Entertainment NOW

Entertainment Now | May 23 - 29, 2020 By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: I loved "Outsiders" with David Morse. Is there more or did they not renew the series? A: The (bad) news of WGN America's cancellation of "Outsid- ers" got a little lost in the bigger news of the network's sale (along with its parent company) a few months later in 2017. That might be why you didn't hear about it, and it might also be why it hap- pened. "Outsiders," a gritty drama about a clan living an isolationist, hardscrabble life in the Appala- chian mountains, was WGN's highest-rated show, and so its can- cellation came as a bit of a sur- prise. However, in a bit of transparen- cy that's too rare in the TV biz, Pe- ter Kern, president of WGN's par- ent company (at the time) Tribune Media, explained the decision. He said the company wanted to, "expand both the quantity and breadth of content aired by WGN America," and that, "to free up the resources to reach this goal, we will unfortunately not be renewing 'Outsiders.'" That is to say, "Outsiders" was expensive, and the company had bigger plans. Those bigger plans turned out to be sale to a different company — Sinclair. Deadline. com speculated that "Outsiders" was canceled to improve WGN's balance sheet ahead of the deal. Once the sale had been an- nounced, Sinclair boss Chris Ripley said, basically, that he agreed with the decision. "The ratings WGN America (delivers) don't justify the type of spending they do on the original programming side," he said, as quoted by Variety maga- zine. Q: With the success of "The Grudge" and "The Ring" fran- chises, I'm curious what was the first Japanese-inspired re- make? A: I can't be certain what the first remake was — Japan's cine- matic history is every bit as long as America's (sources trace the first Japanese-made film back to 1897) — but the first really notable re- make, the first one we still really talk about, was pretty far from the modern J-horror hits you're refer- ring to. When people talk about Japanese cinema's influence on Hollywood, they talk first about "The Magnificent Seven." Released in 1960, that film is still held as a landmark in the west - ern genre and now considered one of the greatest American films of all time — it was selected for pres- ervation by the Library of Congress in 2013. (It was also remade again in 2016.) Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Hollywood Q&A By Michelle Rose TV Media S moke or grill 'em if you got 'em because May is Na- tional Barbecue Month (and the month ain't over yet). Not that you're limited to just this month, mind you. But if there's one American culinary tra- dition that deserves to be cele- brated for an entire month, it's gotta be barbecue. There's some- thing magical, even primal, about the combination of food, smoke and fire, whether you're quick grilling or cooking low and slow. Carolina, Texas, Memphis or Kansas City — all the great tradi- tions of the Barbecue Belt have been previously profiled on shows like "BBQ Pitmasters" or the vari- ous Bobby Flay series. But "Man Fire Food" takes it a step further by ignoring 'cue conventions; in- stead, it celebrates our capacity to harness fire in so many different ways, from intimate campfires to smokers built large enough to feed a crowd. Season 9 of "Man Fire Food" premiered last week on the Cook- ing Channel. And in a new epi- sode airing Wednesday, May 27, you'll find host Roger Mooking cruising the Florida coastline to find some fiery cookouts. Mooking's first stop is at a Pe- ruvian eatery in St. Augustine to check out pachamanca, an Incan- style pit roast. The technique comes from the Andes region and traditionally involves cooking spiced meats and vegetables un- derground, using hot stones and grasses to impart a rich, earthy flavor. Watching the segment, you can almost smell the aroma of heated plantain leaves, espe- cially when they're wrapped around fish fillets and grilled over an open fire. The next stop is in Fort Lauder- dale, where the "Man Fire Food" host visits an old-school, open-pit barbecue restaurant that's been around since 1953. Once there, the owner and pitmaster will walk Mooking through all the steps necessary to prepare their special- ty, the Bar-B-Q Chopped Pork Sandwich, which is doused in a North Georgia-style mustard bar- becue sauce. Born in Trinidad and raised in Canada, Mooking has been at the helm of "Man Fire Food" since the show premiered in 2012. Be- fore that, Mooking was host of "Unique Eats" and "Everyday Ex- otic" before joining Aarón San- chez for two seasons of "Heat Seekers" on Food Network. Mooking has since kept busy with guest appearances on ev- erything from morning talk shows to "Iron Chef America" while lending his name (and star power) to the restaurant Twist By Roger Mooking, located in the Toronto Pearson Interna- tional Airport. But it's clear from his nine seasons on "Man Fire Food" that Mooking still shares the same love of barbecue and grilling that most of us do — he just gets to travel farther to sam- ple and enjoy it. All fired up: New season of 'Man Fire Food' underway 10 | Cooking this week Crab House 2 x 2" Family Health Clinic 2 x 1.5" White Lilies N Paradise 2 x 1.5" Roger Mooking hosts "Man Fire Food"

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