On Screen

April 4 - 10, 2020—3 The Greeneville Sun, Greeneville, TN The Greeneville Sun, Greeneville, TN April 4 - 10, 2020 — 3 2 x 3.5" ad a) greene cnty farmers b) swango's 2 x 4" ad williams electric 2 x 1.5" ad ymca 2 x 1.5" ad doughty stevens 2 x 1.5" ad midway const. By Jay Bobbin Family time is special, but in one case, it's about to end. After 11 seasons and numerous awards including Emmys for out- standing comedy series for each of its first five years plus separate Emmy wins for co-stars Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell and Eric Stonestreet, "Mod- ern Family" closes up shop with its last ABC episode Wednesday, April 8. Though it's been long known that the finale for the intertwined Pritch- ett and Dunphy clans was coming, that doesn't make the actual ending any easier for cast and crew members who have been together for, in many cases, over a decade. "Had we ended it last season, I think it would have probably re- volved around the birth of the new babies," reflects "Modern Family" executive producer and co-creator Steven Levitan, "but since we went past that point, we were in uncharted territory. It's something that we had been thinking about for about a year- and-a-half, once we knew we were going into Season 11. We talked about it all the time, potential places that we could end it so that we could build some things in that led to that nicely." (One such "thing" was the characters' recent trip to Paris.) Looking back on the history of "Modern Family," co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson — alias the show's Mitchell Pritchett — cites making the 2009 pilot episode as forever special. "I will always remember meeting this group of people for the first time," he says. "We all auditioned at separate times, and we were put together in separate rooms ... but the first time we all came together in preparation for the big network table read for the pilot, it was an immediate connection. I remember Sofia (Vergara) giving everyone hugs. I was like, 'This is the nicest, most beautiful woman I've ever met in my entire life, and she gets to play my stepmother. This is going to be so exciting.' It all felt very natural very early on." Cast regular Vergara has relished bringing the glamorous, comically word-mangling Gloria Ramirez- Pritchett to life. "It was a gift to land a show like 'Modern Family,"' she notes, "because I never thought that sounding like this, I was going to be able to get a job that was so suc- cessful, being seen all over the world with a cast so amazing. "To be able to get all the opportu- nities that I got, to be able to expand my brand and do all the business things that I wanted, it was all a gift to me. I am super-sad that it's end- ing, but of course, I'm looking for the next thing (which, for Vergara, is this summer's season of NBC's 'America's Got Talent') like everybody else." Celebrity Scoop Celebrity Scoop 'Modern Family' bids farewell with award-winning ABC comedy's finale Cover Story Cover Story By Jay Bobbin With his second season on "FBI" nearing its end, Zeeko Zaki knows what a good place he's in. The actor followed his initial theater work by launching his tele- vision career on the soon-to-end "Homeland," but he has become a legitimate home-screen star as New York-based FBI Special Agent Omar Adom "OA" Zidan on executive producer Dick Wolf 's Tuesday CBS drama. With Missy Peregrym — who plays his partner, Maggie Bell — on maternity leave, Egypt-born Zaki has had even more to do on the show lately, and he's welcomed it. Still, he knows the value of de - veloping the relationship between those two characters over plenty of time. "In the Dick Wolf world, that's the way you can make a show last for 20 years," the friendly Zaki reasons, "if you just give the audi- Checking in with Zeeko Zaki ence a little bit of that stuff here and there, and keep them engaged with the crimes and the action. I love when it gets personal. "It takes such a strong will on the part of our writers and produc- ers to ration something that is so wanted," says Zaki in response to fans' comments about seeing more of OA and Maggie beyond work hours. "That's where the smarts come into it, and that's exactly what we want, too." Zaki also appreciates what the success of the spinoff series "FBI: Most Wanted," which recently shared a crossover story with "FBI," can mean for his own show. "It's kind of nice to feel that this world is a big thing that you're a part of," he reflects, "and as the shows evolve, it makes everything make sense and makes it a little easier." Birthdate: Jan. 18, 1990 Birthplace: Alexandria, Egypt Current residence: Brooklyn, N.Y. Marital status: Single Other television credits in- clude: "Valor," "NCIS: Los An- geles," "Daytime Divas," "The Night Shift," "24: Legacy," "Six," "The Inspectors," "Sat- isfaction," "The Game," "Un- der the Dome," "Revolution," "Homeland" Movie credits include: "Escape Plan 2: Hades," "Allegiant," "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip," "Max," "Heart of the Country," "Stuck in Love" On TV-series traditions that "FBI" maintains: "With how networks are taking on streaming and the evolution of television, to fall back on these tales-as-old-as-time kinds of equations that Dick (Wolf) has, it's just such a proven way to do this ... and it's so nice to see that it works again." U 4 Z E E-Z PAY Select Our E-Z Pay Plan to make monthly payments for your Greeneville Sun subscription. Call today and say, "E-Z Pay, Please!" 423.638.4182 your hometown newspaper since 1879! 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