Pop Culture Tonight with Patrick Phillips

Forbes CMO Network editor Jennifer Rooney stops by to preview and chat about this year’s SUPER BOWL commercials!

WATCH THE 2017 SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS!

Kelsey Johnston (Reporter) and Eric Johnston (Senior Writer) from Supergirl.tv joins Patrick to discuss the recent announcement that Teri Hatcher will star in Supergirl!

Supergirl.tv is the result of a few passionate people sharing a dream. The site is based on a simple premise, “How can the average person affect the life of a fictional character”? It’s not easy. Comic book artists/writers certainly get to, Hollywood has the power, but your everyday citizen may not have the skills to be a talent in the comic industry. So we chose to rely on what we do know, websites. Our goal is to help The CW’s Supergirl by being a beacon of positivity and support; a place where fans can talk about Supergirl safely and spread the stories of Kara Zor-El’s adventures.

VISIT SUPERGIRL.TV!

BatmanNews.com’s Chris Begley is here with updates on the recent news that Ben Affleck would be stepping down as Director of ‘The Batman’

VISIT BATMANNEWS.COM

Tony Dow was born in Hollywood, California in 1945. Exposed to creative parents and a home frequently filled with his parents’ eccentric and artistic friends, it was no surprise that Tony developed a love for art. At an early age, he showed an unusual talent for imaginative abstract composition and drawing. An accomplished athlete, in his youth he held numerous diving and swimming titles, including national age-group records. In 1957 he was chosen for the role of “Wally” on the hit television show, “Leave It To Beaver”, an event which would change the course of his life.

After the show ended in 1963, he became a member of the “General Hospital cast and made guest appearances on a variety of television shows. In the eighties Tony began a career in TV directing and producing that continued for twenty years. Throughout his lifetime he has been involved in many forms of creative activity. He has been an actor, director, writer, visual effects designer, producer, home builder, woodworker, painter and sculptor. A long-time goal has been to return to sculpting.

In the early 2000’s, Tony began to creating beautiful designs produced from burlwood. Some have been sold as original wood sculptures and others have been cast in bronze. Tony’s talent in the area of modern sculpture was confirmed when one of his bronzes was chosen for exhibition at the Salon 2008 de la National des Beaux Arts in Paris. He was one of only two U.S. sculptors selected to exhibit at this annual juried show at the Carrousel du Louvre. Tony also has exhibited at the Karen Lynne Gallery, Topanga Canyon Gallery and the Morgan Gallery.

VISIT TONY’S WEBSITE!

Kelsey Johnston (Reporter) and Eric Johnston (Senior Writer) from Supergirl.tv joins Patrick to discuss the recent announcement that Teri Hatcher will star in Supergirl!

Supergirl.tv is the result of a few passionate people sharing a dream. The site is based on a simple premise, “How can the average person affect the life of a fictional character”? It’s not easy. Comic book artists/writers certainly get to, Hollywood has the power, but your everyday citizen may not have the skills to be a talent in the comic industry. So we chose to rely on what we do know, websites. Our goal is to help The CW’s Supergirl by being a beacon of positivity and support; a place where fans can talk about Supergirl safely and spread the stories of Kara Zor-El’s adventures.

VISIT SUPERGIRL.TV!

BatmanNews.com’s Chris Begley is here with updates on the recent news that Ben Affleck would be stepping down as Director of ‘The Batman’

VISIT BATMANNEWS.COM

Tony Dow was born in Hollywood, California in 1945. Exposed to creative parents and a home frequently filled with his parents’ eccentric and artistic friends, it was no surprise that Tony developed a love for art. At an early age, he showed an unusual talent for imaginative abstract composition and drawing. An accomplished athlete, in his youth he held numerous diving and swimming titles, including national age-group records. In 1957 he was chosen for the role of “Wally” on the hit television show, “Leave It To Beaver”, an event which would change the course of his life.

After the show ended in 1963, he became a member of the “General Hospital cast and made guest appearances on a variety of television shows. In the eighties Tony began a career in TV directing and producing that continued for twenty years. Throughout his lifetime he has been involved in many forms of creative activity. He has been an actor, director, writer, visual effects designer, producer, home builder, woodworker, painter and sculptor. A long-time goal has been to return to sculpting.

In the early 2000’s, Tony began to creating beautiful designs produced from burlwood. Some have been sold as original wood sculptures and others have been cast in bronze. Tony’s talent in the area of modern sculpture was confirmed when one of his bronzes was chosen for exhibition at the Salon 2008 de la National des Beaux Arts in Paris. He was one of only two U.S. sculptors selected to exhibit at this annual juried show at the Carrousel du Louvre. Tony also has exhibited at the Karen Lynne Gallery, Topanga Canyon Gallery and the Morgan Gallery.

VISIT TONY’S WEBSITE!

Thirty years ago, Tami Stronach starred in the ‘80s hit The NeverEnding Story and now she is back – ready to invade both the film and music world with her new family label and a Luck Dragon-sized load of exciting new projects.

After a couple of decades of making dance and theater in NYC, Tami has now turned her attention to laying the foundation for a content shop that makes ‘family friendly’ work – not unlike The NeverEnding Story. The brand is Called Paper Canoe Company, which she founded with husband, Greg, whom Tami met making theater in NYC.

In February, Tami releases a new album, Beanstalk Jack, a folk rock ‘opera’ based on Jack and the Beanstalk. Beanstalk Jack is a 50-minute folk rock ‘concept’ album that the whole family can enjoy. It tells the classic tale of Jack and the Beanstalk with an Americana sound, and a girl meets boy twist. In it, young Jack goes up the Beanstalk with his six-string to find his fortune. In the big world at the top of the Beanstalk, Jack steals the heart of a giant’s daughter, Harmony, a bright star just waiting for the right band to come along.

On February 4, you’ll also be able to see a ‘live’ theater version of Beanstalk Jack in New York. Details here : https://nationalsawdust.org/event/paper-canoe/

Sarah Smith is currently on tour for her third year on the Island dawning her spandex and platform shoes in Mamma Mia!. Her international credits include:

Phantom of the Opera (Carlotta), Off-Off Broadway: Urinetown (Penelope Pennywise), Regional credits include: Into the Woods (The Witch), Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat (Narrator), 25th…Spelling Bee (Rona Peretti), Lend Me A Tenor (Maria Morelli), Boeing Boeing (Bertha), Annie (Miss Hannigan), The Tempest (Prospera), Songs for a New World (Woman 2), The Heiress (Lavinia Penniman), Macbeth (First Witch), Nunsense (Sister Hubert), Kiss Me Kate (Hattie), Jerry’s Girls (featured).

Set in a beach resort in the Mediterranean, Mamma Mia! tells the story of Sophie, a bride-to-be with one wish: to have her absent father walk her down the aisle. After reading passages about three old lovers in her mom’s diary, Sophie sends each a wedding invitation in hopes of learning which is her dad.

The arrival of the men from her past is surprising to Donna, Sophie’s fiercely independent mother, who prides herself on getting through life without a man, and highly amusing to Donna’s two best gal pals. The more Sophie and her mother struggle to find truth and understanding, the more it threatens to tear them apart and wreck Sophie’s dream wedding.

Get tickets to see Mamma Mia! 

WSTR Galactic Public Access – A Star Wars Podcast features NEW EPISODES every Wednesday! A weekly podcast by Rutch Johnson, Aaron Houillon, Armand Haddad, Todd Hoffman, four guys that love everything Star Wars!

Listen to them on your favorite podcast streaming platform! Listen to their most recent episode on Star Wars: The Last Jedi!

 

The truth is out there… The great folks over at X-Files News are the only 20th Century Fox Authorized Fansite for The X-Files bringing you the very latest on the popular franchise! Check them out at xfiles.news

Lev Spiro – Director

Emmy-winning director Lev Spiro has directed over 150 episodes of television.  His work, which also earned him a DGA Award nomination, has established him as a force to be reckoned within the world of comedy.

Lev most recently directed the 50th episode of Netflix’s Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated show, “Orange is the New Black,” starring Taylor Schilling and Uzo Aduba.  The episode, titled “People Persons,” marks a pivotal point in the critically acclaimed series by finally revealing the tragic back story of fan-favorite character, Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren.

Lev is currently slated to direct episodes of upcoming comedies such as, VH1’s “Daytime Divas,” starring Vanessa Williams, CMT’s “Still The King,” starring Billy Ray Cyrus and Joey Lauren Adams, and ABC’s “Imaginary Mary,” starring Jenna Elfman.

Deborah Cook – Costume Designer

As an animation specialist for nearly two decades, Deborah Cook has studied puppet-making and costume-making at all levels, concentrating on understanding the scales of fabrics and movement – and how they can be innovatively unified in the puppets’ performances.

She was lead costume design fabricator on LAIKA’s celebrated Coraline, for which she received a Visual Effects Society Award nomination. Coraline was Academy Award-nominated, as were Corpse Bride and Fantastic Mr. Fox, on which she was puppet modeller.

Deborah received a nomination for KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS in the category of Excellence in Fantasy Film by the Costume Designers Guild (CDG). It is the first time in the guild’s 19 year history of awards that an animated film has been nominated by the CDG.

Ms. Cook grew up in England and attended St. Martin’s Art College in London, where her focus was on Fine Art Sculpture. At St. Martin’s, she directed her own projects.

Jimmy “Mac” McInerney is an award-winning Chicago area radio professional and freelance audio producer. Jimmy has worked with the best of the best in the talk radio industry serving as producer for shows hosted by some of the elite in the biz.

A lifelong Star Wars enthusiast and collector from the “original generation” of fans, he first fell in love with the galaxy far, far away in a dark movie theater back in 1977 and hasn’t looked back since. Professionally, Jimmy became known for infusing his passion for Star Wars into his work as he covered the releases of the Star Wars: Special Editions and Prequel Trilogy of films as a member of the Chicago media. From there, he segued into the field of website reporting, internet radio and podcasting, culminating with the creation of the award-winning Rebel Force Radio (RFR) with co-host Jason Swank.

Visit Rebel Force Radio!

Todd McMullen is a Cinematographer who started his career in Hollywood working on films including Casino, The Green Mile andNurse Betty. As Cinematographer, Todd has applied his distinctive look to acclaimed TV projects such as Friday Night Lights, HBO’s The Newsroom and The Leftovers as well as pilots for Quantico and 12 Monkeys. Most recently, Todd completed the feature film Walking Outand lensed the Netflix Original Series Santa Clarita Diet. Always forward thinking and in search of engaging projects, Todd recently shot and directed an episode of Rooster Teeth’s web series Day 5 which won a Streamy Award.

Todd lives in Austin, Texas where he is part of the film scene and is continually searching for interesting and daring projects to photograph.

Visit His Website!

“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow…between science…and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call… The Twilight Zone.”—Rod Serling

The Twilight Zone (October 2,1959) Very few television shows withstand the test of time, and Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone has easily earned its firm place in Popular Culture. Since its debut on CBS in October 1959, many Hollywood producers, screenwriters and directors have been inspired and influenced by this series.

Author Martin Grams Jr. is no exeption, his amazingly thorough book THE TWILIGHT ZONE: Unlocking The Door to a Television Classic is regarded as THE most definitive literature that exists on the series, and Martin is my very special guest

Zack Ward was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of actress Pam Hyatt. He is known for his character Dave Scovil (Titus’s stoner half-brother) on the FOX show Titus and as the bully Scut Farkus in the 1983 perennial Christmas movie A Christmas Story. He also has guest roles on popular television series such as NCIS, Lost, and Crossing Jordan. Ward has had roles in film such as Almost Famous, Transformers and Anne of Green Gables. He has appeared in the horror films Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Freddy vs. Jason. Ward also has leading roles in BloodRayne II: Deliverance and Postal. Ward can also be seenin Alone in the Dark II and The Devil’s Tomb.In 2014 Ward co-founded the film production company Grit Film Works with James Cullen Bressack. The first two films which he co-produced with Grit Film Works were the thriller Bethany and the horror film Restoration.

VISIT ZACK'S WEBSITE!

Elmo Shropshire — a.k.a DR. ELMO — is best-known for his recording of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer," the Christmas classic which has sold more than 11 million copies since it was first broadcast by a San Francisco radio station in 1979. In December of 2012 “Grandma” was once again #1 on Billboard’s Chart.

Consistently the most requested holiday song of the past three decades, "Grandma" has secured its place in American pop culture and made Dr. Elmo the king of comedy carols.

Each December, radio stations throughout the country call Dr. Elmo for his Christmas commentary and live on-air renditions of "that Grandma song." With the quirky sing-a-long as centerpiece, a radio visit from Dr. Elmo has become part of the nation's holiday tradition.

VISIT DR. ELMO'S WEBSITE!

Peter Hollens is an American pop singer and producer best known for his work on YouTube as an a cappella artist. Hollens is a one man a cappella group – he sings ALL parts of every song and then layers and blends them together. With over 850,000 subscribers his videos have reached over 100 million views. Hollens has collaborated with some of YouTube’s biggest artists, including Lindsey Stirling, George Watsky and Tyler Ward as well as Jason Mraz and Hunter Hayes. 

He has released over 80 digital singles and has been involved with a cappella music since 1999 when he co-founded the University of Oregon’s male a cappella group On The Rocks. In 2010 he was featured on NBC’s The Sing Off Season 2 with On The Rocks. He also advises many companies including Patreon, Loudr, Tubular and is on the YouTube creator advisory board. He believes in helping and educating his peers and often consults and advises many artists. 

Hollen’s self-titled major label debut was released on October 27th 2015 on Portrait Records/Sony Music Masterworks. 

Known for his innovative and collaborative choreographic projects, Stephen Mills has works in the repertoires of companies across the United States and around the world. From his inaugural season as Artistic Director in 2000, Mills attracted attention from around the United States with his world-premiere production of Hamlet, hailed by Dance Magazine as “…sleek and sophisticated.”

The Washington Post recognized Ballet Austin as “one of the nation’s best-kept ballet secrets” in 2004 after Ballet Austin performed Mills’ world premiere of The Taming of the Shrew, commissioned by and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The Company was first invited to perform at the Kennedy Center in January of 2002 with the Mills production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and at The Joyce Theater (NYC) in 2004.

In 2005 after two years of extensive research, Mills led a community-wide human rights collaboration that culminated in the world premiere work Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. In 2006, Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project was awarded the Audrey & Raymond Maislin Humanitarian Award by the Anti Defamation League. In September of 2013, the work made its international debut with a tour in three cities across Israel.

Wally Wingert is a voice actor, actor, singer and former radio personality. He is well known as the announcer for the second incarnation of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and for his work in animated television shows like American Dad, Family Guy and The Garfield Show (Jon Arbuckle).

He is also known for his role of the Riddler from Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.

Visit His Website!

Emmy Award-winning composers Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis and Kristopher Carter, collectively known as Dynamic Music Partners, have created hundreds of hours of music for a variety of different genres, including TV series, independent films, video games and live performance events. They have collectively earned twenty-eight Emmy Award nominations and six Annie Award nominations as composers for Marvel’s Avengers Assemble,  Batman: The Brave And The Bold, Justice League, Teen Titans, Batman Beyond, The Zeta Project and The New Batman Superman Adventures. Original concert works and suites of their scores have been performed in festivals and special events; from New York’s Lincoln Center to The Hollywood Bowl, The Kennedy Center, The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles,  Tenerife – Spain and beyond, their music has received critical acclaim. Their Prime-time Emmy Award nominated musical Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Mayhem of the Music Meister, starring Neil Patrick Harris was a historic first Batman musical to ever be composed.

They began their careers composing music for Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond, for which they each received the Emmy Award in Music Direction and Composition. As orchestrators they have worked with many of Hollywood’s A-list composers, including Michael Kamen, Basil Poledouris, Howard Shore, Carter Burwell, Elliot Goldenthal, Mark Snow and Shirley Walker.  They recently completed scoring the anticipated feature length animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.

Visit Their Website!

Barry Williams has had an extensive career starring in hundreds of television shows and over 85 productions of Broadway Musicals. He made appearances on several television shows including Dragnet, Adam-12, The Invaders, That Girl, Mission: Impossible, The Mod Squad and Here Comes the Brides before landing his role as Greg Brady on the Brady Bunch, in which he won the Young Artist Foundation Former Child Star “Lifetime Achievement Award” in 1989. He embraced his role and has appeared in various Brady Bunch TV movie reunions including A Very Brady Christmas, The Brady Brides, and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

He became involved in musical theater, touring with Pippin, Music Man, City of Angels, The Sound of Music and West Side Story. In 1988, he appeared on Broadway in Romance/Romance.In 1992, he wrote his autobiography, Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg which stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for three months. In 2001, he executive produced the book into an NBC TV movie. He was a DJ on satellites’ Sirius Radio, has recorded several live CD’s and recently, starred in a 2013 Sci-Fi made for television movie Bigfoot with Danny Bonaduce and Sheryln Fenn. Barry moved to Branson in 2011 where he opened his music variety show, Lunch with the Brady Bunch

Visit Barry Williams Website!

Rodgers + Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA is the Tony Award®-winning musical from the creators of South Pacific and The Sound of Music that’s delighting audiences with its surprisingly contemporary take on the classic tale. This lush production features an incredible orchestra, jaw-dropping transformations and all the moments you love—the pumpkin, the glass slipper, the masked ball and more—plus some surprising new twists!

Tatyana Lubov (Cinderella) is thrilled to be doing her first national tour in Work Light Production’s Cinderella! Tatyana is from Cottage Grove, WI, and recently graduated from UW Stevens Point with a musical theater BFA.

Madison McWilliams brings real heart to music. That’s why the 14-year-old performer singer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, and actress immediately started enchanting listeners upon emerging in 2015. Her cover of Nina Simone’s iconic “Feeling Good” generated over 1 million views on Facebook, while her music video for “You Don’t Know My Heart” would clock nearly 400,000 views on YouTube in just a few months’ time. She garnered feature coverage from Fox, Austin Woman Magazine, and more.

Visit Madison’s Website!