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TV Media Weekly | July 8 - 14, 2017 By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Are we going to see "Laramie" return to TV? A: Other than on the high- numbered, western-themed ca- ble channel Grit TV, "Laramie" doesn't show up on TV much anymore, and there's no indica- tion that will change. You'll have to content yourself with the DVDs, which were released in the late 2000s. It's somewhat surprising that we don't see it very often, con- sidering how influential it was. It ran for four seasons, from 1959 to 1963, and was a big hit for NBC. It's most notable for the num- ber of film stars it helped to cre- ate. "Laramie" was the biggest role in the career of its two main actors: John Smith (who played Slim Sherman) and Robert Fuller (who played Jess Harper). How- ever, it was a stepping stone in the careers of so many future stars you pretty much have to categorize them. The show featured: three of "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) — Robert Vaughn, James Coburn and Charles Bronson; three stars from "The Dirty Dozen" (1967) — Ernest Borgnine, George Ken- nedy and again Bronson; two crew members of the USS Enter- prise — DeForest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy, who played Mc- Coy and Spock, respectively, in the original "Star Trek" series; and one Batman (Adam West ap- peared in a couple of episodes). Among the other film greats to pass through the "Laramie" set were Richard Farnsworth, Ben Johnson, Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton. It wasn't only tough guys, ei- ther. Indeed, it wasn't only guys: it also featured turns by multiple Emmy-winning actress Gena Rowlands, TV great Cloris Leach- man and Ellen Burstyn, who starred in 1971's "The Last Pic- ture Show" (alongside the previ- ously mentioned Leachman and Johnson). Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Personal replies will not be provided. Hollywood Q&A By Andrew Warren TV Media L ove him or hate him, it can't be denied that Guy Fieri loves to share. Why, he's even handed off the keys to his beloved Flavortown Market to someone else. The "Guy's Grocery Games" host has set Duff Goldman loose in the su- permarket where his cooking competition is filmed, and has even given the pastry chef per- mission to remodel. The result is "Dessert Games," a decidedly sweeter take on the "Guy's Grocery Games" formula. The new series premieres Mon- day, July 10, on Food Network. At its core, the foundation is the same as it is in "Triple-G." Each episode brings four pasty chefs into the grocery store (actually a TV set, but just as stocked as a real supermarket) with their eyes on the sweet, sweet $10,000 prize. Goldman then issues them a se- ries of dessert challenges, with the contestants needing to run up and down the grocery store aisles to shop for their ingredients. What sorts of challenges? Well, maybe the host will block off certain aisles so that the im- portant ingredients there can't be used. Maybe he'll put up a display of pre-made confections that he'll force the bakers to repurpose. As "Guy's Grocery Games" has proven, there are countless ways to trip up shoppers, forcing the culinary hopefuls to rely not only on their culinary skills but also their quick wits and smarts. After three rounds of having their sweet creations judged by a rotating panel of judges, the win- ner gets to take home something even sweeter than all the sugar found in the baking aisle: a $10,000 prize. Like any cooking competition, though, it's the host that truly makes it or breaks it. Food Net- work would have been hard- pressed to find a better host for a baking competition than Duff Goldman. The pastry chef became a star when his custom cake shop, Charm City Cakes, was featured in the series "Ace of Cakes," which lasted for five seasons. Since then, he's hosted "Cake Masters" and "Duff Till Dawn," making his mark as one of the na- tion's premier and best-known pastry chefs. Guy Fieri has handed over the keys and Duff Goldman is step- ping up. "Dessert Games" pre- mieres Monday, July 10, on Food Network. Duff Goldman as seen in "Dessert Games" Baking aisle expansion Guy Fieri's supermarket gets a sweet makeover 10 | Cooking this week Friendship Haven 2 x 2.5" Noah's Ark 2 x 2" 2nd Shift Plumbing 2 x 1.5"

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