Brian Williams: From 30 Rock to Rock Center

  NBC Photo Justin Stephens 

 

Anyone who’s seen Brian Williams host Saturday Night Live or do a guest spot on 30 Rock knows that he’s not your typical news anchor. He’s really, really funny, too.

If you need proof, just check out the promo for his new magazine show Rock Center with Brian Williams, which premieres on NBC tonight.

In a recent conference call interview Williams talked about his stints on comedy shows and his old buddy “Koppel.” The Managing Editor and Anchor of Rock Center takes his journalistic integrity very seriously, but reflected on his humorous turns, saying, “While that doesn't speak to towering credibility in a primetime evening news magazine, those are what I call the extracurriculars that kind of make life more fun.”

As for why he refers to another legendary newsman simply as Koppel in the promo he reflected, “I don’t know why. We came up with that on the fly. It seemed perfectly appropriate.”

Williams also recalled his last run-in with the former Nightline anchor. “We actually realized the day we gathered to have a little fun and shoot those promos the last time I had seen Ted in the flesh, I had found a way to get into what was then still Saddam Hussein International Airport in Baghdad, probably invasion plus three days.”

The Rock Center host continued, “I slept on the floor of the Baghdad version of the learn to fly executive aviation terminal under a poster of Saddam Hussein on a cement floor. There were firefights going around all over the airport, planes were on fire. But when you got to get some rack time you've got to get some rack time.”

           

He added, “I woke up hearing the distinctive voice, ‘Williams,’ standing over me in his battle gear. Very surprised having embedded with the third ID to find that we had entered quote ‘their airport.’ So that was the last time I saw Ted before the elevator promo.”

It’s true that the journalists used to be on competing networks when Koppel was at ABC but Williams is smart enough to know what’s in his best interest. “Boy, I'd rather have him with us than against us. What a warrior, what a competitor, what a journalist. And that's among the most thrilling developments in the development of this broadcast.”

Rock Center with Brian William premieres at 10 p.m. EST/9 p.m. Central on NBC.

This Week's Inspirational Pop Culture Moments

Photo by Lara Solanki/Syfy 

A Golden Globe winner helps stop gang violence, two celebrity brothers take on Hollywood and a TV star helps a young girl strive for her dreams. Here are this week's most inspirational moments in pop culture.

Ving Rhames Uses His Influence as a Celebrity to Help Stop Gang Violence

Ving Rhames has played a lot of tough characters in a bunch of films, including his latest role in the Syfy thriller Zombie Apocalypse. He summed up his part in a recent conference call interview, saying, “As my character Henry would say, ‘A quick sledgehammer blow to the head solves a lot of problems.’ I walk around with a sledge hammer in the movie.”

But even Rhames admitted that there’s something about him that fans might find most surprising. “Probably maybe that I’m a Christian, I don’t know if they would think that based on a lot of the projects that I’ve done. But I do try to keep God first in my life. I don’t always succeed, but that’s what I’m working on.”

He also expressed that his viewers might not know about the very important way he spends his spare time. Rhames divulged, “I do gang intervention work with a group called Developing Options. And we basically just try and stop young adults from killing each other. It’s headed by a guy named Big U. That’s his street name, but it’s Eugene Henley. And they’re based in South Central, [Los Angeles].”

The organization is making a major dent in L.A. crime. As Rhames explained, “We cut down on the violent crime in South Central by 85% in the Crenshaw area.”

Rhames made an observation about why he thinks he’s able to reach the troubled youths. “I’m very real. I’m very honest in that perspective in the streets, especially I did a film with John Singleton years ago called Baby Boy, where I played a gang member. And in a lot of black America, that film was a hit and they really thought I was a gang member for real… I’m from New York, and people would swear that, ‘Oh no, you’re definitely from L.A. and you're a gang member.’ So they did identify with something in me, probably because I come from the streets, I grew up in a gang culture. I grew up under people like [Nicky Barnes] as far as major drug dealers at Harlem at that time.”

The Golden Globe-winning actor, believes that a higher power gave him the ability to help. He commented, “I think sometimes God can place you in a position or bless you with something, but you're supposed to use it for something else. Like maybe I’ve been blessed with acting and getting notoriety to help change the lives of young black, young Hispanic men, young Caucasian men who can relate to someone coming from the streets, because most actors don’t come from the streets.”

Catch Rhames in Zombie Apocalyse on Saturday, October 29 at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. Central on Syfy.

For more of this week's inspirational pop culture moments, visit Beliefnet.com.


For related stories check out:
Jillian Harris and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Add Inspiration to Friday Nights
Russell Brand Sheds a Spotlight on Friendly House


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Our Favorite Johnny Depp Films of All Time

Photo by nicogenin 

Johnny Depp's new movie The Rum Diary hits theaters this week and while we will check it out, we have a gut feeling it won't end up on our list of favorite Depp films. Don't get us wrong, Johnny is great in (pretty much) everything he does. But since we think Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was one of the least enjoyable Johnny films, we're afraid this Hunter S. Thompson story may leave us with the same disturbed feeling. So in honor of his latest release, here are our top five Johnny Depp movies of his career to date.

5. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
We admit, this blows our "we don't like the disturbing Johnny" theory right out of the water. But his turn as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street was simultaneously cool and creepy enough to actually make us a like a musical we never cared much for in previous incarnations.

4. Ed Wood
As we make this list, we realize a lot of Depp's characters are unnerving to varying degrees. One of our faves was his portrayal of the cross-dressing horror flick actor Ed Wood. Johnny's depiction of the ridiculed director was both twisted and heartwarming all at the same time.

3. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Many contend that the shining star of What's Eating Gilbert Grape was a young Oscar-nominated Leonardo DeCaprio who played Arnie Grape, the mentally challenged little brother to Depp's Gilbert. But we believe it was Johnny's performance as the gentle, sweet caretaker for his sibling and obese mother that truly stole the show.

2. Finding Neverland
Critics gave Johnny's performance in Finding Neverland mixed reviews. But we found his turn as Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie and his relationship with the real-life Peter, played by a then-unknown Freddie Highmore, to be touching and poignant.

1. Edward Scissorhands
Not only does Edward Scissorhands take the top spot of our list of Depp movies, it ranks up their as one of our favorite films of all time, period. The combination of Depp's tender characterization of the outcast with the piercing digits, the powerful supporting performances by Winona Ryder and Dianne Wiest and the insanely inventive world created by Tim Burton add up to pure movie magic.

For related stories check out:
Stars Who Got Their Start in Horror Movies
Celebrity Nicknames and Aliases


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FEARnet’s Handing Out a Lot of Treats for Halloween

Courtesy of FEARnet

Getting excited about Halloween and wondering how you’re going to occupy your time between now and trick or treat time? Let us suggest that you tune in to FEARnet and leave it on for the next five days straight. Not only will the world’s leading horror, suspense and thriller channel be showing a freaky festival of films for the week leading up to the 31st, they also have two really special events planned. In an exclusive interview FEARnet President Peter Block gave us a sneak peak of the two main events and his take on the genre’s perceived resurgence.

You might want to get warmed up by watching Leprechaun 5: In the Hood tonight before catching Village of the Giants on Friday and Route 666 on Saturday. But no matter what you choose to view, don’t miss the U.S. premiere of Psychoville on Sunday, October 30.

Peter described the U.K. comedy hit, saying, “Psychoville is irreverent, twisted and top notch. It was the closest thing to Monty Python that we could find. I’m just glad we get to be the ones who brought it to the States. Partnering with BBC has been a great experience. Then again, with clowns wielding cleavers, serial killer loving dysfunctional families and dwarf porn, FEARnet is really the only place for this show.”  

And on Monday you’ll have plenty of opportunities to catch a screening of the horror film Trick ‘r Treat, because FEARnet will be showing a marathon of the Anna Paquin movie all day and night. Peter explained the reasoning behind the programming choice. “Trick ‘r Treat not only embodies the spirit of the season, but of FEARnet as well. We're so lucky to have it as the signature film for the network. It’s so well made and deserves to be the gem of a cult film that it has become.”

Peter’s proud of the channel’s holiday slate and the fact that no one knows the genre better than his team. He acknowledged, “Whether you call it New Year’s or Easter or Arbor Day, it’s Halloween year-round at FEARnet. But we're happy when other networks have success with their horror and thriller shows, and when they come play in our sandbox one month a year. Of course, if they continue to do it as much as they have been, maybe October at FEARnet will have to become something really scary: romantic comedies all month long.”

That’s one way to avoid the recent onslaught of projects that seem to be jumping on the horror bandwagon these days. But, as Peter pointed out, fright films have never really been off anyone’s radar. He remarked, “I don't think there's been resurgence in the horror genre; I just think that sometimes a title or two makes it feel that way.”

He continued, “When The Silence of the Lambs won the Oscar (deservedly so!), people talked about horror being in the mainstream theatrically, discounting Hitchcock, and Jaws and Alien and a slew of films from John Carpenter and Wes Craven. Not to mention, Stephen King and Dean Koontz books.”

Peter went on to add that some offerings in the genre were just disguised with different descriptors. “While horror titles were the constant companion of video renters, and late night HBO watchers, theatrical horror titles were referred to as suspense, thriller and psychological to make them more palatable to mainstream sensibilities, but Freddy, Jason and Chucky were mainstays and TV boasted The X-Files and Tales From The Crypt. When the nouveau horror titles like the Saw series, Resident Evil and Paranormal Activity reclaimed the moniker, it seemed to be an outlying directive.”

And Peter can’t help but acknowledge the increasing presence of scary fare in primetime. “Now that television networks need to find distinct programming, the ever-present horror field has been mined to deliver True Blood, Walking Dead, Dexter and American Horror Story. This is great for the genre as it de-mystifies a word that still frightens advertisers as much as it attracts audiences."

In the meantime, FEARnet is obviously in good hands with Peter at the helm. Not only is he an experienced horror genre producer with the Saw film franchise to his credit, he’s a fan as well. He recalled, “I started reading Stephen King's Salem's Lot in 7th grade (I just loved the embossed raised face on the book cover, and the thought of Danny Glick at my window kept me up for nights), was the kid that built the Aurora monster models that glowed in the dark, and I've always loved those film moments when the tension leads to a jump which usually then cracks me up.”

In fact, Peter is such a big fan of the genre he turned to it when the time came to pick a very important moniker. Jaws fans will appreciate what Peter revealed to us. “I named my production company A Bigger Boat. I think the Newington Cinema is still missing an armrest from when Brodie got his first up-close look at the shark.”

For more details on the FEARnet Halloween countdown and for air dates in your area, visit their website.

Catch the U.S. premiere of Psychoville on October 30 at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. Central and watch the Trick ‘r Treat marathon starting at 10 a.m. EST/9 a.m. Central on October 31 on FEARnet.

Pawnee by Leslie Knope: A Must-Read for Parks and Rec Fans

NBC Photo 

A few weeks ago there was a Parks and Recreation episode that centered around a book written by Amy Poehler's character Leslie Knope. Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America is a history of the fictional locale where the show takes place. But good news P&R fans. The book is real.

The publication is "written, researched, typed, collated, proofread and run through spell check" by the one and only Deputy Director of the Department of Recreation and soon to be (maybe) city council member, Leslie Knope. She also got a little help from Nate DiMeo and the creative team from the NBC show.

Readers can revel in chapters like "The Swanson Pyramid of Greatness," "Raccoon Safety Information," "Nick Newport's Letter to His Children" and "A Brief Note on the Typeface."

In the introduction Leslie proudly proclaims, "We're not Indianapolis. And maybe we're not even Bloomington. But what Pawnee lacks in fame or beauty, we make up for in heart. Like the pudgy, sarcastic best friend in a romantic comedy, we are actually really interesting and cool if you look hard enough."

The book features some of the city's slogans through the years like "Pawnee: The Akron of Southwest Indiana" or "Pawnee: It's Safe To Be Here Now." Our personal favorite is "Pawnee: A Place and a Town." There's a visual tour of JJs diner including Ron Swanson's favorite menu item "The Four Horse-Meals of the Egg-Pork-alypse" which includes lots of meat, naturally. And special guest author, shoeshiner and Mouse Rat lead singer, Andy Dwyer, takes readers on a tour of the best concert venues in Pawnee.

The book has received glowing reviews from the characters on the show, none more positive than the one from Chris Traeger (played by Rob Lowe), "Literally the greatest endeavor of human creativity in the history of mankind." Sounds like a must-read for Parks and Recreation fans.

For related stories check out:
Parks and Recreation on Punk Ass Book Jockeys and Guest Stars
Nick Offerman on Mullally, Meat and Chest Hair


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The Atherton Twins Fly High in Cirque du Soleil’s Iris

  Matt Beard © 2011 Cirque du Soleil

Here’s the thing about a show like Cirque du Soleil’s latest masterpiece, Iris, if we start to tell you too much it will ruin the element of surprise. So we’ll let the experience unfold for those of you lucky enough to be in Los Angeles sometime in the next ten years — the length of the show’s run.

But we will give you not one but two reasons to catch the latest Cirque extravaganza — Kevin and Andrew Atherton. After seeing the show recently we were able to be part of a press event with the twins who dazzle on the aerial straps routine. They were joined by Iris artistic director Denise Biggi and company manager Randy Meyer.

The Atherton brothers perform a poetically death-defying act in which they gracefully fling themselves above the audience on what look like giant rubber bands. Since this didn’t seem like a normal career path for two kids from Manchester, England, they recounted their unusual journey.

They explained, “We started gymnastics at the age of seven, artistic gymnastics, and we did gymnastics for over 17 and a half years. And then Cirque du Soleil has what they call casting scouts that come obviously to major events, gymnastics events, dancing events, everything that you can think of. Cirque du Soleil have casting scouts that go all over the world. And we were discovered at the world Championships in China at the age of 20 years old, asked if we would be interested in joining Cirque du Soleil.”

Surprisingly perhaps, the twins weren’t familiar with the fantastical franchise. They recalled, “We’d never really heard of Cirque du Soleil at the time. Obviously we did a bit of research. We went to see our first show, which was Alegria in the Royal Albert Hall in London. From that moment we fell in love with the company and what we saw.”

But they were immediately taken with this spectacular form of entertainment. They shared, “We knew we wanted to be a part of it. At the age of 24 we joined Cirque du Soleil, helped create the show called Varekai, which we went on the road with it for eight and a half years. Then we left that show and came to create this show and obviously we’re here now.”

The new show is a movie themed event permanently on display in the heart of Hollywood. Meyer revealed, “This is the only place in the world that you’ll see Iris. The plan is that we’re here for a long time — ten years plus… This is designed for L.A., designed for the Kodak Theater. We’re here to stay. This is an L.A. staple.”

And if Biggi has her way, the twins will be part of the show for a long, long time. She acknowledged, “Most of the show is going to remain the same. Hopefully enough Kevin and Andrew will never leave so we won’t have to replace them. But there will be inevitable and desirable evolution to the show. Time passes, we can’t help for something to evolve. Every time that an artist leaves and a new artist comes, all of a sudden there’s a new subtle difference that starts working into the show and a lot of subtle differences make evolution of the show. So no change per se but life continues. It is a living organism.”

To learn more about Iris visit the Cirque du Soleil website.

Courtney Rainville Talks About Her Time on The Biggest Loser

Photo by Jordin Althaus/NBC 

Last week on The Biggest Loser the Red Team made another difficult decision and sent home Courtney Rainville. But despite how close the "young guns" seemed to be, there appeared to be a few tears in the fabric of the under 20 players' bond. In a recent conference call interview Courtney talked about feeling separated from her team and not being surprised she was eliminated.

The youngest group on the ranch held strong for the first few weeks, although they could not beat the middle aged Black Team. The competitors wearing the red shirts talked about being close and spent their free time hot-tubbing and hanging together.

But Courtney recalled there was a slightly different story going on. She noted, "After Patrick got eliminated I got weak. I knew I needed to start looking out for myself because, Patrick, Ramone and Vinny were very close to each other and Jessica and I were close as well. Jessica tended to have a closer bond with the boys than what I did and I think that that just stems from who I was before I went on the ranch."

She admitted, "I had a hard time making friendships with men because I was so shy and insecure. And when Patrick was [sent home] I knew that I would be a target just because the boys were too close and the health issues that they brought up a lot and I wasn't to the extreme of both Vinny and Ramone."

When the Red Team lost the weigh, in Jessica received immunity for dropping the most pounds. The vote came down to Vinny, Ramone and Courtney. The only woman on the chopping block knew she had a target on her back. "I think it was more the fact that that week there was a little bit of tension between the Red Team merely for the fact [that] I branched out on my own and didn't always follow the group. If I wanted to get up earlier then I went earlier to the gym as opposed to wait to go to together as a team just to get my burn in."

This Week's Inspirational Pop Culture Moments

ABC/Bob D’Amico

 

A bachelorette helps makeover a family’s home, a reality star finds hope during a medical drama and a rock star let’s people pay what they can for food. Here are this week's most inspirational moments in pop culture.

Jillian Harris and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Add Inspiration to Friday Nights

Jillian Harris came to fame on the reality dating show The Bachelor and, eventually, became The Bachelorette. And while she didn’t find long-lasting love on the franchise, she did make a connection with ABC. A designer in real life, Harris has spun her network connections into a recurring gig on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

In a recent exclusive interview Harris talked about the show’s new timeslot on Friday nights and the first family that will highlighted on the series’ that night. Harris reflected on why she thinks the move is a good one, saying, “We’ve got a lot of families who have family night on Fridays and there’s never any good TV on Fridays. So it’s going to be a really, really great show to go on Fridays.”

This week’s episode is a poignant one. Harris explained the Keefer family’s situation.

“They are a family of four young adult boys and, of course, a mother and a father. And Brian Keefer is 21 but when he was, I think he was 19, he had just graduated from high school. Super athletic guy, lots of energy, was horsing around at school and did some crazy gymnastics move and didn’t land it. And at the time it was him and his buddies and often times they didn’t land their jumps. So it wasn’t that big of a deal. But then Brian couldn’t get up. And he realized more than just being able to not get up, he became essentially a quadriplegic.”

Harris continued, “At 21 with a bright future ahead of him, as you can imagine it was really traumatic on the family. But the way that they dealt with it, Brian’s dad took an early retirement and took Brian back to college and they lived the most normal life possible — except for the dad is going back to college basically and Brian is in a wheelchair.”

But as with every episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, there is always inspiration within each tragedy. As Harris revealed, “The small moves that he’s made so far and some of the technology and equipment that we’ve provided to him to rehabilitate — it was just such a great week.”

Catch ExtremeMakeover: Home Edition in its new timeslot on Friday nights at 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. Central on ABC.

Follow Jillian on Twitter.

Follow Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on Twitter.

For more inspirational pop culture moments visit Beliefnet.com.

Josh Groban Won’t Abandon His Singing Career for Acting

christopher simon

Josh Groban became a big deal when he was just 17 years old. Now the multi-platinum recording artist is establishing himself as more than just a singer, with acting gigs in films like Crazy, Stupid, Love and on TV shows like The Office. In a recent conference call interview Josh talked about his love of acting and his commitment to his music career.

As a fan of The Office, Groban was thrilled to be acting in a recent episode, but he also enjoyed taking in the atmosphere when he had a chance. He recalled, “There were scenes where I was just background and just watching [the cast] do their improv and watching them do their scenes together. And seeing firsthand how brilliantly they all play off of each other, which it’s so easy to see that they’ve been together a really, really long time because they basically are all one big comedy improv troop.”

While he’d love to try his hand at drama on Breaking Bad or appear on other comedies like 30 Rock, he admitted that The Office was at the top of his wish list. He revealed, “If anybody were to say to me, ‘Just quick off the top of your head what’s a show that you would love to be on,’ I really would’ve just pulled out The Office, because it has consistently been so smart and so funny. And such an ensemble-based show and such an improv-based show, that not only am I a fan of the show just watching it on TV, but I knew going into it that just the experience on set would be one that would be a lot of fun. And I was absolutely right.”

An Evening with Carl Reiner (and Dick Van Dyke)

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas

Last Thursday was another great night for the Passionistas courtesy of the Archive of American Television. The Academy of Television Arts of Sciences hosted An Evening with Carl Reiner to celebrate his illustrious career and the 50th anniversary of The Dick Van Dyke Show.

We had the privilege of speaking with Carl himself plus other notables like Rose Marie, Lily Tomlin, Eva Marie Saint, Bonnie Hunt and Bill Persky. Plus, a childhood dream came true when we stood face to face with the man who played Bert in Mary Poppins and Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dick Van Dyke, in the flesh.

Here's what Dick had to say about what he called "the best five years of his life" working with Carl Reiner.

Dick Van Dyke at An Evening Honoring Carl Reiner

To see the other red carpet interviews check out this YouTube playlist form the Archive of American Television.

For related stories check out:
Dick Van Dyke and His Two Marys
On the Red Carpet at The TV Academy Hall of Fame Inductions


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An Interview with the Executive Producers of Grimm

Photo by Eric Ogden/NBC

On October 28, just in time for the spooky Halloween weekend, NBC is premiering it long anticipated new show Grimm. The series was created by Will & Grace's Sean Hayes and his partner Todd Milliner and is being executive produced by David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf of Buffy the Vampire Slyer and Ghost Whisperer fame. It tells the tale of detective Nick Burkhardt, played by David Giuntoli, who discovers that he comes from a long line of Grimms, criminal profilers trying to protect people from the mythical creatures that roam the earth.

But the interesting thing about the show's approach is that all of the characters are normal. No one is immortal. No one has supernatural powers. But many have a mythical side, seen only by the Grimms. This dual world is what David and Jim have set out to explore and also what challenges them the most. In a recent conference call interview Jim explained, "Our show is based in our world. So we’re just explaining a lot of bad behavior with fairytale reasons."

He revealed the story behind detective Burkhardt. "The Grimm books that he has are the original stories that were handed down from the Grimm brothers and passed on and added to by generations of Grimms. So they're more like profiles, criminal behavior and creatures. So that’s what he’s got. He’s got ancient book to reference."

He further clarified, "The characters [don't] reference the Grimm fairytales when they’re solving the crimes because it’s an actual crime for them to deal with. So they’re not going, 'Gee this is just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.'"

This premise is what makes the project both exciting and difficult for the executive producers. David noted, "The challenges are what is happening in each episode that is a crime that could occur in our real world. And it also has some kind of Grimm meaning to it that they do in their world. And that’s a challenge because you have to have a couple of stories for every story."

Rosie’s Back and Better Than Ever

Photo by Robert Trachtenberg and courtesy of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network 

Rosie O’Donnell has been back on the air for a little over a week and so far so good. Her much anticipated talk show on OWN will make old school fans of Rosie so very happy. There’s the requisite amount of stand-up, singing and good solid celebrity chatting. Plus the Rosie we all love is back. She seems to be in a happier place. And the addition of audience Q&A and game show segments, make The Rosie Show feel like a party. In a recent conference call interview the Queen of Nice talked about how things have metamorphosed since her last television show.

Rosie reflected on the way television has evolved since she had her last talk show. “It's changed completely. It's done a 360. It's not the same landscape in any capacity. When I started in 1996, I went to the NATPE conference and had to convince people that I was not going to do a Jerry Springer-type show. I had to literally sit down with station owners and advertisers and tell them, ‘No, I was going to do Merv Griffin.’ And the philosophy at the time was ‘That will never work,’ because what was number-one in daytime in '96 or what was drawing all of the media attention at least — a ‘Jenny Jones’ guest had been murdered and Geraldo Rivera had his nose broken.”

She recalled, “That's when I entered into the foray, so I was dubbed the Queen of Nice. Comparatively I was, because what we were seeing was violence on a daily basis. So with the exception of Oprah, there was no other show on TV that was putting forth messages of positivity back in 1996. So it was a whole different game.”

She also noted that advances in technology have influenced the modern television landscape, which was not true when she started out. She recounted, “The Internet was not yet flourishing. I remember having meetings with Warner Bros. and saying to them, ‘Can we do an Internet component?’ And they're like, ‘People don't have computers.’ And they later bought AOL — that was a problem. But they didn't really understand the Internet and the way that media is now consumed by the average person at home.”

Adam Cohen's Jewish Guy Calendar

Photo courtesy of Adam Cohen

Adam Cohen is a TV producer, but he has a little side project going that he never expected would take off the way it has. In 2010 Adam created The Nice Jewish Guys Calendar. In a recent exclusive interview he told us the genesis of the project.

Adam revealed that the calendar began as a joke with his friends. "Everyone always makes these calendars with fireman and hot chicks. What about like me? A Jewish guy? And I'm posed up on a rock with my foot kicked up and I'm holding a jacket and it's like Adam or some other guy like David or typical Jewish guy names."

Cut to years later when Adam brought the subject up once again. This time his buddies reacted by saying, "Dude, that's brilliant. It's unexpected these are unlikely heroes these Jewish guys. Who would ever put them on a calendar? And it’s going to get people talking."

And surprisingly to Adam, they are talking. He stated, "It's kind of a sweet joke. Girls get it. They're always looking for a nice guy. They're always complaining, 'There's no nice guys out there.' I thought, maybe they'll put these guys on a calendar and they'll look at them differently like maybe I should put them more on a pedestal… Maybe this is the guy you should be dating. They're just as good a catch as the shirtless fireman on the calendar."

Go Out and See Our America with Lisa Ling

Photo by Pop Culture Passionistas

We’re not going to lie. We’ve been fortunate enough to meet a lot of really cool people through this gig. And we’ve had the opportunity to speak with some of our favorite stars. But we rarely meet someone that we can truly say we admire and that inspires us to be better people. That is until we were invited to the OWN offices to have lunch with Lisa Ling.

The star of Our America with Lisa Ling has managed to achieve what few modern news people have. She doesn’t tell the easy story. She doesn’t pander to the audience’s appetite for information on the trending buzzword of the day. And she most definitely isn’t satisfied taking the cushy assignment and going for the fluff piece.

Instead Ling has become the soul of our generation, objectively reporting on some of the grittiest and most important topics in our country. But where other correspondents stay disengaged from the subjects, Ling can’t help but connect with each interviewee on a profound level. And we’re talking about everything from heroin addicts to polygamists to amateur porn stars.

Lisa explained that she understands that Oprah Winfrey’s network initially went out on a limb when they green lit her series. “OWN really took a risk on the show – this anthropological look at different subcultures in America. That doesn’t sound like a big ratings getter, but the show has done really well and people have really responded to it. And again it’s because I really strongly believe in my gut and in my heart that there is a yearning for good storytelling in this country. And unfortunately I don’t know that we’re getting a lot of that on mainstream television.”