Kate O'Hare's Hot Cuppa TV

Hot Cuppa Radio! 'Shark Tank,' 'Warehouse 13,' Sarah Palin's Future and More...

Click here for my usual Thursday appearance on Shaun Daily's TV Talk show on blogtalkradio.com.

Fortunately, the TV Guide writer ahead of me ran through the Emmy nominations, so Shaun and I could talk about my recent set visits, interviews and blog posts.

And, as always, we answer listener questions (finishing off with one about the future of Alaska's soon-to-be ex-governor).

I come in at about the half-hour mark.

eGuiders Video Pick: 'Python Trek'

Click here for my latest eGuiders video pick, which illustrates what can result from an unholy alliance between "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and the original "Star Trek."

Thom Beers: 'Pitchmen,' 'The Colony,' Sig on 'Dancing With the Stars'

Today's cuppa: espresso

Yesterday, I talked to "Pitchmen" creator Thom Beers of Original Productions, and this Zap2it story was the result.

The upshot is, the Discovery Channel show will go on after the death of Billy Mays (in blue), with Anthony "Sully" Sullivan (in green), Billy Mays III (who's been under Sully's wing, learning the producing and directing side of the infomercial business) and some new faces. But there's one thing that can never be replicated or replaced.

"What's interesting with our Billy Mays, that we just lost," Beers says, "there's something about the absolute pitch of his voice. You sit in a room and literally kids, children, babies, pets, would all perk up and they'd turn to the television.

"Dogs, cats, everybody, didn't matter -- something about the pitch and tone of his voice, literally they turn their heads to that screen. It was the yelling or the frequency. You don't replace that."

As always, Beers -- whose current TV shows include "Deadliest Catch," "Ice Road Truckers" and "Ax Men" -- has plenty of other TV ideas simmering on the stove. The latest to come to the table is "The Colony," premiering Tuesday, July 21, on Discovery.

The reality series takes several people from different backgrounds and with different skill sets and sequesters them inside an abandoned light-industrial area to fend for themselves, as if they were among the few survivors of some sort of devastating plague.

(Click on map for a larger version.)

They have to figure out how to get food, water, electricity, etc., while also protecting themselves from roaming bands of vandals (supplied by the show, not the city of Los Angeles). Beers is in the blue shirt in the center of the group shot below (click for larger version).

"The show, it's just got me, man," Beers says. "Every time I'm sitting down, editing, cutting it together downstairs, you're amazed at the ingenuity and the spirit of these people. What's neat about it to me, here are these guys, I put them in this situation, but they're living it.

"It's not like they go home at 8 o'clock and have dinner with the family. They're living in this nasty, gnarly place, just like you would if something happened. They eat plenty of rats, pigeons and fish from the L.A. River."

(FYI, here's an exhibit about the Los Angeles River. You may decide for yourselves whether any fish from that river would be suitable for human consumption.)

"It's cool," Beers continues, "because they manage to stay on target and build and learn to live without electricity, without running water, without any outside communications. It's pretty amazing."

"The Colony" also points up the value of having at least a few folks around who know how stuff  works and can actually build something.

"That was the whole idea of 'Monster Garage,'" Beers says, "same thing. Where is the pride of authorship, in our ability to actually figure out and make things work as opposed to just buying something or sending ideas offshore and having it come back as a fully functioning thing?

"We don't know how to do that anymore, and that's what this show is about, too. It teaches people simple stuff. Their clothes are so filthy that they decide to make a washing machine out of a 55-gallon drum and a bicycle.

"That's what I'm saying. When you get into it, the show evolves. It's the most fascinating show I ever made in my life."

Before I let Beers go, I had to ask him if he's heard of any progress in my mission to get "Deadliest Catch" crab-boat captain Sig Hansen on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

While Beers doesn't know of any forward motion on the idea, he does say, "I'm telling you, I think it would be cool. Can I ask you something, do you think he has any rhythm at all"?

As I'm Irish-American, I didn't feel qualified to speculate on whether a Norwegian-American like Sig would necessarily have an inherent sense of rhythm, but I did confess to not having really seen any direct evidence of it on the show.

"That's what I'm saying," Beers says. "I worry. Look, we'd love it. Personally, and as a producer of 'Deadliest Catch,' I'd love for him to go. He'd have to be taping during the first few weeks of king crab season. But boy, when he comes back...

"We'd love that, are you kidding me? When he comes back, we'd have a pink tutu around the captain's chair. Are you kidding me? These guys, they'd crucify him."

ABC Swims With 'Sharks' and Reviews 'J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life'

Today's cuppa: Sony Studios coffee

Earlier today, I headed over to Sony Studios in Culver City to see a taping of the new ABC series "Shark Tank," in which entrepreneurs run a gauntlet of potential wealthy investors in hopes of realizing their business dreams.

If the rapt attention paid by the crew to the goings-on is any indication, the spirited interplay among the business moguls and the hopefuls makes for great theater -- and great TV. Also said a quick hello to executive producer Mark Burnett ("The Apprentice," "Survivor"), who knows a few things about putting together a reality show.

The show premieres Aug. 9, and I'm writing a feature story on it this week, including an interview with Burnett, so watch this space for further updates.

But, before I left for Sony, I got on the phone with Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News, who's hosting a special called "J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life," airing Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

Originally aired in late December 2007 on ITV in the U.K., this documentary by filmmaker James Runcie digs into the private life of the British author whose seven "Harry Potter" novels have set a new standard in young adult literature, along with spawning several movies -- the sixth and latest, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," just came out -- and a worldwide fan phenomenon.

"As a person, she's fascinating," says Vargas. "It's always interesting to see how someone creatively comes up with stories and characters that are riveting for so many people around the world and in so many cultures. When you really get into her personal story -- and she rarely talks like that -- it's even more fascinating.

"She's very candid in this special about her depression, about how poor she was, how difficult her life was when she first thought of 'Harry Potter,' and how close to the brink of contemplating suicide -- she did contemplate suicide.

"It's a pretty dire experience. I think a lot of people will find her relatable and surprising."

According to Rowling -- in a tale now as much a part of "Harry Potter" lore as the characters themselves -- the story and the characters came to her during a train trip from Manchester to London, England, in 1990.

"Not only did the characters and the idea come to her in a rush," says Vargas, "but the entire arc of the story came to her in a rush, which I find fascinating.

"She maintains when she was writing the first book, she already knew what was going to happen further down the line. I don't think she knew precisely that there'd be seven books, but she knew the arc of each character's story.

"For example, while making the movie from 'Harry Potter' one or the second book, she could pull actors aside and say, 'Play this guy a little more ambiguous, because, I haven't written book five yet, but I know that you'll find he's not a bad guy. He's a good guy.'

"She was able to actually advise actors early on in the process and give them tips on how to play their characters, because she already knew how their story was going to play out."

Not only did Rowling, a single mother struggling to make ends meet, carve out the time to write the first "Harry Potter" novel, but she found inspiration in the difficulties of her own life.

"That's amazing," Vargas says, "how much she takes from her own life and applies to her characters Harry Potter has her birthday. Harry Potter is orphaned; she felt very orphaned by her mother's death. Her mother died of multiple sclerosis when Joanne was quite young.

"Her father was very emotionally remote. She hasn't spoken to her father in years and years and years. He really isn't a presence in her life. So she felt very orphaned.

"The house that she lived in had a cupboard under the stairs, just the way Harry Potter lived in with his nasty aunt and uncle at the beginning of book one.

"She uses a lot of her own life and her own feelings. Even her battles with depression are used in later books with the Dementors, which are real, physical manifestations of depression. I was amazed at how she was able to bring something as ephemeral and as powerful and debilitating as depression and make it a physical presence."

As for the future, Vargas says, "She did leave a door open recently for another 'Harry Potter' book, a book that wouldn't be about Harry per se, but maybe about one of the other characters.

"At this point, Harry's story, through seven books, has really been told. Perhaps there's a child coming or some other smaller character that she might elaborate on.

"I don't know if she's going to do that. At this point, she has no plans to do that."

eGuiders Video Picks: 'Twitter Cops' & 'CATcerto'

Tonight's cuppa: decaf Irish breakfast tea

Click here for a bit of wish fulfillment for anyone who's had to deal with people who break my number-one rule of using Twitter -- don't be boring.

Then click here for a good reason to close the lid on those piano keys at night. You just never know what Kitty is doing when you're not looking.

Discovery Channel Announces Season Two of 'Pitchmen'

Just released from Discovery Channel (I'll add more as I get it):

SECOND SEASON OF DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S PITCHMEN IS A GO
- Encore Presentation of PITCHMAN: A TRIBUTE TO BILLY MAYS to Air July 24 at 10PM ET/PT -

Discovery Channel's PITCHMEN, the 12-part series that featured the late Billy Mays II and his business partner, Anthony 'Sully' Sullivan, will be back for a second season.  Because of the success of the series first season, and as a tribute to Mays' legacy, the show will continue.  PITCHMEN, which is produced by Original Productions, a division of Freemantle Media, took viewers behind the curtain into the billion dollar infomercial industry, as Mays and Sullivan helped everyday men and women bring their inventions to the masses.  Discovery Channel is developing the format of season two with Mays' son, Billy Mays III, Anthony Sullivan and Thom Beers, CEO of Original Productions.  More information will be announced as it becomes available.  A premiere date for season two of PITCHMEN hasn't yet been set.

PITCHMAN: A TRIBUTE TO BILLY MAYS, which first premiered on Discovery Channel on July 9, will re-air Friday, July 24 at 10PM ET/PT.   The special pays tribute to the larger-than-life infomercial pioneer - the products he launched, the numerous inventors he helped, and how this family man from Pittsburgh became a household name, ultimately redefining television ad sales.

Eddie McClintock: 'Bones' Vet is Little Brother and Grasshopper on 'Warehouse 13'

Today's cuppa: Irish breakfast tea

On Syfy's "Warehouse 13," airing its second episode tonight, Eddie McClintock plays Pete Lattimer, a rough-and-ready Secret Service agent assigned to guard a warehouse full of mysterious artifacts, located somewhere in South Dakota.

On hand to help him are fellow Secret Service Agent Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) -- who's a little more tightly wound than her partner -- and longtime agent Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek), who oversees the facility.

Overseeing them all is the enigmatic Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder).

Tonight's episode, "Resonance," also features a treat for Syfy (formerly known as Sci Fi Channel) fans, a guest-appearance by "Battlestar Galactica" regular Tricia Helfer.

"Yeah, it's pure hell," McClintock says of being stuck between Helfer and Kelly. "It's tough. The thing is, I had never seen 'Battlestar Galactica.' I had heard the whisperings about Tricia, so I went to the IMDB and looked her up. I think I was more excited about it than, say, my wife was.

"She came to set and sat and got to talk to Tricia, and you realize that Tricia is just so smart and married and just a good person. She really is a great lady, and someone that Lynn, my wife, got along with very well."

Pete and Myka were thrown together against their mutual wills, and their relationship, while cordial and professional, has its prickly side. Turns out it's not that different on the set.

"Joanne and I get along great," McClintock says. "She's a lot like her character. Yeah, she'll probably punch me in the face for saying that, but she's a lot like her character, and our relationship is a lot like it is offscreen.

"I look at myself as the kid brother who's constantly pulling her pigtails, and she's always punching me in the arm and yelling for her mom. I'm constantly at her. It's the same thing that Pete and Myka are going through right now, these growing pains.

Myka doesn't appear to take a lot of guff from Pete, and McClintock says, "No, and Joanne's the same way. She doesn't take much from me either, but I try to give her as much as I can."

Lest you think that McClintock's "kid brother" reference is a sly way of making you think he's younger than Kelly, think again. McClintock is more than happy to label himself a "geezer."

"I work hard," he says, "to make sure my body doesn't reflect my geezer status. Luckily, my wife and I are both gym rats, so we enjoy time at the gym, working out with one another."

Before "Warehouse 13" premiered, some Internet commenters pointed out that the duo of Pete and Myka looks a bit like the crimefighting pair of FBI Agent Booth (David Boreanaz) and scientist "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) on the Fox series "Bones."

McClintock is familiar with the show, having played Brennan's temporary partner, FBI Special Agent Tim Sullivan.

"I did four episodes of 'Bones,'" says McClintock. "I know David, he plays it very loose, too. I think that this show is even a little more relaxed than 'Bones.' But, yeah, I definitely could see the similarities.

"Frankly, if people want to compare the two shows, that's fine by me. I think it's a great show.

"But if they start saying that our show is a lot like 'Moesha,' then I might start worrying. And if they start saying we're like 'The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,' we should worry."

If he has concerns, McClintock can always turn to TV and film veteran Rubinek, whose credits range from Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" to "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Leverage."

"I look at Saul," McClintock says, "I'm Grasshopper, and he's Master Po. I'm always trying to snatch the pebble out of his hand.

"Saul is such a pro. For me, he's a great example of somebody that I can learn from. I listen to what he has to say. The best advice he's given me -- I question my process, because it's not like everybody else's process. It may not be like some other people's processes here on the show.

"So, I think 'I'm not doing enough...' He's like, 'Dude, no, that IS your process. Trust what you do, because whatever it is that you're doing, it works. Just have faith in it. Don't doubt that.'

"He just told me not to compare the way I work to the way other people work."

Meet Jen Arnold of TLC's 'The Little Couple'

Today's cuppa: strawberry iced tea

Here's my syndicated profile this week of one of reality TV's most charming and accomplished stars:

Checking in With Jen Arnold

By Kate O'Hare @Zap2it

Becoming a TV star was probably never a consideration for Jennifer Arnold, who has been quite busy with becoming a pediatrician and neonatologist.

Along the way, she also met and married New York businessman Bill Klein. And she did all of the above while being well under 4 feet tall, as is her husband (who is slightly taller than Arnold).

After being featured in a special on TLC called “Little People: Just Married,” Arnold and Klein are the stars of their own TLC reality series, “The Little Couple,” which premiered in late May and airs its first-season finale – as of this writing, no decision had been made on renewal – on Tuesday, July 21.

Oh, and while the series was going on, Arnold got a new job, which meant that she and Klein had to relocate to Houston.

“Clearly medicine is still my primary focus,” Arnold says, “but I do feel like I have a third job now that takes up a lot of my free time that I might have otherwise had, for filming, but thankfully it’s fun, so it makes it worthwhile.”

Arnold and Klein have always attracted attention when they’ve gone out together, but now it’s changed a bit.

“The response we’ve gotten from people is overall very positive,” Arnold says. “Most time people are very appropriate, but there are definitely people that aren’t always so appropriate, so this kind of attention is actually refreshing.

“It’s very positive. People already know, ‘Oh, there’s the little-person doctor.’ ”

As to what doing a TV show has taught her, Arnold says, “What it means to be a positive role model. In the short amount of time our show has been airing, it’s amazing how many people watch the show and really pay attention to the details of it.

“You really want to make sure that it’s a positive show.”

Birthplace: St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 12, making her a Pisces.

School cred: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (graduated 2000); pediatrics residency at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (completed 2003); neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC Health System (completed 2007)

Current positions: Assistant professor of pediatrics, division of perinatal-neonatal at Baylor (Texas) College of Medicine; neonatologist and medical director of the pediatric simulation center at Texas Children’s Newborn Center; faculty, SUNY at Stony Brook (N.Y.) Health Sciences Center

Association cred: Member, American Academy of Pediatrics, Academic Pediatric Association, Society for Simulation in Healthcare

As for a few of her favorite things:

Favorite book: “Coming from Florida, she was a Florida writer: ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God,’ by Zora Neale Hurston. It’s just a very real book. It’s a great story about a young girl and all the struggles that she went through. It was written in Florida, so it had a lot of personal attributes.”

 

Favorite music: “I love reggae a ton. Who doesn’t love Bob Marley, No. 1? I’ve loved 10,000 Maniacs since I was in the ninth grade. There are kinds of music that Bill and I both enjoy. The Fray is one band that we like together. Bill tends to like the hard, old-school rock, but I don’t necessarily care for it. Then he doesn’t tend to like 10,000 Maniacs and some of the alternative music that I do.”

 

Favorite movies: “Oh, I love a good chick flick, I’ll just be quite honest: I don’t go to the movies very often, and when I go, I just want to relax. I want to decompress; I want to forget about reality. Something may be cheesy, but if it makes you feel good, that’s a good movie. I like ‘You’ve Got Mail,’ I could watch that movie over and over again – and ‘Sleepless in Seattle.' I'm a geek. I admit it."

eGuiders Video Pick: Rockin' the Oxford English Dictionary

Click here for my latest eGuiders video recommendation, a little ditty that pays tribute to a book that's never at a loss for words.

Marla Sokoloff Saves the World (in Heels) in NBC's 'Meteor'

Tonight's cuppa: Iced coffee at Coogie's in Malibu

Below find my syndicated feature story for this week. It was a busy week for me, so I've got a couple more stories coming ... watch this space:

Marla Sokoloff’s excellent ‘Meteor’ adventure

By Kate O’Hare

In the new, four-hour NBC miniseries “Meteor,” airing on consecutive Sundays, July 12 and 19, Marla Sokoloff (“The Practice”) tries to save the world from a giant meteor strike that means a sure and fiery doom for every living thing.

As scientist Imogene O’Neil, she must continue the work of her boss, Dr. Lehman (Christopher Lloyd), and get vital information to a government scientist, Dr. Chetwyn (Jason Alexander), that may prevent the planet from being blasted to smithereens.

And Sokoloff (below, with Billy Campbell) wasn’t about to do all this in a pair of flats or running shoes, despite the fact that she was covering a lot of rough ground in the desert just outside of Los Angeles last summer.

“I had high-heeled boots on,” Sokoloff says. “It was a huge fight with the producer, because I did have to do a lot of running. I’m five-two, and I have never, ever been on film in my entire career without having height. That’s just not fair. No, I need my high heels.’

“So I’m like, ‘You’re going to have to run. You’re going to have to have a gun, do all these things.’ I’m like, ‘I can do it. I can pull it off.’

“Then, one day, I fell – major, like, totally scraped up. He was standing off to the side, and I didn’t even want to look at him, because he had the biggest, ‘I told you so’ look on his face, just like, ‘Really? You had to wear the high heels? Because I don’t know if you would have fallen had you not picked those shoes.’”

While Sokoloff may not be the equal of “Alias” star Jennifer Garner for saving the world in stilettos, she does get to do quite a lot of action-hero stuff in “Meteor,” along with being a computer literate scientist.

“I actually thought it was quite hilarious when I got offered this job,” she says, “and I was playing a scientist – not only a scientist, but one who saves the world. I’m like, ‘Really? Me? OK.’

“I don’t see me doing that anytime soon, but it felt really cool to be the one with all the answers in my laptop.

“But a couple of the crew guys told me, ‘You were the last person I thought they were going to cast.’ I was like, ‘Thanks, I think.’ I’m not sure it’s a compliment.”

“Meteor” also stars Stacy Keach (“Prison Break”) as small-town California Sheriff Crowe, and Billy Campbell as his son, Jack, an LAPD officer who’s hot on the trail of his corrupt, dangerous partner, Calvin Stark (Michael Rooker).

At one point, Imogene crosses paths with Stark, meaning Sokoloff got to work with Rooker (below), whom she found pretty intense.

“He throws himself in there,” Sokoloff says. “I envy his energy. I don’t have it. I don’t know where it comes from. He is a ball of energy, nonstop, at four in the  morning, four in the afternoon, doesn’t matter. He’s on fire.”

Apparently just having Campbell around was a treat in itself.

“He’s very sexy,” Sokoloff says, “and really soft-spoken and nice. We had, by the makeup trailer, one of those blow-up pools, because it was so hot. He used to sit in there with no shirt on, and the women literally were taking pictures to e-mail their friends or something.

“I’m like, ‘He’s not this monkey in a cage. You can’t just take his picture.’ But he didn’t mind.”

In the meteor-themed feature film “Deep Impact,” Tea Leoni played an MSNBC reporter who covered the impending end of the world while keeping her pearls intact.

“Of course!” says Sokoloff. “I had a joke with the makeup artist on ‘Meteor.’ He had done my makeup before, and he does his so-called ‘beauty makeup,’ where he makes you look like a different person, and you look amazing. But he also had to put sweat and dirt and glycerin disgustingness on me.

“He was like,’ I swear, I’m going to make you look like Brigitte Bardot in the desert.’ That was his mission. ‘I am not going to have you walking around with dirt on your face, and blood, and not look good.’”

As a native of northern California, Sokoloff is quite used to earthquakes, but that doesn’t mean she likes them.

“I would say, I do worry about the earthquakes, but not meteors. I didn’t even really think – not to sound naïve, but really, a meteor? I don’t know if that even crossed my mind in the 28 years I’ve been on this planet.”

Now that she’s had a taste of being an action heroine, Sokoloff is considering trying it again.

“I think so,” she says, “definitely think so. I had a lot of fun. It was a totally new world for me, and I would love to explore more.”