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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, June 14, 2019 4 By Joy Doonan TV Media H ollywood mogul Ben Af- fleck is no stranger to the subgenre of Boston crime dramas. The Academy Award winner grew up just outside of Boston, and his rise to directorial acclaim is marked by films about his hometown's criminal underworld. "Gone Baby Gone" (2007), a drama about a local private eye's hunt for a child abductor, displays the working-class realities of a Boston neighborhood ridden with drugs and violence; 2010's "The Town" follows the real-life events of a large-scale bank robbery in Fenway Park. Now, Affleck has teamed up with childhood friend and co- Oscar winner Matt Damon ("The Departed," 2006) to co- executive produce his latest brainchild, "City on a Hill." The series, with a debut season consisting of 10 episodes, is a fictionalized account of "Oper- ation Ceasefire," a project now more commonly known as the Boston Miracle. Starring Kevin Bacon ("Footloose," 1984) and Aldis Hodge ("Straight Outta Compton," 2015) in lead roles, "City on a Hill" premieres Sun- day, June 16, on Showtime. The Boston Miracle occurred in the '90s, when the city's po- lice department implemented a program, designed by crimi- nology professor David M. Kennedy, to combat the ram- pant youth gun violence of the time. The program, dubbed Op- eration Ceasefire, was ground- breaking in that it employed research tactics to help law en- forcement understand and ef- fectively target the main sourc- es of gun trafficking and gang crimes. The project was such a sweeping success that Bos- ton's youth homicide rate fell by 63 percent, and it was the inspiration behind Group Vio- lence Intervention projects that are still being employed throughout New York and oth- er states today. Contemplating how the historic event of the Boston Miracle shook the city's entire law enforcement to its core, "City on a Hill" writer Chuck MacLean said, "Every- thing had been one way for such a long time, it seemed im- possible to change, and it did, very quickly." The show depicts Boston as it was in the 1990s, a world in which rampant crime and gang violence is propped up by a cesspool of corrupt law en- forcement officials who are in- vested in the status quo of a crime-driven economy, and a culture of unchecked racism. Bacon stars as corrupt-but-re- spected FBI agent Jackie Rohr, while Hodge portrays Decour- cy Ward, a newly appointed as- sistant district attorney from Brooklyn. According to Showtime, the tension-fraught pairing "take on a family of armored car rob- bers in a case that grows to in- volve, and ultimately subvert, the entire criminal justice sys- tem of Boston." The series also stars Jonathan Tucker ("King- dom"), Mark O'Brien ("Repub- lic of Doyle"), Amanda Clayton ("If Loving You Is Wrong") and Jill Hennessy ("Crossing Jor- dan"). Bacon's Rohr is smug and dismissive, a man well prac- ticed at tampering with local justice to his own ends. As comfortable with partaking in the city's illicit underworld as he is with policing it, he over- sees corruption in dealings with Boston street gangs. He is not pleased with the prospect of an "affirmative action hire," as he calls Ward, stepping in to crack down on local crime. Ward shakes up the en- trenched status quo when he comes to town, dealing first- hand with the racism of local cops and driving hard for a ma- jor upheaval of the current gun policing. "I want to rip out the machinery in this city," he says. First, however, he needs to walk the line between main- taining his integrity and get- ting his hands dirty in order to operate within Boston's tight- knit network of corruption. When Rohr and Ward wind up working together on the Charlestown car robber case, their pairing sparks a more revolutionary change than ei- ther of them could have imag- ined. The relationship be- tween the two leads isn't just an unlikely investigative duo; "City on a Hill" attempts to delve into the complicated hu- manity of the players in- volved, to tell a story of strug- gling communities and deter- mination to affect change. In an interview with Show- time, actress Clayton ex- plained the other side of the coin when it comes to the suc- cess of Operation Ceasefire: "What we don't acknowledge is that it broke apart a com- munity doing their best," she said. The cost of the Boston Miracle was that the police force bore down on poor in- ner-city neighborhoods that were already struggling. Clay- ton's character is a tough in- ner-city mom whose husband, Frankie (Tucker), is a gang kingpin. She holds her family together and tries to arm them emotionally for survival in a world where they are caught between the rival forc- es of gang violence and crooked cops. coverstory Aldis Hodge stars in "City on a Hill" Boston's darkest hour: 'City on a Hill' tells a story of crime and redemption By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Who does the amazing impression of Sean Con- nery in the "SNL" "Jeopardy" sketches? A: If you're ever not sure who did a particular impression on "Saturday Night Live," not only recently but in the long history of the show, Darrell Hammond would be a safe bet. He holds second place for the biggest number of impres- sions done on the show (behind Kenan Thompson, who also just edges Hammond out for most years on the show). That puts Hammond ahead of such greats as Mike Myers and even the legendary Dana Carvey. And of all his impressions (there are more than 100, in- cluding presidents Donald Trump, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton), Sean Connery on "Celebrity Jeopardy" is his best remembered. "It's the most popular thing I ever did," he said in a 2007 interview on the web-based talk show "LateNet." He admits, however, that he never quite understood why. Why does the idea of respected film great Sean Connery go- ing on "Jeopardy" and deliberately doing a bad job while insulting the host strike so many people as funny? "It made no sense at all, but it was one of those strange, silly things people responded to." People did indeed respond, and not just viewers. Rolling Stone magazine put the sketch at No. 23 on its list of the 50 greatest "SNL" bits of all time. That puts it ahead of some classic ones, including "Ask President Carter," by fellow great impressionist Dan Aykroyd, and the one where the Coneheads do "Family Feud," featuring Aykroyd and Bill Murray. Q: They're making a "Game of Thrones" sequel se- ries, right? What can you tell me about it? A: Yes, and I can tell you quite a lot, fortunately. It's not that HBO is suddenly being generous with details after years of being stingy. But given that the "Game of Thrones" prequel show (or shows, perhaps) will take place in a fantasy universe that's already been built in the original, small details say a lot. For example, I can tell you for a fact that it will take place "thousands of years" before the original show, meaning it will tell some of the stories that exist as half-remembered legends in the original series. The biggest one of those — and this comes from HBO's official synopsis, rather than the mounds of internet specu- lation that can be found elsewhere — is that the untitled prequel will unveil "the true origin of the White Walkers." They, of course, were a key enemy in "Game of Thrones," treated like a force of nature rather than characters with a past. This prequel series may change that view a little. HBO also says the show chronicles "the world's descent from the Age of Heroes." That is a bit of bait to readers of George R.R. Martin's source novels, who know that the Age of Heroes was the period when the great houses that drive the politics on "Game of Thrones" were founded. The most exciting news, perhaps (at least, it'll excite you if you've bothered to read this far), is that this is just the first prequel series in the works. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. hollywoodQ&A Towne Floring 3 x 2

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