Just for good measure, here are also a couple of photos of Mentalist star Amanda Righetti at OK! Magazine’s annual pre-Oscar bash. Doggone it if she doesn’t look fabulous in anything! The dress is great, but I’m sure she would still be stunning in a potato sack!
On the other hand, Mentalist star Amanda Righetti looks more glamorous when she’s not playing Grace Van Pelt.
These photos were taken of her when she attended the 24th Annual American Society Of Cinematographers Awards on February 27. Her husband is a filmaker, so it’s no surprise she was at the event. I only wish I looked like this in a hot little black leather dress!!
Last week, the paparazzi caught some photos of Mentalist star Simon Baker while he was out and about in Santa Monica, California. It’s amazing to me how much of a “regular guy” he seems to be when he’s not playing Patrick Jane.
Tomorrow night is the season finale of Psych. Some of us were given the chance to preview the episode so we could ask questions of the show’s James Roday and the episode’s guest star Ally Sheedy. It was a conference call interview with both of them answering questions from multiple people and a very interesting conversation. Here’s what was discussed:
Q: My first question is what are some of your favorite episodes in Psych’s four seasons?
J. Roday: I assume you’re asking me that question?
Q: Sure, well, if Ally wants to answer as well…
J. Roday: That’s a lot of pressure to put on Ally.
A. Sheedy: That’s okay. I love the episodes that have Yang in them.
J. Roday: Yes. Ally likes the Yang episodes. I too, like the Yang episodes. I would toss in just a random sampling of – let’s see, I’ve always been really fond of the tele-novella episode where we spoofed a Spanish soap opera that was called “Lights, Camera, Homicidio.” I think like half of season one is very dear to me just because we were sort of flying by the seat of our pants and every week was truly a new adventure. I look back at some of those episodes and even though they may not be the greatest episodes they’ll always have – they’ll be very near and dear to me because it was just so much love happening to get this show off the ground.
Then more recently they let me direct for the first time in season three and I’ll always remember that very fondly. That was the “Tuesday the 17th” episode and the first time John Landis came up to work with us on an episode called “Scary Sherry,” that also was one heck of an experience. But mostly the episodes with Mr. Yang.
A. Sheedy: See why I like doing this show? There you go.
Q: Where do you get the creative inspiration for your character to be so bizarre and different? Do you get all that from the script or is there someone in your life that you modeled the character after?
A. Sheedy: I’m not sure, who are you asking?
Q: Oh, James.
J. Roday: It’s a really great character because he kind of lives by his own set of rules and he’s Peter Pan. He’s Puck, I don’t know real people like him. To approach any situation first and ask questions later that’s just Shawn, and I think I’ve sort of found it along the way. Like I said if you go back and watch early episodes and compare them to the stuff that we’re doing now I think the evolution of the character is – you can see a lot of differences. I’ve always sort of trusted in the fact that this guy doesn’t think a whole lot before he does stuff, so I try not to think too much before I do stuff, and I think it’s worked out okay.
Q: Clearly in this episode there is a lot of Hitchcock references. James I was wondering if there is anyone else you drew inspiration from – influences from when you were directing this episode?
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Jeff Eastin is the excutive producer and creator for the show White Collar. He took the time to talk to several of us a few days ago about how he came to create the show, how Matt Bomer was cast as Neal Caffrey and so much more! Here’s the entire discussion:
Q: My first question here was about season two. And we heard the good news, I guess in December, that season two got picked up. But I just wondered if you could maybe talk a little bit about planning for that, what you might do different, and are we going to get a major cliffhanger leading into that?
Jeff: Yes. We have a pretty major cliffhanger coming up here in two weeks. And what we’ve done in season two is really—we’re right into it now. The writers’ group has been going about two weeks now and most of that time; we’ve been just working on the mythology moving forward into season two. What I did, really, was looked and say what we thought we really did right in season one and just try to duplicate that.
Luckily, I was sort of surprised, but most new shows, there’s usually a few shows you’re sort of not happy with and I’ve got to say, I mean, just amazing cast, amazing crew. We had some really good directors this year and we got really lucky. I mean, I can’t really think of any show in season one that I wasn’t happy with. I mean, I’ve got my favorites. But even the ones that are my least favorite, I still think came out pretty good. So I’m pretty happy about that. I mean, we have been dealing pretty specifically with Tiffani’s pregnancy. That’s something we’re really trying to deal with in season two.
We’ve decided not to bring it up on the show. So working around that has been a real challenge and very interesting, but kind of fun to find out technologically what you can do in terms of green screen and things like that to be able to work around that. So those are the challenges we’ve got going into season two.
But for the most part, the way I’m looking at the show right now is it ain’t broke and we’re not going to try to change anything majorly in season two in terms of dynamic. For me, the show is really about Peter and Neal and that’s where the focus is going to stay, supported by Elizabeth and Mozzie, and that’s really where we want to keep it going into season two.
Q: One of the things that I think was probably the most amazing things I’ve read was how when you’re coming up with this concept, you’d never been to New York and you did your research, I guess, with Google Streets. I was kind of wondering how in hindsight did that work out, and is New York, I guess, different than you thought it would be?
Jeff: That is true. Yes, I had not been to New York. New York was a very obvious choice if you’re going to do a world of white collar crime. And Manhattan, you really can’t beat it. I mean, it’s the perfect city for the show. And the one problem that I had was that I had not been there. So I’m a computer geek anyway, and I think Google Streetview when it had first came out, I thought it was pretty amazing, and once I started poking around on it, in Manhattan, it was really nice. I mean, you could stroll down the street. I could plan out Neal and Peter’s movements and actually walk through them. That was really helpful just in terms of sort of orienting myself geographically.
What really shocked me about New York, I have to say, are the people. I mean, I sort of—being from Colorado originally and then from L.A., there was sort of a perception that people from New York can be very cold and sort of distant. I was really surprised that that was the exact opposite of what I found. I found that people there were incredibly nice, incredibly warm.
I have to say that I was sort of—Central Park was probably the biggest surprise I had. I spent some of the most peaceful moments in my life I’ve spent just sort of strolling through Central Park. And that’s from a guy who grew up in a very small town in Colorado. So that was probably the biggest shock is that there were these places of solitude in New York that you could find. It wasn’t the big hustle bustle capital that I was expecting. It does have those elements, but there are also these wonderfully tranquil moments that really surprised me.
Since the season finale of Burn Notice is this week, the lead actors for the show, Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar held a conference call where many of us got to ask questions. They obviously get along very well off camera, as well as on. Here’s how the conversation went:
Q: Are you surprised at the success of this show? And I know at times, for USA, the show is either competitive with NBC or sometimes even through passing and are you surprised with the following that it’s gotten over the years?
J. Donovan: Well, I think that all you can hope for is that you make something that people want to watch and then somehow keep integrity while doing that. I think we’re very happy with the ratings definitely. I know we work really hard, so surprised, yes, we’re always surprised when anything succeeds in this day and age.
Q: And one for both of you, can you talk about your characters and just kind of the evolution that we’ve seen in your characters, and are you happy with where you guys have ended up with your characters? And if you’re in charge of everything, where would you like to see them go I guess in the season or in the future?
G. Anwar: Do you think we’ve evolved? I don’t know where we’re going, where are we going, Jeffrey?
J. Donovan : Well, I think that, I’ll speak for Gabrielle, I mean I know from talking with all the other cast mates, we’re very happy with where it’s going. But sometimes Matt Nix and all the other writers keep us slightly in the character dark, not because they don’t trust us with the knowledge, but they’re just trying to figure it out as well along the way.
When you’re dealing with espionage and covert affairs, sometimes the secret is more exciting than the knowledge. If we were both in charge, I would love a deeper insight into Michael’s past, that’s for me. I don’t know about Gabrielle, what would you like?
G. Anwar: I’m quite happy with Fiona’s enigmatic state of being. I don’t think I need to know more about, I’d love to know more about where you’re from, absolutely, but I quite like not knowing. I don’t like to know who I am.
Q: This question is for Jeffrey, I read online that in an upcoming episode, Michael will be going somewhere other than Miami and that he won’t be alone. Can you tell us where your characters going and why, as well as who’s going with him?
J. Donovan: Well, obviously I can’t. It’s the season finale, and it’s really literally in the last five minutes of the show. It’s a bit of a cliffhanger. Michael’s been stuck in Miami for quite some time, and there’s a couple of psychopaths on his tail, and things come to a hilt. And by the end of the show, Michael is actually transported out of Miami, but I can’t tell you where, but it’s a bit of a cliffhanger.
Q: This question is for both of you, when my husband and I saw the previews for Burn Notice before its first season, the thing that first caught our eye was you, Jeffrey. We’ve been huge fans of yours since we saw you in Touching Evil, which we loved. The other things that caught our attention were the plot and that it was on USA, which we feel is a terrific network for bringing out new and extraordinarily interesting shows and characters. So for both of you, what first drew you to the show and to your characters?
The Mentalist Episode 2.15 – Red Herring Air Date: March 4, 2010
White Collar Episode 1.12 – Front Man Air Date: March 2, 2010
The Mentalist Episode 2.16 – Code Red Air Date: March 11, 2010
STORY LINE: Bioweapons researcher JULIA SEBERG calls in Jane and Lisbon when she’s given a lethal dose of airborne virus… [Source: SpoilerTV]
Press Release: A POISONED SCIENTIST WITH ONLY HOURS TO LIVE CALLS PATRICK JANE TO CATCH HER KILLER, ON “THE MENTALIST,” THURSDAY, MARCH 11
“Code Red” – When Dr. Alicia Seberg, a government research scientist, is exposed to a deadly toxin while at work and has only hours to live, she calls Patrick Jane and the CBI to find her murderer, on THE MENTALIST, Thursday, March 11 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
SERIES REGULARS
GUEST CAST
WRITTEN BY: Bruno Heller, creator and executive producer DIRECTED BY: John Showalter [Source: CBS]
I am soooo looking forward to this episode of Law & Order: SVU. Not only is it one of my favorite shows on TV, but Kathy Griffin is the guest star on the next episode. And I love Kathy Griffin too! It’s going to be fantastic!
Take a look at the role Kathy will be playing on the episode. She’ll be playing the part of the angry lesbian out for justice. There’s absolutely no more perfect role for her! Here are two clips of her in the episode:
In this clip, Kathy’s character makes an advance toward Det. Benson. Kathy looks hurt when Benson has to tell her the straight truth: