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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, April 17, 2020 4 By Dana Simpson TV Media G earing up for another year of turmoil and wit after a year-and-a-half- long hiatus, HBO's sassiest dramedy, "Insecure," kicked off its fourth season this month, and fans are eager to see more from its powerful leading ladies. A new episode of the acclaimed series airs Sunday, April 19, on HBO. Returning viewers got a taste of the new season with the release of its first episode, "Lowkey Feelin' Myself," last Sunday. While past seasons have included episode titles such as "Hella Disrespectful" and "Ghost-like," and have lived up to their names, there is good reason to believe the cur- rent installment of the "Inse- cure" saga will be anything but lowkey. The 10-episode season fo- cuses on returning main char- acters, Issa (Issa Rae, "The Mis- adventures of Awkward Black Girl") and her best friend, Mol- ly (Yvonne Orji, "Nightschool," 2018), who have been through, well, let's face it, a veritable plague of drama over the past three years. From the burdens of singledom to the dreaded return-of-the-ex(es), as well as boredom with stag- nant jobs and long-term, dead- end relationships, Issa and Molly have captured the atten- tion of "Insecure" viewers by way of raw honesty and, at times, deliciously savage be- havior, which begs the ques- tion: What's in store for Season 4? Will Nathan (Kendrick Sampson, "How to Get Away With Murder") get past Molly and finally appeal to Issa di- rectly? Will Molly be able to handle her first committed re- lationship now that she finally has one? Will "Insecure" gar- ner further attention and re- ceive Golden Globe or Emmy nominations? Let's slow down and look at the tangibles be- fore getting too carried away with the questions. For starters, Issa is without a job and without a man — a sit- uation that may be hauntingly relatable for any single person temporarily out of work during these strange times of social isolation. But for Issa, as she openly admits in the Season 4 trailer, "All of this sounds bad, but it's actually really good." And while she seems excit- ed about the opportunity that this freedom could bring her, there is no denying that it won't be all sunshine and rain- bows for her this season — OK, there maybe sunshine, it is California after all, but you get the point. In Season 4, the con- sequences of the past three seasons are surfacing. This means that we can expect to see the fallout of three sea- sons' worth of reckless deci- sion-making, heartbreaking mistakes and exes who, like Nathan, threaten to return when they sense their former paramour's growing happi- ness and emotional stability (if that's why he even came back). At the end of Season 3, which aired all the way back in September 2018, Issa cele- brated her birthday and joined the ranks of the dirty 30s club. She also finally left the job that continuously underappreciat- ed her and made her (and ev- eryone else around her) miser- able. Now that Issa is free of her metaphorical shackles, she is happily navigating a (per- haps ill-conceived) passion project. All the while, Issa's ex- boyfriend, Lawrence (Jay Ellis, "Mrs. America"), realizes he wants a solid, lifelong partner- ship like that of his parents (al- though he still seems unsure of how to get it or what, exact- ly, that relationship means for him), and Molly finally got her first, long-sought-after exclu- sive relationship (but is still trying to figure out the best way to manage it). To top it all off, Tiffany's (Amanda Seales, "My Brother and Me") new baby threatens to change the whole dynamic of the friend group. The season will include many relationship-testing cir- cumstances, and not strictly relationships in the romantic sense. Issa and Condola (Christina Elmore, "The Last Ship") are likely to see a strain on both their friendship and their current work situation as a direct result of their personal lives. Meanwhile, Molly will be working hard at improving her crumbling workplace rela- tions, and Issa and Molly dis- cover and explore an entirely new layer of their friendship. coverstory Yvonne Orji in "Insecure" No man, no job, no problem: 'Insecure' comes through in uncertain times By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: What else can you tell me about Rocky Carroll, who plays Leon Vance on "NCIS"? A: I can tell you he's a classically trained actor who was nominated for a Tony Award for best actor before anyone had even heard of him on TV. I can tell you that he and Mark Har- mon go back much further than their 12 years together on "NCIS." And I can tell you that his real name isn't Rocky. Roscoe Carroll was born in Cincinnati in 1953 and attended the prestigious School for Creative and Performing Arts there with fellow Ohioan Sarah Jessica Parker ("Sex and the City"), before moving to St. Louis to get a bachelor of fine arts from Webster University. This all means he got his start as a stage actor and had a lot of success there before even considering a move to TV. He was nominated for a Tony for best actor in 1990 for his lead role in "The Piano Lesson." But TV called, and that is, of course, where he's had most of his success. Outside his role as Vance on all three NCIS shows, he's probably best known for his role as Dr. Keith Wilkes on "Chicago Hope" from 1996 to 2000. That's where he first worked with future "NCIS" co-star Harmon — they both joined the series late as part of a cast shakeup that followed the (temporary) departure of original star Mandy Patinkin. An- other future "NCIS" star, Lauren Holly, joined even later, for the show's final season in 1999. Q: How did William Shatner end up on "The Curse of Oak Island"? A: There's the reason you heard on the show, about how he's a fan and how he's not interested in the treasure so much as the quest, and then there's the reason he didn't talk about, which is a little more boring — synergy, basically. Shatner has his own show on History, "The UnXplained," and it could use the bump that would come from a tie-in with "Curse," one of History's most popular shows. Indeed, "The UnXplained" aired its second-season premiere just a few days after his "Curse" appearance. And he returned the favor in that season premiere. The first episode of this season of "The UnXplained" tackles the Oak Is- land curse as well, bringing the show's stars on to talk about the mystery and their obsession. But this wasn't just a cynical exercise in network promotion — there's patriotism at play too. "The Curse of Oak Island" has been bringing Canada to Americans for years now, and that's exactly what Shatner has done for his whole career. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. hollywoodQ&A Towne Floring 3 x 2 The Powell Company 2 x 2

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