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Cold Case Cast Catch-up – April 2018

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A quick update for April 2018 on the on-going careers of the other main Cold Case cast members.

Back in October last year we reported that Danny Pino (Scotty Valens in CC) had joined a pilot for a new show called Mayans MC.  This was a sort of spin-off from the popular Sons Of Anarchy series, which came to an end in 2014.  Mayans MC was to be a very separate show but based in the same universe as SOA.  There had already been a pilot filmed but it had undergone significant enough revisions to the story to warrant a new pilot to assess the changes.  Danny was added to the v2 pilot.  Since then we’ve not heard a lot about Mayans MC.  Worryingly in the small pieces of news about new cast members Danny was not mentioned.  Further changes could have been made since the new pilot.  We didn’t know.  The good news is that a couple of weeks ago new that The Last O.G. star Gino Vento was to join the show.  Articles described Gino’s character as a childhood friend of Danny’s Miguel Galindo.  That’s good news as it re-confirms Danny’s involvement.  Later there was new that veteran actor Tony Plana (Ugly Betty, Madam Secretary) was also to become a recurring character.  The pedigree and the cast suggest Mayans MC will be a strong show.

Not sure when this appeared in Tracie Thoms’ (Kat Miller in CC) credits on IMDb but I’ve just seen a project listed called Emmett.  There is not a lot of information about this comedy film but it is a combination of live-action and animation, and it features the young actor Miles Brown (Black-ish) and Rita Wilson (Girls, wife of Tom Hanks).  It is possible the project was completed in 2016, or it could be still in pre-production, depending on what source you believe.  Either way I don’t think the Bridget Stokes directed film has been released yet.  The story is said to be about Emmett (Miles) teaming up with a retired person (possibly Rita) to solve a crime and keep his family together.

Back in October, and I mean 2016 this time, we reported that Tracie had filmed a horror filmed called The Basement.  In the fast moving world of entertainment things can sometimes take a long time.  At the time ‘2017’ was the best we could do in terms of a release date.  Despite receiving a première at the Shriekfest horror movie event in October (I do mean the one in 2017 this time) there wasn’t sign of movement on a general release.  Now that has changed a little to a limited launch in September 2018.  More when we hear it.

The Saturday before last (21st April) Tracie returned to the For The Record fold for a performance apparently held at a house in the Hollywood Hills for live streaming on social media.  The show involves mostly singing songs from movie soundtracks.  Previously they focused on Quentin Tarantino movies as they usually have a notable collection of songs.  This time the repertoire includes music from Black Panther as well.  In the last few days Tracie was at John Hopkins University with the Theatre Of War group to perform a sermon by Martin Luther King Jr. called ‘The Drum Major Instinct’.  The university was running a series events under the title ‘Race In America’.

Occasionally we stretch our remit to include a few other key people connected to Cold Case.  Writer/director/producer Veena Sud is one them.  Post-CC Veena had a lot of success with a remake of a Danish drama series The Killing starring Mireille Enos.  It looks like the two ladies have reunited for a new family drama film called Between Earth And Sky (or maybe Between The Earth And Sky), which may still be a working title.  If that isn’t exciting enough for The Killing fans this new film also includes another star of that show: Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State).  Filming is said to have started in late January in Toronto.  In slightly less good news Veena’s series Seven Seconds will not be returning for a second series.  There were thoughts that the show could continue for multiple seasons but Netflix has decided not to go forward with it.

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – February 2018

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We’re already 1/12th of the way through 2018, more if you consider the number of days. To mark the occasion here’s a quick round-up of updates in the world of the Cold Case cast that aren’t Kathryn.

These regular CCCC-up posts are about looking back at the recent careers of the CC cast.  We often revisit items as more news comes in.  To start with Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller in CC) we are going back over two years.  In October 2015 Tracie filmed a comedy called The California No.  All this time later the film finally received its world première earlier this month at the San Francisco.  Things can move slowly in Hollywood.  Maybe the film has found its time.  A couple of days before that a trailer was released, you can watch it HERE on YouTube.  Beware, it contains ‘adult themes’.  The film stars Noah Segan (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Ursula Mills (Peter Pan), with some slightly better known faces like Jordan Hinson (Eureka) and Breckin Meyer (Road Trip) alongside Tracie in the support cast.

Speaking of films starring Tracie and world premières another of her many projects, a short called Are We Good Parents?, will be getting its debut at the SXSW film festival.  The film is to be shown three times across the whole event which runs from the 9th to the 18th of March.  As it is a short film it will be packaged in a screening with others in the same category on the 10th, 12th and 15th.  Sean Maguire (Once Upon A Time) co-stars in Bola Ogun’s film about two parents dealing with their teen-aged daughter going on her first date with a boy.  A common enough issue for parents around the world.  These two, however, had got the idea that their daughter was gay.  See the SXSW website for details HERE.

Staying with Tracie: she was treading the boards again at the beginning of last week.  In aid of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) the play-on-words comedy titled Villian: DeBlanks came to LA at the Rockwell Theatre.  As you can probably guess from that clever title the murder mystery play is improvised, with the actors having to use suggestions from the audience to shape the story.

To round-off Tracie new this month the Lifetime network show-about-a-show UnREAL returned for its third season on Monday (26th Feb), and the third and final of Love (the Netflix comedy-drama) starring Gillian Jacobs (Community) and Paul Rust (Comedy Bang! Bang!) will be out on the 9th of March.  The trailer for that is HERE on YouTube.

John Finn (John Stillman in CC) next.  Bent, a movie starring Karl Urban (Dredd), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), and Andy Garcia (The Lost City) is due for release next week.  We first mentioned it on this site last May.  The framed-cop out for revenge thriller will receive a limited cinematic outing and be available via VOD services such as iTunes.  Another ‘adult themes’ trailer can be seen on YouTube HERE.

Further, and even greater, evidence of the way things sometimes go in Hollywood is the film Give Til It Hurts.  KM UK first and last mentioned this film waaay back in December 2014.  2014!  At that time release was due in 2015.  Now we have a date of 6th July 2018.  Two brothers try to get back an inheritance they believe is theirs.  Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera in CC) has the enigmatic role of ‘Elvis’, likely a small role.

Just in time for Xmas a teaser trailer and some promotional art work was released for Veena Sud‘s (writer/producer on CC) latest project Seven Seconds.  We covered that in our round-up of round-ups to end 2017.  Since then a full trailer was let loose (watch it HERE on YouTube).  The 10 episode drama was made available in its entirety last week on Netflix.  The show centres around the shooting of a black teenager by a white police officer.  Regina King (American Crime) plays the boy’s mother dealing with the aftermath.  The story is based on a Russian show.  Who’d of thunk it?  Russia influencing American media!

Cold Case Cast Catch-up – December 2017

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As this is the last Cold Case Cast Catch-up of 2017 I’ll do a bit of a round-up of the year as well as the latest news on the Cold Case squad.

Let’s start with Tracie Thoms (Kat Miller in CC) for the chivalrous reasons of ladies first and because describing her on going career so dominates our monthly updates.  It would be easier to list all the things Tracie didn’t do in 2017!  I’m bound to miss a few things but here is most of what we covered.

We started with a CD release of the soundtrack from the stage musical Falsettos, in which Tracie starred as Dr Charlotte in 2016.  The show was also filmed for broadcast on TV during the year.  TV viewers got to see Tracie in numerous guest roles.  She did a season ending and new season starting two episode stint on the crime drama Criminal Minds.  As the wife of one of the main characters going through… shall we call it a ‘major transition’, her Monica Walker played a significant role.  Early in the year the Netflix comedy Love returned for a second season with Tracie back as a TV producer of a show-within-the-show.  More on that later.  Speaking of shows about shows, Tracie booked a recurring role on the Lifetime network drama series UnREAL.  The show has had a bit of drama outside the sets as the planned season 3 for 2017 was delayed.  Things looked shaky for the show but it was confirmed that not only will it return next year but season 4 is already filmed.  Tracie donned the police uniform again (I know) for a one-off role in the Starz fantasy drama American Gods.  Topping of her TV year was a guest role, as a Special Agent, on the short-lived drama Wisdom Of The Crowds.

On the film front The Drowning (aka Border Crossing) got a limited release mid-year.  Horror film The Basement got a world première at Shriekfest in October.  Not sure when that will get a wider release.  Tracie also got involved in a various short films:  Top Ramen, Pipe, and Say Goodnight And Go.  That last one has been in the planning stages for a long time, crowd-funded some money early this year, and was finally filmed a few weeks ago.  Our own Danny Pino co-stars.

Bringing us up to date Tracie let it be known that the 3rd, and final, season of Love will be released in March 2018.  Just a week ago Tracie was back on stage performing a solo play she didn’t know at all.  White Rabbit, Red Rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour, a conscientious objector unable to leave Iran, involves a different actor each performance.  They are given some basic instructions a few days before hand but are only given the script as they go on stage.  Tracie called it a ‘wild ride’.  Indeed.

I’ve mentioned him already so it only seems right to go to him next.  Danny Pino (Scotty Valens in CC) co-starred in that short film Say Goodnight And Go alongside Tracie.  Other than that it has been relatively quiet from Danny.  Next year will likely be different as he had several project announced this year.  Gone is a US/French/German co-produced drama series for NBC Universal about missing persons cases.  The show has been made but it is unclear when it will be broadcast.  Apparently the first episode has already been shown in Australia.  Hopefully 2018 will be its year.  The other big news was a spin-off series from hit Sons Of Anarchy called Mayans MC.  The show has had a difficult production process so far with Danny signed-up for a new pilot episode after the first attempt was rejected.  They are looking to make a series for 2018.

Jeremy Ratchford (Nick Vera in CC) made a few TV guest starring roles this year.  In NCIS: New Orleans he was a dodgy cop and when Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders investigated a case in Russia he was ‘Boris’.  There was a role in I Am That Man, that was shot in May but has yet to see the light of day, and a short film called Radio 88.  Just last month we saw Jeremy at a table reading for a new film called Everybody Dies.  I forgot to mention this in Tracie’s section above but she is also in it.  Presumably we’ll hear more about that in 2018.  A feature film that has recently been announced as receiving a general release is Small Time Crime.  After a couple of film festival showings (US & UK) the movie will be out in January 2018.  A trailer was released in November.

Last year there was much talk of John Finn (John Stillman in CC) appearing in the first episode of the new legal drama TV series Doubt.  John’s role ended up being tiny and the show didn’t last long.  Sticking with TV, John returned to the biggest show in the US, NCIS, reprising a role he played in a two-parter back in 2011.  The character had been promoted and retired in the intervening period.  This new story centred around his daughter.  On the big screen the film Gifted was released.  It was not a box-office smash, what with lacking superheroes, but was well regarded.  John also has movies Bent, Finding Steve McQueen and Ad Astra in the works.  We have a release date for the Brad Pitt sci-fi film Ad Astra:  it’s January 2019!

Which brings us to everybody’s favourite:  Thom Barry (Will Jeffries in CC).  Things are always laid back with Thom.  There are a couple of short films hanging over from 2016 we’ve not really heard anything of this year.  We do know he filmed a short film with Tracie (something else I forgot to add above) in her very own home.  It was called Career Suicide.

We don’t often mention her, and it has been a year since we last did, but there is news on Veena Sud (writer/producer on CC).  Just a couple of weeks ago a brief teaser trailer and poster image were released for the Netflix drama series Seven Seconds.  Veena is the creator of the show, although it is based on a Russian movie, and one of the writers.  The show is based around the accidental death of a black teenage caused by a white police officer.  Regina King (American Crime) stars as the child’s mother.

I think that just about covers 2017 and brings us up to date in the on-going careers of the Cold Case squad that aren’t Kathryn.  Come back in 2018 for more.

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.

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