The Daily Star - Stay Tuned
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/75291
The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, July 20, 2012 2 coverstory By Andrew Warren TV Media B oth the big and small screens are filled with villainous characters that we love to hate. TV audi- ences feel a smug sense of satisfaction when the ploys of such iconic villains as J.R. Ew- ing ("Dallas") or Mr. Burns ("The Simpsons") are foiled, while, on the big screen, bad- dies like Hannibal Lecter ("The Silence of the Lambs") chill our blood. Even reality TV has its share of bad guys, with three-time "Survivor" contestant Russell Hantz being perhaps the most iconic of them all. But sometimes, if you just dig a little deeper, the bad guys aren't so bad after all. Like a modern-day Robin Hood, TV's most savvy group of outlaws has returned to its thieving, grifting and hacking ways in the fifth season of "Leverage," airing Sundays on TNT. This band of merry men and women isn't out for gold to give to the poor. Instead, they're out to right the wrongs that have been inflict- ed on the little guys by rich and powerful corporations or by the government. The group uses their sets of unique skills to infiltrate, blackmail and bankrupt their deserving tar- gets. The team is led by former insurance investigator Nate Ford, who has found a new meaning to life in helping out the wronged and the down- trodden. In his previous ca- reer, he often ran against the tricks that grifters and thieves use in their scams, and he's been able to use this lifetime of knowledge to stay one step ahead of the authorities hunt- ing his group of outlaws. Ford is played to perfection by the critically acclaimed The new Merry Men Team stands up for the little guy in 'Leverage' Gina Bellman, Beth Riesgraf, Timothy Hutton and Christian Kane star in "Leverage" Timothy Hutton. Hutton is an accomplished actor who won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his sup- porting role in "Ordinary Peo- ple" (1980), and he has done extensive work behind the camera, too. He made his fea- ture-film directorial debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998, receiving standing ova- tions for his film "Digging to China." (guest star Carey Elwes). In a bid to prevent another airline tragedy, the crooks dreamt up what may have been their most daring con ever -- steal- ing the legendary Spruce Goose. Hutton is clearly excited about the new season of "Le- verage," and he spilled the beans about it in an interview with pop culture website As- signmentX.com. "For Nate, the way his fa- ther died in the finale last year, I think it's made him less connected to the past and more connected to his future and present," he explained. "Also, the theme of the fifth season is trust among the team members and the inter- personal relationships." In last week's premiere epi- sode, titled "The (Very) Big Bird Job," we found the team of outlaws barely having time to settle into their new Port- land, Ore., headquarters be- fore they were swept up into a new job involving a tragic plane crash, courtesy of a conniving shipping executive Of course, Ford couldn't be expected to pull off the theft of one of the most famous aircraft in the world all by himself. His team is an eclec- tic group of criminal misfits who nonetheless manage to work together and use their unique sets of skills to pull off their legendary heists. Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman) is an enigmatic and beautiful grifter who has aspi- rations of being an actress. On stage or in auditions, she is a hilariously bad performer, but in the real world, when she's in the middle of a con, she can transform herself into a com- pletely different person and pull the wool over anyone's Beth Riesgraf plays Parker, the team's resident profes- sional thief. The tiny woman has a warped view of the world, thanks to her troubled childhood as an orphan, but when it comes to doing some- thing daring, like rappelling off of a roof, she's utterly without fear. Audiences can look forward to Parker and Hardison taking their blos- soming romance to the next level this season, revealing what promises to be a softer side for both characters. eyes. The romantic sparks that have been building between her and Ford promise to heat up this season, but the rest of the team is reluctant to trust her too far -- they aren't even sure if Sophie Devereaux is her real name or if it's just an- other alias. The group's hacker is Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge), a computer and technology ge- nius. The man is a miracle worker when it comes to planting bugs, hacking into accounts and creating identi- ties, but he's not yet used to the more dangerous encoun- ters that the team can often find itself in. For those situations there's Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane), the group's "hitter." The brawny man is a master of several martial arts styles, and he can identify the make and model of a firearm just by hearing the sound it makes. He has a softer side, too, and, surprisingly, is a whiz in the kitchen. Chirstopher's Coins 2 x 2 hollywoodQ&A By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: I haven't seen Dennis Franz since "NYPD Blue" went off the air in 2005. What's he been doing? A: Enjoying the fruits of retirement. Vietnam veteran, character actor and multi-Emmy winner Dennis Franz has been taking it easy since his signature character, Det. Andy Sipowicz, signed off in the series finale of "NYPD Blue," on March 1, 2005. But that's not to say he's been bored. "I certainly have my hands full with grandkids, golf and cleaning my garage," he told "Entertainment Weekly." He's only popped up a few times since, and then very briefly. Most recently, he performed a dramatic reading of the story of a fellow Vietnam veteran at the National Memo- rial Day Concert that aired on PBS on May 27. Prior to that, his only appearances on screen have been in interviews, such as in the 2009 documentary "We Believe," about his beloved Chicago Cubs. That documentary, inciden- tally, was narrated by Franz's friend and fellow Chicagoan Gary Sinise, who hosted the Memorial Day Concert. Indeed, Franz has spent a lot of his retirement hanging out with his friends. The "Entertainment Weekly" quote above came from a photo shoot he did for that magazine's reunions issue, which featured Franz and all of his former "NYPD Blue" partners (all but Mark-Paul Gosselaar, that is, who was out of town on a film shoot). Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. A/Krazy Tom's 2 x 3