Allowing children to spend hours each day watching TV or playing computer games does not make them badly behaved, according to a new study.

Instead, said the authors of a report that studied 11,000 children aged 4-11, bad behavior is more likely caused by bad parenting.

The Medical Research Council findings contradicted advice issued by American health professionals that says children should be limited to two hours of watching non-violent TV programs per day – or behavioral problems could result.

The MRC study said that while long hours of watching TV could lead to very limited behavior issues in children at age seven, the effect was minimal.

Children who spent hours playing computer games showed no increase in behavioral issues at all.

Dr. Alison Parkes, of the MRC said: “Our work suggests that limiting the amount of time children spend in front of the TV is, in itself, unlikely to improve psychosocial adjustment.”

She added that intervention to improve family dynamics – such as improving parenting skills – would have a more marked effect on children’s behavior.

The post Kids’ behavior not harmed by too much TV: study appeared first on Metro.us.

Williams’ daytime talk show, “The Wendy Williams Show,” is nationally syndicated.
Credit: Karl Giant for “The Wendy Williams Show”

Wendy Williams opens the door to her dressing room wearing fuzzy green frog slippers. On the wall are caricatures of the talk show host, plus a print of her PETA ad, for which she went nude. She takes a seat on her couch, which is adorned with a plush pink throw pillow and is underneath a giant sequined pink marlin. Despite the girliness of the room, Williams — hanging loose post-show in a wavy blonde wig (think Beyonce at the Super Bowl) — has a serious business side to her. It’s to be expected from the mogul, whose show has been renewed through 2014 on FOX and is airing new episodes in June and July (most daytime talk shows go on a summer hiatus).

But all of this television success was never the original plan for Williams, who built her career in radio.

“I always thought I’d stay on radio because I was good at radio,” Williams says. “And at the time that this talk show came along I had 23 years in radio, was making a terrific salary, I was able to live the life that I never thought I’d live, and I was comfortable with that. It was my dream. Growing up in Jersey, I wanted to be a news broadcaster or I wanted to be a radio personality, and when I got to college my freshman year I was reading the news for the college radio station and the DJ was sick one night and they asked me to fill in. I was like ‘Well I’m not this cool,’ and I’m gonna stick with the news items — it was more who I was raised to be, with a sensible haircut and short non-painted nails.”

But the life of a newscaster, Williams soon discovered, wasn’t what she wanted. “You’ve got to live a newscaster’s lifestyle,” she says. “You’ve got to be married to the right guy — not the right guy for you but also the right guy for public perception  — you’ve got to have the right hairstyle, your nails have got to be a particular length, you cannot be seen having fun. That’s not fair, but it’s the way newscasting is, so I said I’m gonna go with this radio thing. Once I got on the radio I was sideswiped by it and I never looked back.”

Williams attributes the success of her show to her producing staff and also her TMI personality. “One of the fatal flaws of my personality that my parents would attest to is, ‘You’ve given too much information. Everybody didn’t need to know that Aunt Florence is wearing a wig and she’s in the bathroom readjusting,’” she says. “I think people feel comfortable with people that they get to know long enough.”

When she’s not working on her show, Williams has other projects on her brain, like her forthcoming “Ask Wendy” book (her sixth) based on a popular advice segment from the show, and also her upcoming wig line, Wendy Williams Hair World, which debuts in June. Williams has been wearing wigs for the past 12 years, after being was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. She says her new line will have “everything respectful that wiggies want and that newbies can get used to” and that she’s out to disprove the idea that wigs are “old and tired and ridiculous.” “You don’t necessarily expect a fly girl looking at 50 — that’d be me — wearing a wig,” she says.

Williams will debut her wigs on air when they become available this spring. At that point, her goal for the show will be the same as it is now, as it always has been: to make her guests comfortable.

“When people walk through the double doors and you see my whole colorful crowd …it can take you back, even as a trained actor. And then you’re being hugged by a 6-foot-5 black woman with a lot of hair and a lot of boob — it’s a lot! So my producers [do pre-interviews and] give me all I need to know, and then I go out there and make people feel as warm as I possibly can, because the goal of me as a host is to keep you coming back for more.”

The post How you doin’, Wendy Williams? appeared first on Metro.us.

Credit: ABC

Tonight we see more of Eli James, Amanda’s foster brother, but it only raises more questions. What does he want? Why is he here now? Amanda and Aidan talk this over as they relax in Aidan’s secluded “safe haven.” He’s the last thing she needs right now, she says. Eli was her protector, and she promised to never separate us, and nothing did until she set the fire that burned their house down.

At the Graysons, Charlotte is so proud that Mommie Dearest is starting a charity in Emily’s (“Amanda’s) honor. Daniel is trying to figure out the Initiative and what they want, and Victoria and Conrad warn him to watch out for Aidan.

Elsewhere, at the Stowaway, Jack decides to set up an insurance policy for baby Carl, in case another tragedy strikes. Declan informs Jack that the night Emily died, someone told him that they had safely made it to their hotel in Nantucket.

Emily gets wind of the foundation and offers her services as co-chair. She also donates $250,000. Just then Eli shows up at the Graysons. He tells Victoria about his past in London working in the rare books industry (a lie) and that he went to Columbia (another lie). Victoria introduces him to Amanda and he’s suspicious of her. Victoria invites him to be an honored guest at the foundation’s kick-off. Nolan calls and Amanda uses it as an excuse to leave. She hightails it to his house and tells him about Eli. Could this be another Tyler? Nolan will check him out. Amanda wants to get to Jack before Eli does.

Conrad visits Daniel in his office and says that everything they do is “for something beyond ourselves,” for the Graysons and all future Graysons. Just then Aidian interrupts.

Eli has already beaten Amanda to the Stowaway. Emily asks Jack for forgiveness but he’s suspicious of her—Eli has told him that Amanda hated her dad, and if that’s the case why would she risk everything to prove that the Graysons were after him? Uh-oh, someone smells trouble. And Eli does too: Jack steps out, and Eli confronts Amanda. He knows her real identity, telling her she looks pretty good for a dead girl.

After a quick commercial break, Eli tells Amanda that he had spent years searching for her but that he could only find the stripper. When Amanda explains the whole switching-identities thing, Eli says it’s a bum deal: Emily got a broke boyfriend and ended up dead, and Amanda got a ton of money. Speaking of which, Amanda wants Eli to have her money if it means he’ll leave her alone. She can’t have him staying here and screwing up her plan. Her incentive: He’s got a criminal past—if she can have his record wiped clean (by Nolan, who can do anything), maybe he’ll leave her alone.

Some smartass starts a fight with Daniel at a bar and Aidan breaks up the fight, much to the disappointment of Daniel. He doesn’t want Aidan to defend him. They’re officially in a fight, I guess, which makes Aidan all the more likely to be receptive to Conrad’s call just a few moments later.

Jack asks someone at the dock about the night his wife died. He knows somebody pulled him out of the wreckage and saved him. The man says someone—he didn’t catch his name—paid him money to keep quiet about that night. When the man describes him as a tall, sandy-haired guy with blue eyes, Jack figures out it’s Nolan.

At the party for Amanda’s charity, Amanda brings Nolan (who looks spiffy in a gold tux). Victoria says Amanda can’t be co-chair because all her other philanthropic duties mean she doesn’t have the time needed to the devote to this. Burn! But fine, whatever, no problem for Amanda. She gets right down to business, introducing Nolan to Eli and having him wipe his record clean, plus giving him $100,000 to start over. But Eli’s not going without a fight.

Declan gets jealous when he realized Charlotte took the day off to hang with Eli. Amanda has a plan to kick Eli out—she tells Ashley that he and Amanda were not close and that he was in trouble and needed money. Ashley will do her part to dispose of Eli, except when Victoria hears this from Ashley, she’s all the more inclined to keep him around because the damaging words came from “Emily Thorne.”

In another corner of the sprawling Grayson mansion, Daniel and Aidan argue. Aidan, like it or not, has a stake in Daniel’s wellbeing. He says he’s moved on from Emily but that Emily hasn’t moved on from Jack. He tells him that Conrad was actually the one who sent him back to Daniel, which sends Daniel through the roof.

Friends, give it up for Henry Czerny in tonight’s episode. Homeboy had some serious angry face going tonight, and it was mighty convincing. That whole scene when he told Daniel that the charity was a front to keep their assets out of government reach? Kudos. They’re gonna make it look like Aidan ran off with their money, and the next move is in Daniel’s court.

Back at the party, Eli donates his check from Amanda to the foundation. Jack makes a special appearance at the party and takes the mic, thanking the Graysons for everything (lying through his teeth). He hands the mic over to Victoria, who names Eli the co-chair of the foundation, to the anger of Amanda. Nolan corners Jack—what are you doing? Jack tells him he knows that he was there the night Amanda died and is done listening to him. Nolan makes up a story that the boat was registered to Kenny Ryan and Jack buys it.

In a rather bold move, Daniel confides in Amanda about the Initiative and their plan to have Daniel take part in their next plot. He says he’s trapped, and he tells her that the charity is a front for his parents’ assets, much to the surprise of Amanda. Elsewhere, Conrad counts his charity money to the tune of just about $5 million. Daniel tells Conrad that it’s a lock that Aidan will be named to the board, and then gives a check of his own to the foundation (it’d look weird if he wasn’t helping his parents’ cause). Victoria thinks he got the money from Amanda (“Emily”).

Emily tells Nolan about the Graysons’ charity front. She has a plan—if she gets a hold of Carrion, now that she knows where all the Graysons’ fortune lies, she can bankrupt the family. Intriguing! She needs Nolan’s help.

Cut to Emily at Aidan’s place. She’s not gonna do anything about Eli right now. She and Nolan get started on their bankruptcy mission, but Carrion’s got a bug. Nolan’s seen this bug before. In a flashback, we see him telling David about it. But David doesn’t want to hear it. He’s done fighting, he’s accepted his fate, and he just wants to make sure Amanda gets the revenge box he’s made for her (“It’s her future”). Back in the present, Nolan tells Amanda that whoever wrote the code protecting the account sealed her father’s fate, and that that hacker, dubbed “the Falcon,” is back on the Graysons’ payroll. What’s Amanda’s next move? “Let’s go hunting,” she tells Nolan.

The post ‘Revenge’ recap: Episode 16, ‘Illumination’ appeared first on Metro.us.

Credit: ABC

With every ending comes a new beginning, and tonight, in the wake of Emily’s death, we meet another character from Amanda’s past. More on that later.

So what did we think of Helen Hunt’s “Revenge” directorial debut? That’s right, your favorite 90s actress has a new obsession, just like the rest of us. Let’s play catch-up.

Amanda is still a wreck after Emily’s death aboard the boat last week. Nolan’s trying to be the voice of reason as she searches for her gun—she needs to slow down—but Amanda’s shaking and warns him not to tell her to let go of her plan for retribution. She finds the Emily’s locket, which has on one side a picture of baby Carl, and on the other Jack—it’s pasted over a photo of her and Amanda.

Conrad and Victoria are stressed about the computer on board that boat—it has all the evidence to implicate them. Daniel can’t believe all this is still going down and vows to “shut these barbarians down.” That creepy new Initiative leader Trask calls and Conrad tells him it’s not what they’ve done, but what Nate Ryan has done. They meet with Trask and blame Nate for this mess—he tricked them into confirming the computer existed and Emily used the evidence as ransom. That’s not really what happened, but Jack’s the only one who can refute this story; therefore, it’s important they place nice with him. And they also want Trask to leave Daniel alone.

Trask calls Daniel and introduces himself, since Helen Crowley has “moved on” (really, she’s lying in a ditch somewhere). Aidan comes into Daniel’s office asking for another chance to be part of his team.

Amanda is at the Stowaway looking around Emily’s room when who pops in with a fake search warrant but Trask. It’s about time they met. Trask gets a call that they’ve found a female’s body and that “Amanda’s” sister is going to identify the body. Poor Charlotte!

Ashley is getting a bit sassy—“did you kill Amanda Clarke?” she asks Conrad point-blank. But as much as she thinks she’s removed from this, Conrad reminds her that she’s been his architect through this whole mess.

Padma’s deadline to give Carrion to the Initiative is fast approaching. Nolan says he won’t hand it over until they prove her dad is still alive. He doesn’t know Helen is dead and says he’ll go through her phone records for information. She gives him a tender kiss on the cheek. While he’s investigating, Nolan realizes the Graysons killed Helen and tried to make it look like Amanda did it. Later, Daniel confronts Nolan at the office to make sure the Carrion program gets destroyed.

After IDing Emily’s body, Charlotte talks Victoria with baby Carl in the room. Victoria, menacing beast she is, is using this sad time as an opportunity to get close to Charlotte again. They’re chatting about Grandma Grayson’s funeral, and Charlotte is sad that she can’t think of anyone who will come to Emily’s (Amanda’s) service. Daniel texts Victoria that he needs to see her, and Charlotte uses the alone time to do some Googling on her half-sister.

Amanda’s looking for the computer while on the phone with Nolan, who, God bless him, refers to himself as “life’s pawn. Who’s moving me next?” Poor guy! Just then they get word that Jack’s coming out of his coma. Everyone heads to the hospital.

Jack wakes up and immediately asks about Amanda. Emily tells him. He’s understandably devastated, though I thought it was a little unrealistic he came to his senses and could fully grasp this situation so quickly. Conrad is at the hospital too, and although Amanda tells him now’s not the best time to be here, Jack is insistent on speaking with him alone.

Conrad says he’ll pay for Jack’s hospital bills (anyone else get a “Walk to Remember” flashback here? Just me? OK, moving on.) Going with his plan, Conrad is kissing Jack’s ass. But when Conrad leaves, Jack tells Amanda that he knows the real story, about them framing her father and having to murder her next. He needs the computer with the evidence against the Graysons. Amanda insists that he not tell anyone this and that he’s much safer in the hospital than running out and trying to exact revenge. After all, that’s her job.

Over drinks at a swanky bar, Daniel tells Victoria that he wants out. Everything they have is blood money. Victoria says that if he wants to rid himself of them, he has to do it strategically. Where to start: Seeing if Aidan is trustworthy, since he’s recently come back in the picture. Victoria suggests having him execute some trades that Trask ordered. If he does it, we’ll know he’s OK, because if he was evil, he wouldn’t want his hands all over those deals.

Jack asks Amanda to give his wife’s eulogy, since in the wake of everything he feels like he didn’t even know his wife. Amanda tries to coax him that the love she had for him was real. Jack gets really mad and smashes the jar of seaglass “Amanda” and he had collected when they were younger. Inside the broken pieces, Jack spots a key.

Charlotte continues Googling “Amanda”s history –she tells Amanda she’s sad that she never really got to know her, especially since she had this whole foster system past she never knew about. Amanda leaves and Charlotte gets an IM from someone named Eli James asking if she’s still looking for Amanda’s foster brother. The plot thickens! Elsewhere, Daniel asks Aidan to make those trades and he’s happy to go through with it.

Jack knows just where the code leads—a locker at a marina, where inside he finds the computer that everyone’s been looking for. Too bad he can’t figure out the password. Because he’s Nolan and has access to every technology ever, Nolan realizes that someone at the Stowaway turned on the computer. Oh no, not Jack! If Jack gets a hold of all the information, they’ll come after him next. And, he’ll figure out that his wife wasn’t really Amanda after all.

Sporting a seriously uneven sunburn, Amanda finds Jack as he’s getting ready for the funeral. He found “Amanda’s” old diaries, which reveal that she and Em were more like sisters than strangers. Jack’s furious that she lied to him and also that she could put her in danger like she did. He asks her to leave.

Enter Padma in a tantalizing red dress, as ominous music plays in the background. This doesn’t look good. It’s all very dramatic as Nolan hands over the finished Carrion (he was up all night the night before finishing it, and it shows on his haggard face and messy hair). He tells her that the fingerprint does indeed match her father’s, and that the Initiative doesn’t exactly have the best track record in holding up their end of the bargain, before he hands over the program. It’s all in Padma’s hands now.

This week’s big “Revenge” party is actually…womp womp, Emily’s funeral. She’s buried right next to David Clarke, her “dad.” Amanda is giving the eulogy as promised, even though Jack pretty much hates her right now, and Daniel tells Victoria that they can trust Aidan, who made the trades. Cut to Aidan breaking into the Stowaway (more on that in a minute). We continue to see Amanda show real emotion as she lays a flower down on the coffin. She’s afraid Jack will never forgive her. She wants to tell him the truth, he deserves that, but Nolan says something poignant: You can’t take Amanda away from him again. Also surprisingly upset at the funeral is Victoria. This is all taking place steps away from the grave of the man she loved. Before they all leave, Jack asks Nolan for computer help.

Upon returning to the Stowaway, Jack and Nolan discover that the place has been turned upside down (by Aidan). Of course, the computer is stolen. Jack blames the Graysons. Aidan brings the computer back to Amanda, “right in your hands as it belongs,” but Amanda pulls a total “Titanic” and heaves the laptop into the ocean. She’s doing it to protect Jack, she says, even though that evidence could have put the Graysons away for life. No more distractions now, she tells Aidan. This isn’t about prison. This is far worse.

In the show’s final moments, Daniel asks his assistant to have the clock from the office (the one with the camera in it) taken away, so the Initiative can no longer watch him, and yet not realize that they know he’s onto him. Amanda’s at the gravesite, it’s raining, it’s all very moody, and a strappingly handsome black man approaches her, asking if he knew the deceased. Yes, she did very well, she says. And so did he. She burned our house down, he says. Who is he? “I’m her brother.” Whoa!

The post ‘Revenge’ recap: Episode 15, ‘Retribution’ appeared first on Metro.us.

“Red Widow” airs Sundays on ABC.

Credit: Getty Images

Radha Mitchell comes to television with “Red Widow,” playing a woman forced to pick up her husband’s criminal activities after he’s killed. It’s juicy stuff, to be sure, and just what the Australian actress — known for film roles such as “Silent Hill,” “Finding Neverland” and “Man on Fire” — had been looking for. “Marta Walraven is pretty much my dream character to play,” Mitchell says. “Basically she’s a woman who has been avoiding her criminal upbringing by living the life of a soccer mom and is suddenly dragged into a world that she’s been trying to avoid pretty much her whole life when her husband is assassinated in relation to a drug incident. And in the process she discovers things about herself and talents that she didn’t know she had.”

Mitchell says she relates quite a bit to her character, though she’s wary to get into specifics. “Well, I guess the parts that I relate to I probably wouldn’t really want to share,” she says with a laugh. “But in terms of like being thrown into a situation, I think even just coming to America when I did initially was a very exciting adventure and was at times intimidating and scary. I came out when I was, like, 23 or something. I didn’t know anybody, and I was staying on my manager’s couch. But it was probably one of the most exciting junctures in my life because, you know, it was all about what could happen. I mean it wasn’t scary in the same way, but yeah.”

So with a move to television — something very common for film actors these days — does that mean Mitchell’s not looking for movies right now? “I’m over films,” she jokes. “I was actually sort of at this point in my life. And also, I feel like exciting characters are on television right now.” But there was something else about her “Red Widow” character that offered Mitchell something she’d wanted for quite some time. “Honestly, I’d always been very interested in Luc Besson’s character ‘La Femme Nikita,’ and I know this doesn’t directly relate, but that she was this character sort of under duress that discovers all these qualities in herself and all these strengths. That was pretty much the character that I’d always wanted to explore if there was one last question in my career. And then I read this pilot and I was like, wow, that’s the role I’ve always wanted to play.”

But Mitchell isn’t actually done with films. “Oh, I have a few films that are getting released soon,” she says, including “Olympus Has Fallen,” out later this month. “But honestly, it was a little bit of a shock at first because I had never worked at that pace [of a TV show]. I’ve normally had a little bit of time to sort of marinate and sort of sit with a script and imagine, learn my lines basically. Whereas with this, you get the script and then you learn it and then next thing you know you’re shooting it like two days later. So the pace of that was somewhat liberating and a little bit frightening at first.”

Little white lies
After finding success in Australia, a 23-year-old Radha Mitchell came to Hollywood to try her hand at work stateside, and she quickly learned that sometimes you have to be willing to bend the truth a bit to get a gig. “It took me six months, and then I got a film called ‘High Art,’” she says. There was only one problem, though: While she was giving Los Angeles a shot, the film was actually getting set up in New York. “They needed to cast the movie out of New York, and I was, like, ‘Yeah, I’m from New York,’” she remembers. “I sent some video out there. So they cast me, and then I didn’t have anywhere to live.” Luckily writer-director Lisa Cholodenko was able to help her out in a bind. “At the time I was, like, staying on the director’s couch,” she says.

The post Radha Mitchell talks ABC’s ‘Red Widow’ appeared first on Metro.us.

Naomi Campbell is heading to TV, joining fellow models Coco Rocha and Karolina Kurkova along with photographer Nigel Barker with “the Face,” their search for the model who can best represent ULTA Beauty. It’s a daunting task, but as one of the original supermodels, 42-year-old Campbell knows what she’s looking for.

Reality TV is the new model training ground:

“There is no model handbook,” Campbell says. “Coming from the ’90s, we basically just had to learn as we went along, and, of course, I would ask Iman or other models who were around me to show me how to do things. But I think things have changed, and now I think a show like this is absolutely needed.”

She knows talent when she sees it:

“We’re looking for someone who catches your eye, is driven, passionate, can take direction,” she says. “It’s someone that, you know, walks into the room and takes your breath away. We are looking for a supermodel like ourselves that can be the new Naomi, the new Karolina, the new Coco. We are looking for that person. It’s the highest level possible.

The girls better not take this opportunity for granted:

“I was always told in the beginning the big end goal was you work, work, work, work and then you get this big contract at the end, like ULTA Beauty, which is in 500 stores across America,” she says. “This is a big deal for someone to win this contract. They instantly become a household name.”

It’s time for her to give back:

“I mean, I’ve been asked, like, for the last 12 years to do television,” Campbell admits. “For me, what was attractive about ['the Face' was] just the whole thing about mentoring. I’ve been working for 26 years, and I felt like I do have something that I can share from the business of 26 years under my belt and giving it over to young, hopeful supermodels who want to be in our business today.”

The post Naomi Campbell on ‘The Face’ appeared first on Metro.us.

Metro: You get off pretty easy as far as the ’70s hair goes in this film, at least compared to your co-stars.

Cranston: You know, Ben was asking me as we were going along, “How’s the hair growing?” And it was growing out at the time. I shave it for “Breaking Bad.” I said, “If it’s not as long as you think it should be, then we can put extensions in it. But it’s coming! It’s over the ears now,” and that sort of thing. By parting it and swooping it, it was good. If there was anyone who had more conservative ’70s hair, it would be someone at the CIA — an older guy during the 1970s, not so shaggy, not so unkempt. So it worked.

You’re dealing with playing someone high-up at the CIA, an organization that’s not always portrayed that positively in film. But in this particular story, the organization is pretty heroic.

It’s interesting. Normally you have a clear protagonist and antagonist in your movie. This wasn’t clear. We know who the protagonist was, but who’s the antagonist here? It really became that this ideology, this force of oppression, like a barometric pressure, like it’s going to break open and rain if they don’t get these guys out. But there were all kinds of splinter groups of protagonists, like the Hollywood component. And talking about the maligned CIA, well look at Hollywood! Hollywood is skewered all the time — and not undeservedly so at times. It’s easy. And here you have two people from the “Hollywood industry” that for all intents and purposes are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts. There’s no money being exchanged, there is no public recognition, there’s no award, there’s no nothing. All it is is doing something to try to save six American lives.

That’s a major theme of the film, that idea of doing this job with the full acknowledgment that you’re not going to be recognized for it.

Exactly. And that’s why I rebuke the idea that this was politically motivated. Because these men and women at the CIA were doing this knowing, believing that they would never be recognized for this. And that has to be OK. You have to take that as, “This is what I do for a living. We do things and we accomplish many things — most of them are good, actually — and we get no public credit for them because of the nature of the work itself.” You just can’t tell anyone. And if this was not declassified, they would still not know.

Since “Breaking Bad” has become such a success, you’ve been doing a lot of movies. How do you find the time?

I actually turn down a lot more than I accept, so it’s all about the quality of the film and if it fits in the schedule. My primary responsibility was to “Breaking Bad” from a professional standpoint, and I have a responsibility to my wife and daughter and that sort of thing, and I want to maintain that. There were a couple of other projects that I was supposed to be a part of that I couldn’t do, and that’s all right. I’m very fatalistic when it comes that. If it’s supposed to be, it’s supposed to be. If not, OK.

But you’re going to have a lot more time in your schedule soon.

Yes, soon! Soon! At the end of March.

Unless you pick up another TV series.

No, no. (laughs) Boy, the bar is raised now. I don’t want to do that.

With “Argo,” screenwriter Chris Terio took on quite the challenge in turning Joshuah Bearman’s Wired article about a CIA plan to use a fake movie production to rescue embassy workers in Iran into a coherent film — one that’s part spy thriller and part Hollywood satire. The secret, he says, lay in not using the entertainment industry solely for cheap laughs and making sure the blue Wookiees were believable.


Metro: How do you take such a sprawling, multifaceted story and compress into a movie?

Terio: Well, in a sense I was lucky in that the DNA of the story had a structure built into it. It’s sort of a classic rescue narrative, which is here’s a problem, go in and here are all the complications of making the escape happen, and then the last bit is the escape happening. But that said, I spent a few months walking in circles and pulling out my hair and thinking how do you choose your stories? Because there are a million tributaries to the river that you could take your boat on that would be fascinating. You just kind of have to eventually make tough decisions about what you’re going to focus on. There were about five different things like that where, if it were an HBO miniseries, I would’ve loved to tell those stories. But in the end you just look at the skeleton and just decide what bones are essential to stand up.

I’m assuming there actually was a script for the film they were pretending to make.

It was actually called “Lord of Light.” Tony Mendez actually chose not to use the title “Lord of Light.” They re-christened it “Argo” for the trade ads when they announced the film was happening. But the actual script that they carried around was this script called “Lord of Light.”  We chose to not use any of that script in the film so that we could invent this separate movie.

Did you get to read that script?

I didn’t read it largely because I wanted to free my imagination for a completely different script. I mean, Tony told me a bit about it and the fact that it had Middle Eastern elements and it had sci-fi elements, mythological elements, but I didn’t actually read it. I know it exists somewhere, and maybe Tony even has a copy. But literally I think Tony’s copy might have been like the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” sent into the CIA archives. Because that all is real. All of Tony’s stuff at the end of the mission went away and sort of disappeared into the ether.

That was a wonderful homage to “Raiders” at the end.

It’s funny, like, as kids, Ben and me and you who grew up in the world of “Star Wars” and “Raiders,” those things keep popping up in the film. Even in the pillowcase and the sheet and the Millenium Falcon in Tony Mendez’s son’s room. Those are things that Ben and I had in our bedrooms growing up.

Speaking of “Star Wars,” some of the characters in the film within the film seem a tad familiar.

Oh definitely. I mean, the blue Wookiee… But the other great thing about doing that scene is we had Jackie West as a costume designer, who I think is truly a genius. She managed to have the characters within the fake film look fantastical and kind of funny but never cross the line into outright parody. So that even though there’s this blue Wookiee, the texture of the blue Wookiee kind of looks real. You can see that there’s a man inside it. It can exist in the same world as the geopolitical reality of Iran because you feel like you’re watching real people in fake costumes.

The post Bryan Cranston and screenwriter Chris Terio dish on ‘Argo’ appeared first on Metro.us.

“Good Morning America,” co-hosted by George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts, beat out “Today,” drawing almost 5.17 million viewers and was ranked No. 1 in the morning slot for the week of April 9, according to Nielsen ratings data on Thursday.

“Today” co-host Matt Lauer was away on vacation during that week.

Morning TV shows are crucial to the networks for their popularity with advertisers and profitability compared to more expensive shows such as dramas and comedies.

The rivalry between the morning shows has been heating up in recent weeks. Katie Couric guest hosted “Good Morning America” two weeks ago, and NBC responded by booking Sarah Palin to drop in to co-host “Today.”

Couric famously embarrassed Palin during the 2008 presidential race when the then Republican vice presidential candidate struggled to name which newspapers she regularly read.

“We congratulate our friends at ‘Today’ for the greatest winning streak in broadcasting history and for their excellence and leadership during this historic run. It’s a special day for ABC News,” Ben Sherwood, ABC News President, said in a statement.

Stephanopoulos tweeted, “What a milestone!”

“Today” noted in a statement it still beat “Good Morning America” among 25-45 year-olds coveted by many advertisers.

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Despite the setback, he continued to play a part on the annual televised New Year’s Eve celebration he began hosting in 1972.

“New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” was just one of the many TV shows he hosted, including the “Pyramid” game shows, “TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes” and most famously, “American Bandstand,” which he hosted from 1952 through 1989.

“Bandstand” will be Clark’s most enduring legacy, as the show was one of the first to bring rock ‘n’ roll into the homes of families across the country when the music was generally considered to be dirty and rebellious. Clark put a clean face on the emerging genre and showcased new acts and clean-cut-looking American teens dancing to the latest sounds. The importance of “Bandstand” can’t be overstated. It was a barometer of the trends with some of music’s most legendary performers appearing on the show, including Michael Jackson, the Beach Boys, Madonna, Pink Floyd, Prince and R.E.M.

Clark is survived by his three children and his third wife Kari Wigton.

Clark used to famously sign off from “Bandstand” by giving a military salute and saying, “For now, Dick Clark … so long,” a sadly appropriate sentiment now.

To see some of our favorite “Bandstand” clips, click here.

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No, it’s not reality TV. It’s what to wear to work.

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What surprised you the most about the food scene outside of L.A.?

I think I was most surprised by how much American food I had never tried before. I ate po’boys, buffalo meat, red chile, waffles with my fried chicken, chicken fried steak, Rocky Mountain Oysters. It is amazing how many different foods are in America.

Do you feel accurately portrayed on the series?

Yes. I am who I am. What we do is very intense, and sometimes I express myself — loudly. I also think the series showed the other side of me. I love to have fun and joke around. Life is very, very, very serious in the kitchen, but outside it is about having fun.

One of the guests in the Santa Fe restaurant referred to you as “Chef Crankypants.” Did that upset you? Do you think she was wrong in her assessment?

No. I think it is funny. I get cranky after I say the same thing 10 times to the same person and they keep making the same mistake. So yes, at times, it is Chef Crankypants.

How do you successfully work with people who have a totally different approach to their restaurants than you do?

It is difficult, but we make it work. I have no choice to make it work; this is my staff for that night. I think when the tickets start flying in and the customers are waiting, the staff finally gets it and usually appreciates my sense of urgency after the fact.

What city gave you the biggest cultural shock?

I was surprised how difficult it was to get fresh anything in Mobile [Alabama]. You can get it, but you have to order three days in advance. It was a cute little city and I had a great time, but I could not believe how difficult it was to get ingredients. 

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When I read the script, I knew that we were tapping into something that had never been done before. When I heard Constance [Marie] was cast and Lea Thompson was cast, all the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. It really just rang true. This is the first show that’s doing the deaf culture and showing the deaf culture in the way  that we are, but we do it with respect and class — and it’s a very accurate eyehole into this world.

You play a character who’s deaf, and you’re hard of hearing. What’s that like?

I was diagnosed with Menier’s disease at age 20, and one of the symptoms  is fluctuating hearing loss. Sometimes I can hear fine and sometimes I’m not able to hear the phone, for example, or respond to someone calling my name across the room. So I can relate to Daphne on those levels. The pressure and the ringing in the ears is a bummer, but it’s just one of those things that you sort of get used to. The attacks of vertigo are the worst, but they happen more at night and production’s very aware, so if I ever have a problem I’ll just sit down and take a breather and they’re very OK with that. It’s very strange to only look at someone’s mouth when they’re talking, and with HD these days, [the audience sees] if you’re looking at someone’s eyes or mouth, so I have to be very aware of what I’m responding to. It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s a great challenge.

What do you want viewers to take away from the show?

I want people to see that the deaf worlds and the hearing worlds really are not that different. I want people to really feel like family is where you belong, and I hope that this show helps people connect back with their families. I hope that it exposes them to new cultures, and I hope people are  less afraid of differences.

ABC?Family has tackled some mature topics lately. Do you feel the pressure to be sexy in Hollywood?

I don’t feel any pressure to go out and make poor decisions, and I think it’s very sad when we look at these icons that young girls look up to, and the decisions that they make are just atrocious. I went through my rebellious phase as a teenager, but I feel like I’ve grown out of that a bit, and I’m very thankful that I have a better head on my shoulders now. If I had gotten “Switched at Birth” like five years ago, maybe I would have felt that pressure, but right now, I’m going through my day to day and I just feel happy.

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Not particularly, it’s just the way it’s panned out so far. I hope that I’ll get to play some other types of characters on film that’ll allow me to surprise myself and other people. That’s the whole fun of acting. But for right now, I’ll take any work I can get — so if it’s a brainy literary character, I’ll do that. I’m sure I’ll play a moron at some point.

How was it working on the “Leverage” set compared to that of “Mad Men”?

Every set is different, just because every show is different. Being a guest star is always a
very difficult thing because you’re trying to serve a preexisting vision. They’ve come up with the performance style, and there’s a writing style, and you really have to suss that out as soon as you get there and try and perform on their level, with them, in the way that they’re used to performing. It’s always a really great challenge but it’s also really fun.

How did you get ready to step into that world?

Obviously, your work as an actor is to prepare your role. Then you just have to be very, very light on your feet and respond to the director and to your fellow actors. And be observant. And be respectful. [And don’t] impose yourself or your ideas on their production, but really serve it.

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When did you first realize that you had a sense of humor?

Around the breakfast table with my mother and dad. They both had delicious senses of humor. And they’d never explain anything to me — you either caught on or you didn’t — and so it made you listen carefully. It was just wonderful.

This is your sixth book. What do you love about writing?

You have to be honest with yourself. It’s like playing a game. You don’t know where you’re going when a subject comes up and as you work it through you get some surprises. You also get a chance to go back and look it over, where with television it’s out of your mouth and it’s said.

Q&A: Time travel

Is there anything in your life that you wish you could change?

Oh, I’d bring Allen [Ludden, her husband who died in 1981] back in a heartbeat of course, but also I would change the first two bad marriages. I would know better now, but that’s what growing up is about. I find life is a fascinating adventure. Who would ever dream that at 89 years old — I’ll be 90 in January — that I’m having the biggest year of my career?

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