According to ABC, Combat Hospital is shot on one of the “largest standing sets ever built for a Canadian production.” The 185,000 square foot (17,187 square meters) set was designed to look like the real Canadian-lead NATO Role 3 Hospital at Kandahar Airfield.
The series stars Luke Mably, Terry Chen, Deborah Kara Unger, Elias Koteas, Luke Mably, Arnold Pinnock, Michelle Borth, Karan Oberoi, and Ellen Wong.
Combat Hospital is set to premiere on June 21, 2011.
The Plot:Combat Hospital is a fictional medical procedural set in 2006 at the only military hospital providing advanced surgical care in all of Southern Afghanistan. The series charts the frantic lives of the hospital’s resident doctors and nurses from Canada, America, the U.K., and other allied countries, following them as they navigate the relentless life-and-death battles on the operating table and the never-ending conflicts that arise from working in a war zone military hospital.
If you aren’t a fan of Ewan McGregor – which I have no clue why you wouldn’t be, but to each his or her own – this video of the actor playing with lightsabers might help change your mind. McGregor stopped by The Graham Norton Show on BBC and showed off his lightsaber skills.
Missy Peregrym stars in ABC’s one-hour crime drama Rookie Blue, premiering on June 24, 2010. Morwyn Brebner created the drama and Peregrym leads the cast as Andy McNally, a rookie officer trying to fit in.
Gregory Smith plays Dov Epstein, Charlotte Sullivan is Gail Peck, Enuka Okuma is Traci Nash, Travis Milne is Chris Diaz, Ben Bass is Detective Sam Swarek, and Eric Johnson stars as Detective Luke Callaghan.
The Plot: Take a candid look inside the professional and personal lives of five rookie cops as they navigate their first years on the job in this one-hour drama. During last summer’s premiere season, these rookies hit the streets for the first time with their training officers and learned how to walk the thin blue line.
Now the training wheels are off – more experienced, they’re ready to kick some serious butt. But these rookies are just beginning to realize there are no shortcuts to becoming good at this job. And when you’re a rookie officer, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Ready for more Private Practice? Season five of ABC’s one-hour dramedy is set to premiere on September 29, 2011.
Kate Walsh stars as Addison Forbes, Tim Daly is Dr. Pete Wilder, Audra McDonald plays Dr. Naomi Bennett, and Paul Adelstein is Dr. Cooper Freedman. The cast also includes KaDee Strickland as Dr. Charlotte King, Brian Benben as Dr. Sheldon Walden, Caterina Scorsone as Dr. Amelia Shepherd, Taye Diggs as Dr. Sam Bennett, and Amy Brenneman as Dr. Violet Turner.
The Plot: Having made a home in Los Angeles and among her friends at the practice, renowned neonatal surgeon Addison Montgomery may have at last found true love with fellow doctor and longtime friend Sam. But just as things have become romantic for the two of them, their friends question if their relationship, so complicated by the presence of Sam’s ex — Addison’s best friend, Naomi — has a chance.
Oceanside Wellness’ co-founders, Naomi and Sam, nearly lost their daughter, Maya, in a car accident that took the life of the practice’s own Dell. It was Addison’s surgical talents that saved both Maya and her newborn baby. In the wake of the accident, Naomi focuses on Maya, her grandchild, and on a possible merger between her current practice, Pacific Wellcare, and Oceanside Wellness.
Initially giving up custody of their child to Pete after enduring a near-fatal trauma, Violet has returned more mentally sound and sure of her role as a mother. Having bitterly fought for custody in court, Pete and Violet came through the drama not only ready to co-parent but ready to be with one another. It’s soon after this realization that the two decide to get married and begin a new life together.
At long last, through numerous bumps in the road, break-ups, and make-ups, Charlotte and Cooper are engaged to be married, but the trip to the altar may not be an easy one.
The newest addition to the practice, Dr. Amelia Shepherd, is as gifted a surgeon as her Seattle-based brother, Derek, but is struggling to find herself as she learns to fit in with this close-knit group of surgeons. And Pacific Wellcare psychiatrist Sheldon Wallace is embittered after having pursued many of the women in the practice and come up empty-handed.
The doctors of Oceanside Wellness and Pacific Wellcare work on the most difficult cases, patients whose medical needs often pose moral and ethical dilemmas. Though they may heatedly disagree at work, and though their personal lives may complicate matters, at the end of the day they are the best of friends, always ready to be there for each other.
ABC’s super popular half-hour comedy Modern Family returns for season three on September 21, 2011.
The award-winning series stars Ed O’Neill as Jay, Sofia Vergara as Gloria, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, and Ty Burrell as Phil. Julie Bowen plays Claire, Sarah Hyland is Haley, Rico Rodriguez is Manny, Nolan Gould plays Luke, and Ariel Winter stars as Alex.
The Plot: It seems that today’s families have embraced this particular modern family, which is anything but cookie-cutter and is just as honest and complex as their own. The Pritchett clan has Jay sitting at the head, a true guys’ guy experiencing a bit of a mid-life crisis, has remarried a much younger wife, Gloria, whose passion and loyalty are matched by her 11-year-old son, Manny, a boy wise beyond his years. Blending together into this new family has quite the learning curve with some culture clashes, a few awkward misunderstandings, and plenty of sweet victories along the way.
Jay’s grown daughter, Claire, has her own family. Claire and Phil are the proud parents of three kids with whom they want that open, healthy, honest relationship. It’s not always easy, especially when you have a teenage daughter who’s growing up a little fast, a too-smart-for-her-own-good middle daughter and a scatterbrained boy. On top of that, Phil wants to be the “cool dad,” while Claire is just trying her best to run a tight ship, determined not to let her kids have the rebellious childhood she had.
Claire’s brother and Jay’s grown son, Mitchell, adopted a Vietnamese baby with his partner of five years, Cameron. Opposites attract in this household, with Cameron having a wonderfully big personality and maybe a flare for the dramatic, whereas Mitchell is the more serious of the two. They balance each other out and are doting fathers trying to do their best as new parents.
All of these three families are unique unto themselves, and together they give us an honest and often hilarious look into the sometimes warm, sometimes twisted embrace of the modern family.
NBC’s Grimm is inspired by the Grimm Brother’s Fairy Tales and comes to us from the creative minds behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. David Giuntoli leads the cast as a detective who is shocked to discover mythical creatures are real.
David Giuntoli plays Nick Burkhardt, Russell Hornsby is Hank Griffin, Bitsie Tulloch is Juliette Silverton, and Silas Weir Mitchell stars as Monroe. Reggie Lee is Sgt. Wu, Sasha Roiz plays Captain Sean Renard, Bree Turner is Rosalee Calvert, and Claire Coffee stars as Adalind Schade.
The Synopsis: Remember the fairy tales your parents used to tell you before bedtime? Those weren’t stories — they were warnings. Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli, Turn The Beat Around) thought he prepared himself for the realities of working as a homicide detective until he started seeing things he couldn’t quite explain. When his ailing Aunt Marie (guest star Kate Burton, Grey’s Anatomy) arrives, Nick’s life turns upside down when she reveals they are descendants of an elite group of hunters, also known as “Grimms,” who fight to keep the balance of humanity safe from the supernatural creatures of the world.
As Nick digs deeper into her past, he realizes that he will have to shoulder the responsibility of his ancestors — and contend with a larger-than-life mythology of the Brothers Grimm that is now all too real.
Big & Rich featuring Gretchen Wilson hit the stage for “Fake ID” in this music video from the 2011 remake of Footloose. Starring Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough, Paramount Pictures’ Footloose is set to hit theaters on October 14th.
The Plot: Ren MacCormack (Kenny Wormald) is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior, the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out and Bomont’s local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) responded by implementing ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough) in the process.
Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) joins Matthew MacFadyen, Luke Evans, and Ray Stevenson in the 3D action-adventure film The Three Musketeers, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and set for an October theatrical release. This second trailer released by Summit Entertainment (the studio best known for the Twilight films) shows off the film’s action, letting us see the Musketeers and D’Artagnan sword fighting and otherwise taking on the bad guys.
The Plot: The hot-headed young D’Artagnan (Logan Lerman) joins forces with three rogue Musketeers (Matthew Macfadyen, Luke Evans and Ray Stevenson) in this reboot of Alexandre Dumas’ story. They must stop the evil Richlieu (Christoph Waltz) and face off with Buckingham (Orlando Bloom) and the treacherous Milady (Milla Jovovich).
Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts are in a romantic comedy together and it’s called Larry Crowne. That’s all the marketing you need. Two of Hollywood’s most beloved actors reuniting (if you count Charlie Wilson’s War) and gracing the silver screen with their easy smiles and familiar faces (we’ll get to that in a sec).
There’s already a built-in audience ready to plan their weekend around the film; the actual story and script are almost inconsequential. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what seems to have happened, even with Hanks sitting in the director’s chair and co-writing the screenplay with Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame.
The titular Larry (Hanks) gets let go from his job and told it’s because of the glass ceiling. So Larry enrolls in the local community college, and Mrs. Tainot (Roberts) just so happens to be his teacher (what a surprise!).
Through his unlikely friendship with a young co-ed named Tania (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and after Mrs. Tainot has had enough of her shiftless husband with a fondness for soft-core internet erotica (Bryan Cranston), the pair of them begin to make goo-goo eyes at each other. Cue the instructions in your basic screenwriting 101 handbook and you’ve got yourselves a movie (technically).
On the positive side, some of the supporting cast turn in appealing performances. Mbatha-Raw lights up the screen and her character’s zest for life is infectious. George Takei plays an economics professor and is the only consistent source of laughs in the whole ordeal. And while Pam Grier isn’t given anything to do by the script, just the idea that Foxy Brown could be your teacher is pretty badass.
Other actors don’t do as much to elevate their thinly written characters. Cedric the Entertainer fails to live up to his stage name and instead comes off as a slightly offensive caricature. Taraji P. Henson has nothing to do here but read a dozen lines of poor dialogue and make us marvel at the power Hanks obviously wields behind the scenes to get such a good actress to commit to a thankless part. And the aforementioned Bryan Cranston has his comedic talents completely wasted underneath a shallow attempt to make him unlikeable so no one balks at the idea of the married professor developing feelings for her eager, and oh-so-charming student.
This brings us to the leads; Hanks and Roberts. Visually, there’s something wrong with both of them. Either Hanks has had some plastic surgery done or the lighting and make-up department hate him; and almost every time Roberts is on-screen, she’s shot in a close-up with a super soft focus … only hand-drawn arrows and flashing text could make it more obvious that the goal is to hide any imperfections at whatever cost.
As far as their acting, neither seems to be doing any. At this point in their careers, it appears that being movie stars is enough for them and that they don’t see the point in channeling characters that conflict with audience expectations of who they are in their public life.
Part of this is on them, but much of it comes back to a script that at best can be described as lazy; no one seemed to think that people would care if their relationship was developed and three-dimensional. All that seems to really matter is that audiences get a safe, sterile film and the happy ending they need in order to feel their money was well spent.
By the skin of her teeth, Roberts holds onto a basic likability, and Hanks phones in his effort as if he had a dinner reservation to get to. Without the general appeal of its actors, Larry Crowne would fall flatter than a steamrolled pancake, but if you’re burned out on Tom and/or Julia, this is the last thing you want to see. The whole production lacks inspiration and is only for those out there with a serious addiction to the genre.
GRADE: C-
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual content.
American Idol winner David Cook chatted up his second album, This Loud Morning, with Ann Curry on Today before debuting a single from the upcoming release, “The Last Goodbye.”
