January 2011 Archives

Today's cuppa: coffeeshop coffee (and more good conversation!)

In the mid-'80s, New Yorker Howard Gordon came to Los Angeles with writing partner Alex Gansa to pursue a career in screenwriting -- which he has had, most recently as the executive producer and show-runner of the long-running Fox series "24."

But that wasn't always the plan.

"I aspired to be a novelist early," he says. "That's what I thought I would be. I wanted to be a literary novelist, and I was accepted to a couple of MFA (Master of Fine Arts) programs, and I decided to try my luck out in Hollywood before I did that.

"I was lucky to find work early, which kept me from that, but that might have been a path that I could quite easily have taken -- I don't know with what success. Many of our most talented writers still supplement their incomes as teachers, and that might have been a wonderful way to live."

But when he was idled during the Writers Guild strike in 2007-'08, Gordon started to think about the road not taken.

Recently, Gordon brought his writing career full circle with the publishing of "Gideon's War," his first novel (click here for an excerpt). U.S. President Diggs has sent Gideon Davis, his best peace negotiator, to the Sultanate of Mohan, which under threat from an Islamist insurgency. Just to keep things interesting, Gideon winds up pitted against his estranged brother, Tillman, a rogue Special Forces agent who appears to have taken a multimillion-dollar oil rig hostage.

Fans of "24" may remember that the show often featured characters at odds with a sibling. This also applied to the series' main character, anti-terrorist agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), who was at odds with brother Graem (Paul McCrane) during seasons five and six.

"I wouldn't call it an idiosyncratic thing," says Gordon (the oldest of three brothers), "It's a staple of storytelling, going back to Cain and Abel. Shakespeare had his share, and certainly, from 'The Godfather' to 'The Fighter,' 'Raging Bull,' brothers are fascinating.

"It's like every relationship, only more so. It's charged with love and with competition, with loyalty. So it's a very charged relationship, maybe especially in the estrangement between brothers. There's a kind of latent energy that's always there.

"You know me as someone who is painfully trying to see all sides of all issues, so I really related to this peacemaker character. I enjoyed the attempt to personify these two different points of view in these two different characters."

Asked if he thinks these sort of super-negotiators exist in the real world, Gordon says, "When you look at a guy like Richard Holbrooke, there are people who are lifetime diplomats, who are talkers, who are negotiators, who are peacemakers, certainly.

"What we need is a vibrant and vital country that needs to protect our interests, and, for the sake of the world, project our power. We need both. We need great soldiers and great military technology and capability, but we also need great diplomatic capability as well.

"That's the other side of the equation, and it's a very valid one. You can't have one without the other."

Gordon has even gotten kudos from fellow authors of political thrillers. Vince Flynn ("American Assassin") did a blurb for the book, saying, "A thrill every clock-ticking minute! From racing through the jungles of Southeast Asia to outsmarting terrorists on a high tech oil rig in a typhoon, Howard Gordon's new international peacemaker Gideon Davis takes saving the world to a new level. Move over Jack Bauer--there's a new sheriff in town."

But he's not the only novelist to praise "Gideon's War."

"Brad Thor wrote me a great review on Amazon," says Gordon. "He wrote a guest review. It was really so nice. I sent him a bottle of scotch. I don't know him from Adam, and when I read it, I got very ... I'm a fan of his, too, big fan of his."

As for the question of screenwriting vs. novel writing, Gordon says, "I'd advise people to write what they want, and sometimes what things become depends on the story. People have asked me about 'Gideon's War' as a movie, and I'm always telling people, 'If I wanted to write a movie, I'd have written a novel.

"So to me, this was a wonderful experience that was appropriately a novel. And if someone adapts it into a movie, however it turns out, I'll always have the novel."

Click here for Gordon's thoughts on History channel's cancellation of "The Kennedys," a miniseries from "24" creator Joel Surnow; click here to learn about his trio of TV pilots; and click here to see what he has to say about a possible "24" movie (he'll always have the TV series ...).

Today's cuppa: coffee-shop coffee (with good conversation!)

On the LAPD drama "Southland," airing Tuesdays on TNT, Michael Cudlitz (right) plays veteran Officer John Cooper, who's trying to prepare rookie Officer Ben Sherman (Benjamin McKenzie, left) to survive as a cop on the mean streets of Los Angeles.

A while ago on Twitter, after doing a "Southland" set visit that resulted in this feature story, I tentatively suggested that Cudlitz -- who projects a tough, no-nonsense image on the show -- should be on ABC's ballroom-dancing competition show "Dancing With the Stars."

The new season -- cycle 12 -- of "DWTS" begins in March, and the new cast has yet to be announced. ABC is even soliciting viewer suggestions on the Website.

This was his reaction (he RTed -- retweeted -- my original tweet, adding a comment of his own on the front end) ...


But several tweeters seemed interested in the prospect -- so I next took the question to the man who spends his working days in a police car with Cudlitz.

"Oh, yeah," said McKenzie when asked if Cudlitz needs to trip the light fantastic. "I just want to say that I have personally seen Michael dance on numerous occasions, and he's really underselling himself. He's being modest, which is his way of being, but he is a phenomenal dancer. I wouldn't lead you astray. He's pretty great."

It was hard to tell if the deadpan McKenzie was being serious or had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, but I decided to play along.

Asked if Cudlitz might be better at the classic ballroom or Latin dances, McKenzie said, "Well,  ballroom is probably the way he first learned, because he's technically very precise, but he has that flava -- not flavor, flava -- that I think would really translate into a South American kind of looser vibe.

 "I think he's a double threat. He can go either way. He's going to surprise some people. I, for one, would like to second that emotion and get him on 'Dancing With the Stars.' That would be phenomenal."

But McKenzie had some conditions that would need to be fulfilled if he were ever to consider going on 'Dancing.'

"No," he said, "not unless Michael really mentored and tutored me. If you could promise me that Michael Cudlitz would teach me to dance in a pretty rigorous course of three or four months, maybe -- but only under those circumstances. Otherwise, I don't think I'd be good enough."

So there you have it. Either McKenzie was completely full of hot air or he sincerely wants his bestest buddy to lace up those dancing shoes.

Today's cuppa: Barry's Irish Breakfast tea

On Thursday, KOCE -- now the lead PBS station in Southern California since KCET cut ties with the Public Broadcasting System -- started airing episodes covering the "This Old House" project that has been ongoing in L.A.

(For viewers of KOCE -- now rebranded PBSSoCal -- the episode repeats on Saturday, from 3:30-4 p.m. PT)

As Cuppers know, HCTV has been all over this since the beginning -- click here and here and here for set reports and photos -- and now everyone can see what's been happening. A lot of PBS stations started carrying the new episodes on Thursday and likely more will roll in over the weekend. Check local listings for time and date in your area.

Here's my syndicated feature story, which came out this week ... and remember what master carpenter Norm Abram (left) always says, "Measure twice, cut once!"

'This Old House' sets up shop in Los Angeles' Silver Lake

East of Hollywood and northwest of downtown Los Angeles, the trendy neighborhood of Silver Lake clusters around a reservoir, with many houses packed tightly on narrow, hilly streets.

For the last few months, a Spanish Colonial Revival house on one of these streets has been ground zero for PBS' venerable home-renovation series "This Old House," which is tackling a Los Angeles project for the first time in its 30-year history.

Beginning on Thursday, Jan. 27 (check local listings), TV fans can watch host Kevin O'Connor, master carpenter Norm Abram and the rest of the Boston-based "TOH" team, along with Los Angeles-based design-build firm Home Front, start adding 750 square feet - comprising a second floor, larger kitchen, family room, and two bedrooms and baths - to the 1,500-square-foot 1930s home, which boasts a water view out the back.

It belongs to Kurt Albrecht and his wife, Mary Blee, who both work in the entertainment industry and whose expanding family necessitated more room.

"It goes well," says O'Connor on the job site in October (the wrap party is set for early February). "You've seen our little gem here in Silver Lake. This is quintessential California - red roof, clay tiles, stucco walls, earthquake prevention and hillside fire prevention."

In the early days of the show, when renovations were more modest and technology not as advanced, owners could be on site providing "sweat equity." Now local contractors do the work, with help and advice from the "TOH" experts - who also get to learn new things themselves.

"We did a whole scene on the first two steps of four on the exterior stucco," says Abram a few weeks later on the site. "They can now really fly over the next couple of weeks. When we come back in January, hopefully, we'll see the final two steps.

"It's just clean. I wish we could do more stucco in New England."

But just because the homeowners aren't swinging a hammer doesn't mean they're not part of the process, and that's where on-site executive producer Deborah Hood comes in.

"At times," she says, "it seems like a psychology degree would be very useful on the job site. In some cases, the homeowners have thought about the renovation for a long time, planned it, but once you actually start building ... .

"When they sign up with us, they commit to a schedule. We're not a miracle makeover show, but it does move right along. There are at least a couple of months shaved off this timeline, and they had to commit to not a lot of change orders."

Luckily for the homeowners and "This Old House," Home Front keeps a designer on staff.

Perched on a chair between contractors' trucks at the curb, in-house designer Nancy Ganucheau says, "The way I work with the company is, I come in at the beginning, and I work up a design with the client, and I work up the code issues.

"That's (company owner) Steve Pallrand's dream, to have the design integrated with the construction. It also means that all through the design process, they're doing pricing, so there are no surprises."

Pallrand joins the conversation, saying, "Often architects or designers come in, and what they've been taught is to impose their will on the design. We try to work with the existing house.

"Whoever designed this thing did a really good job. It's beautiful. We don't want to overwhelm it."

Even when O'Connor, Abram, Ganucheau and Pallrand aren't on the job site, site supervisor Angel Leon (below) is. He's going to become a familiar face to "This Old House" viewers over the course of the project, and he's also figured out how to integrate with the demands of making television.

"The camaraderie with everybody has been the funnest part," he says, taking a two-minute break from working. "It's a very relaxed atmosphere. It's not all tense, with everybody running around, trying to make something into what it really isn't.

"Basically, they come in, and we get to do our normal thing, on a daily basis, and they accommodate to us."

As to whether he's prepared for TV stardom, Leon says, "Um, I'm not prepared. My family may be, but I'm not."

He's also gotten a taste of the affection and respect that the show's viewers have for those who work on it, especially Abram.

"That's what I've noticed," Leon says, "traveling around with 'This Old House,' with people coming from long distances, just to see Norm. 'Where's Norm?' It's all about Norm, absolutely.

"He's special. He does have a ton of knowledge. I've got to watch him work a little bit, and watching him talk about stuff, is impeccable. There's nobody who has that knowledge, unless you've been doing it for 35, 40 years."

Today's cuppa: home-brewed coffee

So, how was last night's "State of the Union" address? Same as usual, lots of gasbaggery, as much from off the podium as on, and none of the things that make big gatherings like this fun to watch on TV.

Yes, there was the mild excitement from seeing who was sitting with whom after the "date night" suggestion, meant to bring together Democrats and Republicans.

The whole hands-across-the-aisle thing didn't stop former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from turning down GOP Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia. Really, Nan, have you seen Eric Cantor (right)? He's got that whole hot-teacher thing going on, with a Southern accent to boot! Don't know what the girl was thinking.

Unlike the Golden Globes, there's no booze in the House, so nobody gives an entertaining drunken rant. Unlike the Grammys, there's no music. Unlike most all other self-congratulatory exercises on TV, there was no red carpet. Seriously, if the president is going to sign autographs afterward for adoring fans in the gallery, we at least should get Joan Rivers to critique the outfits.

I'm certain I saw a plaid skirt out there. That's worth five minutes from Joan at least.

But there was something worth looking at -- and by that I mean the pool-blue eyes of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (below), who gave the Republican response. Of course, we only got 10 minutes of him, unlike the hour-plus gander we had at the POTUS (that's President of the United States for those of you who weren't obsessed with "The West Wing") and the good and bad angels sitting on his shoulders (I'll leave the assigning of which one was Vice-President Biden and which one was Speaker Boehner up to you).

A short visit with Ryan was almost worth sitting through the analysis -- although possibly the best moment of the evening came when Ben Stein was talking to Neil Cavuto on FBN and said something along the lines of, the only way to fix American education was to whip the students, and we're not likely to do that.

Bueller, Bueller?

Anyway, I just learned that Thomas Jefferson called a halt to delivering this Constitutionally mandated report to Congress in person, thinking it made him look too much like a king, and that Woodrow Wilson reinstated the practice (giving Glenn Beck just one more reason to go, "I hate that guy!").

One political commentator, I forget which, declared it the Super Bowl of politics. If that's true, then how come we didn't get a '70s or '80s dinosaur rock band for the halftime show? It's more like the Academy Awards of politics -- a lot of feigned affection, meaningless words and gratuitous glad-handing in hopes of currying favor for the future.

(Apparently the president's theme was Winning the Future, which aside from being the title of a 2005 book by former GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich, also has a rather unfortunate acronym. Come on, you can figure it out.)

Having to endure all this blather is yet another reason to add a red carpet. At least it would put everybody on fashion notice, because I saw some things ... hon-ey, there should be a law.

For a real State of the Union, you could have flipped over to Discovery Channel, where Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" revealed the American Society of Civil Engineers' national report card in an episode called "Dirty Infrastructure."

Nothing got an outright "F," but nothing got a B or higher either.

After watching the show, I'm officially afraid to flush the toilet, go near a canal lock, drive on a road or especially over a bridge, ride a train, flip a switch or to stand too close to a hydroelectric dam (apparently the average age of these dams is 50; and no, for dams, 50 is not the new 40).

But there is reason for hope.

Rowe also paid tribute to the hard-working, clever folks who keep our nation from crumbling down around our ears.

Despite the president's urging in his speech that students get college degrees and become teachers and scientists and whatnot, I'm hoping at least a few kids decide to take up road-paving, bridge-building, sewer-cleaning and other skilled-labor occupations that don't usually get mentioned in the State of the Union.

But Rowe mentions them, both on his show and at his website dedicated to the topic.

The episode repeats on Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. ET. Watch it if you dare.

As for the POTUS, if you missed this speech, fear not. He'll give more. All presidents do.

Today's cuppa: English breakfast tea

On Tuesday, Jan. 25, President Barack Obama (left) makes his second appearance before Congress to deliver his Constitutionally required State of the Union address -- click here for his first one last year -- and things will look a little different.

First, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will not be sitting in back of him. Instead, as a result of a large changeover of seats in the House of Representatives last November, joining Vice President Biden above the Chief Executive will be new Speaker of the House John Boehner (R.-Ohio).

So, wags can go from counting Pelosi's eyeblinks to speculating on how the TV lighting will interact with Boehner's legendary tan.

Second, after an uncomfortable moment last time when some interpreted a comment by the president as a rebuke to the Supreme Court justices seated in front of him ("some" included Justice Samuel Alito, who looked very unhappy), not all of the black-robed legal eagles may attend.

Third, in a gesture meant to emphasize civility but which is winding up looking like a mad scramble for New Year's Eve dates, the traditional seating plan of the House -- with largely Democrats on one side and GOP on the other -- may be upended as lawmakers from both parties seek members of the other party to be their seatmates in a big bipartisan mash-up.

(Not everyone's going along, so we could witness the biggest game of musical chairs ever seen on C-SPAN.)

But with the current economic woes across the country -- the Dow's going up but jobs lag behind -- nattering on about who's sitting with whom seems a bit silly.

"We make a bigger deal over theater than what it actually going to happen," says Neil Cavuto (right), who is anchoring Fox Business Network's (FBN) coverage of the State of the Union address, starting at 8:55 p.m. ET. "They make a big deal of whether Republican Sen. Coburn is going to sit next to Democratic Sen. Schumer. I guess there is some curiosity factor in that.

"I'm more interested in what the president is going to spell out and what the Republicans' response will be, than where people are sitting, because that's just theater.

"We got into a lot of this, sadly, after Congresswoman Giffords' shooting. We made a big issue about the tone, etc., of the debate, and I think we lost sight of the underlying issues that were galvanizing the country.

"I don't think you can nicely say, 'Hey, we're knee-deep in some smelly stuff here.' You can find all the political niceties and the politically correct ways to say it, whether you're on the left or the right, but the reality is, I don't think there is a nice way to say, 'We're sitting on a pile of you-know-what.'"

In ye olden days of TV, viewers could only watch the State of the Union (SOTU) speech on the three broadcast networks and PBS, but in the cable age, they can toss in C-SPAN and all the cable-news networks. One result of that is that different networks can focus on different aspects.

(Click here for a rundown of the networks' plans, including the lineup at MSNBC, which is suddenly down one primetime anchor.)

For FBN, for example, that means looking at the SOTU -- and the Republican response, this time coming from Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin -- from a more fiscal than political standpoint.

Joining Cavuto -- who, in addition to his role at the helm of FBN, continues to do the weekday "Your World With Neil Cavuto" show on Fox News Channel (FNC) -- will be FBN Washington correspondents Peter Barnes (left) and Rich Edson.

"I just like to have Peter around," quips Cavuto, "because, A, he's a genius, and B, he's a very handsome man. He has a chin you could hang clothes on. I just like having him there. He shows me what the potential is for the chin, if I could ever find mine."

There will also be economists, business experts and, yes, politicians.

"They come in and out for the State of the Union," says Cavuto. "Rep. Kristi Noem (of South Dakota) is a rising star among Republicans, and has been appointed to a leadership position in the House, so she'll be with us. And we've got Sen. Mark Udall, the Democratic Senator from Colorado. I've never booked a Republican without a Democrat, or a Democrat with a Republican, a bull without a bear.

"There are some big corporate types who will weigh in on what this means to them, and a roundtable of CEOs who will weigh in on anything the president says, or the Republicans, that will influence their hiring."

After the SOTU at 11 p.m. ET, FBN host John Stossel (below) offers a special live edition of his "Stossel" show, which explores the libertarian response to the big speech. Stossel will also be giving his own SOTU, and helping him analyze the night's events are Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), David Boaz of the Cato Institute, FBN's Judge Andrew Napolitano and a studio audience chosen on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"Stossel's very good at cutting through a lot of the gobbledygook," says Cavuto. "He'll replay some of what the president said, and what the Republicans said, and then get people's reactions of what they understood from that."

Obviously the president will discuss economic challenges and foreign policy in the SOTU, but Cavuto feels he also must talk about the Democrats' massive health-care overhaul -- the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a k a the PPACA or "ObamaCare" -- which was the subject of a recent successful repeal vote in the now-GOP-dominated House. The repeal effort may then move to the Senate.

Pundits have declared it has no hope of passage there, but with several Democratic senators who voted for the PPACA facing re-election in 2012, you never know. 

"You could see a Senate vote for this," Cavuto says, "not in numbers that would override a likely presidential veto, but nevertheless, it would be a very powerful statement.

"It would be a reminder that now you have the House and potentially the Senate telling the president, and saying to the healthcare backers period, 'The way it is written, the way it is right now, it ain't going to fly.'

"So at the very least, it's a very shrewd negotiating tactic to get these things corrected."

Regarding what the president might say on the topic, Cavuto says, "He's got to address it, and he's got to show a willingness to compromise at least on some of the onerous provisions. I don't think he'll go so far as to say, 'Yeah, you're right, we'll repeal it,' but I do think he's taken a big step toward extending the olive branch."

As for his own role in all this, Cavuto says, "If I hold both parties' feet to the fire, I'm doing my job. I have no agenda in this; it's just the people's money."

UPDATE: Click here for a story at Zap2it's Pop2it.com about how Cavuto manages life and work with MS.

Today's cuppa: Gevalia coffee from the Tassimo

David Pogue is a technology columnist for the New York Times, which sort of sounds like teaching your grandma how to tweet. After all, the Gray Lady isn't really known for being the most nimble user of new technology.

"Oh, I know," says Pogue, sitting in the bar at the Beverly Hilton Hotel (home for the recent Golden Globes) during last summer's Television Critics Association Press Tour (during which we handed out the most recent TCA Awards, today the recipient of some love from "Sons of Anarchy" creator Kurt Sutter).

"I get this every day," he continues. "The funny thing was, I was the first blogger there. I did the first videos for them. It was early on. But for the longest time, they didn't permit comments. They didn't want the riff-raff sullying the site.

"So, I'm like, 'In what way is this a blog? You're just writing little articles.' It's hard to turn a battleship on a dime, but they're more tech-savvy all the time. We have a Twitter presence and a blog presence."

When he's not swooning over gadgets or tracking tech trends, Pogue also does TV. On Wednesday, Jan. 19, he launches as host of "Making Stuff: Stronger, Cleaner, Smaller, Smarter", a four-part series airing under the umbrella of PBS' venerable science franchise, "NOVA."

It looks at the seemingly snooze-inducing subject of materials science ... but wait, there's more.

"Materials science, what?" says Pogue. "Nobody knows what it is. We have to make it very visual and very attractive to viewers. They had me at a demolition derby without a seatbelt. I hang-glided and swam with sharks, landed on an aircraft carrier with a runway the size of this table."

(As I recall, the tabletops at the bar at the Beverly Hilton are bigger than a manhole cover but smaller than the banquet tables at the Golden Globes.)

"I've shot military rifles to test bulletproof tanks," says Pogue. "I'd never shot a gun in my life. I'd joke, 'I don't know if they're trying to film me or kill me.' I had an MRI. I had blood drawn last week -- so it was all very experiential and very you-are-there."

But, wait, there's more.

In the first episode, "Making Stuff: Stronger," Pogue gets into the realm of weird science.

"There's this guy who's crossbreeding goats with spiders," says Pogue. "The purpose of that is he wants to raise goats that give spider-silk milk, and he's done it. He's splicing spider DNA into goat DNA, and his goats give spider-silk milk, which he runs through a machine.

"It comes out as spider-silk, which is ten times as strong as steel. And he did it. I did it with him!"

(Don't know about you, but my brain is jangling with the horror-movie and superhero implications of all this.)

"Fifty percent of the goats have the genes passed on," Pogue continues. "Basically, the spider-silk is amazing stuff, but spiders are too slow. You could make vast quantities. It's crazy."

And then there are the abalones that make batteries. (If only I had a graphic of a clam stuffed with 9-volts.)

"There's a lady at MIT," says Pogue, "who was studying abalone, mother-of-pearl. She discovered how they made their shells. The DNA instructs the animal how to grab the elements it needs out of the water, which is mostly chalk.

"Twelve years ago, once we entered an era where you could reprogram DNA, she's thinking, 'Why couldn't I replace those instructions and tell it to get different elements out of the water, not chalk, but whatever we want?"

(Sure, why not? I want to walk through a jewelry store and extract all the gold particles out of the air, so later I can sneeze nuggets. Works for me. Anyhoo ...)

Pogue continues, "(She thinks), 'Why couldn't we, say, make a battery? Take alkaline, silicon ...' And she did it! She has these bowls full of hearing-aid cells that made themselves, from abalone grabbing these elements out of the atmosphere. They're twice as powerful as our batteries ... for free.

"Her last visitor, the week before us, was Obama. There are all these pictures of bowls of batteries and the president."

Here's a preview:

Today's cuppa: hotel hot tea (pretty darn good, comes in little silky teabags)

Yesterday, I described a bit about my night visiting the set of "Winter Wipeout" not long before Thanksgiving -- click here for that, and a couple of pictures of the set covered in real snow --  and today I'm continuing with my chat with "Wipeout" executive producer Matt Kunitz, which took place that night in his office at the location north of Los Angeles.

All sorts of ordinary folks get a chance to tackle the "Wipeout" obstacle course in hopes of making it all the way to the nighttime "Wipeout Zone" and wining the cash prize. But it turns out that special people with special requests for a special "Wipeout" experience have less chance of running the course than a plumber from Duluth.

(Disclaimer: HGTV does not assert that, in, fact, a plumber from Duluth appears on the next episode of the show, called "Winter Wipeout: The Musical," airing Thursday, Jan. 13 on ABC, or, indeed, on any episode. But we wouldn't mind if one did.

BTW, regarding this episode, host John Henson said, "It's our craziest course yet ... and it's completely covered in snow! Fortunately, that helps reduce the swelling." After my night at the Wipeout Zone, I suspect that "snow" is more Ivory than fallen, but I digress.)

"We got a call," says Kunitz (at right), "from someone at the highest level of government -- top, top, top, can't say the name, but high, high, wanted to come with his whole family this Thanksgiving and do it. The person was impressive enough -- you couldn't get much higher -- and wanted to come with the kids, try the course.

"So we thought about it, 'What are the implications if something was to go wrong with this person? Certainly, we put a thousand contestants through it; we could let this person do it.'

"But we looked into, what would it really cost? It was not going to be on a shoot day. We would be doing it next week, during the downtime for Thanksgiving. It was going to be $80,000, and that pretty much put an end to that.

"There's no profit in that, even, but it's not worth it. It's not what we do."

After talking with Kunitz the other day, we were exchanging emails, and he told me of another request.

"Did I tell you a Saudi prince's staffer once called?" he wrote. They wanted to fly him and his friends in to play on the course. 'Money was not an issue.'

"We turned him down just as we have every other request. We don't have any downtime on the course when we are not either shooting or tearing it down to build a new course."

Speaking of building, Kunitz tells me on set in November, "It's literally like we have our own lumber supply here. Of course, we buy it, but we have shelves of every kind of bolt and fastener and glue and paint and vinyl. It's very well-organized. I was down there a few days ago, and it was like, 'Wow, this is like literally like being at your local lumber store.'

"We have spent close to a million dollars on foam. We are probably one of the largest foam buyers -- certainly the largest television show buying foam, period. I imagine the only people buying as much foam as us are mattress manufacturers."

I can attest that the outer edges of the "Wipeout" location are a strange maze of obstacle parts, supplies and equipment, which, when driving in the dark, is a little hard to navigate. I finally had to have a production assistant guide me off the property (which also has a rather alarming ditch at the perimeter that didn't look very inviting in my headlights either).

So far, "Winter Wipeout" is doing well, perhaps well enough to come back for another edition next year.

"If it does well," Kunitz says, "in January and February, we should get a pickup in time, so that we'll shoot our two summer cycles and then go, boom, right into the next winter cycle. We'll just be shooting year-round. We'll keep everybody working."

Tonight's cuppa: hotel coffee

I've been locked up for a week in a lovely hotel in Pasadena for the winter edition of the biannual Television Critics Association Press Tour (you can follow the fun on Twitter at @KateOH and by searching for the #TCA hashtag -- there are a few more days yet to go!).

Yesterday, ABC and DIsney were presenting their shows, and that included a hot-chocolate break with the cast and producers of "Winter Wipeout" (including big, round, red mascot Ballsy), a first-time winter-themed edition of the rollicking obstacle-course competition show.

I had a nice chat with executive producer Matt Kunitz, who provided the photos here, which depict a rare Southern California snowstorm that recently blanketed the "Wipeout" location north of Los Angeles with real snow.

(There was even some talk that day that the show might go year-round.)

Back when I visited the set not long before Thanksgiving, filming for "Winter Wipeout" -- airing its second episode Thursday on ABC -- was almost finished. I drove up after dark, down the winding country roads that lead to the filming location on a former ranch surrounded by hills. In the pitch darkness, the lights of the "Wipeout Zone" (the name for the show's final round, which is always at night) could be seen for quite a distance, especially the searchlights.

No word on how the neighbors in this rural area feel about this. Luckily, it doesn't look like there are any close by.

I overshot the entrance the first time and wound up headed into the Angeles National Forest, then did a U-turn and found my way back. Filming on the first "Wipeout Zone" of the evening was underway, featuring a contestant who was taking a very, very long time finishing the course. As you've seen on TV, the obstacles all have a wintry theme, and there were fake snowflakes drifting through the air.

On impulse, I started to stick my tongue out to catch one, until Kunitz's assistant reminded me they were actually soap flakes. For that, she got one of the homemade oatmeal cookies I'd brought with me ... as you may remember a previous visit to "Wipeout" early in 2010, Kunitz expects baked goods. Another one went to Kunitz's brother, who was there for a visit. But yes, there were plenty left for Kunitz to enjoy (and be forced to share with everyone in the control room).

Appropriately enough, it was cold that night (ironic, since a couple of weeks before, it had been blistering hot), so I had broken out the berber fleece jacket, hat, gloves and scarf -- and I can't even imagine what it was like when the contestants (wearing colorful vests that sagged unattractively when wet) plunged repeatedly into the foamy water. "Wipeout" normally shoots in the winter so the shows can be edited to air in the summer, and the pools are often not very warm, even on the balmiest of days.

After a visit to the control room to warm up and enjoy a grilled sandwich stuffed with turkey, dressing and cranberry sauce, I sat with Kunitz in his office for a chat about how he created his winter wonderland. Check back here for that tomorrow (including a bit about a proposed visit by a political bigwig).

UPDATE: Click here for Part 2: Princes and Potentates Need Not Apply.

Today's cuppa: fast-food coffee

This week, I have a syndicated print profile of the lovely Baccarin, but it's hard to find a full version of it online. So, not wanting to leave my Cuppers with half-a-cuppa, as it were, here you are ...

When ABC's "V" returns for its 10-episode second season, Morena Baccarin won't be playing the only powerful female aboard the alien vessel.

Starting with the season premiere on Tuesday, Jan. 4, Jane Badler, star of the original "V" miniseries and series in the 1980s, joins the cast as Diana (her original character name), the mother of Anna (Baccarin), leader of the alien "Visitors" who have arrived on Earth with a fleet and a secret agenda (such as being lizards in human disguise).

"She's so sweet," says Baccarin. "When I first saw her coming out of the cocoon she comes out of ... I remember her scaring me so much as a kid, and here she was, in front of me.

"I saw the scene that everybody saw with the mouse-eating and the face-peeling stuff."

As fans of the original "V" remember, the aliens are fond of eating small animals, such as mice -- alive.

"I talked to her recently about that," says Baccarin. "She's pretty sick of the rat-eating jokes.

"I have had to do my homage to that scene. Let's say, it was not a mouse; it was a lot bigger than a mouse. We're talking about a big, white rat, with a big, long tail and beady little red eyes.

"It was real, and it was scared, and it was trying to crawl up my arm. It was horrible."

Since the original Diana was an iconic image in the 1980s "V," it gives Baccarin a lot to live up to.

"I know," she says. "We have great scenes together, Jane and I. What's cool about it is, you get to see a different side of Anna. It's just like any other mother/daughter relationship. Mothers know how to push your buttons, no matter what you are, if you're a lizard or a human."

 

Birthplace: Rio de Janeiro, on June 2, making her a Gemini; she was raised in New York from the age of 7.

School cred: Graduated from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York; studied theater at the Juilliard School

Movie cred: "Perfume" (2001), "Way Off Broadway" (2001), "Roger Dodger"  (2002), "Serenity" (2005), "Death in Love" (2008), "Stolen" (2009)

 

Favorite Book: "Probably 'The Great Gatsby'; that's my favorite book of all time. I love the story, and I love the way it's written. I absolutely adore F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing. I think that it has one of the most beautiful last lines of any book; it's something like, 'So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Favorite Movie: "God, how long do you have?  I really love Meryl Streep, so, for me, 'The Bridges of Madison County' is a flawed movie, but I love it, because of her and Clint Eastwood. 'The Piano' was an amazing film. I loved the old movie 'Double Indemnity' and (the musical) 'Moulin Rouge.' I love 'The Labyrinth,' which is more fantasy than science fiction, and 'The Neverending Story,' of course."

 

Favorite Music: "I have rather eclectic tastes. I like different things. David Bowie is probably an all-time favorite artist. But right now,  I'm a little obsessed with that Cee Lo Green song, it's called 'F--- You.' It's a really good song."

Today's cuppa: English breakfast tea, with toast with Irish butter (just to even things out)

(All photos mine unless otherwise indicated)

As you all know from this blog post and this feature story, I visited the set of History's "Top Gear" in October, but some of what I saw isn't airing until right about now.

Next Friday, Zap2it will post a story and a video interview I did with rock star Bret Michaels, who is the last celebrity guest in the show's first season.

His episode airs Sunday, Jan. 9, when he can be seen running the test track in the little red Suzuki SX4.

But in the episode for tonight, Sunday, Jan. 2, "Home Improvement" and movie star Tim Allen is the "Big Star in the Small Car." Like Michaels, he's a lover of all things with wheels that go fast. And he did go fast, which was a little unnerving for those of us -- cameraman, publicist, me, etc. -- standing near one corner of the test track, which was right in the direct line of danger if Allen had lost control of the car (not likely, but you never know).

"I told the guys," says Allen in his trailer afterward (at left), "the fire marshal's going to have to get involved in this. You can't let people sit that close. He said, 'That's their decision.' 'Yeah, but it will be one of those classic TV-turned-tragedy...'

"It's natural to look at you, and then I'm aiming right at you, so I end up going where I aim."

(FYI, when the show's tame racing driver, The Stig, felt the need to move, we all did as well. Picture at right is the Stig with Allen and a crew member).

Along with being an actor, Allen is also a trained racing driver.

"I took lessons in early '96 or '95," he says, "and then I raced for Ford, as much as I could, doing a TV show and movies at the same time. ... It's just a pit, racing. There's no end to how much money you spend on it."

If you look at the "Horsepower" page of Allen's official Web site, it's evident that he has a well-stocked garage, but it definitely doesn't include a little red Suzuki (photo below from "Top Gear"). On this day, he won't know how his time stacked up against the other celebrities until he heads back to the studio for his interview segment, but the Suzuki did prove a bit of a surprise.

"The interior's dumpy," Allen says, "but it goes pretty well, considering what it is. It's got tiny little tires and tiny little brakes, but it doesn't do bad. It's a front-wheel-drive car. All of those things I don't like, but it goes pretty good. It's not bad.

"The Scourge or the Stick or Schtick, the man with no face, he's a very good trainer."

(For the record, he means The Stig.)

Allen did get to try out a couple of other cars on the "Top Gear" track.

"The Lotus was the most interesting of them, overall," he says. "I don't like the looks of it -- it seemed a little underbuilt -- but on the track it does things beautifully, better than any car out there. And the Chevy Camaro and the Dodge Challenger (photo below at right) are American cars -- big, safe, comfortable.

"They're nice cars. They're for the road. GM doesn't make race cars; they don't do that. They make cars that mimic it, have some attributes of a race car, but they don't do that. Their Corvette ZR1, which I owned for a while, is as close as it comes. It really is startlingly close to the race car that it mimics, as close as any car I've ever been in.

"The new Corvette, if it had better seats, is a race car, the way it sits. It's got race-car brakes, race-car suspension. I had one, sold it for a Cadillac CTS-V, the Corvette-powered Cadillac."

But don't assume that Allen's mixed reaction to the Suzuki means he'd never own a small car.

"I have a Mini-Cooper," he says. "I added another 111 horsepower to it; I dropped it, put big black tires and wheels on it, big exhaust. It's fast now. My oldest daughter, if she graduates well from USC, it might be hers.

"I have motorcycles, too. I'm a complete gearhead. I love big trucks, too, and bulldozers and tanks."

Today's cuppa: not-exactly-morning coffee (last night was New Year's Eve, of course)

Last night, during Fox News' New Year's Eve coverage, roving street correspondent Greg Gutfeld, who's also the host of the late-night FNC comedy/news roundtable show "RedEye W/Greg Gutfeld," caught up in New York City's Times Square with Old Spice spokesman Isaiah Mustafa, who made a memorable appearance on NBC's "Chuck" last fall (and, according to him, will be in an episode of NBC's upcoming "Love Bites").

Gutfeld asked him about his on-screen flirtation with conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter -- whom Mustafa affectionately referred to as "The Coultergeist" -- which began during this April 2010 appearance on "RedEye," when Mustafa specifically asked to take a moment to say hello to Coulter, who seemed delighted to return the greeting.

As far as I know, Mustafa has not been on "RedEye" in a while -- Coulter is still a frequent visitor -- but perhaps he will return soon after chatting with Gutfeld last night.

I caught up with Mustafa last August on the "Chuck" set and asked him about Coulter.

"Oh, Ann's great," he said. "She's great, funny. I like Ann. I call her the Coultergeist, because she haunts me."

His first "RedEye" encounter with Coulter took place when he was in a remote location, but he said at "Chuck" that he'd been on the show twice in studio -- but neither time with Coulter.

"Every time I go there," said Mustafa, "I say, 'Greg,' what's going on? We've got to keep my flirtation with Ann alive.' He's like, 'I'm sorry.' He'll said, 'We'll get it.' I gave him that 'Coultergeist' line. He goes, 'Oooh, that's good. I'll use it.'"

After talking to Mustafa, I sought an email response from Gutfeld, who wrote, "He's funny, smart and gets the show. My guess is, in two years, he'll be one of the biggest stars on the planet, and he won't remember me."

Regarding the Mustafa/Coulter flirtation -- which appears to be just all in good fun -- Gutfeld wrote, "Things like that happen all the time on our show. The flirtation was much worse between GWAR's Oderus Urangus and (conservative columnist) S.E. Cupp."

With no action on this front in months, maybe Gutfeld's appearance with Mustafa on New Year's Eve will bring about the long-awaited Mustafa-Coulter joint appearance on "RedEye."

As FNC's Neil Cavuto always says about Fox Business Network, "If you don't get it .. demand it!"