Emmys: Modern Family, Glee, Parenthood scoop, and more!
- TV Show
And the winner is…ALL OF US.
As I teased on my Twitter account last night, the EW Army was out in full force this weekend gathering TV scoop from all the good-looking stars walking around, and as a result, we all walk away feeling like winners. (So this is what it feels like to be Kyle Chandler!) So enjoy yourself as you dig into some scooplets in this special edition of Spoiler Room, and if you missed any of EW’s Emmy coverage this weekend, educate yourself.
And make sure to come back on Friday for your regularly scheduled edition of Spoiler Room (in its normal format). That reminds me! I’m still accepting your questions via e-mail: spoilerroom@ew.com.
GLEE–MERGENY!*
Sure, the kids from Glee know how to work a carpet, but show me the woman with the scoop and I’ll show you the person I want to talk to. For EW, that was Dot Marie Jones, who we caught up with on Saturday night at the Performers Nominee Reception at Spectra by Wolfgang Puck. Jones, who, like a trooper, came out for the festivities despite her broken foot, dished that her injury is actually being worked into the show. “Yeah, Ryan [Murphy], the boys, wrote it into the third episode that I broke my foot,” she said. “I don’t want to say how they wrote it in because it’s very funny.” {C}And this wasn’t the only hospital visit made by a member of the cast this season, according to Ashley Fink. At the EW party, Fink told us, “I can say that season 3 is going to be out of control. I keep reading the script and will be like, ‘Whaaaatttt?’ People have gone to the hospital! It’s been out of control….A certain person has gone to the hospital after doing a certain number too hard. He was going real [sic] hard.” We’re looking at you, Chris Colfer.
Also coming to Glee-land this season: a new, power-hungry trio! Okay, that might be an overstatement. Jones says: “Jayma Mays and Kevin McHale and myself are the three co-directors of the school musical….It’s hilarious. We’re very serious about our selection and our audience process. We’re methodical about our decisions.”
*I recognize how stupid this pun is, and I hate myself for it. Also, I’m not changing it.
MODERN FAMILY: WOULD YOU LIKE A BABY WITH THOSE EMMYS?
What’s left to do after you make the Emmy Awards your bitch dominate at the Emmy Awards? Well, if you’re Modern Family, you squeeze together and make room for new blood in the cast. And, as teased last year, that could include a new baby for Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). “It’s a story that will play out over the course of the year,” Ferguson tells EW. “A lot of people have to look to alternate means to expand their family, straight and gay couples. There is a lot of ways to do that, whether it be with a surrogate or my partner’s sperm in my sister’s uterus, which could happen. I’m not saying it’s a storyline, but it might be something they explore. Wouldn’t that be hilarious?” Erm… “It’s not a done deal [that we’ll get a baby] but it’s something they are exploring,” he adds. “I think this season will be about their struggle how to do that and how my character is maybe not as comfortable as having a son because he’s not the most masculine of people. He can’t throw a football like his partner Cameron.”
Emmy winner Julie Bowen also dished to EW about another addition: David Cross, who comes on board this season to go toe-to-toe with Claire. “We have a very caustic relationship. He plays a town councilman who Claire Dunphy is not fond of, and we face off in the small town political arena,” she says. “He’s very, very funny.” Also sort of funny? Accidentally calling your new guest star by the wrong name! “I was maybe not at my very best at 5 a.m. I called him David Chase. I always call people mister and sir early on because otherwise, every other word out of my mouth is foul and disgusting. So I try to show a tiny bit of respect before I work with them. So when I said ‘Mr. Chase,’ he looked at me like, ‘Are you joking? I love the respect with the wrong name.’ I was like, ‘I loved the Sopranos.'”
PARENTHOOD‘S MICHAEL B. JORDAN: ALEX IS STILL A ‘GOOD PERSON’
Tomorrow night on NBC’s Parenthood, we’ll see more about Alex’s complicated criminal past — and according to Michael B. Jordan, it’s going to get much worse before it gets better. “It’s going to go on for the next four weeks. It’s going to be drawn out a little bit. You get detail of Alex’s past and why he is who he is. Over the next two weeks, it starts to unfold itself.” But, he insists, “He has a good heart. He’s a good person. Some things turn out cool. It’s bittersweet but a catch-22.” But as his past catches up with him, will Alex get the Bravermans’ cold shoulder? Not necessarily, he says. “I think it’s more of a concern, but they don’t turn their backs on Alex — not as much as he expects them to. It’s very satisfying.”
Julia (Erika Christensen) also appears to have Alex’s back, but has struggles of her own to deal with. But if you were counting on her getting the chance to adopt the coffee cart girl’s bun (in the oven), you might be out of luck. “I am not sure,” says Christensen. “There is a relationship that will develop. We’re about to finish episodes 5 and 6. I’m hoping she will let Julia have the baby. I still don’t know. [Showrunner] Jason Katims specifically said we could give her one or we may not. Interestingly, he is a writer who pays attention to the way the actors work and lets things evolve on their own. I spoke to him just before we started, and I’m interested to speak to him now that he’s seen a few episodes of that relationship developing.” (Well, Erika, he’s an Emmy winner now. You might be out of luck. Kidding.) “The cool thing is that Julia’s maternal instincts are being explored a lot more than they have in previous two seasons,” she adds. “So it would be really satisfying to have her get what she wants. Otherwise, I think she could do something like throw herself into work entirely and embark upon some new part of her career. It would be painful if she never got a baby but pain is good too, it makes for good television.”
THE BIG BANG THEORY: WEDDING IN EPISODE 100? PROBABLY NOT. FOR MANY REASONS.
The sound of wedding bells will soon be ringing through the air on The Big Bang Theory, or will they? Since Howard (Simon Helberg) and Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) got engaged, it’s been teased that they might not make it to the altar. And now we know (one of the reasons) why: “Right now the biggest obstacle is going to be where are going to live. Getting Howard out of his mother’s house is going to be an issue in their marriage. He’s still there. I don’t know if he’ll ever leave, but Bernadette is definitely marrying his mother. She’s getting a two for one deal.” Terrifying. Helberg elaborates: “My mother has warmed up to Bernadette but it’s a constant struggle. I keep trying to pull Bernadette into my lifestyle with my mother and Bernadette’s not happy about that. I try to organize that we would move in after the wedding to my house so we give it a trial run. Bernadette gave it a shot and it didn’t work out. So it’s a constant battle. I think its going to be a long road before we actually get married.” *That’s if you get married, buddy. (Note: To avoid confusion, I will clarify that Helberg is married in real life. That’s wife Jocelyn Towne above.)
*Let’s be serious: They totally will, right? Normally, I’d say a wedding would even make an outstanding 100th episode, but based on what Bill Prady says, that’s probably not the direction he’s headed. “We’re not inclined to do something gimmicky. I think it depends on the storytelling in the next group of episodes. It would be fun if it were a turning point episode in a story but right now we just don’t see a turning point. That’s not to say there won’t be. I just don’t know yet.”
GREY’S ANATOMY: CALIZONA’S CALM BEFORE THE STORM?
Callie and Arizona had a pile of crap thrown on them last season — not to mention that musical! This season, peace has fallen over one of primetime’s cutest pairs, and Jessica Capshaw couldn’t be happier about it. “After last season, things will slow down for Arizona and Callie,” she says. “Married life on the show is very boring bliss. We are on episode six right now. Callie and Arizona were such a huge focal point at the end of last season, and I think we got a little bit of a break at the beginning of the season. And I’ve always said this: With Grey’s and the big cast we have, you carry a storyline and you run, run, run and then you hand it off to someone else. So I think right now we’re in married bliss.” (We’ll see how long that lasts.)
Not so blissful? Poor Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) and his struggle with his sick wife Adele (Emmy winner Loretta Divine), which takes a major and surprising turn in Thursday’s premiere. (If you’ve been following news, you know Kevin McKidd‘s Owen is named new chief this season. You do the math.) Unfortunately, Divine’s not sure where it’s headed after the events in the premiere, but she had her ideas on how to keep the couple in the mix. “I’d like them to take the camera straight to his house — follow him for a chance.”
**CASTING EXTRA**
All aboard! Broadway actor Bill Heck will soon be taking flight on ABC’s Pan Am, EW has learned. The actor, best known for his amazing run in the revival of Angels in America opposite Zachary Quinto, is scheduled to appear in at least two episodes of the freshman drama, playing a photographer for Life magazine who is assigned to follow Laura (Margot Robbie) for a follow-up article. According to casting intel, Heck’s character helps Laura “relax and open up” when her reservations about being the face of Pan Am get in the way of his assignment. Take that how you will.
(Lynette Rice and Carrie Borzillo contributed to this column.)
Comments