Jeff Goldblum finds his roots; ‘9-1-1’ spins off to Texas
PASADENA, Calif. — West Homestead native Jeff Goldblum gets his crack at finding his roots on “Finding Your Roots” (8 p.m. Tuesday, WQED-TV), the PBS ancestry series hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
“I did find out some things beyond which I knew,” Goldblum said in a phone interview last fall. “I only knew my dad came from Russia and mom’s dad came from supposedly Austria, but they tracked both sides back several generations and got me pictures and maps and found some interesting information.”
In a phone interview earlier this month, Gates said he picks celebrities he thinks will make good guests.
“Last night my wife and I watched the ‘Golden Globes,’ and I’m there making notes about people who I think would be interesting to be in the series,” Gates said. “[Jeff Goldblum] is just a genius of an actor. I’ve admired him for a long time.”
“Finding Your Roots” reveals some near-past details from Goldblum’s family — including a maternal grandfather accused of a crime in Weirton, W.Va. — as well as multiple near-misses abroad that could have ended his family and precluded his birth.
“I could see the expression on his face reflected the fact he understood how it was all a matter of timing,” Gates said.
In the episode, Goldblum says, “It’s just a random piece of luck that I’m here at all, I guess.”
Gates grew up in Morgantown, W.Va., and recalls family trips to Pittsburgh as a child for Christmas shopping and sporting events.
“We used to go to Forbes Field to watch Roberto Clemente,” Gates said. “My father was a baseball junkie. He worked at a paper mill and somehow finagled these tickets. We’d take the Pennsylvania Turnpike and stop at Howard Johnson’s. It was like going to a five-star restaurant. One time I was maybe 7 and saw a double header with Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax pitched, and all I wanted was to go home. ‘I’m tired!’”
Celebrities who have roots that run through Pittsburgh have been on Gates’ series in the past, including Seth Meyers and Maya Rudolph.
“The commonalities are Eastern Europe Jewry who would find a home in Pittsburgh,” Gates said. “Most Americans weren’t aware of the considerable depth and range of Jewish culture and citizenry in Pittsburgh until the terrible thing that happened at the [Tree of Life] synagogue. Jews have been coming to Pittsburgh for a long time, and so have African-Americans, who came in the great migration. Eastern European Jews came for the same reason: Pittsburgh is an industry town in need of tailors and tradespeople, occupations traditionally associated with Jewish people who hailed from Eastern Europe. … I love Pittsburgh, but I’m not choosing people because they’re from Pittsburgh, though it may look like that.”
In addition to “Finding Your Roots,” Gates appeared as a fictional version of himself on HBO’s “Watchmen,” which has inspired him to do a “Watchmen”-themed episode on the next season of “Finding Your Roots,” possibly featuring “Watchmen” creator Damon Lindelof and stars Regina King and Jean Smart.
Gates attributed his “Watchmen” role to Lindelof, who Gates said was inspired by “Finding Your Roots” and a Gates documentary that included the Tulsa race riots, which is also featured in “Watchmen.”
Gates went to dinner with Lindelof, who explained in the world of “Watchmen,” descendants of the victims of the Tulsa race riots would receive reparations from U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Louis Gates Jr.
“I’m writing the checks,” Gates said, laughing.
‘9-1-1: Lone Star’
Fox spins off “9-1-1” with companion series “9-1-1: Lone Star” (10 p.m. Sunday, WPGH-TV), which sticks close to the original in tone but, oooof, it suffers from a clunky introduction.
After a factory explosion wipes out almost an entire Austin, Texas, firehouse, the city fire chief reaches out to New Yorker Owen Strand (Rob Lowe), the sole survivor of his Manhattan firehouse on 9/ 11, based on his experience rebuilding a fire company. Strand and his troubled firefighter son, T.K. (Ronen Rubinstein, “Dead of Summer”), relocate to Texas and start to learn the state’s rules, including that EMS Capt. Michelle Blake (Liv Tyler, “The Leftovers”) gets to take charge over the fire captain in a medical emergency.
The exposition is heavy-handed, the justifications for some plot twists are dubious and the dialogue often laughable.
“I don’t see a Muslim or a woman,” Strand tells one of his new hires who wears a hijab. “I see a kick-ass firefighter.”
The wife of the sole fire fighter from the Austin fire station who survived the explosion but is on leave, suffering from PTSD, tells Strand, “Saving people is like oxygen for him — and he’s suffocating.”
It’s just so on the nose.
“9-1-1: Lone Star” builds in a potential expiration date for a major character. Although it seems unlikely that the series will kill off a lead early on, perhaps it’s an escape clause for the actor?
After the show premieres following Sunday’s “NFC Championship Game,” “9-1-1: Lone Star” relocates to its regular time slot, 8 p.m. Monday, next week.
Watch for: ‘Resident Alien’
It’s been a while since a Syfy series reeled me in (think back to “The Expanse”), but upcoming summer series “Resident Alien” may do the trick based on its clever pilot episode and a stand-out lead performance.
Written by Chris Sheridan (“Family Guy”) and inspired by a graphic novel of the same name, it’s the story of an alien (Alan Tudyk, “Firefly”) whose spaceship crashes in a small Colorado town before he can complete a mission.
Once on Earth the alien murders a doctor named Harry and transforms to appear like the human, watching “Law & Order” reruns to learn to speak English.
Harry lives remotely for four months until a local doctor dies and Harry is summoned by the town sheriff (Corey Reynolds) to perform an autopsy.
The humor stems from Harry’s fish-outof-water, uncomfortable-in-his-own-skin circumstances brought to smart, funny life by Tudyk. “Resident Alien” is a show to keep an eye on.
Channel surfing
Actor Justin Chambers, who’s played Alex Karev on “Grey’s Anatomy” since its debut, has departed the ABC drama. His final episode aired in November. … Investigation Discovery will air the TV debut of the documentary film “Who Will Write Our History” (3 p.m. Jan. 26), about journalists and scholars fighting Nazi propaganda during WWII, coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day. … The E! revival of “The Soup” with new host Jade Cata-Preta debuts at 10 p.m. Feb. 12. … NBC renewed Amy Poehler’s “Making It” for a third season and Ellen DeGeneres’ “Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways” for a second. … Poehler and Tina Fey will return to host the “Golden Globes” in 2021. … NBC renewed “New Amsterdam” for three more seasons, keeping it on the air through at least the 2022-23 season. … Syfy ordered a series based on the “Chucky” feature films about a killer doll.