It sounds like an unenviable task: Make a show about suicide that handles the subject matter sensitively, while also being entertaining. Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” strikes that delicate balance, and according to its young stars Dylan Minnette (“Prisoners”) and Katherine Langford, all credit goes to the powerhouse creative team behind this gripping drama.
Based on Jay Asher’s young adult novel and created by Tony-winning playwright Brian Yorkey (“Next to Normal”), with “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy as executive producer, “13 Reasons Why” tells the story of 16-year-old Hannah Baker (Langford), a vibrant young girl who shocks everyone who knew her when she takes her own life. In lieu of a suicide note, Hannah leaves behind 13 cassette tapes, with each side detailing a reason and person who led her to suicide. As the tapes get passed around to the people named, a shy boy named Clay Jensen (Minnette), who had a crush on Hannah,...
Based on Jay Asher’s young adult novel and created by Tony-winning playwright Brian Yorkey (“Next to Normal”), with “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy as executive producer, “13 Reasons Why” tells the story of 16-year-old Hannah Baker (Langford), a vibrant young girl who shocks everyone who knew her when she takes her own life. In lieu of a suicide note, Hannah leaves behind 13 cassette tapes, with each side detailing a reason and person who led her to suicide. As the tapes get passed around to the people named, a shy boy named Clay Jensen (Minnette), who had a crush on Hannah,...
- 4/12/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Happy New Year, everybody! I've been on vacation since Christmas — give or take a quick pop-in to discuss the news that George R.R. Martin's next book definitely won't be out before the next "Game of Thrones" season — but spent time here and there struggling to make the ascent up Screener Mountain. Not only are there a few dozen TV shows premiering in January alone, but press tour officially starts tomorrow (I don't get there til Thursday), so between the broadcast networks, cable, and the various streaming outlets, it's been a terrifying reminder that, as John Landgraf once said, we haven't hit Peak TV in America quite yet. That said, while there's an absurd amount of new stuff premiering this month alone, much less of that is worth getting excited about as a viewer. I'll be doing reviews of the things I find genuinely intriguing — in ways both good and bad — over the coming weeks,...
- 1/4/2016
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
David Simon didn't produce or direct Spotlight, the journalism drama that's gotten enough good word of mouth to have made it onto your mom's must-see list and is Vulture's pick for Best Picture front-runner, but it's safe to say that the movie in its current form wouldn't exist without him. It all started back in 2008, when Simon cast actor-director Tom McCarthy as possibly the most despicable journalist in television history on the final season of The Wire. How despicable? McCarthy's character, Scott Templeton, spends the entire season making up stories about a serial killer who's targeting homeless men, which eventually leads to a copycat killer and the demotion of two of his colleagues — and then Templeton, of course, wins the Pulitzer Prize. You can read more about McCarthy's burden of living with Scott Templeton's punchable face in the profile we ran on him last month. But it turns out...
- 12/4/2015
- by Jada Yuan
- Vulture
When Tom McCarthy, a preppy, generically handsome white guy, gets stopped on the street, it’s usually by people who think he went to high school with them or perhaps was in their sailing class. You might know his name from the excellent modest-budget adult dramas he’s written and directed: The Station Agent, The Visitor, Win Win, and his latest, Spotlight, which seems a shoo-in for a Best Picture nomination. (We’ll get to his one clunker, 2014’s The Cobbler, later.) He’s also an actor, and if you’ve watched season five of HBO’s The Wire, then you most definitely recognize his face. Likely as one you want to punch. It’s the face of that weasel of a character Scott Templeton, possibly the slimiest, most despicable news reporter in television history.“I think it’s safe to say that I’m a bad guy for most journalists,...
- 11/3/2015
- by Jada Yuan
- Vulture
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
After the bulk of the plot of the first major seasonal arc was wrapped up in the previous episode, I was very curious to see how the remaining two episodes of the season would achieve what it needed to provide resolution to the remaining plots and reconcile Sonya and Marco, especially now that The Bridge has been renewed for a second thirteen episode season. “All About Eva” was in fact about much more than that as the end of the all consuming David Tate plot allowed the show to open back up and return to the plots of Steven Linder and Charlotte Millwright in addition to our lead detectives. This episode, after what I felt was a slightly disappointing ending to the Bridge Butcher plot, was all about returning the show to its core strengths. It more than succeeded by not only resurrecting the looming significance...
After the bulk of the plot of the first major seasonal arc was wrapped up in the previous episode, I was very curious to see how the remaining two episodes of the season would achieve what it needed to provide resolution to the remaining plots and reconcile Sonya and Marco, especially now that The Bridge has been renewed for a second thirteen episode season. “All About Eva” was in fact about much more than that as the end of the all consuming David Tate plot allowed the show to open back up and return to the plots of Steven Linder and Charlotte Millwright in addition to our lead detectives. This episode, after what I felt was a slightly disappointing ending to the Bridge Butcher plot, was all about returning the show to its core strengths. It more than succeeded by not only resurrecting the looming significance...
- 9/27/2013
- by Joseph Kratzer
- Obsessed with Film
We tv has ordered six hourlong episodes of House Of Curves, which will premiere June 13 and feature Atlanta designer Kenyatta Jones and her plus-sized fashion business. The series follows Jones, CEO of Bella René, who has designed her dream wardrobe for plus-sized women with the help of her two best friends from college, an assistant with an attitude, and her mother who is also her main investor. The unscripted original series joins the network’s summer slate that includes new shows Marriage Boot Camp: Bridezillas, Pregnant & Dating and Sanya’s Glam & Gold and returning series Bridezillas, L.A. Hair and Kendra On Top. Pie Town Productions is producing, with executive producers Tara Sandler, Jennifer Davidson, Scott Templeton and Jennifer Lane for Pie Town and Lauren Gellert and Kate Farrell for WEtv.
- 4/29/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
We tv has greenlit new original series Obsessed With The Dress. The network also has renewed Kendra On Top and L.A. Hair for second seasons. The three original series will bow on We tv next year. Obsessed With The Dress is set at a boutique in Omaha, Neb, and features shop owner and former pageant winner Michele Strom helping pageant girls pick gowns to wear for competition. The series is produced for We tv by Pie Town Prods. Executive producers are Tara Sandler, Jennifer Davidson, Scott Templeton, Russell Heldt and Jennifer Lange. Kendra On Top has received an order for 12 30-minute episodes and two 60-minute ones; L.A. Hair has been ordered for two 60-minute episodes.
- 10/22/2012
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
As I've frequently mentioned, because of my job and because I have young kids, I don't go to the movies very much anymore. But one of the directors whose films I've learned to make an effort to get out of the house to see is Tom McCarthy, the man responsible for "The Station Agent," "The Visitor" and, most recently, "Win Win." (In terms of this blog's area of interest, McCarthy also played the fabulist reporter Scott Templeton in the final season of "The Wire" and directed the original version of the "Game of Thrones" pilot, some scenes of which were incorporated...
- 11/1/2011
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
The Wire actor has just directed his third film, Win Win, which confirms him as a master of male characters filled with pathos, humour and quiet heroism. But what about the man himself?
Thomas McCarthy's friends would, I am sure, describe him as "a guy's guy". He's a little late for our interview, and from inside the cafe I watch him bid his lunch partner goodbye outside on the street, all back-slaps and man-hugs. The expensive-looking watch might hint at Hollywood, but everything else about McCarthy – the jeans and blazer, the businesslike handshake, the frank stare and bluff manner – says straight-talking, regular-Joe from New Jersey. Which, in a way he is he is. But McCarthy is also in possession of a CV that is anything but regular.
"It sometimes surprises me how much people separate the three," he shrugs affably, of his triple career as actor, writer and director,...
Thomas McCarthy's friends would, I am sure, describe him as "a guy's guy". He's a little late for our interview, and from inside the cafe I watch him bid his lunch partner goodbye outside on the street, all back-slaps and man-hugs. The expensive-looking watch might hint at Hollywood, but everything else about McCarthy – the jeans and blazer, the businesslike handshake, the frank stare and bluff manner – says straight-talking, regular-Joe from New Jersey. Which, in a way he is he is. But McCarthy is also in possession of a CV that is anything but regular.
"It sometimes surprises me how much people separate the three," he shrugs affably, of his triple career as actor, writer and director,...
- 5/20/2011
- by Hermione Hoby
- The Guardian - Film News
Thomas McCarthy, whose career ranges from directing to acting in The Wire to writing Up, is that rare thing – a Hollywood renaissance man
Even in these cash-strapped times, the trade papers still echo with the ceaseless whirr of actors being cast and directors hired. But let's be frank here and admit the professional paths that spring surprises are somewhere between scarce and non-existent, with even people you're fond of usually mired in just delivering more of the same. Which means we should be particularly glad of Thomas McCarthy – a rare talent and, moreover, one with a habit of veering off in wholly unexpected directions.
Now McCarthy doesn't often have his name in lights either in his native Us or here, for all that he represents the kind of triple threat on which showbiz legends are founded. To a small but ardent band of film lovers, he's familiar as the director...
Even in these cash-strapped times, the trade papers still echo with the ceaseless whirr of actors being cast and directors hired. But let's be frank here and admit the professional paths that spring surprises are somewhere between scarce and non-existent, with even people you're fond of usually mired in just delivering more of the same. Which means we should be particularly glad of Thomas McCarthy – a rare talent and, moreover, one with a habit of veering off in wholly unexpected directions.
Now McCarthy doesn't often have his name in lights either in his native Us or here, for all that he represents the kind of triple threat on which showbiz legends are founded. To a small but ardent band of film lovers, he's familiar as the director...
- 2/12/2010
- by Danny Leigh
- The Guardian - Film News
Lifetime is launching its first slate of original unscripted programming for daytime, greenlighting a cooking show as well as two weeklong special programs, one centered on weight loss and the other featuring medium/clairvoyant Lisa Williams making her network return.
"Mom's Cooking" has been given a 20-episode order, with 10 episodes to be shot in New York and 10 in Atlanta. The half-hour series, which will air Monday-Friday starting in December, features mothers teaching their daughters how to cook their favorite childhood recipe. "Cooking," hosted by Joe Corsano, is produced by Boy Wonder and executive produced by Michael Morrissey.
Five half-hour episodes have been ordered for the tentatively titled "Lisa Williams," premiering Oct. 27, and the untitled "Fat Friends" project, debuting in January. Both will air over five consecutive weekdays.
"Williams" is a reformatted version of the Lifetime series "Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead." Each episode will feature Williams doing live one-on-one...
"Mom's Cooking" has been given a 20-episode order, with 10 episodes to be shot in New York and 10 in Atlanta. The half-hour series, which will air Monday-Friday starting in December, features mothers teaching their daughters how to cook their favorite childhood recipe. "Cooking," hosted by Joe Corsano, is produced by Boy Wonder and executive produced by Michael Morrissey.
Five half-hour episodes have been ordered for the tentatively titled "Lisa Williams," premiering Oct. 27, and the untitled "Fat Friends" project, debuting in January. Both will air over five consecutive weekdays.
"Williams" is a reformatted version of the Lifetime series "Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead." Each episode will feature Williams doing live one-on-one...
- 8/25/2008
- by By Kimberly Nordyke
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By Aaron Hillis
Though he's the writer-director of the acclaimed 2003 dramedy "The Station Agent," Tom McCarthy is probably not the first face you associate with the film (Peter Dinklage was the bigger breakout, no pun intended). But that doesn't bother the New Jersey-born McCarthy, who has had his own share of on screen recognition (more on that later) since he began acting in film and television in the early '90s. (If his name still doesn't ring a bell, then you certainly didn't watch the brilliant final season of Hbo's "The Wire," in which he co-starred as the morally skewed Baltimore Sun reporter Scott Templeton.) McCarthy's second feature behind the camera is "The Visitor," a poignant and lightly funny drama about a widowed and utterly disillusioned economics professor named Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins, "Six Feet Under") who discovers, on a business trip from Connecticut, that a Syrian percussionist and...
Though he's the writer-director of the acclaimed 2003 dramedy "The Station Agent," Tom McCarthy is probably not the first face you associate with the film (Peter Dinklage was the bigger breakout, no pun intended). But that doesn't bother the New Jersey-born McCarthy, who has had his own share of on screen recognition (more on that later) since he began acting in film and television in the early '90s. (If his name still doesn't ring a bell, then you certainly didn't watch the brilliant final season of Hbo's "The Wire," in which he co-starred as the morally skewed Baltimore Sun reporter Scott Templeton.) McCarthy's second feature behind the camera is "The Visitor," a poignant and lightly funny drama about a widowed and utterly disillusioned economics professor named Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins, "Six Feet Under") who discovers, on a business trip from Connecticut, that a Syrian percussionist and...
- 4/11/2008
- by Aaron Hillis
- ifc.com
The following piece discusses the series finale of "The Wire" (which aired Sunday on HBO). If you're a "Wire" fan, I recommend watching the finale before reading what's below.
An image has been in my mind since I watched the series finale of “The Wire.” It’s a scene of a character named Dukie preparing to shoot up drugs.
It’s only a brief glimpse at Dukie’s fate, but it’s heartbreaking.
We met Dukie (Jermaine Crawford) and three other eighth-grade boys two years ago, in Season 4 of “The Wire.” He was a shy, smart, gawky youth who didn’t quite fit in on the tough streets of West Baltimore.
He blossomed when his teacher, a former cop, started giving Dukie clean clothes and soap and showing him how to use a computer. As he gained confidence and shed some of his reticence, it was impossible not to care about Dukie,...
An image has been in my mind since I watched the series finale of “The Wire.” It’s a scene of a character named Dukie preparing to shoot up drugs.
It’s only a brief glimpse at Dukie’s fate, but it’s heartbreaking.
We met Dukie (Jermaine Crawford) and three other eighth-grade boys two years ago, in Season 4 of “The Wire.” He was a shy, smart, gawky youth who didn’t quite fit in on the tough streets of West Baltimore.
He blossomed when his teacher, a former cop, started giving Dukie clean clothes and soap and showing him how to use a computer. As he gained confidence and shed some of his reticence, it was impossible not to care about Dukie,...
- 3/10/2008
- by Tempo
- The Watcher
The best show on TV signed off tonight as Hbo's The Wire aired its series finale. The panoramic look at the city of Baltimore and the war on drugs went out with an impressive episode that wrapped up many loose ends, provided closure to the characters, and still showed us that the real story isn't even close to being done.
The epitaph was the end of a quote by H.L. Mencken, “…the life of kings.” The full quote appeared on the wall of The Baltimore Sun, and it serves as a mission statement for The Wire and its creator, David Simon: “I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It is really the life of kings.”
That's what the entire show was about, news reporting. David Simon and his talented staff of writer, directors and actors just told a story, unfettered by publishers trying...
The epitaph was the end of a quote by H.L. Mencken, “…the life of kings.” The full quote appeared on the wall of The Baltimore Sun, and it serves as a mission statement for The Wire and its creator, David Simon: “I had more fun doing news reporting than in any other enterprise. It is really the life of kings.”
That's what the entire show was about, news reporting. David Simon and his talented staff of writer, directors and actors just told a story, unfettered by publishers trying...
- 3/9/2008
- by BuddyTV
- buddytv.com
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