One Movie, Mucho New TV, Streaming Schumer, and a Funny

“Wonder Park,” which opens on Mar. 15, is an animated film about a fabulous amusement park where the imagination of a creative girl comes alive. MATTHEW BRODERICK, 56, and MILA KUNIS, 35, are among the stars who voice the main characters.

“The Fix” is a legal drama that will start on ABC on Monday, March 18 at 9PM. The premise is a lot like the O.J. Simpson saga, which is understandable considering MARCIA CLARK, 65, is one of the show’s creators and principal writers. The one-time Simpson prosecutor was raised Jewish, although she no longer considers herself religious. As the pilot episode begins, Maya Travis (Robin Tunney) is living in obscurity in Oregon. Pretty soon we learn that she had prosecuted an Oscar-winning actor for two murders years earlier. After his acquittal, she was shredded in the media, thus the move to Oregon. But when the same actor is accused of killing again (his girlfriend), Travis accepts an offer to join the team prosecuting him and returns to Los Angeles. SCOTT COHEN, 57, has a supporting role as Ezra Wolf.

“The Village” begins on NBC on Tuesday, March 19 at 9PM. It’s a feel-good drama about the residents of a Brooklyn building. They have built such close ties that they are almost like family, and two of the nine members of the ensemble cast are Jewish: MORAN ATIAS, 37, and DAREN KAGASOFF, 32. Atias, who was once a model, is an Israeli who was born in Haifa to parents of Moroccan Jewish ancestry. She’s co-starred in a couple of short-lived TV series. Kagasoff is best known for playing Ricky Underwood, a teen heart throb, in the hit ABC Family series “The Secret Life of an American Teenager.”

AMY SCHUMER, 37, appears in a Netflix stand-up special titled “Amy Schumer Growing,” which will debut on Tuesday, March 19. The title is a reference to the fact that Schumer was obviously pregnant for the taping in Chicago (and still is).  Of course, she talks a lot about her February 2018 marriage and subsequent pregnancy. By the way, Schumer hasn’t released her due date. My educated guess is June.

Trust me: If you are a “Game of Thrones” fan, you’ll love “Game of Thrones Cast Funny Commercials”—a video of that name posted on Youtube. Several (real) ads for the Israeli company Soda Stream feature the Icelandic actor who plays “the Mountain". Another Soda Stream ad co-stars MAYIM BIALIK, 43, and the “GOT” character Hodor. All are ads are real ads, except the first and the last.  They are parody ads lifted from a comedy site.  Funny GOT Ads

 

“Transparent” Plans Ahead

A year ago, JEFFREY TAMBOR, now 74, the star of the Amazon series “Transparent,” was fired after accusations from other cast members that he sexually harassed them.  “Transparent” creator JILL SOLOWAY, 53, cancelled the show’s pending 5^th season following the firing.  After Tambor was let go, Soloway said that she wasn’t sure whether “Transparent” would continue in any form. Well, she’s changed her mind: “Transparent” will return to Amazon with a two-hour final musical movie that will premiere sometime later this year. Soloway also plans to make a cast album of the musical version with an eye towards possibly bringing the musical to Broadway.

Before the first TV episode aired, Jill and her sister, FAITH SOLOWAY, 54, an accomplished composer and lyricist, kicked around the idea that it could be a musical TV series.  As the series aired, Faith tested out songs she wrote based on the series’ themes and characters before patrons of a NYC “artsy” pub.  “Transparent” is partially autobiographical: the sisters’ Jewish father, like Tambor’s Jewish character Maura, came out late-in-life as transgender.  Jill says: “The songs are coming from a deep place inside of our own family’s history.”

The entire TV cast (except Tambor) was recruited for the movie musical. Soloway told “Variety” that JUDITH LIGHT, 70 (who plays Shelly Pfefferman, Maura’s Jewish ex-wife) will be the film’s focal point, and the plot will take off from where the 4^th season ended.  Soloway says about Light: “[Light] was unbelievable singing and dancing, doing these kicks…She’s more in shape, more energetic, more alive than everybody on the set. We all just worship her….I love having Shelly have the lead and let her have her storyline. Because we got to cast so many people dancing, we cast a lot of women who are over 65 and 70. Old Jews love the show and I’m happy to make television for them.”