Jews in the News: Celebrity Scoop: Amanda Bynes and S#*! my dad says tagged: , , ,

Jews in the News: Celebrity Scoop: Amanda Bynes and S#*! my dad says

Posted by Iris Pastor in Arts & Culture

Jews in the News Nate Bloom, Contributing Columnist

Easy To Watch

Amand Bynes

“Easy A” already has buzz as a teen flick way above the genre’s norm. It’s being classed with the hilarious John Hughes’ films of the ’80s, like “Ferris Bueller” and “Sixteen Candles.” I was charmed by the trailers and I think it’s that rare movie that parents and teens could enjoy together. Emma Stone plays a high school girl whom few notice. But, to help a gay male friend who is being bullied for being gay, she helps start a false rumor that he’s straight and that she lost her virginity to him. The rumor mill about Stone’s “looseness” is stoked by the school’s #1 Christian teen (AMANDA BYNES, 24). Based somewhat on the famous novel, “The Scarlet Letter,” the excellent cast includes Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci as Stone’s parents and LISA KUDROW, 47, as a concerned guidance counselor. (Opens Friday, Sept. 17)

More New Shows, New TV Season

Scott Caan

SCOTT CAAN, 34, the son of JAMES CAAN, 70, co-stars in a re-make of “Hawaii 5-O,” the classic CBS ‘60s police show. The title, network, and character names remain the same. Caan plays Detective Danny “Dano” Williams, the sidekick of the lead detective. Caan’s “Dano” will be a bit edgier than the original. The re-make storyline has him being a tough cop, originally from New Jersey. (Starts Monday, Sept. 20, at 10PM).

Starting the same night, at 8PM, is the 11th season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” Two Jewish celebs compete—JENNIFER “Dirty Dancing” GREY, 50, and soft-rock singer MICHAEL BOLTIN, 57.

The Fox TV drama, “Lonestar,” also starts on Sept.20 (9PM). It stars JAMES WOLK, 25, an incredibly good looking (Jewish) guy who grew up in a Detroit suburb, the son of an artist mother and a shoe store owner father. If “Lonestar” is a hit, Wolk may be headed towards a huge career.

James Wolk

Wolk has only been acting for about five years, but showed some “real acting chops” when he starred in a 2008 Hallmark Hall of Fame film based on the true life story of BRAD COHEN, a Jewish guy with Tourette’s Syndrome who became an elementary school teacher. In “Lonestar,” Wolk plays Robert Allen, a Texas con-man who leads a secret double life. As “Bob”, he is married to Cat and living in Houston while working for his oil-tycoon father-in-law (Jon Voight). Four hundred miles away, he is “Robert” in a second life with girlfriend Lindsey. As he schemes to take control of the oil business, he must fight to keep his web of lies from falling apart, while torn between the love of two women.

Voight, who recently reconciled with his daughter, Angelina Jolie, is well-known as a great friend of the Jewish people and as a major supporter of Chabad.

Rob Morrow

Starting on Wednesday, Sept. 22, (10PM) is ABC’s “The Whole Truth” (10PM) co-starring Maura Tierney and ROB MORROW, 47. Tierney is a Manhattan district attorney and Morrow (“Northern Exposure,” Numb3rs”) is a defense lawyer. The series’ gimmick is that we see each case from both sides’ perspectives and guilt or innocence is only revealed at episode’s end.

Starting on Thursday, Sept. 23, are “My Generation” (ABC, 8PM) and “$#*! (pronounced “bleep”) My Dad Says” (CBS, 8:30 PM). “Generation” is done in the form of a documentary about a group of Austin, Texas “Generation Y” young people. The premise is that we see their (filmed) lives during their high school senior year (2000) and, again, in 2010. Playing the “rich kid,” Anders Holt, is British Jewish actor JULIAN MORRIS, 27, who had a recurring part on “ER.”

“My Dad Says” is based on the best-selling memoir, “Sh*t My Dad Says” (2009). by JUSTIN HALPERN, 29. Halpern’s father, retired San Diego radiologist SAM HALPERN, is a very blunt talking man, befitting his incredible climb from a poverty-stricken childhood on a Kentucky tobacco farm. The younger Halpern failed as a screenwriter and had to move back home a few years ago. On a lark, he began twittering his father’s often comic– and almost always saucy (but to-the point)– parenting advice. His tweets acquired a huge following and a book followed.

William Shatner

WILLIAM SHATNER, 79, plays Sam Halpern (called Ed Goodson in the series). The TV show focuses on Ed’s reaction when one of his two adult sons moves back in with him. Legendary TV director JAMES BURROWS, 69, an incredible talent who co-created “Cheers,” was brought aboard to direct the show’s pilot.

Contributing Columnist Nate Bloom, a syndicated columnist out of Oakland, California, writes “Jews In The News,” highlighting celebrity Jews in all walks of life with – a heavy concentration on the entertainment field. Bloom, for purposes of the column, defines a Jew as a person with at least one Jewish parent, who is not raised in a faith other than Judaism and does not identify with a faith other than Judaism as an adult.