So when I started watching the trailer for TNT’s upcoming show The Last Ship, I thought the Michael Bay drama looked just like the failed Last Resort. But then as it went on, I was blown away by how good the show based on a book with Eric Dane looks. Granted I love anything that is about virus outbreaks, so the show had me from that moment on. I just hate that we have to wait until 2014 to see the first 10 episodes of the series. My prediction is that TNT will pair this show with Dallas as they try to build up their winter slate.
You would think that Josh Henderson would be used to seeing a lot money because he plays J.R.’s son on Dallas, but I guess not! Looking at this picture that he Tweeted, you can tell he goes coo coo for the green stuff. So what he is doing with all of that money? Well he hashtagged he’s going to #takethemoneyandrun, but I doubt that he will take all that money he found on the set of his upcoming movie Swelter. Although he eyes are making me think some, if not most, of it will be missing from the pile.
Tonight at 10p on TBS Donald Faison is hosting a new camera prank show from the creators of Punk’d. The show is called Who Get the Last Laugh? and the answer is you do. Unlike Ashton Kutcher’s original show it isn’t the celebrities who are getting punked but this time they will be punking everyday unsuspecting people.
Each week 3 comedians like Andy Dick, Tom Green, D.L. Hughley, Kunal Nayyar, Chris Kattan, Danny Masterson, Bill Bellamy, Charlie Murphy, Cheri Oteri and Alan Thicke will stay in truck as they direct unknown actors to play pranks on everyday people. The actors/comedians pull pranks like covering a car full of sh!t, a package with $100,000 goes missing, someone drives away with the wrong automobile from a car wash as the stunned owner talks to the person who took their car and telling a customer that he is paying to the fill the gas tank of a stranger’s motor home and that is just a few of the funny pranks they will be playing. Each one of these jokes will have you falling out of your chair because you are laughing so hard. As fun as it is to watch the prankers’ reaction to it all, it is even funnier to watch the pranked people lose it during the show. Some will handle it a lot better than others.
This show isn’t only about giving us humor, it is about giving back. At the end of each episode the audience votes for who did the best prank, and the winner gets $10,000 to give to their favorite charity. So even though the show is doing bad, it is also doing good.
And that is what Faison want us to take away from the show? Here is what said on a conference call last week, “I just hope they laugh, that’s what this is all about. This is about making people laugh and hoping that everybody, you know, tunes in to laugh, because that’s what you’re going to do.” Then he added, “This is about giving back to charities and making people laugh. So, yeah that’s what I hope everybody gets out of this.”
Josh Henderson landed the coveted role of playing John Ross, J.R. Ewing’s son, on Dallas that airs Mondays at 9p on TNT and recently I spoke with him on a conference call about it. When I was on the call with him, I couldn’t get over how nice he seemed. So I wanted to know how does such sweet sounding guy, play someone so evil so well.
I asked him what it is like to play a bad guy. He said, “If I had to describe it in one word it would be fun. And because I’m actually a very kind of laid back nice person in real life and I kind of put everyone else before myself which is kind of how I was raised and who I have always been and that’s just who I am. But being able to kind of step out of that and play a character that is like so conniving and scheming and willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants, it’s something that I’ve grown to have fun with.”
So how did he learn to have fun playing someone so bad? He explained, “That’s something that Larry taught me in the first season. You know, he said if I can tell you one thing about being not only a Ewing, but John Ross or someone like his father is that everything he does, he has fun in it. Larry had fun with everything he did.” Then he added, “And not just playing anger all the time which John Ross was always backed into a corner season one and he was always like trying to backpedal and figure things out so he was always kind of frantically, you know, hoping to not screw up. And now season two he has chilled out a little bit and he’s kind of – he is taking his father’s advice and I’m having fun with it.”
And Henderson doesn’t take playing the role of a lifetime lightly because he added, “I just think I’m so fortunate to have this role and to have been able to kind of watch Larry in the role of J.R. And the fact that now that he is gone, you know, I can hopefully kind of have J.R.’s spirit living through me. And continuing to grow into what might be a new, you know, basically not the new J.R. because no one is J.R. but fearing that role of my father is gone and I’m going to be my father’s son and no one is going to stop me. So I’m having the time of my life and I feel very fortunate to be able to be a part of the show.”
And after watching him give a tear inducing performance during last week’s tribute to the late great Larry Hagman from the beginning of the episode until the end, I think we can all agree that Larry Hagman is looking down on him with pride. Seriously I think that Josh Henderson has grown a lot with the role, and I enjoy watching him every week on the drama. He has sincerely blown me with his portrayal of the part and I can’t wait to see what he does next on Dallas. So tune tonight and every Monday at 9p to watch Josh Henderson have fun being bad!
Tonight is the night that we say goodbye to J.R. Ewing on Dallas at 9p on TNT and you better get the tissues ready.
The family flies down to Mexico in disbelief that their brother/father/ex-husband/uncle is dead. But when they see J.R.’s body in the morgue, they know that this time that whoever shot him got the job done. When they see him lying there, John Ross (Josh Henderson) handles it as best as he can but you can see by his face that he can’t. In fact you will really feel Henderson’s grief throughout this episode. When it comes to others Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) breaks down, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) steps into action and Christopher (Jesse Metcalfe) is the shoulder they need to cry on.
Now it is time for The Ewings to fly back to Southfork without their leader J.R. and once they are in Dallas you can feel Duffy’s emotions as he remembers his old friend Larry Hagman. We know that the tears that they shed are real, and you can tell that the writers let the actors play it out as they did in their real lives.
When it comes time for the memorial service, we will see a lot of familiar faces from the original series come back to say goodbye to their friend, lover and nemesis. But this wouldn’t be Ewing memorial without an epic fight, would it? So you are going to get one and that is when Metcalfe really stands out.
Just like the whole episode as the cast says goodbye to their mentor and dear friend Larry Hagman and we say goodbye to the man we loved to hate J.R. Ewing.
Dallas sincerely does Larry Hagman proud. So make sure to watch J.R. Ewing’s Masterpiece tonight on TNT at 9p because it really is a masterpiece.
Recently I was on a conference call with the second generations of Dallas and they remembered the man that they looked up to.
Josh Henderson: But, you know, we want to make sure at the end of the day that they respect Larry and that hopefully the fans will really, you know, accept the way that Larry exits and that’s a really big deal for us. And we’re going to continue on because I know that’s what he would have wanted. Dallas was a huge part of his life and he really loved us and loved the show and loved being a part of it and I was just fortunate enough to be able to work with this amazing man. So it’s going to be tough but, you know, we’re going to keep on trucking.
Jesse Metcalfe: It’s incredibly important. I think the best way to honor Larry would be to make this show a huge success and to keep this show going for at least a few more years to come. Anything less than that I think Larry would see as a failure. You know, I mean it’s – this tragedy, you know, has really kind of set up another monumental, you know, television event. And I think, you know, our writers, our producers and obviously us has actors have all come together to try to honor Larry and honor the character of JR Ewing in the best way that we know how. And it’s going to make for some very compelling television. There’s no doubt about that. I mean Episode 8 is really, you know, the episode where JR’s death – the mystery of JR’s death begins to unravel. And it’s entitled JR’s Masterpiece. And a lot of very intriguing storylines have set in motion because of his death. And I think they’re really going to fuel the second half of the season and possibly seasons to come.
Julie Gonzalo: Well, you know, it’s sad. It’s sad. I think the first, you know, I mean it’s still sad. We still talk about him on a daily basis. I think the first few weeks, months of his passing, you know, it was very somber on set. And but I think in a strange way it really united us and it really made us all close. And by us I mean the crew and the cast and everybody involved in the production. It just made everybody more eager to work and more – there’s this level of like wanting to do the best we possibly can for him. You know, our motto became let’s do it for Larry. It’s a beautiful thing that, you know, we get to – we get to unite and really honor this such a legendary icon person on and off screen. I got – I mean I was blessed to be in his presence and to have spoken to him and to have had so many, you know, encounters with him and to have traveled with him and I – we cherish those moments. It’s still sad. It’s still – and it’s still, you know, a little – it’s weird at times. But, you know, he would have wanted to continue. He would have wanted us to have a smile on our faces and to continue on and to make the show what he made the show. I mean obviously not anywhere near what he had done with the show but at least to just do – put our best job – our best efforts forward. And, you know, he always spoke about doing the show for another 14 years and we could only be as lucky.
