Manifest is back for season 2 on NBC, Monday nights at 10p, and it is not the same show it was last season. The show is about a plane landing five and a half years after it took off, and everyone looks the same. What happened during that time when they were in wherever they were? Where were they?
Last year, it was about acting on the callings that the passengers get, which tells them to help people. This season, it is about why the callings make a difference and figuring out how to beat the death date. That is the day, as many days in the future as the days they were missing, which will be when they are going to die. The passengers on Flight 828 have to figure out a way to beat it before it is too late. Once it is too late, there will be no going back for them.
Over the weekend at the NBC Winter TCA Press Day, Show Creator Jeff Rake, and the show’s stars Josh Dallas (Ben) and Matt Long (Zeke) talked about what we can expect over the next five seasons. That is when they hit the death date in 2024.
Five things you should know about Manifest: Why is there a death date?
Jeff Rake: From a thematic place, why does it exist? A lot of our episodes center around the theme of redemption and second chances, and I thought it would be interesting if we had a literal ticking clock, because it would just kind of amp the stakes for our heroes as they figure out the price of redemption, what it means to have a second bite at the apple, what the consequences are when you only have a limited amount of time to try to reinvent yourself. And so that’s kind of the thematic reason. And then, just from a basic storytelling point of view, I thought our stories would just become increasingly exciting if, as the characters are trying to puzzle their way through the mystery of the show, they’re running out of time.
How are the callings different for season 2?
Josh Dallas: I mean, the callings are presenting themselves a little bit differently this season. We’re having shared callings now and callings that are leading us to certain places. So they’re presenting themselves in a different way. So they have to look at that as characters.
Was Zeke, who returned but was not on the plane, always part of the show from the beginning?
Jeff Rake: That’s been there from the very beginning. Anybody who’s in the room from Warner Bros. or at NBC could tell you that when I went and pitched the show, that character was part of the architecture from the beginning. For some reason, his name was Reed in development, and we changed his name in the writers’ room to Zeke when we got to series. There’s a story behind that that I won’t bore you with. But, yes, that story, that triangle was always part of the infrastructure of the story. Melissa’s [Roxburgh] character Michaela was always intended to be challenged and perplexed by the idea of our meeting an individual who did not come off of the airplane with everyone and yet somehow seemed to be on a parallel journey with them and the universe bringing these two characters together. That obviously also set up a romantic triangle that we’re playing from the relationship drama side of the story, and that came to an apex at the end of Season 1.
What happens to Zeke now that he turned himself in for shooting Michaela?
Matt Long: For the next few episodes, that storyline continues to play out, but some really big things happen with regard to Michaela and Jared and Zeke. And I don’t want to give anything away, but yeah, I don’t want to give anything away, but yeah, it’s really interesting things happen with regard to that. And then that story sort of concludes in a way, but the way that that concludes opens up all kinds of other issues with the sort of three of us, and it’s really interesting and exciting to watch.
Is Jeff Rake prepared for the show not to go until the death date aka six seasons?
Jeff Rake: Absolutely not.
So buckle up, as you do on a plane, because this is going to be a long ride. One we are not going to want to miss every Monday at 10p on NBC.
Before Melissa Roxburgh had two men after her on Manifest, she had just one serenading to her in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. How beautiful was the 18-year-old in that 2012 movie?
https://youtu.be/-eLT82JYsP4
We already knew that Homeland is ending its run this season, and today Showtime announced that Shameless will be doing the same beginning this summer. Although the news is not that surprising. I mean after Emma Rossum left, it felt like that was going to be the end of the show.
While that is Shameless, what about Homeland? Its final season debuts on February 9th, and we are getting our first look at what we can expect Carrie to go through. If the trailer is not enough to tell you what is happening, here is how Showtime describes it, “Carrie Mathison (Clair Danes) recovering from months of brutal confinement in a Russian gulag. Her body is healing, but her memory remains fractured – which is a problem for Saul (Mandy Patinkin), now National Security Advisor to the newly ascendant President Warner (Beau Bridges). The top priority of Warner’s young administration is an end to the ‘forever war’ in Afghanistan, and Saul has been dispatched to engage the Taliban in peace negotiations. But Kabul teems with warlords and mercenaries, zealots and spies – and Saul needs the relationships and expertise that only his protégé can provide. Against medical advice, Saul asks Carrie to walk with him into the lion’s den – one last time.”
Who else thinks the series ends with them both getting killed? If it doesn’t, then that is how it should be. No happy endings for them.
Shows endings is a sad thing. However, there is some good news. The L Word: Generation Q will be back for a second season. So there is that!
Have you ever ate a Jelly Belly jellybean and wish that you could drink it up? Well, now you can!
The Joffer Beverage Company has teamed up with Jelly Belly to release eight different flavors of sparkling water that taste like the candy. They are French Vanilla, Lemon Lime, Orange Sherbet, Piña Colada, Pink Grapefruit, Tangerine, Very Cherry, and Watermelon. These are the eight original flavors that launched in 1976. Since then, they have grown to over 100 flavors. If this line of sparkling water does well, then we will see more flavors. I would live to drink toasted marshmallow, what flavors interest you?
Each can has two ingredients carbonated water and natural flavors. That means that there is zero sugar, zero calories, and zero sweeteners in each drink.
As of now, the cans are only available at Hy-Vee. However, they will soon be available on their websites including Jelly Belly Sparkling Water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zesZ9qZNQk0
On the Friends Super Bowl episode, we saw Julia Roberts as Susie Underpants. However, she was not who the studio audience saw in the part when they filmed it.
When Aidan Moher asked on Twitter, “Tell me a story about yourself the sounds like a lie but is absolutely true,” Maddie Corman had a shocking answer. The actress wrote, “I booked an episode of #Friends … did the table read and rehearsed the whole week and filmed in front of the studio audience and then my part was re-shot with Julia Roberts playing me.”
She did not say, and might not know, why it happened. Since it was such a big episode, they could have used her as a decoy, so that no one would know that Roberts was going to be on the show. However, they should have told Corman that they were going to replace her with Oscar winner. Maybe at the time, they did not know that they were going to get Matthew Perry’s then-girlfriend on the show. Maybe he insisted that Roberts be on the special since they were dating? We might never know. Perhaps. we will find out in their unscripted reunion.
Whatever the reason, it is royally f*cked up what they did to Corman. Anyone who has been following her career since Seven Minutes in Heaven can tell you she would have been better in the part. Their loss.
