The Brainerd Dispatch - Today's Entertainment Magazine
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Brainerd Dispatch • November 8 - 14, 2020 •11 APPLE AUTUMN BASEBALL BONFIRES BRISK CHANGE CIDER COAT COLD COOL COZY CRISP DECIDUOUS FAIR FALL FEAST FOLIAGE FORAGE FROST GLOVES GOURD HARVEST HAT JACKET LOGS MITTENS NIPPY QUILTS RAIN RAKE SCARE- CROW SCARF SCHOOL SEASONS SNIFFLES SNOW SQUASH TURKEY WOOL Fall's Final Days From the list, find each word and circle its letters in the puzzle to reveal a message relating to this week's theme By Kyla Brewer TV Media I magine being isolated with little contact with the outside world and longing to go someplace far, far away. With everything going on in the world today, surely a lot of peo- ple can relate to such a premise, and a new comedy that takes a look at the lighter side of astronaut life might be just what the doctor ordered. John C. Reilly ("Step Brothers," 2008) stars as Cap, the leader of a group of astronauts living at a NASA moon base simulator in "Moonbase 8," premiering Sunday, Nov. 8, on Showtime. His underlings include Fred Armisen ("Portland- ia") as Skip and Tim Heidecker ("Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories") as Rook, fellow incompetent astro- nauts desperate to qualify for a lu- nar mission. The six-episode, half-hour come- dy series was created by Reilly, Ar- misen and Heidecker along with John Krisel ("Baskets"), who serves as the show's director. All four men are also credited as writers of "Moonbase 8," and they are all ex- ecutive producers with Dave Knee- bone ("The Eric Andre Show"). It's been produced by A24 and Abso Lutely Productions. While the notion of astronauts living essentially "quarantined" from the outside world might seem a bit apropos at the moment, the comedy has actually been in the works since 2018 and was relative- ly recently picked up by Showtime. "In a year when we have all been forced to come to terms with life in close quarters, we are happy to have landed this offbeat take on life in captivity with dreams of es- caping to something grander," Showtime executive Jana Wino- grade said in an official news re- lease when it was picked up in Au- gust. "While the show was pro- duced before the pandemic, its sub- ject matter is timely – and, thanks to Fred, Tim, John and Jonathan, its humor is timeless." The series is set in a remote area in the desert near Winslow, Arizona, where harsh conditions mimic some of the challenges the would- be astronauts might face in space. They diligently attempt to carry out their training, despite obvious in- eptitude. Each of the eager, aspiring astronauts has his own reasons for wanting to get to the moon. In the trailer for the series, Cap explains that he's screwed up his entire life, but if he gets to the moon, he'll fi- nally be considered a hero. Skip wants to carry on the legacy of his famous astronaut father, and Rook hopes to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in space. However, when they run into trouble while trying to complete their training, they begin to question their sanity, their faith in each other and whether they really are capable of carrying out a mis- sion to the moon. It seems as if that's a lot to un- pack in a measly six episodes but, if anyone can do it, it's Armisen, Reilly, Heidecker and Krisel. With years of experience in television and film, they have proven track records when it comes to comedy. Armisen hails from the hallowed halls of Studio 8H, where legendary sketch comedy series "Saturday Night Live" has been filmed since its debut in 1975. He was a member of the "SNL" cast from 2002 to 2013, becoming known for his im- pressions of notable figures such as Barack Obama, Prince, Steve Jobs and Michael Bloomberg. He went on to co-create the comedy series "Portlandia" with Krisel and Carrie Brownstein ("Transparent"). The show has won four Emmys and a Peabody Award. Multi-faceted performer Reilly actually made a name for himself in dramas such as "Casualties of War" (1989), "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993) and "The River Wild" (1994) before wowing audiences with his perfor- mance in the mu- sical "Chicago" (2002), earning an Academy Award nomination in the process. He's also proven himself in com- edy circles with his work in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (2007), "Talladega Nights: The Bal- lad of Ricky Bobby" (2006) and "Step Brothers" (2008). More re- cently, he earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role as comedi- an Oliver Hardy in the 2018 film "Stan and Ollie." Heidecker is actually best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, alongside Eric Wareheim ("Beef House"). He first gained fame for creating and star- ring in the Adult Swim animated series "Tom Goes to the Mayor" and built on that success in the comedy series "Tim and Eric Awe- some Show, Great Job!" He's known for "Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie" (2012), "Brides- maids" (2011) and "Beef House," as well as the web series and pod- cast "On Cinema." Krisel, meanwhile, ties many of these shows together as a fre- quent collaborator with Tim & Eric, a former writer and director for "Portlandia" and hav- ing worked on a num- ber of "Saturday Night Live" digital shorts. He also co-created the FX series "Baskets," for which he serves as an ex- ecutive producer and primary director. Out of this world comedy Aspiring astronauts shoot for 'Moonbase 8' Cover Story this week Fred Armisen in "Moonbase 8" Hospice byKNUTENELSON knutenelson.org/hospice | 218.520.0505 People with disabilities do have dignity, and every loss of independence thatyou experience, a little piece of that dignity goes with it. And the people that care for me and the people from Knute Nelson respect that dignity and understand it, and they helpyou maintain that aspect ofyour life. - JP, Knute Nelson Hospice Patient