. In fact, I can’t believe we are already half-way through the series but I am in and very anxious to see where we go from here.

You may not know the name Bill Farmer but you will certainly know his voice. He has been voicing Goofy and Pluto for nearly 30 years and was named a Disney Legend in 2009. Bill also has voiced tons of other notable characters including Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester the Cat and Yosemite Sam in the film “Space Jam”.  Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Bill about his voice roles and what we can expect from the new Disney Junior series “The 7D”.

Mike Gencarelli: You’ve been voicing Goofy and Pluto for nearly 30 years; what is it like hold these reigns for so long?
Bill Farmer: I think for any voice actor you can consider it a great honor to get a long lasting character. It is very competitive out here. Especially to get one of the Disney characters, I think it is one of the highest honors you can get in animation. Goofy was also my favorite Disney character growing up as a kid, which only made it that much sweeter that I ended up voicing him all these years.

MG: Do you feel that voicing characters like Goofy have changed for you the years?
BF: Voicing Goofy has certain changed my LIFE for the better. I first came to California as a stand-up comic. I had no idea that I would be voicing a character like Goofy. The audition came to me and it was very out of left field. I got a tape of Pinto Colvig and practiced it over the weekend. Then I went in and laid it down at the agency and about a month later they told me that I was going to get to do a Goofy job. I didn’t know if it was going to be more than one but after 27 years they are still using me. So (in Goofy’s voice) “Gawrsh, I guess I got lucky”.

MG: You are named a “Disney Legend” five years ago; tell us about receiving this amazing achievement?
BF: This actually came out of left field also; I had no idea that I was even being considered for this. I got a letter from Bob Iger in the mail saying “Congratulations on being nominated for the 2009 Disney Legend Award”. It is the greatest honor you can get from Disney. The ceremony was the first one ever in front of the public at the 2009 D23 event in Anaheim, CA. There were over 500 people in the audience, so that was very exciting. I got to get the award alongside Tony Anselmo, the voice of Donald Duck; Betty White and Robin Williams. It was overwhelming but also very exciting. I guess if you wait around long enough good stuff happens [laughs].

MG: You announced that “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” was canceled on your Twitter page; why did the show end after seven years?
BF: The show isn’t canceled from being on the air but we have finally recorded the last episode. They will still be coming out for a while. I do not even think that they started releasing the fifth season yet. We did record a fifth season but it takes so long for them to animate it. The production has ceased but it will be quite a while before the show runs out of new episodes for TV. We have been on the air consistently since 2006 and we started recording in 2004. So there is always a long lead-in time between recording and seeing it on TV. So don’t worry more is still to come, we just are not making any more.

MG: Can you give us a sneak to what we can expect coming up?
BF: One of my favorites in the last season, we are looking for Goof Beard the Pirate, who is Goofy’s grandfather. He is voiced by Dick Van Dyke. So that is a very exciting episode. And there are plenty more to come.

MG: You are currently also voicing Goofy in “Mickey Mouse” shorts; how does that differ for you?
BF: They are really radical. They are totally going in a different character direction then some of the previous stuff that we’ve done. But they are very funny and it is refreshing as an actor to not have to do the same thing over and over. I find it a lot of fun to do and get to stretch the character to new places that he has never been before.

MG: What other characters do you voice that people may not realize?
BF: Well yes actually, in the movie “Space Jam”, I voiced Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester the Cat and Yosemite Sam. In episodes of “Robot Chicken”, I did Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. We have a new series called “The 7D”, it is like a reinvention of the Seven Dwarfs and in that I voice Doc. With the traditional Seven Dwarfs, I voice Sleepy. Horace Horsecollar got his voice in “The Prince and the Pauper” and I have gotten to voice him ever since. So yeah, there are a lot of little voices that you may not know about that I get to do.

MG: You beat me to it but I was going to ask you about the upcoming Disney Junior show “The 7D”; can you give us a sneak preview?
BF: “The 7D” is directed by Kelly Ward, who directed all six/seven years of “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse”, so I know him very well. Tom Ruegger, who did “Animaniacs”, is the producer. It is kind of a prequel in the way to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. So there is no Snow White. They look much different as well from what you would expect with the classic Dwarfs. They decided to reinvent them since the things that they do are in a more modern fairy tale land. So rather than have the traditional dwarfs change their characters, they started from the ground up and came up with a new incarnation of these dwarfs. They are very well written and we have an amazing cast. It is definitely the who’s who in the voice over world including Maurice LaMarche, Kevin Michael Richardson, Billy West, Scott Menville, Stephen Stanton, Dee Bradley Baker and many more. We just finished recording the first season of 20-30 episodes and it was such a blast. They are being animated as we speak and it should hit the air somewhere around June this year. So I get to voice Doc and also a new dog character named Sir Yips A-lot, which was cool since I go to do more dogs besides just Pluto.

MG: Tell us about your involvement with the documentary “I Know That Voice”?
BF: John DiMaggio put this thing together, who voices Bender on “Futurama” and many other shows like “Adventure Time”. He put this documentary together and asked me if I would be in it. So they came over to the house and filmed for about an hour. They also filmed about another 100 voice over actors. The documentary is wonderful and is really the who’s who in voice over world. So if you ever want to know anything about voice over actors, you can go on iTunes and a few other places and download this documentary since it is really worth seeing.