Mike Hughes on TV

Life has gone well for Josh Gan -- two hit Broadway musicals and (despite the huge mistake of turning down "Modern Family") a vibrant TV career. His new show, "1600 Penn," is no "Modern Familly," but it's big, broad and funny. You can catch the story on Thursday or Friday (Jan. 10-11). Here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

PASADENA, Cal. – There's great
pleasure, Josh Gad said, in sitting at the presidential ddesk. “It's
an absolute ego boost.”

And there are a couple of ways to get
there:

– Be elected president. This takes
time, money and more.

– Or help create and star in a TV
show. That's what Gad did with NBC's “1600 Penn”; he plays the
president's son, who likes sitting at his dad's desk when no one is
looking.

“Josh has … a true sense of joy,”
said Jenna Elfman, who plays his stepmother. “It's rare, in my
experience, to find actors …. who are truly joyful (and) really
funny.”

Gad, 31, agrees with some of that. “I
have an unbelievable sense of joy in my life,” he said.

That includes a wife, a daughter, roles
in two hit Broadway musicals and a thriving TV career … despite one
major mistake.

That came when “Modern Family” was
being formed. The gay couple could have been played by Jesse Tyler
Ferguson and Gad – two people who had been in Broadway's “The
25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at different
times.

Gad turned down the role. Eric
Stonestreet took it, getting fame, fortune and (so far) two Emmys.

Rejecting the role was “probably
stupid, considering my bank account is a lot smaller now that it
could've been,” Gad grants. Then things turned out anyway.

Gad went back to Broadway, getting a
Tony nomination for “The Book of Mormon.” Matt Winer, one of the
“Modern Family” producers, talked to him about a comedy focusing
on the president's family; it soon centered on Skip, the well-meaning
but bumbling son.

“I had no intention of playing Skip,”
Gad sad. But “it came down to the fact that if I saw anybody else
play the character, I was going to be really (upset).”

Like his “Book of Mormon” role, he
said, “the character is big, very gregarious.”

And sometime very clumsy. “He has a
three-pratfall minimum per show,”joked producer Mike Royce.

Royce previously helped mold Ray
Romano's shows, “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Men of a
Certain Age.” Now he's joined Winer, John Lovett (a former White
House speech writer, not related to the former “Saturday Night
Live” star) and Gad. They've built the show around:

– The president, a widower who
re-married. Like Bill Pullman, who plays him, he's a soft-spoken guy
who has a ranch.

– His wife, a lawyer. “She's very
smart,” said Elfman, who plays her. “She's very confident”
about everything except raising kids.

– His daughter, smart, likable and,
we soon learn, pregnant.

– A younger son and daughter.

– And Skip, who's at the core . “Josh
is so good at playing the lovable idiot,” Winer said, “but giving
it dimension. As the show goes on, you realize that Skip … has a
really special wisdom.”

– “1600 Penn,” 9:30 p.m.
Thursdays on NBC.

– That starts Jan. 10, when the pilot
– which had a “sneak preview” last month – airs at 8:30, an
hour before the show settles into its regular spot.

– Both episodes rerun at 8 and 8:30
p.m. Friday.

Reality TV really needs to be mocked often. Now "The Joe Schmo Show" is back after an eight-year break. It starts Tuesday (Jan. 8) and reruns almost daily. Here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

PASADENA, Cal. – Back in 2003,
reality TV was ready to be mocked.

In the U.S., it was mostly new.
“Survivor” and “Big Brother” were three years old, “Amazing
Race” was two, “American Idol” was one. They were young and
silly and ripe for satire; “The Joe Schmo Show” --which returns
now – was born.

“One regular, all-American guy
thought he was on a new, over-the-top reality show,” recalled
Sharon Levy, the head of Spike TV. Instead, he was the only person on
the show who wasn't an actor.

“We tested his patience, we tested
his morals, we tested hi character,” Levy said, “as he faced a
barrage of insane circumstances.”

Two editions were aired and the show
was shelved – until now.

The new “Schmo” is starting,
cranking up the satire.“Reality TV wasn't as crazy back then,”.said
producer J. Holland Moore. Now “it's gotten so crazy over; to
(exaggerate) that is more difficult.”

Still, there are new things to mock:
Nowadays, for instance, celebrities sometimes compete alongside
laymen; so Lorenzo Lamas – playing himself – is one of the
contestants.

Yes, he said, that surprised him. “I
didn't expect to back in the reality genre after 'Leave It to
Lamas.'”.

That one was in 2009, linking his whole
family – which had lots of reality experence. In 2003, Lamas was a
regular on the wretched, “Are You Hot?” In 2008, he tried “Gone
Country” and his daughter Shayne was in “The Bachelor”; Matt
Grant chose her and they promptly broke up.

Lamas has seen bad reality and he's
mocking it. “As an actor, you have to try to be fearless,” he
said.

At least, he doesn't have to become a
make-believe character. For others, that's a problem:

– After original, 2003 edition, the
layman (Matt Kennedy Gould) admitted he should have recognized the
actor pretending to be Hutch, the jerk; he had just seen the same
actor in “Six Feet Under.” (That actor, David Hornsby, would go
on to be Cricket in “It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and to
create his own comedy, “How To Be a Gentleman.”)

– That first edition also had another
star-to-be. Before “Saturday Night Live” and “Bridesmaids,”
Kristen Wiig pretended to be Dr. Pat, the quack.

– Ralph Garman hosted the first
edition and was back for the second. Now he's hosting again, this
time with lots of make-up. This pretends to be “The Full Bounty,”
with wannabes trained by a bounty hunter. “I grew a beard (and)
changed my arms a little bit,” Garman said.”I spent more time in
the gym than in the bar, which is strange for me, (and) put a
rat-tail in my hair.”

In the opener, his disguise works, but
another almost fails. The layman (Chase Rogan, 28, of Pittsburgh),
said one of the guys seemed familiar.

That was Michael Weaver, who has been a
regular on two shows – “The Mullets” (with Hornsby) and “Notes
From the Underbelly” – and a guest star on many others. The show
risked casting him as Randy the jerk, while being careful about
everything else.

When the original “Schmo” began,
Levy said, “there was no Facebook, there were no iPhones. We were
probably on a Nextel walkie, trying to call someone.”

Now all of those are banned from the
set. It takes a village to deceive a smart chap.

– “Joe Schmo: The Full Bounty”

– 10 p.m. Tuesdays, Spike, beginning
Jan. 8

– The opener reruns at 11 p.m..,
midnight and 1 a.m.; then at 9 and 10 p.m.Wednesday, 6 and 7 p.m.
Thursday, 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.Saturday, 2 p.m. Jan. 14 and 8 and 9 p.m.
Jan. 15.

"Downton" Abbey returns Sunday, as elegantly tangled as ever. Here's the story I sent to papers:

By MIKE HUGHES

For the once-cozy folks in “Downton
Abbey,” life is almost normal again.

The war is ending, a marriage is
beginning. “This season, in a way, is about the recovery from the
war,” said Julian Fellowes, the “Downton” creator.

Except these folks seem to find new
problems. Last season Bates – the earnest, honest servant – was
convicted of killing his ex-wife. That shocked viewers … and
shocked actors when they read the script.

“There was a real thud in my chest,”
said Brendan Coyle, who plays Bates.

“I literally gasped …. I was like,
'No, no.'” said Joanne Froggatt, who plays his new wife.

So the season starts with Bates in
prison and his wife scrambling for new evidence. The usual
mini-crises arrive, some minor – the new footman is simply too
tall, people insist – and some not.

As Lady Mary prepares to marry her
distant cousin Matthew, problems include:

– The possibility that her sister
Sybil won't make it. She lives in Ireland with her husband, an Irish
zealot who used to be the family chauffeur.

– The fact that Mary's grandmother,
Martha Levinson, will be there. She's American and thereby blunt.

– New financial woes that are, at
first, approached quietly.

Those issues and others bounce back and
forth quickly. As Shirley MacLaine, who plays Martha, sees it, that
“fits the Internet tolerance for emotional knowledge.”

That's what Fellowes had in mind. He
wanted the approach “of 'West Wing' and 'ER' and all those, with
lots of plots going on – big plots, little plots, funny plots, sad
plots.”

Most of PBS “Masterpiece Classic”
films are tied to old-time novel. Fellowes skipped all of that by
creating something new.“There is a liberation in it being original,
because you can go into areas of the period that (an older) novel
would not have done,” he said.

That drew high ratings and honors. Last
season drew 16 Emmy nominations (including six for its cast) and won
three (including Maggie Smith). It also won the Golden Globe for best
movie or mini-series.

Modern storytelling goes alongside the
old-time elegance. “The corsets were demanding,”MacLaine said. “I
realized, 'Of course, there's class system. You can't get dressed
without them.'”

At the core is the Crawley family. It
includes:

– Robert,who inherited the property
and makes it his life's work.”He was born to pass on this estate to
the next generation,” said Hugh Bonneville, who plays him. “That's
been his sole driving force.”

– His wife Cora, an American. She has
“an old-fashioned idea of women's strength, (being) extremely
flexible and strong in a quiet, more self-effacing way,” said
Elizabeth McGovern, who plays her.

– Their eldest daughter. “Mary
started out as a bit of a brat,”said Michelle Dockery, who plays
her.

She had the confidence of a bright and
well-born beauty. Then came her one-night fling with a Turkish
diplomat, who promptly died in her bed. “The risk of scandal makes
her vulnerable,” Fellowes said.”

Now that's been hushed and she's ready
tor a marriage of love that conveniently saves the estate.

Such a convenient combination happened
to her parents, Bonneville said. When “Cora and Robert were
married, it was a business transaction. He needed the cash and her
family was quite keen to have a British title. It so happened that
they fell in love.”

The would go on to have three
daughters, some joy and constant crises – as minor as an overly
vertical footman or as major as the threat of financial failure.

– “Downton Abbey,under the
”Masterpiece Classic” banner

– 9 p..Sundays , PBS (check local
listings), with two-hour opener Jan. 6

– Concludes Feb. 17

This is the day when TV nudges us into the new year. Here's the story I sent to papers, listing TV choices. The two previous blogs profiled this year's "New Year's Rockin' Eve" (the first since Dick Clark's death) and Greyson Chance, 15, one of that show's performers:

By MIKE HUGHES

As the new year nears, TV viewers will
have no trouble finding someone to count down, party down and cheer
up.

Over the years, one network (ABC) has
expanded its show to almost six hours, while others (CBS, CMT, MTV)
have dropped out. Still, there are plenty of choices; here's a
sampling, all times ET:

Fox

– When: 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

– It is: From Las Vegas with Carmen
Electra; cutaways to Times Square.

– Includes: Lighthouse, Carmen Electra
and Phillip Phillips, the current “Amercan Idol” champion.

NBC

– When: 10-11 p.m., 11:30 p.m. to
12:30 a.m.

– It is: From New York. Carson Daly
hosts; Angela Kinsey (“The Office”) is at Times Square.

– Music: Cassadee Pope, the new
“Voice” champion; also, Train does “Mermaid” and “Imagine.”

– Retrospective: A look at the year's
music has clips of Madonna at the Super Bowl, the Spice Girls at the
Olympics and more, including Adele, Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Coldplay,
David Guetta and Psy.

– Also: Comments from NBC people,
including Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler, Donald Trump and the
“Voice”judges.

Fox News Channel

– When: 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

– It is: From Times Square. Bill
Hemmer and Megyn Kelly host, with other FNC people are included.

– Music: Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo, Sarah Brightman
and the cast of “Million Dollar Quartet,” the recent Broadway
musical about a recording session with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash,
Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.

ABC

– When: Almost constantly. It goes
form 8 p.m. to 2:12 a.m., pausing for local news from 11-11:30.

– It is: The first “New Year's
Rockin' Eve” since the death of its founder, Dick Clark. Ryan
Seacrest hosts, with Fergie doing the California party and Jenny
McCarthy working the Times Square crowd.

– Music: Live in New York are Taylor
Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, Neon Trees and Psy. The recorded party is in
California has Brandy, Pitbull, Karmin, One Republic, Greyson Chance
and Flo Rida.

– Also: Prime time looks at the past
year – and much further back. The first two hours are called “New
Year's Rockin' Eve Celebrates Dick Clark.”

And more

– BET's music show, “106 &
Park,” is billing itself as “106 & Party,” from 11 p.m. to
1 a.m.

-- CNN again has Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin  hosting, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

– Fuse, the music channel, has a
dance party from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

– The Disney Channel's “Austin &
Ally” repeats its special, “Austin & Jessie & Ally All
Star New Year,” which is set at Times Square. It starts at 11 p.m.
and ends just before midnight.

Forty years after the start of "New Year's Rockin' Eve," the show has its first Eve since Dick Clark's death. Here's the story I sent to papers. The previous blog profiles Greyson Chance, 15, one of this year's performers. The one that follows will be an overall list:

By MIKE HUGHES

For “New Year's Rockin' Eve,” the
start was quite modest. It was Dick Clark on a restaurant roof.

“Dick stood on a ladder,” producer
Larry Klein recalled, “while his wife Kari held the cue cards ….
We had to go through an Iranian restaurant's window to get there.”

Now, 40 years later, “Rockin' Eve”
is taken for granted. “I think it's always been there,” said
Greyson Chance, born 25 years after that first one. “We always have
it on and wait for the ball to drop.”

Along the way, the show has grown in
length and ambition. This year, it will be almost six hours long,
mixing live performances at Times Square (Taylor Swift, Carly Rae
Jepsen, Neon Trees, Psy) with a taped party that includes Chance,
Pitbull, Flo Rida and more.

One bigger change: With Clark's death
(April 18, at 82), Ryan Seacrest became the sole host.

Clark had missed the 2004 show after a
stroke, with Regis Philbin filling in.”I knew Dick wanted to come
back …. It was something he looked forward to,” Klein said.

Seacrest was the prime host after that,
but Clark did the countdown … which is how this started.

“New Year's Eve was always a night
for big-band music,” Klein recalled. “But when Guy Lombardo quit
doing it, Dick thought there was a possibility for rock music.”

There were two years on NBC, then 38
(so far) on ABC. Only in recent years has the show added live
performances. “We try to get people who are joyful and upbeat,”
Klein said.

Ever since “American Bandstand”
began in 1952, Clark's people have looked for the hot new teen. Swift
was 16 and 17, a songwriting whiz, when she did their Academy of
Country Music and the American Music Awards shows; she was 20 when
she did “Rockin' Eve.” Klein recalls one show when taping stopped
for 10 minutes and someone said, “That's time for Taylor to write
another song.”

Now Chance arrives at 15. He grew up
watching the show, he said, with Clark doing the countdown for what
was only 11 p.m. in Oklahoma. “We'd do it up right and stay up
another hour.”

For Klein – born a year after
“American Bandstand” – this has been a fun ride. He reached
Hollywood in the mid-'70s, fresh from doing concerts at the
University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. “I BS'd my way into a job with
Dick ….It was just a little office then, with eight or 10 people.”

The AMA show had just started, he said,
and “they only had one go-fer.” He became the second, then went
on to producing and to a long friendship with Clark.

“Dick was just this everyday guy,”
Klein said. “We'd sit down at lunch and just talk about silly
things.”

Clark even felt foolish about the
limousine rides that are part of Hollywood life. “He'd have them
drop us off a block away, in the pouring rain, and we'd walk the rest
of the way.”

It was Clark's route to a long and
rockin' career.