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IN THE LINE OF DUTY Our exclusive interview with Blue Bloods’ Vanessa Ray
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To Protect And Serve
Vanessa Ray says upcoming season finale is a nailbiter BY ANTHONY MURRAY
amurray@antonmediagroup.com
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urrently in its 11th season on CBS, Blue Bloods—a police procedural that follows the Reagans, an Irish-Catholic multi-generational family of cops who are dedicated to New York City law enforcement—is still going strong. And with the backdrop of a global pandemic, Blue Bloods star Vanessa Ray, who portrays police officer Edit “Eddie” Janko, said that filming this season definitely had its challenges, but also had some silver linings. “A scene is so collaborative and everyone has their thoughts and opinions, so it’s hard when you’re trying to talk about a scene and you have masks and shields, and everyone is shouting so you can be heard,” she said. “That part was a little tricky, but some of the fun things were that a lot of people were able to be seen more in the episodes that have never been seen before. Because casting directors were able to see a lot more actors, they could get through the sessions a lot faster. We had a ton of people who had their first guest stars on the show and that’s always fun because they’re excited. They didn’t know they were going to get a job in the middle of a pandemic. The funnier thing is that we rehearse the scenes with masks on and we don’t see the guest stars until the cameras are rolling. We were shooting a scene where Eddie and [her partner] Witten are pulling over some kid and I go up to the car and I ask for their license and registration. I look at the guy’s face on the license and I say, ‘He looks familiar’ and I finally look at the actor and it’s this kid Jimi Stanton who was just in Your Honor. I had just finished the series the night before and I lost it. I was so excited and everyone started laughing. You don’t even know who you’re working with until the cameras are rolling.” On the show, Eddie is married to NYPD Sergeant Jamie Reagan, who is portrayed by actor Will Estes. Dubbed by fans of the show as “Jamko,” Eddie and Jamie, who were
Officers Rachel Witten (Lauren Patten) and Eddie Reagan (Vanessa Ray) (Photos courtesy of CBS)
Vanessa Ray as Eddie Reagan once partners in the same police precinct, haven’t always had the picture perfect relationship. Even now, Ray said that the newlyweds are still navigating through their new stage of life together. “What I like is that Eddie and Jamie are from different worlds and they have always seen things very differently,” Ray said. “They’re not afraid to challenge each other. They kind of push each other’s buttons and they force each other to see things differently. While they argue or disagree a lot, I hope that the audience sees it as love and respect
that they have for one another.” And with the Black Lives Matter movement and a shift towards police reform happening throughout the country, Blue Bloods has never shied away from depicting sensitive topics on the show and addresses police reform and Black Lives Matter throughout the season. “We would be doing a disservice to our fans and to law enforcement that respect our show if we didn’t tackle those issues,” Ray explained. “Being a beat cop is interesting because you’re in it—you’re in the streets. Even talking to real-life law enforcement on the streets in New York has been super insightful and a blessing. We had to come at the situation where we play heroes on our show and we’re playing people who love their job and being a part of law enforcement and they love their communities. They’re literally protecting and serving their communities. We had to be honest and have uncomfortable conversations. I think
our show is better for it. What I love about our show is that we tell the truth and we let the chips fall where they may. We don’t tell anyone what to think or what to believe. We just present you with challenging topics and conversations.” Out of all the episodes that have aired so far this season, Ray said her favorite episode was “The New Normal,” which involved Eddie and Witten doing a ride along with a social worker. “That was a pretty cool storyline just in general to tackle this concept of merging law enforcement with social work,” she said. “Every ride along that I’ve done with real cops that’s been a big topic of conversation—so much of what cops do is social work. I was really proud of the show for tackling that and also my best friend played Claire [the social worker]. We haven’t worked together since we did Hair on Broadway together. It
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Continued from page 3A was fun to get to work with her and see how we’ve grown and changed as actors. I thought it was a powerful episode.” And speaking of episodes, Blue Blood’s season 11 finale is airing this week. So what can fans expect to see? “It’s a super nailbiter,” Ray said. “We get to see every aspect of what you love about the Reagan family. You get to see their love for family, you get to see what happens when the stakes are really high when one of their own is in trouble, whether that be a police officer or within the family, and you get to see a lot of different family members work together in different ways. People I think are just going to love it.” And there’s good news for Blue Bloods fans. It was recently announced that the series was picked up for season 12, which will premiere later this year. “I hope that we continue to see her kind of find her voice within the family,” Ray said on what she hopes for Eddie next season. “I think she has a confidence now that she hasn’t had necessarily early on at the family dinner table. She was taking it all in and figuring out where she fit and where her voice was. It’s fun to see her now be outspoken at the table,
NYPD officers Witten and Reagan on patrol be confident in the fact that she’s different than the rest of them. She started out as a rookie and now in the situation on the streets with Whitten she has to find her own confidence and stand on her own; the buck stops with her. Whenever something is going awry, whatever call she makes she can’t look to Jamie. I hope we continue to see how that affects her having to use her own voice and
stand on her own two feet.” When she’s not working on Blue Bloods, Ray also has a charitable side to her as well. “I work with a Young Actors’ Theater Camp in northern California,” she said. “It’s really wonderful. I actually worked for them when I was between jobs about 10 years ago. They just get incredible actors who donate their time to
Eddie and Jamie Reagan (Will Estes) work with kids who just love the arts. When I was a kid, I would have loved to be apart of something like that. Young Actors’ Theater Camp is very special place and I really look forward to them being able to open their doors again hopefully this summer.” The two-hour season finale of Blue Bloods airs Friday, May 14 at 9 p.m. on CBS.
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Farewell Mom
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Actress Beth Hall (Photo by Storm Santos)
Beth Hall talks upcoming series finale of CBS hit BY ANTHONY MURRAY
amurray@antonmediagroup.com
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fter gracing our television for eight whole years, CBS’ hit comedy Mom is ending when its series premiere hits screens later this week. The show, which was created in part by Chuck Lorre, is set in Napa County, CA, and follows the dysfunctional mother/daughter duo Bonnie and Christy Plunkett, who after having been estranged for years while both were struggling with addiction, attempt to pull their lives and their relationship together by trying to stay sober and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. This season, Bonnie, who is portrayed by Allison Janney, learns how to adjust without her daughter Christy, who is portrayed by Anna Faris, around when she moves away to go to law school. Now more than ever, Bonnie focuses on her marriage to her husband, Adam and what to do next now that she has finally “grown up.” In order to navigate a new stage in her life, Bonnie depends on the support of her friends, including the wise Marjorie, the wealthy and sometimes misguided Jill, the overly emotional Wendy and her loudmouthed, but sweet former foster sister, Tammy. Actress Beth Hall, who has played the introspective Wendy for the past
seven seasons of the show, said she has fond memories of filming with the cast. “I think just doing the Bistro scenes where we’re all together in the booth,” the New Jersey native said. “With rehearsals and just doing the shoot, we all just gabbed about our lives and talking about everything. Those scenes just always flowed so nicely because we just had great chemistry with the core women cast. I think that’s what I’ll think of when I think about the show.” And with the series finale just on the horizon, anything can happen. “I can say that I think a lot of fans will be happy with some of the conclusions, and some will not,” Hall said. “But it ended sort of in a way where life just goes on.” Out of more than 160 episodes of the series, Hall said that she has a couple of episodes that were some of her favorites to film. One of them involves a giant vat of maple syrup that needs to fit into a tiny car. “I really enjoyed filming the ‘Puzzle Club and a Closet Party’ episode when we were cleaning out Jill’s closet,” she said. “That was a lot of fun and I always enjoyed doing physical comedy. I got to fall down and get back up over and over again. Also, the episode ‘Sticky Hands and a Walk on the Wild Side’ with the maple syrup. That was a lot of fun.”
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And with a show as hilarious as Mom is, there is bound to be tons of behind the scenes bloopers and antics. Hall recalls one in particular. “I think when Bonnie was wearing Adam’s [leather] jacket and would take it off,” she said. “I couldn’t stop laughing when she finally took off that jacket and she just had sweat everywhere. It was probably one of the funniest things to be a part of was that scene.” So what does Hall want Mom to be remembered for when fans and herself look back years down the road? “I hope that it’s remembered as a show that was not only extremely funny, but made a difference in people’s lives,” Hall said. “Surprisingly, it’s a sitcom where people would constantly come up to us and say that they became sober because of the show or they remained sober and it helped them. So, that’s really rewarding. It was a show that made a difference and made people laugh, which is a therapy in and of itself.” Besides being an actress in which Hall said she always wanted to be
when she was growing up, Hall also works with the charitable organization Modest Needs. “I’m actually a celebrity endorser for them,” she explained. “They’re a charity that helps people who have an unexpected bill to get by. Sometimes one little thing can set you back and cause a snowball effect. A lot of times when people’s car breaks down, they’ll need a car repair, and of course with the pandemic, you’ve seen a lot of that. So Modest Needs is a wonderful organization and you can actually donate to whoever you want to help. So you know exactly where your money is going to.” So now that Mom has ended, what does Hall have planned? “Nothing that has been finalized yet, we just sort of found out that the show wasn’t coming back with just five episodes left,” she said. “I’m figuring out what the next step is going to be, but I’m excited for a new adventure.” You can catch the series finale of Mom on Thursday, May 13 at 9 p.m. on CBS.
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Mimi Kennedy as Marjorie and Beth Hall as Wendy (Photo by CBS)
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Coming To A TV Near You Game shows to take the lead this summer
BY ANTHONY MURRAY
amurray@antonmediagroup.com
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ummer is just around the corner and with the pandemic slowly, but surely getting better, so is television. After an uncertain year for Hollywood last year with numerous shutdowns that affected production on many television shows, it’s safe to say that this summer will have a lot of fun and interesting stuff to watch this time around. Check your local listings for times. Friday, May 14 —The Woman in the Window (Netflix) Friday, May 28 —The Kominsky Method (Netflix) Monday, May 31 —Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story (Netflix) Tuesday, June 1 —America’s Got Talent (NBC) Thursday, June 3 —Beat Shazam (FOX) —Making It (NBC) Friday, June 4 —Emergency Call (ABC) —Sweet Tooth (Netflix)
Sunday, June 6 —Celebrity Family Feud (ABC) —The Chase (ABC) —To Tell the Truth (ABC) Monday, June 7 —The Bachelorette (ABC) Wednesday, June 9 —Press Your Luck (ABC) —The $100,000 Pyramid (ABC) —Card Sharks (ABC) Monday, June 14 —The Celebrity Dating Game (ABC) Thursday, June 17 —When Nature Calls (ABC) —Holey Moley 3D in 2D (ABC) —The Hustler (ABC)
ABC’s Celebrity Dating Game stars Zooey Deschanel and Michael Bolton. (Photo by ABC/Sami Drasin)
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