Sci-fi gets sexy in ‘Forbidden Science’

Anyone who has ever done laps around the TV dial late at night should be familiar with the erotic thriller series — shows such as “Red Shoe Diaries,” which have long been staples of some specialty and pay-TV channels. Now the form has left Earth’s orbit with “Forbidden Science,” airing Fridays on Space: The Imagination Station. Call it Geek TV with a libido. “It’s the first of its kind, to bring this kind of eroticism into a sci-fi show,” says Toronto-born Noelle DuBois, who stars in the series. “You never, ever get that, not in this way.”
By “in this way,” DuBois means a sort of noirish vision of a dystopian future in which scientists can download and sell memories, devise weird, metallic centipedes that invade the body and suck out brains, and construct androids that act like million-dollar sex toys. That last is one of the adventures of DuBois’ character, Dr. Penny Serling, an odd blend of nerd and sex goddess.
“Who doesn’t want to be that?” DuBois says. “She’s an absolute, complete genius — and a woman who likes sex.
“It was a great character to play, because I felt like I was Wonder Woman.”
DuBois confesses to being a sci-fi geek like her character — who falls into a relationship over a common love of “Flash Gordon” serials. “I love everything about it,” she says. “There’s no specific. I just love it all. And I’m a huge Trekkie.”
The series has already aired in the United States and developed something of a following. “I went to a Comic-Con convention about a year ago,” DuBois says. “And that was an experience in itself. It was only on Episode 6, and I thought, ‘Nobody is going to want to talk to me.’ And we were so busy, we couldn’t get up for a full eight hours. I was shocked.”
DuBois grew up in BC and Ontario, the only daughter of parents “with itchy feet” who liked to move around a lot. She got into modeling when she was in her late teens and living in Toronto — even though, at 5 feet 2 1/2 inches, she’s “a little short. With print work, it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re proportioned,” she says. “But I’ve also done Fashion Week for the past four years in a row.”
She moved to Los Angeles because her fiance lives there and has fallen in love with the place, she says. “Forbidden Science” is her first foray into acting. She was in L.A. and modeling full time when she told her agent that she wanted to branch out. “About a month later, he came to me and said, ‘I have an audition for a show,’ ” she says. “And I thought, ‘Good Lord, you have to be crazy sending me to this. I’m going to make a fool of myself.’ ”
Even having been a model didn’t prepare her for some of the demands of the role, DuBois says — such as having to do love scenes with male and female “love bots.”
“My very first love scenes were in that show,” she says. “Those were my first two, and they were back to back. And they were extremely stressful. But we had such a wonderful crew, and the producers were incredible; they were very good about giving us time if I was nervous or upset. Yes, the scenes were hard to do, but not any harder than real life.”

Broken Social Scene on Bravo!

Broken Social Scene has been called a tribe, a cult, a network, a collective and a family.
Once in a while, someone forgets himself and calls it a band. And that, in all its incarnations, is what BSS is: a complex, unpredictable, flexible, organic, remarkably durable rock band.
And with an album, a world tour and a movie this summer, it doesn’t look as if this collective/tribe/cult/ band has run its course just yet.  Part of this Broken summer is a rare TV appearance – on Bravo! “At the Concert Hall” Tuesday, Aug. 3, performing cuts from the new CD “Forgiveness Rock Record.”
“We were just starting with this new record, and we’d never played any of the songs live,” says singer Kevin Drew, who co-founded the group with bassist Brendan Canning in 1999. They perform with the rest of the current BSS lineup: Sam Goldberg, Lisa Lobsinger, Justin Peroff, Charles Spearin and Andrew Whiteman.
“It was a little strange, but they were really lovely. And it made for a really nice night of music. We’ve been together for 10 years, and we’re getting older and you kind of like to do things you said, ‘I don’t think we’ll ever do that,’ or ‘We’re not supposed to do that,’
or ‘We don’t fit into that.’ ”
“Forgiveness Rock Record” blends energetic, quite joyful music with lyrics that are thoughtful, sometimes melancholy and often angry. “I think that’s what forgiveness is,” Drew says. “It’s both those emotions.  There is a joyous aspect to it, and there is a melancholy aspect to it. We’re trying to find what forgiveness is really about, and it’s a freeing emotion for the individual and for the person you’re forgiving.  So there were a lot of dark elements, with such happy, happy chords going on behind them.” In keeping with the band’s determination to avoid being typical, its first film, “This Movie Is Broken,” is anything but a typical rock movie.  Directed by Bruce McDonald (“Roadkill,” “Hard Core Logo”) and co written by McDonald, Don McKellar and Drew, it’s a love story set in the hours leading up to and during a BSS concert in the summer of 2009, while Toronto is enduring a garbage strike.
McDonald has described it as something of a tribute to the city, with the ultimate Toronto band at its heart. True to the band’s ethos, it came together without ego, Drew says, as a community effort -  with nearly two dozen BSS alumni onstage, including Leslie Feist, Jason Collett, Emily Haines of Metric and Amy Millan of Stars.
“As a band,” Drew says, “the great thing about it was that there were lots of shots where we thought, ‘Oh, this person’s maybe going to say no to that, or say, “Change that,” or “I’m a little out of tune here.” ’ “But everyone, to their credit, realized it was something that, if they went and changed something, something else would get lost.  “I was grateful that the band signed off on it as this little love letter to Toronto, and it wasn’t just about Broken Social Scene. It’s about the audience. It’s about the city. It’s about the garbage strike. It’s about the condos that never stop getting built. It’s about the band. It’s about this couple. It’s about friends.”
A lot of the cult of BSS is built on friends, on the mythology of community that has grown around the band, largely due to its social conscience, its central place in the Toronto music scene and its penchant for mutating to accommodate anywhere from seven to 22 members on a stage at a given time. Asked what the formula is for distilling the various egos, tastes and styles into music, Drew answers: “Fair. I studied a lot when I was growing up about the band ego,” he says.  “And I saw a lot of bands go down the tubes around me because of the lead singer guy who claims it’s all about everyone — but really it’s about him. I never wanted to be part of that.  I enjoy the idea of writing music with amazing musicians. And I lucked out hanging with these guys. And we’ve just kept it fair, and it’s really worked. Even when things have gotten bigger for other artists involved, or things haven’t gotten as big for other people, we will all just try to help each other.”
In 2003, Pitchfork.com described the members of Broken Social Scene as “completely devoid of any kind of ironic detachment or rockstar attitude.” It’s something Drew says the band works to maintain. “I think, after a while there are things that get repetitively pushed into your space that make you a little bit of a diva. But we’re not really part of that scene, so we don’t really see it.  What we see are the struggles and the same people just trying to make this a living. That’s what this is. It’s a job, and it’s not an easy one. So, you have to be grateful every day  – because so many people would love to have your job.”

Christiane Amanpour broadens appeal of Sunday morn TV

The face of Sunday morning television continues to change, largely due to women.
A year that began with Candy Crowley succeeding John King as anchor of “State of the Union” now continues with one of their former CNN mates, Christiane Amanpour, beginning a new role on a different network. The much-honored international journalist follows David Brinkley, the duo of Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, and interim host Jake Tapper in presiding over ABC’s “This Week” starting Sunday, Aug. 1. While the Washington, D.C.-based job is a fresh challenge for the literally worldly Amanpour, the subjects and conversations it will entail are extremely familiar to her.
Q: How do you view this new chapter in your career?
A: I feel very excited. I really have a vision for this opportunity.  I’ve spent my whole career trying to make the world more accessible to viewers, and I look forward to having this slot to be able to do that and build on this incredible tradition that is “This Week.”
Q: Would you ever have foreseen something like this for yourself? 
A: No! Look, I’m a foreign correspondent who’s spent most her career abroad and in the field.  When this came up, I was thrilled.  Now finding myself living in the United States, I feel very strongly about getting to the heart of the matter, really being able to delve into issues and stories. My aim is to try to make “foreign” less foreign. America does not operate on its own anymore. Everything that happens in the United States affects the rest of the world, and basically vice versa. And people know that.
Q: How do you regard forecasts of how your global view might impact your hosting a U.S. Sunday program?
A: There will always be critics and people who have their own point of view. I’ve always said, whenever I’ve done new and different things, that my work will stand for itself. “This Week” is solid and established, going back decades, and this is my opportunity -  and ABC’s  – to broaden the conversation. Today is a different era than five or 10 years ago, and it’s not possible for the U.S. to shut the world out anymore. Nor do people want to.
Q: Do you envision having your husband, professor and former U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin, as a “This Week” guest or panelist?
A: Well, it’s a crazy world, isn’t it?  He’s certainly one of the best brains there is on foreign policy and how it coincides with domestic policy.
Q: You were aiming for a summer vacation between leaving CNN and starting at ABC News. How’d that go?
A: For the last several years, I’ve combined time off and work. I’ve been meeting many of the people I’ll be reporting on, so I’ve been doing quite a lot of homework. It’s true that I have not spent my career steeped in American domestic politics, nor did I spend it steeped in international affairs before that time.  Like any journalist, I will be well prepared.
Q: How hard was it to say goodbye to CNN after 27 years there?
A: You don’t walk away from that easily. When you make a move to someplace new like I have done with ABC, it’s not to say that you forget all your history. One of the things I’ve felt strongly about throughout my life is keeping my family and friends around me, and by that, I mean my professional family and friends as well. I don’t anticipate this being any different.”

Discovery Channel turns 25 with its 23rd Shark Week

Two entirely unrelated things happened almost exactly 10 years apart, and nobody could have predicted how they would eventually become inextricably intertwined.  Director Steven Spielberg’s heart-stopping thrill ride “Jaws,” based on the novel by Peter Benchley, hit theaters on June 20, 1975, turning the mysterious great white shark from an enigma into the ultimate nemesis (even if a frequently malfunctioning mechanical shark nicknamed Bruce played the title role in most scenes).
On June 17, 1985, Discovery Channel launched, and then only a bit over two years later, on July 27, 1987, it premiered Shark Week, a programming event showcasing films exploring all things shark, and especially all things great white.
This year, “Jaws” celebrates its 35th anniversary, while Discovery marks its 25th. And starting on Sunday, Aug. 1, with a special called “Ultimate Air Jaws,” Shark Week launches its 23rd annual edition.  This year also marks the debut of a new fake shark whose name also begins with B, only this time he does a lot more talking than chomping.  On June 14, Craig Ferguson, the Scottish-born star of CBS’ “The Late Late Show,” announced on his show that he would be host of this year’s Shark Week event with an appearance by Brian the puppet shark, who inexplicably spoke with a very posh British accent. After explaining how much he loves Discovery Channel -  calling it “an excellent channel, much better than CBS, that features lots of animals eating other animals, kind of my thing, really” – and making a pro forma lawyers-are-sharks joke, Brian proceeded to call upon all the sharks of the world (along with barracudas, “which is not a shark, but still quite scary”) to gather in the Bahamas, where Ferguson will be diving with sharks.
Apparently the goal is to eat Ferguson, “then finally we can get Craig Kilborn back!”
Indeed Ferguson will be diving, along with acting as overall emcee for the week and, according to Discovery’s president and general manager, W. Clark Bunting, doing the “Best Bites” special, which airs midweek.
Alas, it does not look as if Brian will be following Ferguson from CBS to Discovery.
“I don’t think so,” Bunting says.  “Well, look, I would if I could. There are many others involved in that conversation than just Mr. Bunting’s view on that. I would love to see Brian the puppet shark, because I think Brian the puppet shark is great. But there are all sorts of legal and intellectual property issues involved in that question.”
Asked if a picket line in front of Discovery Channel headquarters would help, Bunting says, “You know what, I’ll be out there with you.”
But Brian or no Brian, Shark Week – all in HD, if not yet quite in 3-D, but that’s coming  – promises plenty of toothy thrills. First up is the aforementioned “Ultimate Air Jaws,” in which shark expert Chris Fallows and filmmaker Jeff Kurr (“Air Jaws,” “Air Jaws 2”) return to the coast of South Africa to watch great whites rocket into the open air to snatch leaping seals (and lures that look like seals).  Also on Sunday is “Into the Shark Bite,” created by the producers of Discovery’s “Time Warp” series.  Filmmakers use high-speed HD cameras to literally go inside a shark’s jaws.
On Monday, Aug. 2, is “Shark Attack Survival Guide,” in which Green Beret Terry Schappert shows … well, that should be self-explanatory.  Also on Monday is “Day of the Shark,” recounting the stories of six people in different parts of the world who survived shark attacks.
“Shark Bite Beach” comes up on Tuesday, Aug. 3, recalling the year 2008, which saw multiple shark attacks on normally peaceful beaches in Mexico and Southern California.  Then on Wednesday, Aug. 4, is Ferguson’s “Best Bites,” which reviews the top moments from past Shark Week specials. Unfortunately for Brian, those moments likely don’t include Ferguson’s demise, but the host did have a life-altering experience.
“In large measure,” says Bunting, “that transformation that you see in Craig is as he goes from, ‘I’m going to get in the water, having fun,’ to coming out of the water and saying, ‘Oh, my God, I cannot believe what I just saw.’ ” At least Ferguson knew what he was in for, unlike Mrs. Bunting.  “The first time I took my lovely wife diving,” says Bunting, “I took her on a shark dive, without a cage.  She didn’t know. We told her after.  But she was amazed how many sharks were there. We took her to the Bahamas.”
Although no one predicted the enduring popularity of Shark Week, Bunting thinks he understands.  “It’s a visceral and emotional series of shows,” he says. “A lot of what we do is oftentimes more for your head. This one, you feel in your heart. You can be fearful, but there’s also beauty there as well.”

Dale ruminates on ‘Rubicon’

In the pilot episode of AMC’s “Rubicon,” premiering Sunday, Aug. 1, James Badge Dale looks tired, and it might not be all just for show. He was hard at work as he spoke with us recently about the series, calling between rehearsal takes to share his insights. But we got the story on this cryptic new drama and its protagonist, Will Travers, played by Dale (“The Pacific”).
Without divulging too much, Will is a talented analyst working for a branch of U.S. intelligence, the American Policy Institute. It’s his job and his team’s to sift through the ocean of information produced daily in newspapers, on television, via the Internet, etc. — in search of meaningful patterns that could be coded signals issued by an opposition element. When he fi nds a series of incredibly synchronous clues in several major papers’ crosswords, he reports the unlikely coincidence to his boss. And so begins a mysterious chain of events leading to death, suspicion and terror. Sound paranoid? You bet. And it’s only just beginning.
“Will Travers is a man who hasn’t grieved properly,” Dale says of his character, who still mourns the loss of his wife and child, killed at the World Trade Center in 2001, which would have claimed his life as well, had he not been late to meet them. “He’s a man who’s kind of stepped back from life and has involved himself in patterns and puzzles. So finding a code, for him, is very exciting because I think that the only time he feels alive is when he’s working. And to find something like that, I think it’s almost life-affirming for him in his very dark world where he doesn’t have much human contact.”
In these days when there’s more and more virtual contact in everyday life, an overabundance of information and misinformation, and heightened polarization of the nation’s sympathies – it’s not surprising that a predicament like Will’s and a series like this could germinate in the public imagination.  But while Dale sees it as appropriate to our time, he also considers it essentially universal.
“We always have of a shadow government, the idea that there are groups of people that have had power for a long time and we don’t know who they are  – maybe they pass down from generation to generation. And how business and government are all tied into each other.”
The pilot, full of suspense though it is both for Will and for viewers, feels like the breath before a plunge into darkness. You can’t know what you’re getting into, but you’re sure that your sense of dread is justified.  Knowing the measured pace of “Mad Men” and the rather gnarled if not totally occluded plots of other series, we wondered if we were about to be thrown headlong into a morass of conspiracy-theory madness at the outset or if we’re going to have a more studied unpeeling of the proverbial onion over the course of the season.
“I will say that the writers are keeping things as clear as they can,” Dale says, politely implying a contrast between “Rubicon” and the fog of unanswered questions regularly left eddying in the mist on series such as “Lost.” “AMC has asked us to take our time. Usually it’s fast, it’s got to be big, and you’ve got to keep digging at the audience’s attention. I think that comes from fear. What I’ve noticed is, working for AMC, there’s no fear.  They’re not scared of failure. They’re not scared to take a chance, take a risk and tell a story – to try to tell a story properly and let it unfold.” It sounds admirable, if maybe a little fawning, but Dale and the network seem to be very aware of the almost certainly inevitable downside of the show’s pace and development.
“Our show will unfold in a subtle manner,” he explains. “Some people will change the channel because of that. But other people are going to be glued to it, and I think the people who are interested in the show are going to watch it, and they’re going to enjoy it. It’s not for everybody. But I think the people who do watch it are going to like it and fi nd that it’s very well done.”

McShane plays the dark side of the cloth in ‘Pillars of the Earth’

Bad guys get the best lines, it’s said, and if that’s true, Ian McShane has had more than his share. From the lovable, slightly larcenous antiques dealer Lovejoy, to the dreck-mouthed Al Swearengen in “Deadwood,” to Blackbeard in the upcoming “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” McShane has lent both his charm (and curled-lip sneer) to a few eclectic baddies.
Beginning Friday, July 23, on Movie Central, he adds another to his credits in the eight-part adaptation of Ken Follett’s 12th-century drama “The Pillars of the Earth,” centered on the tandem power struggles ensuing from a vacant English throne and the building of a glorious cathedral.  McShane plays Waleran Bigod, an ambitious, scheming clergyman who mixes blackmail, threats and murder with his authority within the church in a quest for further power and wealth. Unlike so many of his characters, McShane is as affable as they come and is happy to talk about his on-screen reputation.
“I think he’s a classic representation of somebody who wants to become part of the political church rather than Jesus’ teachings,” he says of Waleran. “He sees somebody who does believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ, and he thinks it’s naive. … He’s much more interested in political and personal power.”
McShane shows his own cynical side, illuminating the obvious allegories between his character and those in the church and government today. “Politicians – they don’t represent the people,” he says. “It’s simply a job for life, and they don’t like it when they lose it. They’re merely representing themselves or their party. Which is where the two-party system falls down, as it has in England recently, where the voters, wanting change, have voted into England a period of stasis. Nothing is going to happen.  It’s ‘Who can spoil it for the other one?’ now.”
McShane is excited to be part of a television event of this magnitude. He’s a big fan of the medium – when it’s done well. (”I couldn’t live without ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Family Guy’ – at least they tell you what’s happening in the world. Best programs on TV,” he says.) When it’s not, like any number of his characters, he pulls no punches.
“Broadcast television is still a fight,” he says, ” American Idol is showing its weakness. It’s about time. They go, ‘Oh, God – it’s only got 17 million this week!’ Yeah – it’s tailed off! Quit while you’re ahead! I mean, Cowell is off to another show, X Factor – which has been on in England for years.  It’s three judges who shouldn’t be allowed to judge a bloody cat contest, let alone aspiring performers have more talent than they do.”
Television has been a bit larger staple in McShane’s life in recent months. Since the holidays, he’s been lazing about, recovering from an injured rotator cuff. But now he’s on the mend, he has another few “arduous” months ahead of him.  “I’m going to Hawaii to  have a miserable time Depp, Cruz and Rush.  Sounds awful, doesn’t it?”
He’s talking about his role as Blackbeard in the upcoming prequel to the “Pirates of the Caribbean” saga. Is he again playing a miserable scalawag with nothing but evil thoughts? “No,” he says, “it’s a guy who’s getting old and wants to reclaim his youth and innocence after all the bad things he’s done.”

From ‘Plain Jane’ to pretty remarkable, Louise Roe is the best friend every woman needs

The host, fairy godmother and life coach of The CW’s “Plain Jane,” premiering Wednesday, July 28, is a force of fabulousness who transforms women’s lives.
Much of her advice sounds like the blurbs in women’s magazines or a combination from self-help reality shows, and yes, we have seen this oh, so many times before. But what makes this fun, and as honest as a reality show can feel, is Roe.
The fashion journalist and TV personality comes across as a great pal, the sort who will say, “Dump him; you deserve better!” Or “Yes, it does make you look fat. Let’s go shopping.”
The premise is that a woman, a plain Jane, needs intensive girlfriend help. The plain Jane can be transformed once she conquers her biggest fear, changes her looks and gains confidence. “With regard to the show, they end up becoming a friend of mine in a way we really bond,” Roe says.  “I don’t see it as a hosting gig. This is a chance to step into someone’s life and mix it all up. It’s not just a shopping trip, which I had to say to one of the girls last week.”
A plain Jane is not necessarily someone in need of tons of makeup and surgery. Rather, it’s often an adjustment in how they see themselves.  “I think a plain Jane is a wall-flower,” Roe says. “The girl who sits in the shadows, who doesn’t want to be in the limelight, very low in self-esteem.”
Cristen Penn, subject of the first episode, fits that definition. A native of Los Angeles, Penn is adorable but walks with her shoulders hunched and her head down, as if she were trying to blend into the air. She has long had a deep crush on Ty, a buddy, and though she has family and friends and is successful at her job, she wants to break out of her rut.
Roe tells her on-screen, “I will make you over from top to bottom, inside and out.”
Indeed she does. She and Roe talk, then they stalk – Penn’s desired guy. He is very cute, and to make Penn realize she can take on anything, Roe tells her that she will have to conquer her deepest fear.  Penn’s fear is unusual: She is petrified of snails, and on-air interviews with her brother and mom confirm this lifelong dread.
Roe takes Penn to a restaurant, where a waiter brings out a huge sifter filled with 100 live, slimy snails. Near the top is a $1,000 gift card to Bloomingdale’s, hers if Penn can reach in and retrieve it. Penn conquers her fear and soon they’re in Penn’s bedroom, which makes a typical guy’s dorm room look as if Martha Stewart took up residence. Roe peruses her wardrobe, an amalgamation of lumberjack light plaids, and soon they’re off to the mall, where it’s discovered Penn has been hiding a terrific figure under baggy clothes.
A hairdresser takes her from dried-out blonde to sexy brunette, her eyebrows are waxed, makeup is applied, and Roe calls the guy to set up a “blind date.”
For those not lucky enough to reap Roe’s truest girlfriend approach, her best advice is, “buy the boy a drink because no one ever does,” she says. “And you will be surprised that they rather like it. Be the one who makes that call. Learn to walk in high heels. It just adds sex and poise and confidence to your walk. A bright high heel, not a black one. It doesn’t have to cost a lot. If you have never bothered with your hair, go and have a blowout at Supercuts to see how they do it.  Your hair is a very sexy part of you.” Looking back on her transformation during the show, Penn says, “I just wanted to have a lot of fun and have new experiences and learn as much as I can, and learn how to dress well and do makeup. Ty was definitely a good prize at the end.” She reaches her goal, which is not giving away anything because anyone who has seen a reality show or leafed through one magazine knows that, of course, Penn can be molded and a happy ending can be crafted.
“I definitely learned how to pick out some more girlie outfits,” Penn says. “I learned some makeup tips and some more confidence tips. I was thrown into a lot of situations I would not normally be in.”
Penn describes Roe as “absolutely fabulous and as warm and funny and charming off camera as on. Even though it’s a television show, you can tell she cared about what happened to me. And, she was very sweet and patient, and she taught me a lot.”
And that’s precisely what Roe is looking for. “I am all about the girl,” Roe says.  “Even if it doesn’t go right with the guy, I want them to feel they have come such a long way. The guy is just the cherry on the cake. They have had a transformation.”

From defender of justice to breaker of laws

You could call this an extreme image makeover.  Until recently, the public knew David James Elliott mainly as Capt.  Harmon “Harm” Rabb, a U.S. Navy judge advocate on 10 season of “JAG.” Notwithstanding the obvious irony of a Canadian playing this ultimate blend of U.S. justice and patriotism, Rabb was a far cry from what Elliott has been up to lately.
As the family patriarch of “Scoundrels” – airing Sundays on CTV – Elliott describes himself as a “lovable rogue.” His character, Wolf West, is the head of a family of petty criminals. After being sent to prison, Wolf, to his shock and dismay, discovers that his wife wants the family to go straight. He’s still working his mojo from inside, but his wife has decided that maybe that family plan is not the best idea for the future,” Elliott says with a laugh. “So she starts changing stuff in the middle of a perfect relationship.”
If it hadn’t been for a bit of brief nudity with co-star Virginia Madsen, who play’s Wolf’s wife, Cheryl, Elliott might not have gotten the role.  He read for the part, but it went to Neal McDonough (”Desperate Housewives”). But when McDonough refused to do a sex scene with Madsen and left, the producers called Elliott.
“I went to the Amazon with my family and stayed with a tribe in the jungle for a few weeks,” he says.  “When I came back, I got a call that it had all gone down and asking if I would take over the role of Wolfgang West.”
Elliott casually slips in “went to the Amazon” as if it were a trip to the cottage. When pressed, he says he did it for Amazon Watch, which works to preserve the rain forest and its people. “It was my wife’s idea,” he says.  “Her friend is involved with the group. I’ll go anywhere, and it was a terrific opportunity for our kids. It was the trip of a lifetime, and it was life-changing.”
For “Scoundrels,” Elliott flies into Albuquerque, N.M., does his work in a few days and goes home – leaving him lots of free time for other things. “It’s certainly not like the ‘JAG’ schedule, where I was in every day all day. I do a couple of days, then I’m back in Hollywood with my family.  It’s been really nice. I’m loving it.” This is not to say Elliott likes time off. Since “JAG” went off the air in 2005, he has appeared in a half dozen theatrical and TV movies, done several guest spots, including a couple of recurring roles, and starred in two series.
“I just can’t sit still,” he says. “I’m not a guy who can lie on a beach.  I’m like the common housefly, who has 48 hours to live. I’m going the full 48.”
One of the things Elliott does to keep busy is spearfishing. However, as he gets older, he says, he’s “finding it harder to spear things.”
“I just go down, and knowing that I can is enough for me,” he says.  “I really like the sport, holding my breath and diving down 60 or 70 feet.”
It’s the legacy of a youth split between Toronto and the Bahamas, where he still keeps a home. “My father was a Bahamian,” he says. “My cousins taught me to dive when I was very young. The Bahamas are one of the places I call home.”
One of the others is Milton, Ont., west of Toronto, where Elliott grew up and went to school. He never showed much interest in acting. In fact, he dropped out of school in his senior year to be front man for a rock band but quickly got fed up and drifted back to school.  “I was living in this boardinghouse in Toronto, where there were cockroach motels just filled to the brim with cockroaches,” he says.  “And I was working in a belt factory, and I just couldn’t see any future in it.”
Then he read the part of King Lear in an English class. His teacher urged him to try his hand at acting, and he enrolled in the drama program at Ryerson U. That led to two seasons at the Stratford Festival. Elliott’s breakthrough came in the late 1980s, a regular role on “Street Legal,” which led to a development deal with Disney. “I got a nice bon voyage from the head of casting at CBC,” he says.  “She told me, ‘Yeah, you go. And when you come back with your tail between your legs, we’ll get you cheaper.’ ” Disney didn’t work out, But he got a “late-night series” with Shannon Tweed called “Fly by Night,” a recurring role on “Knots Landing,” then a lead role in “The Untouchables.” Finally, in 1995, he landed in “JAG.”
Elliott is a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen, and he lives in Los Angeles with his wife, fellow Canadian Nanci Chambers, and their two children. He says spending 10 years playing a naval officer – mostly in wartime – brought him closer to his adopted country. “I feel like I spent some time in the military,” he says. “I wore that uniform more than I wore regular clothes. It Americanized me a little. It certainly gave me an affinity for those special people who dedicate their lives to the military.”

Mad Men wipes the slate clean as Season 4 opens

Arguably the most neatly scripted series on television returns this month. And if there’s anything you can say about Season 4 of “Mad Men,” which gets going Sunday, July 25, on AMC, it’s that anything can happen. That was the takeaway from Season 3’s end, and it’s what we hear loud and clear from series co-stars John Slattery (who plays Roger Sterling), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell) and Jared Harris (Lane Pryce).
Last season’s finale was effectively a tabula rasa: Rather than become drones for McCann Erickson, Don, Roger and Bert (Jon Hamm, Slattery, Robert Morse) conspire with Lane to start a new agency – stealing away with Sterling Cooper’s best accounts, talent and resources in a weekend raid. And in the wake of Betty’s (January Jones) discovering Don’s concealed identity, she’s seeking a divorce. “I think he did an amazingly courageous thing in climbing up the ladder and pulling it up behind him,” Slattery says of series creator Matthew Weiner. “There’s nothing but potential.”
“Potential” by definition implies uncertainty. And with Don, Roger, Bert and the others casting their fates to the wind, we have a lot of it.  As Season 4 opens, what will be different? First, according to Slattery, we may be looking at a two-year jump ahead to 1965.  (Weiner has discussed in the past that he would like to take the series through the end of the ’60s, so the leap would make sense.) But the passage of time won’t be the biggest change.
“Everybody has to account for themselves now,” Slattery explains of the vibe at the new agency. Whereas before it was just, ‘My name’s on the building, so I can do whatever I want,’ now no one can just do what they please – everybody’s responsible for everybody
else as well.”
Kartheiser actually sees this same change in terms that Pete Campbell might express.
“This is a group of people who are all taking different-sized risks,” he says. “With some of the characters, like Roger Sterling or Don Draper, you get the feeling these guys are doing pretty well. But they have a bit of a net, whereas other characters are really risking their finances and their futures.”
But what about would-be beatnik Paul (Michael Gladis) and the others left behind at Sterling Cooper? Have we seen the last of their world? “Well, this isn’t ‘The Sopranos,’ you know? No one’s dead,” Kartheiser says. “Those doors are left open. The advertising world is like any business. It’s a small business – small world. There are only so many firms and so many people who are going to stay in it.”
Of those going forward at the new office, Lane is the biggest uncertainty, which Harris himself acknowledges. Up to now, Lane had been an overseer and a bean counter and distrusted as a stooge for the London office. Now it’s an entirely different game of cricket. “He’s thrown his hat in with these guys, so the social game becomes more important,” Harris says. “It didn’t matter before whether they liked him or not, because he didn’t work for them – he worked for the people back in London. Now, of course, he has a social element that he has to be good at. And I don’t know how good Lane is at that.” There’s only so much we do know that we can point to as we go into Season 4. The questions are varied and many: Did Pete Campbell really manage to bring all of his clients over to the new business, or is he just as willing to cut corners as he is throats to make partner?  Will Sal (Bryan Batt) be onboard in the new digs? Will he and his wife – who had just begun to figure out her husband’s secret – still be together? Is Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) going to have a second child with Duck (Mark Moses)? And most of all, what will have become of the Draper family? Look for your answers on Sunday nights.

Robbins aims to help others make their ‘Breakthrough’

 ”Are you in or are you out?” That’s one of Tony Robbins’ key questions to those he tries to help.  The self-improvement coach and best-selling author is no stranger to viewers, but after numerous infomercials, he’s tackling television in a different way. He puts his strategies to work for a person, couple or family each week in “Breakthrough With Tony Robbins,” an unscripted NBC series that premieres Tuesday, July 27.
“It’s a privilege to be in prime time,” the ever-energetic Robbins says. “Even though there’s a big change in how people watch television – some watch it on their DVRs or on the Web – there’s still such a giant TV audience, I really wanted to do this. I think people need an alternative to the nature of news these days. I want to balance some of the fear that’s out there with something inspirational.”
The debut of “Breakthrough” showcases Frank and Kristen Alioto, whose wedding at a Mexican resort ended in a tragic twist of fate.  Frank playfully jumped into a swimming pool to join Kristen and friends, and broke his neck, landing him in a wheelchair. A year later, Robbins flies the spouses to his private island in Fiji and attempts to “rewrite their story,” as he puts it. “I’m not the Messiah, that’s for sure,” Robbins stresses, “but I got this couple out of the house. That was a big step in itself. I said to this man, ‘It’s not what you have; it’s who you are and how you live.’ By the end of this story, he’s doing things he didn’t even do before the accident.”
“Breakthrough” offers clearly spelled-out “steps:” that means undertaking sky diving,
with Kristen making the same leap – literally. “I don’t know if people need a Tony Robbins,” the show’s host demurs, “but I think they need to remember who they are. I used to do a weeklong seminar where I’d bring in a series of people who have been to hell and back. There was a guy who was locked up in Vietnam very much like John McCain and beaten every day, and he came out happier than he could possibly imagine.”

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