Information from Michele Montour of the Official Ryan Cassidy website:
I seem to be getting a lot of questions and I want to let every Cassidy fan know! Is Ryan going to be in the Facts of Life reunion? He hasn't heard anything about this. Let me clarify: He didn't even know anything about a reunion movie. Needless to say, he's surprised. Now, if he was asked, it didn't sound like he'd be totally adverse to the idea. But that's the final word from the man who knows and he made very clear that if something like this were to happen, we would definitely know first!
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia):
With Wolfgang Petersen (director of "The Perfect Storm," "Air Force
One" and "In the Line of Fire") and Shaun Cassidy (creator of "Roar," "Cover
Me" and "American Gothic") among its executive producers, CBS' "The Agency"
is not going to owe anything to
"Felicity."
It's also the most workmanlike of the three new dramas, and the only one to actually film inside the real CIA headquarters. The CIA also provides some script input, although the producers are quick to disassociate themselves from any kind of script "approval." It's more about accuracy.
Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal's original boyfriend) stars as an undercover agent whose brother, also an agent, recently died under mysterious circumstances.
Also featured are Will Patton as an intelligence officer who is the widowed father of two, Paige Turco as a recent recruit, plus Rocky Carroll, Gloria Reuben and Ronny Cox as other members of the CIA.
"The dramatic juice of the show really is about the moral and ethical struggles that each of these characters undergo in the course of this job," said Cassidy. "National security and how far you go in the name of national security is subjective with each of these characters."
"It's not going out to demonize them; it's not going out to make it into James Bond and something larger," said Michael Frost Beckner, series creator, explaining CIA involvement.
"What attracted them to cooperating with us is the fact that we want to tell stories about the lives of the people that work there. A roomful of agency officers is not unlike this room here: regular people doing their job. And that's not portrayed all that much in espionage stories."
But as far as script involvement and the CIA go, "their support is a strictly case-by-case basis," Cassidy said. "If they don't like the script, we won't have their support that week, and that may happen."
"The Agency's" biggest challenge, however, is its time period - 10 p.m. Thursdays opposite NBC's "ER" beginning Sept. 20. (Douglas Durden - TV critic)
By PAULA BERNSTEIN
The Ritz-Carlton Huntington seemed more like Television City than the
Eye's HQ on Fairfax last week as it played host to the multitude of Television
Critics Assn. presentations and festivities.
At Wednesday's CBS party in the back garden, Heather Paige Kent said
of the TV critics: "People say if you believe the good, you have to believe
the bad. That's bull -- I just believe the good."
Strolling the lawn party while touting their CBS shows were Gil Bellows, Martin Mull, Kevin James, Daniel Stern, Ellen DeGeneres, Matthew Modine, Shaun Cassidy, Roma Downey and Valerie Bertinelli.
Jim Belushi literally sang the blues July 23 at the Huntington Gardens in San Marino where ABC celebrated the end of the net's portion of the TCA tour. Belushi, star of the Alphabet web's "According to Jim," entertained the crowd with his soulful singing and harmonica playing. Unfortunately, there were critics in the house, and not all of them appreciated his crooning.
"This set is gonna last longer than his show," joked one scribe. Another sniped that "if he doesn't stop singing soon, he's gonna get his show canceled."
Meanwhile, "Politically Incorrect" host Bill Maher discounted TV criticism, saying "it's so arbitrary, you can't take it seriously. Of course, I read anything they write about my show, but the man on the street gets it better."
ABC execs Alex Wallau, Stu Bloomberg, Lloyd Braun, Susan Lyne and Andrea Wong mingled with press and talent, including Billy Campbell, Sela Ward, Drew Carey, Kathy Kinney, Bruce Helford, John Stamos, Charlie Sheen, Jenna Elfman, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Robert Klein and Anderson Cooper.
After several months out of the spotlight, the media's attention shifted back to Hollywood's writers for a few hours at a Saturday reception hosted by the Writers Guild of America West at the Ritz-Carlton.
The WGA, which had been the focus of Hollywood's fears until it reached a deal May 4, threw the annual bash to stoke stories for the assembled journos. "We want to raise awareness about the key people in the creative process behind these shows," said Harvey Warren, co-chair of the WGAW's media relations committee. "The writers at these events always have a lot to say."
On July 20, NBC brass and talent also celebrated at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington.
NBC execs Andrew Lack, Scott Sassa and Jeff Zucker, Jeff Gaspin and Ed Wilson schmoozed with Jill Hennessy, Emeril Lagasse, Tom Cavanagh, Julie Bowen, Vincent D'Onofrio, Dick Clark and Rob Burnett.
As partygoers munched on "Crossing Jordan" fish and chips and "Inside Schwartz" burgers and hot dogs, Dick Wolf mused on the impact of reality TV: "It's a quick fix, a poison pill."
(Dave McNary and Kirstin Swanson contributed to this report.)