TV

Jimmy Smits on Sons of Anarchy S5?  Yep.

Once Upon A Time is adding a few new characters to the mix in s2:

* Sarah Bolger (The Tudors) has been cast as Sleeping Beauty and

* Jamie Chung (Sucker Punch, Hangover II) has been cast as Mulan

Jamie Chung will forever be associated with this show in my mind: http://youtu.be/xIni27L3q_k?t=4m33s

I think that was the last Real World season I watched. RIP Frankie!

I still find it utterly bizarre that thanks to the (never mentioned on the show) rape investigation centered around the house, Franke's in something like 21 out of 24 episodes, but she actually left exactly halfway through the filming process. Talk about a ridiculous amount of footage and time that had to get tossed.

Damn, I completely forgot she was a Real World alum, too.

And seeing that sent me on a trip through Wikipedia which eventually led me to discover that Sean from Real World Boston (married to Rachel from Real World San Francisco) is now a U.S. Congressman. So apparently reality shows will not prevent someone from holding public office one day. Which scares me a bit, though I realize most of those in the initial seasons of Real World stand very far apart form those who came later, and those who are in things such as Real Housewives of X and Jersey Shore (Duffy was a prosecutor for quite some time before running for office).

His official site made for interesting reading, only because I now realize that many of the Republic Congressmen have put up essentially the exact same wording on their sites regarding the upholding of the Affordable Care Act (and those words churn my stomach).

http://duffy.house.gov/

Ah, and he was one of the new Reps who complained he didn't make enough $$$!

>>apparently reality shows will not prevent someone from holding public office one day<<

Or writing comic books, apparently.

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The Other Joe Uppity Heeb/Righteous Web Nerd "Guess I'm Generation Jones Now..."

I followed the link within that article and am really amazed at the debtload he's carrying. Especially the second vacation home (though it's not for me to question their decision to get one, it does seem to be an additional load I at least would have been hesitant to add on to the rest of it). He won't have made much as a prosecutor - even ADA salaries in places like NYC can sound like a decent salary to the rest of the country but really isn't when cost of living (and student loans) is factored in.

But that debtload was his choice, so he shouldn't complain. If he hadn't run for Congress, presumably he would have stayed a prosecutor and still be making 1/2 of what he now makes.

I think there's been discussions before about Winick and his work. No matter what anyone may say of his current stuff, he still did Pedro & Me.

I just remember a San Diego of maybe 10 years or 12 years ago, when there was a spotlight panel on the two up and coming writers at DC - Winick and Geoff Johns. Different paths.

He made $90K in 2009, in a rural Wisconsin county with a median household income of $36K.

Many Too Many Defend Wisconsin Gateway Journalism Review

I think there's been discussions before about Winick and his work. No matter what anyone may say of his current stuff, he still did Pedro & Me.

And Barry Ween (which I read again last week and it's just as good as I remembered) and Frumpy the Clown which I'd love to read again but is stored in my parents attic.

Pedro and me was pretty great.  And as others have mentioned Barry Ween, which made me laugh more than most comics.  I got a sketch of "Ween Arrow" from him at an APE con one year.  Nice guy.

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The Other Joe Uppity Heeb/Righteous Web Nerd "Guess I'm Generation Jones Now..."

I always felt there was a split in the Real World shows between everyone up to, but not including RW HAWAII.. and everyone else afterwards. The future casts all knew what they were really getting into, the earlier casts not so much.

Yup. RW Hawaii was when the split in the Real World went from "young adults with some sort of life plan being silly and idiotic on TV for x episodes" to "famewhores trying to make a life out of reality shows getting drunk on every episode." There was also a shift going from "attractive people in RL" to "only people who could appear on TV shows need apply."

The true shift happened the next season in the New Orleans system to where it didn't even seem like the same show as the Real World of a few seasons prior. I think producers felt the pressure from the other reality shows popping up at the same time (1999-2000) and the shift in MTV/pop culture in general from TRL-era MTV which wasn't really that edgy to an MTV that was sex and reality shows as their main products.

Yes, I've put way too much thought into this.

I don't know if you remember in RW Hawaii when the gay roommate (Justin), who up until then was that year's holder of the "seventh roommate you never see because they have no storyline" position, got disgusted with the rest of the cast to the point that he got bored and tried to break up two of the other castmembers by telling each what the other thought of him/her.* I remember there being all this outrage about what a horrible person he was. All I could think was, "If I was stuck in a house with the six of them, I'd have probably blown it up instead so they all got off lightly."

Which is a roundabout way of saying yeah, what a huge shift. It was definitely the beginning of the end.

* -- I did love that when the couple figured out what happened (after breaking up!) they got back together to show Justin that he was wrong about them. Then an episode or two later all the things he'd pointed out about each of them reared their heads again and they broke up for good.

Didn't he end up bailing on the show halfway through the season? Or am I misremembering?

Closer to the end -- I think there were only three or four episodes left, it was close enough that he wasn't replaced -- but yeah, he left after getting word of a sick relative. I'd always assumed he saw it as an excuse to get the hell away from the freaks.

Found an episode guide and apparently it was closer to the 2/3rds mark. I did laugh that the episode after Colin & Amaya got back together (and Justin left), the two broke up again. Hadn't realized it was that fast.

I think he would've been more comfortable on the earlier seasons. He didn't want to strip naked and jump in the pool in the first episode like Tuck(?) and whashername did.

Yeah, I always got the impression that he thought he'd end up on one of the first three seasons and instead... eek.

Ruthie.  Who also ended up having alcohol posioning the first night there.  Think she was also driving drunk and the producers had to warn her, on camera, that she would get kicked off if she continued to drive drunk.

Yeah, Hawaii was really the turning point of the shows going downhill.

The last of the Real World/RR challenges that I watched all the way through (and enjoyed) was the one where it was guys vs. girls, and the guys spent the entire time chilling out and partying, while the girls were all about the drama. Ruthie had sobered up and was, hands down, the best competitor. She was totally and completely sane/zen.

That was the last RW/RR Challenge that featured a lot of the cast from the earlier seasons, too. No surprise that that was the last one I enjoyed.

Between that and half the cast on LOST, what the hell is it with Hawaii and drunk driving?

Not a lot to do, and not a lot of places to do it.

Don't remember where the Real World house was, but I remember LOST was filmed on the other side of the island from where everything to do is. It also correlated quite often with whoever was getting killed off that week, so I suspect the cast might have had some kind of drinking game going on.

Honolulu is a giant tourist trap of shopping malls and hotels.  So... yeah, I can see how someone could get tanked and try to escape.

Zero information as to who he will be playing, but Michael Raymond-James (who we all loved in Terriers and True Blood) is going to be in a recurring role on Once Upon A Time.

In my opinion, this show has, for the most part, got a great cast of regulars and recurring folks, and it's just getting better. I was really disappointed not to see Robert Carlyle nominated for an Emmy.

Sadly, if John Noble can't get a Best Supporting Actor nomination after five years of excellent work on FRINGE, I don't think Carlyle has a prayer.  He is fun on ONCE..., though.

I agree that they've mostly done a really good job of casting (with the possible exception of David/Charming) and I'm intrigued to see what role he's playing.