Kathryn Morris UK

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – June 2016

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The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting worse, there’s a general gloom across the country. It must be summer in the UK Ten days past the solstice means it’s time for another look at the on-going careers some of our favourites in June’s Cold Case Cast Catch-up.

There isn’t much to report this month, and we’ve been giving Danny Pino a lot of love recently, so we’ll start with Tracie. That’s why she gets the headline picture this month.

Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller on CC) had a guest starring role on last week’s episode of the comedy show The Mindy Project. I mentioned in April’s CCCC-up how surprised I was that the show was still going, it having disappeared somewhat a while ago. I only saw bits of the first season years ago so have no clue what is going by the time we reach this last-but-one-but-one episode 24 in season four. It was titled “My Kids Stays In The Picture“, a play on a phrase apparently used by a studio head when defending a young actor that his co-stars wanted rid of. The autobiography of Robert Evans, the kid in question, and a subsequent movie were named after the original phrase. The TMP episode descriptions Mindy putting Leo (her kid?) up for an audition for a role in a soap opera. From a picture Tracie posted on Instagram it looks like she was playing another mother with a child going for the same part, and trying quite hard to get herself noticed too 😯 The Mindy Project is available on the Hulu streaming service these days.

Speaking of heads… They are very much the focus of the CBS network’s (once home to Cold Case) new comedy/sci-fi/drama/dunno BrainDead (the lack of a space in the middle may be a piece of irony so very subtle even a Brit like me doesn’t get it). You may be thinking that this is a predictable segue into the segment about Danny Pino and his leading role on the show. You’d be wrong. Tracie has been filming a guest part on the show recently. When it returns after the 4th of July weekend holiday the show will be on it’s fourth episode. The press release for the fifth does not include Tracie so we’ll be waiting a little bit longer to find out more.

Speaking of BrainDead (not so subtle)… Danny Pino (Scotty Valens on CC) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) continue in the slightly odd, but fun, show set in the political world of Washington. Two things stand out on this programme. First is the opening “previously on…” segment. It is written and sung by a gentleman by the name of Jonathan Coulton, who has been writing and performing work with a science, technology, sci-fi and humorous bent for a while. Many of you will know his song “Still Alive” from the closing credits of the computer game Portal. Secondly is the actual title of each episode. The upcoming, and previously referred to, fourth episode is called “Wake Up Grassroots: The Nine Virtues of Participatory Democracy, and How We Can Keep America Great by Encouraging an Informed Electorate“. Seriously! That’s the longest of the five announced so far, but not by much. I’d imagine the listings magazines and EPG designers and programmers are less than thrilled.

Aren’t I nice? I kept it short so your head doesn’t explode. More next time.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – May 2016

Boom! And there goes May! But just before it ends let us take in some news about Kathryn’s old cast mates in KM UK’s monthly Cold Case Cast Catch-up.

As you can see from the image above we’re leading off with our leading man Danny Pino (Scotty Valens on CC). His new CBS comedy-drama BrainDead starts in just two weeks time. Danny plays US Senator Luke Healy. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) is his sister Laurel. She has returned to Washington after time away as a documentary maker to help her brother run his office. They are the children of a political dynasty. As well as the usual problems of government, which normally revolve around their unwillingness to stop fulfilling their own wishes and actually working for the good of the people that put them there, there is a mysterious bug eating the brains of people on Capitol Hill, turning them into zombies. Tony Shaloub (Monk), Aaron Tveit (Graceland), Johnny Ray Gill (Rectify), and Nikki M James (The Good Wife) co-star. The show was created by the married couple behind The Good Wife, Michelle and Robert King.

Back in August 2015 we covered John Finn (John Stillman in CC) and the on-going saga of the CBS drama series Doubt. Without doubt the doubt continued. A year ago the show was not picked up to series but the project was re-worked and a new pilot shot. In the past few weeks it was announced the show had had a series order placed. They are making it. However, and this is where the doubt creeps back in, it is not in the normal autumn/fall line-up and will be kept for release later in the 2016-17 season. If one of the new shows gets cancelled early then it could be called up to fill in. What is also in doubt is John’s presence. He was involved in the original pilot but we don’t know if his character survived the re-write or whether John was re-cast in the new version.

Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera on CC) has found himself cast alongside Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) and Oscar nominee John Hawkes (who had some memorable scenes with Helen Hunt in The Sessions) in a new thriller called Small Town Crime. Jeremy is listed with the character name ‘Orthopedic’, which is a little odd. There is quite an acting ensemble with Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), Michael Vartan (Hawthorne), Anthony Anderson (Black-ish), amongst others. The story is said to involve Hawkes as an alcholic cop who sets out to find the killer of a young woman whose body he finds. Small Time Crime is by writing/directing partnership Eshom & Ian Nelms (Lost On Purpose) and is currently filming with a likely release in 2017.

It is easy to get a little lost (on purpose or otherwise) when it comes to Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller on CC) and her on-going projects as there are so many of them, and that is not including her one-off singing engagements and the like. An item in the list that stood out as one I had not posted about before, but had already got as far as post-production, is a film called The Drowning. Further investigation shows that it is a re-naming of a film I last mentioned one year ago. Starring Julia Stiles (Blue) and Josh Charles (The Good Wife, not for the first time in this article) it is a thriller that was previously called Border Crossing after the Pat Barker novel it is based on. Tracie’s been upgraded from ‘I dunno’ to Angela. To expand on the previous post it involves the issues surrounding a child killer (a killer who is a child) and what happens when they are released from prison.

As mentioned back in February The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story, a Lifetime network TV movie about basketball star Kevin Durant’s mother Wanda, aired for the first time in early May. Appropriately it was the Mother’s Day weekend, in the US anyway. It’s in held in March in the UK. Tracie starred as Demetria, which sounds more like a skin cream to me. Another film to undergo a name change is Raven’s Watch, which will now be called The Watcher for its October festival release. March’s CCCC-up covers the details of Tracie’s role as we know it.

Later dudes.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – April 2016

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The year is going so quickly. We’ve nearly reached the end of April already. That means it is time for a look at the on-going careers of the non-Kathryn members of the cast in a Cold Case Cast Catch-up.

Before I get sidetracked let’s get Sidetracked The webseries by that name starring Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller on CC) was released on YouTube earlier this month. Sidetracked is made up of four episodes covering the intertwining lives of four friends over the course of what appears to be just one morning. As you go through each of the 10-15 minute long pieces you’ll see elements of what you’ve seen before. For instance, as two of the friends talk on the phone you will see more of the other half of the conversation later. Tracie’s Leigh, a make-up artist, is the focus of episode two. You can find links to all four episodes on the official website here.

If her Instagram posts are anything to go by Tracie has been involved in filming a short film called Pipe with her friend and Raze and Death Proof co-star Zoë Bell. When Zoë’s involved you know they’ll be fight scenes. It also looks like Tracie could be in an upcoming episode of The Mindy Project. Apparently the show is still going on the streaming service Hulu and has recently returned from hiatus. Who knew? No, Hulu.

Thom Barry (Will Jeffries on CC) items in these CCCC-ups are like buses. None for ages then two come around the corner at once. It was only last month that we had a meaningful update on the movie Mr Church. Now there are signs of a new film, Phoenix 454, being in the early stages of pre-production. Written by Melanie Star Scott from her own idea it appears to involve a main female lead and some form of motor racing. Maybe. Thom is listed as Frank ‘Primo’ Stallings. Not sure ‘stallings’ is the best choice for a film with cars featuring strongly in though…

Last month I covered the fact that the new CBS TV series BrainDead, which stars Danny Pino (Scotty Valens on CC), will be premièring June the 13th. Since then a couple of promo videos have been released. You can see brief glimpses on Danny in a very short the video on Twitter here and a bit more in a promo on MSN.com here.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – March 2016

It’s the last day of the month so it must be time for the traditional latest edition of KM UK’s Cold Case Cast Catch-up. Let us see what the key members of the long running CBS police procedural have been getting up to.

What feels like an increasing part of that tradition seems to be the breaking of news that would fit right in not long after publication. A few days after the CCCC-up for February it was announced that Danny Pino (Scotty Valens on CC) would be starting a recurring role on the ABC drama series Scandal. Normally at this time of year talk about additions to show casts would be more likely to be in reference to changes for the new seasons starting in the autumn. Not this time. Danny made his Scandal début last Thursday night (March 24th) on episode 15 of the 20+ run as Alejandro ‘Alex’ Vargas. He’s a campaign manager and brother of an existing recurring character played by Ricardo Chavira (Desperate Housewives). Alex offered the lead character Olivia (Kerry Washington, Boston Legal) a tit-for-tat-for-tattle deal. It is not known at this stage how many more episodes Danny/Alex will be in.

Presumably Danny can’t spend too long on Scandal as his new show, this time for the CBS network (Cold Case‘s old home), is in production. BrainDead, first talked about on KM UK at the end of last year, has had a première date announced. Those with access to an American television should be in front of it on Monday the 13th of June at 10pm. BrainDead is a comedy drama set in the world of Washington, D.C. politics where many of the staff and congress members have become zombies thanks to alien visitors. The 13 episode-long series stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk) amongst others.

Tracie is the one we’d normally describe as the workaholic of the group but we can add Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera on CC) to the list this month. Jeremy did a guest starring role on the Comedy Central sitcom Workaholics earlier in March. The show is about a group of friends that live together and also work together in telemarketing. This particular episode (number 9 in the 6th season) involved the boys setting up a casino in their house. Jeremy is listed as ‘Frank’.

Unbelievably it has been the best part of a year since I last made mention of Thom Barry (Will Jeffries on CC). And this is a return to the topic at hand back then. The Eddie Murphy-starring movie that was originally known as Cook and then changed to Henry Joseph Church has now become Mr Church. It is set to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in April and heading for a more general release in November. Eddie is the titular character who becomes the cook for a family. The planned short term arrangement lasts much, much longer. Britt Robertson (Under The Dome) and Natascha McElhone (The Truman Show) co-star.

A couple of previously unmentioned projects have cropped up for Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller in CC) since the last CCCC-up. First is Raven’s Watch, a thriller due for a festival showing in October. There’s not much more to add at the moment other than Erin Cahill (Saving Grace), Denise Crosby (Star Trek: TNG) and Kevin Daniels (Modern Family) star. Second is a short comedy drama film called Divorce: The Greatest Hits. It stars Kaili Vernoff (The High Life), Jay Harrington (Better Off Ted), Kevin Daniels (him again? sensing a theme here?), and the voice of Holland Taylor (Two And A Half Men). I could tell you about the story but why don’t I just show you as the whole film is watchable on Vimeo HERE (a bit NSFW). Tracie appears about 12 minutes in. Awkward!

That will do us for this month. Be sure to check out the showbiz news sites in the next few hours and days because, based on recent form, something major will be announced for one of our favourites 😐

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – February 2016

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It’s still February, right? (Déjà vu?) Just when you think you’ve got used to the 28 day long month they go and throw in an extra 24 hours. Typical! It’s like they do it every four years (ish) just to catch us out!

As last month’s CCCC-up (where we look at the on-going careers of the Cold Case cast) was a little late and a lot rushed (no pun intended) I managed to miss out a few things. I’ll try and do a bit better this time. No promises though.

It was all about Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller in CC) last time and it was some of her stuff I forgot so I’ll start with her to redeem myself.

9 Rides (aka Nine Rides) is by writer/director Matthew A. Cherry (Almost Home) and is a feature film about the very much vehicle of the moment (pun very much intended) an Uber driver and his News Year’s Eve. For those of you living under a rock Uber is a effectively a taxi service run by individuals under the control of a smartphone app. If you don’t know a smartphone is… Customers use the app to request a car. Uber drivers can choose which jobs to respond to. Despite the ‘indie’ image Uber is a well funded operation which takes a cut from each fare. They operate in cities all over the world, with a lot of opposition from local taxi services. It is not without controversy to say the least. I digress. Dorian Missick (Southland) is the unnamed ‘Driver’ who receives some very bad news. Tracie is listed in the cast as ‘Fiancee’. The film is due to première at SXSW festival in March (11-19th). There is a Kickstarter page raising money to help with the final post-production elements with more details and a teaser video HERE.

Love. Remember when that was all the rage two weeks ago? Well, just after that Netflix released the Judd Apatow (Knocked Up) / Lesley Arfin (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) / Paul Rust (I Love You, Beth Cooper)-created comedy series Love starring the aforementioned Rust and Gillian Jacobs (Community). Tracie stars as Susan in five of the 10 episodes in the first season. The show has already been signed up for a second run. I hear good things about it so it might be worth checking out if you can.

As is the way of these things a few days after the last CCCC-up news broke of a Lifetime network movie called The Real MVP: The Wanda Pratt Story being put into production. It is about the mother of NBA star Kevin Durant. I don’t know basketball but I gather Kevin is a big deal in the sport. The film is about the struggles of his mother Wanda to raise two sons alone. Apparently Kevin famously dedicated his 2014 winning of the ‘Most Valuable Player’ award to his mother calling her “the real MVP”. Tracie plays a close friend of Cassandra Freeman’s (Single Ladies) Wanda. Queen Latifah (Bringing Down The House) is producing. Filming was already under way when this story appeared at the beginning of February. It is expected to be first aired in time for the American version of Mother’s Day on the 8th of May.

To mark Black History Month (February in the US) the Word Theatre in LA put on a free show called And All That Jazz. Tracie was amongst the many stars at the Hall Of Liberty performing an of ‘inspiring evening of stories, poetry and memoir’ about the jazz greats. As we all know Tracie is very accomplished singer as well as actor.

Again, a few days after the delayed Jan CCCC-up it was announced that the new comedy thriller BrainDead, from the makers of the soon to end The Good Wife, had signed Tony Shalhoub (Monk) as another lead actor. The show, set in political world of Washington DC but with zombies, was first covered in the Dec ’15 CCCC-up when Danny Pino (Scotty Valens in CC) was added to the cast. The show is due to première this coming summer on the CBS network.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for John Finn (John Stillman in CC). He had guest starring roles in recent episodes of The Good Wife and Elementary (the US TV modern take on Sherlock Holmes). I can’t comment on his roles in either show.

Stretching our remit (as we do occasionally) to stretch the piece we note that regular Cold Case writer and producer Veena Sud (US version of The Killing) has been chosen to write an American remake of the German movie We Monsters. The original film is new, having had a North American première at the influential Toronto Film Festival just last September and centres around recently separated parents forced to get back together to help their teenage daughter cover up a murder.