How to resolve AdBlock issue? Arts & Life
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- Written by: Lake County Theater Co.
One set and four scenes makes for a fun two-act night at the theater.
The company will bring to life four different vignettes in the same suite: From a married couple grappling with the fallout of a failed vacation to a mismatched group of friends
and family experiencing the ups and downs of, Simon's play blends humor with heartfelt moments.
“California Suite” will play at the Weaver Auditorium, on the second floor of the Lower Lake School House Museum, in Lower Lake. Shows are Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m.
On Sunday, at 2 p.m., the show closes its run in Lower Lake.
Then, the play travels north for its second weekend. “California Suite” will open at Soper Reese Theater in Lakeport on Friday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. with a Saturday show on Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. The show will close after a final show on Sunday, Oct. 27, at 2 p.m.
Keep an eye on our website, https://laketheatre.org/ for ticket information coming soon.
The Lake County Theater Co is looking to partner with local businesses. If you are a business owner and would like to advertise in any or all of their programs for the season, please visit https://laketheatre.org/ and reach out.
Want to be part of the fun? Check out their website for up-do-date information about auditions and other ways to get involved.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
‘REAGAN’ — RATED PG-13
Whatever one’s opinion of President Ronald Reagan, he is a consequential figure in America’s history. The Gipper is the hero for the Republicans in the same manner that Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy are his counterparts for the Democrats.
There are many fascinating things about the man who started his career in radio announcing Chicago Cubs games in Iowa before signing a studio contract in Hollywood to become an actor and later a labor leader as the head of the Screen Actors Guild.
The movie “Reagan,” framed in large part through the voice of a former KGB agent (Jon Voight) when the Soviets first noticed his anti-Communist activity in Hollywood, touches on many aspects of his life, including his small-town Illinois roots and family life.
Dennis Quaid, starring as the adult titular character, shines as the Reagan who evolves as a candidate for California governor primarily on the strength of a nationwide televised speech on behalf of the losing presidential campaign of Senator Barry Goldwater.
More than just a political journey, “Reagan” is very much a love story, one that blossoms when the actor first meets future wife Nancy Davis (Penelope Ann Miller), who seeks his help to dispel a mistaken identity of being a Communist sympathizer.
The film opens with the assassination attempt on the President’s life outside a hotel in Washington, D.C. As Reagan ends up in the hospital, he tells Nancy that he “forgot to duck” and asks the doctors who are about to operate on him if they are Republicans.
One problem for the film is that there is too much history to cram into a running time of two hours plus. As one fascinated by campaigns, I would have liked to have seen more coverage of his insurgent race for GOP nomination in 1976, and greater context on the match with Jimmy Carter in 1980.
However, with the KGB agent calling Reagan “The Crusader” because of his goal to beat Communism without firing a shot, we get to see some serious interactions with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Olek Krupa) leading up to the fall of the Soviet Union.
A standout scene is President Reagan’s speech in West Berlin in 1987, when he famously said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” a phrase that been opposed by the State Department and the National Security Council. The Berlin Wall came down in 1990 and a year later the Soviet Union fell.
Forty years ago, President Reagan won re-election in a landslide of epic proportions, carrying 49 states with the largest share ever of electoral votes. Only one other president managed a sweep of the same number of states.
In today’s divided world, it’s hard to imagine anyone attaining that kind of victory. Speaking of our political divide, it’s interesting that according to Rotten Tomatoes, the audience approval is nearly universal while the disparity of the low-rating by critics surveyed is startling.
“Reagan” is an interesting portrait of a popular commander in chief, and those old enough to have experienced the Reagan era are perfectly capable of formulating their own independent opinions.
‘THE SUMMIT’ ON CBS
Picture this: you are trekking through the vast and unforgiving landscape of the New Zealand Alps, subjected to terrifying obstacles and cutthroat interactions at every turn. Can you picture it? You only need to watch the new CBS competition series coming soon.
Sixteen contestants embark on a journey through the alps in an attempt to reach the peak of a towering mountain in just 14 days in order to keep their share of the $1 million prize they are each carrying in their backpacks.
But not everyone will make it, as these strangers must work together to tackle the dangerous terrain, unforgiving Antarctic winds, heart-pounding challenges and gut-wrenching eliminations on their way to the peak.
Tracking them along this journey is the “Mountain’s Keeper” who will surprise the trekkers with brutal twists and force decisions that complicate an already grueling ascent.
Morals and relationships will be tested when they must decide what to do if sometime falls behind, because if the group fails to reach the summit in time, all the prize money will be lost.
In the premiere episode, a medical emergency occurs just hours into the trek and the climbers face a perilous obstacle crossing a ravine, resulting in fears to rise as the “Mountain’s Keeper,” who is tracking them along the way, forces the group to make their first brutal moral decision.
Things don’t get much better in the second episode. After an unexpected twist reverberates throughout the group, game plans shift as the contestants begin to tackle harder terrain.
While the trekkers are challenged with crossing an extremely rickety bridge, emotions surge as the “Mountain’s Keeper” arrives with a shocking choice for the trekkers to make, leaving one person’s fate hanging by a thread.
As you may imagine, challenges emerge with bad weather and the difficulty of a group adhering to the rules of “The Summit” which result in consequences.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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The Italian influence arrives with the new medical drama “Doc,” which is based on the globally acclaimed Italian series “DOC – Nelle tue mani,” with a storyline of a doctor surviving being shot in the head and losing his memory of the last twelve years of life.
The American version, with an abbreviated titled of only “Doc,” stars Molly Parker as the hard-charging, brilliant Dr. Amy Larsen, Chief of Internal and Family Medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis.
After a brain injury erases the last eight years of her life, Amy must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she has treated, colleagues she’s crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away.
She can only rely on her estranged 17-year-old daughter, whom she remembers as a 9-year-old, and a handful of devoted friends, as she struggles to continue practicing medicine, despite having lost nearly a decade of experience and knowledge.
Denis Leary stars in the new comedy “Going Dutch” which centers on an arrogant, loudmouth U.S. Army Colonel, who after an epically unfiltered rant is reassigned to the Netherlands, where he is punished with a command position at an unimportant base.
After serving with distinction in every war zone of the last three decades, the colonel is now in charge of a base with no guns, no weapons, and no tactical purpose. Instead, it has a Michelin-star level commissary, top-notch bowling alley, and the best (and only) fromagerie in the Army.
Surrounded by a diverse group of underdogs, the colonel tries to reinstall military discipline and professionalism with the help of the base’s previous interim leader, who just happens to be his estranged daughter.
The animated comedy “Universal Basic Guys” centers on two brothers, Mark and Hank Hoagies, who lose their jobs to automation and are given $3,000 a month on a new basic income program.
Now they’re using their free time and free money to find purpose in a world where they’re no longer needed. Maybe they will learn how to code, but I am not sure that’s part of the program.
Any surfer with a taste for big waves or anyone who has ever been to the North Shore on the Hawaiian island of Oahu may appreciate more than most the new pulse-pounding lifeguard drama “Rescue: HI-Surf.”
The series follows the personal and professional lives of the heavy-water lifeguards who patrol and protect the North Shore – the most famous and dangerous stretch of coastline in the world.
Each episode will feature these dedicated, heroic, and adrenaline-seeking first responders saving lives in the difficult and often life-threatening conditions of Hawaii’s Seven Mile Miracle.
Based on the Edgar Award-winning, nine-book “Karl Alberg” series by acclaimed novelist L.R. Wright, “Murder in a Small Town” follows Karl Alberge (Rossif Sutherland), who moves to a quiet coastal town to soothe a psyche that has been battered by big-city police work.
But this gentle paradise has more than its share of secrets, and Karl will need to call upon all the skills that made him a world-class detective in solving the murders that, even in this seemingly idyllic setting, continue to wash up on his shore.
Kristin Kreuk (“Smallville”) stars as Cassandra, a local librarian who becomes Alberg’s muse, foil, and romantic interest. Special guest stars James Cromwell, Stana Katic, and Paula Patton, are featured.
New unscripted programming includes “Extracted,” a groundbreaking new survival competition, in which, for the first time ever, the contestants are not in charge of their destiny. That’s all we know at this point, but we need to know more about why it is considered a novel concept.
Inspired by the beloved, award-winning 1997 film, “The Real Full Monty” is an all-new two-hour special in which a daring group of male celebrity volunteers bare all to raise awareness for prostate and testicular cancer testing and research.
The event features Anthony Anderson, Taye Diggs, the NFL’s Chris Jones, Tyler Posey, Bruno Tonioli and James Van Der Beek. This special is based on the international unscripted format with hit versions in the U.K., France, and The Netherlands.
During the special, the celebrity talent will train and rehearse for the most revealing performance of their careers, culminating with a big strip-tease dance, choreographed by Emmy Award-winner Mandy Moore, in front of a live audience.
Leading up to the final disrobing, the men will push their limits of comfortability, modesty, and brotherhood with a series of experiences, both private and public, designed to build confidence and remove them far from their comfort zone and strengthen their bond as a group.
Along the way, each of the celebrities will share their personal stories of how cancer has impacted their lives.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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This move makes room for the new medical drama on the block, Ryan Murphy’s “Doctor Odyssey,” which stars Joshua Jackson as a doctor on board a luxury cruise ship where the staff works hard and plays harder.
Jackson’s Max and his small but mighty medical team navigate unique medical crises and each other, miles from shore in what ABC bills as a “high-octane procedural.”
The series, also starring Don Johnson, will air Thursdays an hour earlier than “Grey’s Anatomy,” right after the first responder hit “9-1-1,” which was also co-created by Ryan Murphy.
ABC’s other new scripted drama this fall is “High Potential,” a crime drama starring “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s” Kaitlin Olson as she teams up with a by-the-books detective to crack cases.
Based on a popular French series, “High Potential” follows Morgan (Olson), a single mom with three kids and an exceptional mind, who helps solve an unsolvable crime when she rearranges some evidence during her shift as a cleaner for the police department.
When the police discover she has a knack for putting things in order because of her high intellectual potential, she is brought on as a consultant to work with seasoned detective Karadec (Daniel Sunjata), and together they form an unusual and unstoppable team.
On the unscripted front, the network is handing out a rose (and hopefully some comfortable shoes) to “The Golden Bachelorette,” which, like “The Golden Bachelor” before it, will follow contestants in their golden years as they search for a second chance at love.
Fan-favorite Joan Vassos will be the new Golden Bachelorette, and the network is extending the episodes by 30 minutes compared to “The Golden Bachelor’s” hourlong episodes.
In between the new shows, “Abbott Elementary” is holding down the fort for ABC’s comedies as the only sitcom on the fall schedule.
The unscripted staple “America’s Funniest Home Videos” returns in the fall to celebrate its monumental 35th season, along with “Shark Tank” as well as popular films under “The Wonderful World of Disney” umbrella.
“The Conners” will return at midseason for its farewell outing. Dramas “The Rookie” and “Will Trent” are also being held for midseason, along with reality favorites like “American Idol” and “The Bachelor.”
‘KILLER LIES: CHASING A TRUE CRIME CON MAN’ ON NAT GEO
National Geographic expects its summer marquee true-crime series “Killer Lies: Chasing a True Crime Con Man,” premiering on August 28th on Nat Geo and streaming the next day on Hulu, to heat up their storytelling.
Based on Lauren Collins’ 2002 “New Yorker” reveal of a scandal in “Murder, He Wrote,” the Nat Geo special expands on Collins’ investigation into the rise and fall of a provocative French serial killer expert, Stephane Bourgoin, who became famous for jailhouse interviews with serial killers.
Bourgoin’s extraordinary resume of these interviews with killers, as well as his personality quirks, resulted in morbid encounters. Bourgoin cited the violent and horrifying 1975 slaying of his wife by a serial killer as motivation for his relentless interest in the minds of murderers.
After 40 years and 40 books, Bourgoin becomes the target of online sleuths, known as 4eme Oeil Corporation (4th Eye), who try to untangle his web of lies and unearth the truth.
The three-part series, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Ben Selkow, fully reveals the online group’s dogged investigation and the shocking extent of Bourgoin’s deception.
The series features exclusive access to 4th Eye members speaking for the first time on camera in a documentary, along with material from Bourgoin’s own films and past television appearances and forensically reexamined archival footage.
Viewers will hear from those closest to Bourgoin for an intimate peak inside a pathological liar’s mind as well as hear from Bourgoin himself in his most comprehensive sit-down interview discussing his motives for fabricating such grandiose falsehoods.
The premiere episode, “Murder He Wrote,” delves into the lucrative true-crime industry, but the 4th Eye, a collective of vigilante online sleuths, discover Bourgoin’s career was based on a series of dark lies.
“The Eye is Always Watching” episode’s hunt for the truth reveals something far darker lies beneath the surface of Bourgoin’s fame, while “The Reckoning” episode continues investigating many alarming unanswered questions.
In the end, we hear from the victims in this story and delve into the larger themes and questions raised about our insatiable appetite for true crime and the strange compulsions of the human psyche.
“Killer Lies” is an exploration of human nature and cultural psychology and a commentary on the global true-crime industry. Nat Geo contends this is a true-crime story within a true-crime story.
Ultimately, it was avid true-crime fans who brought down Bourgoin, launching their own investigation of the master who had taught them not to underestimate humanity’s capacity for deceit and evil.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
