Kathryn Morris UK

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – April 2017

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Let us take a walk down ‘It’s not her, it’s them’ Road in the April 2017 Cold Case Cast Catch-up. What have the other major cast members been up to since our stroll this way in March?

There is always the danger that the CCCC-up could just turn into the Tracie Thoms Show. We make no apologies for that. She’s a very hard working and talented lady. This month is no exception, it is exceptional though.

Where to start? How about Wednesday the 26th of April? No objections, so I’ll begin. That day saw Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller in CC) appear as a guest star in the long-running CBS (them again!) drama series Criminal Minds. Tracie recently let it be known that she had been working in Vancouver (much talked about around these parts of late). Presumably this is what it was about as Criminal Minds is mostly filmed there these days. Tracie played the wife of new comer to the show Stephen Walker (Damon Gupton), giving more background to his character. The show is nearing the end of its 12th season and has already been given a renewal for number thirteen. Now Ms Thoms is in the CM universe as Mrs Walker you never know when she might be called upon to reprise the role.

Sticking with the Tracie and TV theme: she has also booked a recurring role on Lifetime network’s UnREAL. Tracie is going with the theme-sticking too as her character, Fiona, is an executive within the entertainment industry (as she was on Love) and close friend of main character Quinn King (Constance Zimmer). Fiona is said to be “fun-loving, gorgeous gay woman with swagger”. Two out of three for Tracie there. UnREAL was co-created by Marti Noxon (probably best know for her work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, now 20 years old!) and is set behind the scenes of a TV dating show.

From dating to The Drowing, but staying with Tracie and adding the month of May to the theme. I’ve previously mentioned the movie based on a Pat Barker novel about a psychiatrist who saves a young man trying to kill himself. Julia Stiles (Dexter) and Josh Charles (The Good Wife) star. A trailer has been published for the oft-delayed film and you can watch it on YouTube here. In other news a US release date has been given as the 10th of May.

Speaking of suicide but staying with Tracie (I don’t just throw this together, no matter how it looks ). No more talk of Canada, Tracie was back working very close to home last week. Very, very close to home. In her own home in fact. I’m not sure of the nature of the project (possibly a short film) but Tracie filmed something apparently called Career Suicide. She worked with a number of her friends, including a certain…

Thom Barry (Will Jeffries in CC), yes our old friend was back on camera with his squad-mate Tracie. We get to see so little of Thom, he seems to take a very laid back approach in total contrast to Tracie, so it is good to see him working on a new project again.

Last month’s CCCC-up included news of Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera in CC) guest starring in a NCIS: New Orleans episode at the beginning of April. I ended that piece not sure whether his character, Richard Marino, was a cop or a mobster. It wasn’t obvious. The opening scene of the show didn’t exactly clear that up. Turned out to be a little from column A and a little from column B. Marino was an old-school copper working under cover on a drug deal that goes pear-shaped. Speaking of crimes, the movie Small Time Crime, in which Jeremy has a small role, had a premiere in the SXSW event back in March. Since then the film which co-stars John Hawkes (The Sessions) and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) has been purchased for North American distribution, which increases the chances of a general release in the near future.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – December 2016

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Predictably enough this is going to be a round-up of round-ups, with anything new we can find added as well of course. Let us take a look at the careers of the wider Cold Case cast in 2016,

It is almost a cliché that Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller in CC) goes first. It would be wrong not to though most of the time. She makes the word prolific look like it isn’t trying hard enough. Tracey featured in every one of these CCCC-ups in 2016. There has been films (both short and long) and series (TV and web-based), as well as stage shows and one-woman events. There are 18 items alone in Tracie’s IMDb actress category with ‘2016’ against them. Some of them won’t be seen until next year. Some the 2015 dated items crossed over in to this year. It is hard to keep track of them all but I tried.

The most obvious to mention about are Tracie’s guest starring roles in various TV shows. Netflix dramedy Love, Hulu-bound The Mindy Project, and CBS’s BrainDead (more on that later) all benefited from her presence. Tracie was a regular in Love and had single episode roles in the other two.

Film-wise there was Equity (female-led drama set around high-finance) and The Watcher, which after a lengthy post-production period fetched up on the Lifetime network and then Netflix. Horror flick The Basement starring Mischa Barton (remember her?) is a notable entry for next year. No doubt there will be plenty more besides that.

Currently Tracie is appearing in the Falsettos musical, a sound-track CD was recently released for those unable to attend in person, and is gearing up for a couple of nights in her one-woman show in mid-January when the run ends.

As Lilly’s partner in anti-crime Danny Pino (Scotty Valens in CC) is probably the next most recognised character from CBS’s Cold Case so we’ll look at his 2016 next. After CC Danny fetched up in another cop drama, this time NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He did three seasons as Nick Amaro until they just decided the role should end. 2016 saw Danny ‘do a Tracie’ by having a recurring guest starring role in ABC’s Scandal. He was really doing the network rounds. Scandal is set in the world of politics and Danny’s Alex Vargas was a campaign manager involved in four episodes towards the end of the show’s 5th season.

Danny then returned to CBS and crossed the swamp to head the sci-fi-ish-comedy-drama BrainDead. This time as Luke Healy, a not entirely honourable Senator from a family with political history. The show told of an alien parasite taking control of leading political figures. Luckily it is all fiction. Politicians could never become mindless idiots with no thought for their electorate… It was a funny, clever, and entertaining show so of course it was cancelled after just one short (13 episodes) season. It was worth watching for the opening titles which combined the ‘previously on…’ element with a humorous song. Look out for Danny’s co-star the great Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) in the upcoming 3rd season of Fargo.

There is no word yet on any upcoming projects for Danny to take us into 2017.

Heading back to the top in CC squad seniority stakes brings us to John Finn (John Stillman in CC). 2016 primarily consisted of a couple of guest starring roles in TV dramas Elementary (the US Sherlock show) and The Good Wife (which ended in the summer). Unlike network hopper Danny all these shows have been on CBS. Nearly on CBS in 2016 was another drama called Doubt. After various re-thinks they’ve finally decided air the legal drama Doubt from mid-February 2017. What is still very much in doubt is John’s presence in the show. He was one of the original cast members, albeit in a likely small role, but the show has undergone significant changes since then with no further mention of John. However, a couple of weeks ago a lengthy promo video was released and John appeared very briefly towards the end. There is still a possibility that the footage used was from the first pilot and won’t be broadcast so we’re none the wiser. Doubt stars Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy), Dulé Hill (Psych) and Laverne Cox (OITNB).

Mr Finn also has a couple of films lined up for release in 2017. Gifted (Chris Evans and Jenny Slate) and Finding Steve McQueen (Forest Whitaker and Rachael Taylor). Gifted is about a man bringing up his young niece who turns out to be genius. John’s role was not clear previously but a recent trailer shows him as a lawyer in a custody battle over the girl. It all looks very heart warming and life affirming. Release date is set for April. Finding Steve McQueen does not appear to involve Steve McQueen. Instead it is about a group of bank robbers in the 1970s who steal $30m of apparently illegal contributions to Nixon’s political campaign. John is FBI Deputy Director W Mark Felt. This is all based on real events.

Covering Thom Barry (Will Jeffries in CC) in 2016 was easy because there was little to it. The much delayed Eddie Murphy vehicle Mr Church finally hit cinemas in September. It didn’t hit very hard and limped along to some very small box office takings. Thom’s role was small.

Thom’s short film Casting got longer but not released. 2017 is possible. Another project Phoenix 454 was announced but little more heard since. Thom’s role does look more significant in this one.

Which leaves us with everybody’s favourite (unless you prefer one of the others) Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera on CC). We didn’t manage to squeeze much wordage from Jeremy’s career in 2016 either. Like most of the rest of the CC cast Jeremy did have some small guest starring roles though. Back in March it was on the comedy Workaholics. In November it was in cop drama Chicago P.D. There is a film on the horizon called Small Time Crime that is currently in the no-man’s-land of ‘post production’. It may see a 2017 release.

That’s it for the main cast but we do occasionally stretch our remit to include other significant figures connected with Cold Case. Chief amongst those are creator Meredith Stiehm and writer/producer Veena Sud.

Veena Sud had a movie she wrote and directed released in 2016. It was called The Salton Sea and involved a woman (Jamie Anne Allman, The Killing) blackmailed by a hitchhiker (Diarra Kilpatrick, Private Practice) over a possible hit-and-run. More recently it was announced that Veena would be taking the producer/writer reins again on a new Netflix drama called Seven Seconds. It is based on a Russian movie of all things about a senior police officer involved in the death of a child. Regina King (Southland) recently joined the cast. No news yet on a release date for the 10 episode drama.

Happy New Year to everyone connected to Cold Case.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – November 2016

Nearly done for the year. But before we get to December we have to close out November with the latest look at the on-going careers of the rest of the Cold Case cast. The ones that aren’t Kathryn that is.

We don’t often get to post about Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera on CC) so I try to give him top billing when the chance arrives. There he is above, eyes drilling in to you. Two weeks ago Jeremy had a guest starring role in the TV series Chicago P.D. The show is one of the more recent creations by the prolific Dick Wolf and his production company. Dick has been involved in crime-based TV since Hill Street Blues and was responsible for Law & Order and its various spin-offs. Now he his adding to his collection with the Chicago set. Chicago Fire has begat both Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. already there could well be another, Chicago Justice, on the way next year. Jeremy was Jim in episode 7 of season 4, titled ‘300,000 Likes’, of P.D. which aired on the 16th of November.

Another of our less regular regulars is Thom Barry (Will Jeffries in CC). Back in August I reported on Thom appearing in a short film called Casting. At the time I questioned whether a 20 minute film could be called a short. It’s more of a medium. IMDb is now reporting the film is 39 minutes long making it what? A medium plus? The film is about the horrific and all too common world of human trafficking. The official website now has an actually short trailer. No change to the vague 2017 release date beyond a claim of ‘coming soon’.

At this point I’d normally be quietly thanking Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller on CC) for being so active, giving me plenty to talk about and preventing more than a few of these posts saying just ‘nothing to report’. This month we need to be saying Get Well Soon instead. Tracie, as reported in the past two CCCC-ups, is busy starring in the musical Falsettos which must be curtailing her TV and film work. However, Tracie recently hurt both her ankles putting her out of action. Stephanie Umoh is standing (sorry Tracie!) in for her on the boards. In mid-January (the 11th & 14th to be precise) Tracie is doing one of her one woman shows at the Feinstein’s/54 Below venue in New York. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Also last month I mentioned a new Veena Sud (writer and producer on many episodes of CC) project called Seven Seconds for Netflix. Since then additional cast members have been announced. Raúl Castillo (Looking) and Zackary Momoh, a British actor currently to be seen in the movie A United Kingdom.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – September 2016

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These short months are a pain! I have to get this written in less time. Let’s take a look at the continuing careers of the Cold Case cast for September.

Like the tense thrillers made there, Hollywood can take a long while to build up the tension before an explosive burst of energy with everything happening at once. It’s been over five years since the film Finding Steve McQueen (albeit with a different name then) made some significant steps towards becoming a reality, but in the last couple of months it all kicked off. As I type the film is being made in Atlanta, Georgia. Travis Fimmel (Vikings), Rachael Taylor (Jessica Jones), Forest Whitaker (The Last King Of Scotland), and William Fichtner (Prison Break) lead the cast in a based-on-true-events movie about the attempt to steal $30m from a secret fund held by President Richard Nixon. Cold Case star John Finn (John Stillman in CC) will play W. Mark Felt. Not a name I was familiar with but he is certainly a very famous man. He was the Deputy Director of the FBI in the early 1970s and saw all the compiled information on the Watergate scandal. In 2005 it was revealed that Felt was in fact the informant to the journalists Woodward and Bernstein, who referred to him as ‘Deep Throat’. No release date has been set so far, presumably it will be next year at the earliest. Kate Bosworth (Still Alice) was due to star but as I was compiling this piece it was announced that Rachael would be taking the ‘Molly Morphy’ (not a typo) role instead.

Slipping out a few months earlier than expected and with little fanfare the Eddie Murphy vehicle Mr Church was apparently released a couple of weeks ago. Thom Barry (Will Jeffries in CC) has a small role as ‘Frankie Twiggs’. Eddie is Mr Church, a cook taken on by a dying woman (Natascha McElhone, Californication) to look after her and her daughter (Britt Robertson, Under The Dome). It was only supposed to be for a few months but continued a lot longer than that. A schmaltz-fest no doubt.

This series of posts could be easily be renamed ‘What’s Tracie Been Up To This Month?’ due to the sheer volume of content she provides on a monthly basis. The woman’s a one person entertainment industry. Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller on CC) regularly makes guest star appearances on TV shows; takes roles in films, both long and short; and in amongst all that she finds time for singing engagements. For the past few weeks Tracie has been in New York rehearsing for a production of the musical Falsettos. It is a revival of a show that premièred on Broadway in 1992. The opening night for previews of the new production was just last night (28th September) with the show due to open for general audiences towards the end of October at the Walter Kerr Theatre. The run is planned to end in the new year. Break a leg Tracie.

Which just leaves me to crowbar in another mention of the CBS TV series BrainDead. The show came to an end, probably for good, a couple of weeks ago with a double helping. The ending gave a possible opening for a second season with the character Danny Pino (Scotty Valens in CC) played taking a job on Wall Street. No scope for skewering those in power there… The season 1 (aka the complete series) DVD is expected to be released in early December in the US.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – August 2016

August is getting a double Thoms up in KM UK’s latest look at the continuing careers of the wider Cold Case cast.

Thom Barry (Will Jeffries in CC) is very much the sleeping giant of this regular feature. We don’t get to talk about him much as we’d like to in these monthly round-ups. So, when we do we try to give him top billing. Thom has been cast in a short film called Casting in the role of ‘Casting Director’. At 20 minutes it is quite long for a short. A medium? The description of the plot is short though: “A young, innocent girl is lured into a dark world.” With that title and Thom’s character name I think we can assume it is related to the business called show. You may not want to hide behind the couch for this one as it might be part of the set. Notably amongst the cast is the Irish pop star Samantha Mumba (The Time Machine). She’s done a bit of acting before but with her character down as ‘Samantha Mumba’ her Thespian skills may not be required. The release date is also short: 2017.

July’s update was lacking a key bit of news regarding our other featured star of the month: Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller on CC). Tracie’s web series Send Me, which is about people going back in time to witness slavery first hand, has been nominated for an Emmy award. The organisation has started to recognise works released like this. The nod is for Tracie herself in the ‘Outstanding Actress In Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series’ category. Congratulations to her and the rest of the team involved.

Previously we’ve mentioned The Watcher (nee Raven’s Watch), a thriller starring Tracie, and it receiving a festival release in October. As well as that it will be broadcast by the Lifetime network in the US in the same month, and Netflix in November. The cast includes Erin Cahill (the 1919 Francis Stone in Cold Case episode ‘Torn’), Obba Babatundé (Dr. Octavius Leroy in CC‘s ‘Shuffle, Ball Change’), John Billingsley (George Marks in CC‘s ‘The Woods’ and ‘Mind Hunters’), and Denise Crosby (Star Trek: The Next Generation).

I’m sure this segment has been called ‘brain dead’, especially with all the mentions of the TV show BrainDead in recent months. Danny Pino in a lead role was the initial excuse for that but the Sunday before last (21st August) saw Tracie in a guest starring role as a private investigator digging up dirt for a senator. BrainDead is not expected to get a second season so make the most of the final three still to come.

Let’s end with a quick short. In August 2015’s CCCC-up I mentioned a short film starring Tracie called Injection. Well, the film was screened at the Oregon Short Film Festival yesterday (30th Aug). It may have been the première, it is not clear. What is clear is that the film is up for three awards, though Tracie is not up for Best Actress or Support Actress. The movie is about a woman receiving a mysterious package and her quest to discover what the contents is. Julie McNiven (Mad Men) stars with Jim Beaver (Supernatural), and David Blue (SGU Stargate Universe), amongst others.