1. MONDAY OCTOBER 26 2015 5
tonight television
MONDAY OCTOBER 26 20154
tonight television
T
HE CSI franchise has been a key
contributor to the crime drama genre
on TV. While CSI, CSI: NY and CSI:
Miami enjoyed good runs, CSI: Cyber
is now carrying the torch of the brand.
In this world of burgeoning technology,
the format was certainly ingenious. It is edgy,
fresh and relatable.
The characters in the series were wild-
cards, too. When the series started, there was
intense curiosity to see if the lead actors –
Patricia Arquette (Medium) and James van
der Beek (Dawson’s Creek, Don’t Trust that
B**** in Apartment 2B) – would achieve
similar success as the predecessors of the
brand like Gary Sinise (CSI: NY), David
Caruso (CSI: Miami), William Peterson
and Laurence Fishburne (CSI).
They have brought a compelling new
dimension and flavour to the show.
Now that the fourth spin-off series has
curried favour with fans, the writers have
decided to switch things up in the second
season.
And by that, I mean they are injecting
some familiar blood into the series in the
form of Ted Danson as DB Russell.
Starting over, after the death of Julie
Finlay and his current divorce, he brings a
certain calm to the frenetic world of the CSI:
Cyber team. What’s remarkable is that he is
also the new-gadget guy. And, given that he is
surrounded by computer geniuses, that’s an
interesting old-school-meets-new-school
curve ball right there.
On joining the series, Danson says:
“James van der Beek is a wonderful actor and
Patricia Arquette, she was over here and did
an amazing job and picked up an Academy
Award since then. And, yeah, it’s a great team
of people and they are all kind of excited to be
there and happy to come to work.”
He continues: “He’s turning over a new
leaf. He’s getting divorced, you know, and
that’s huge. He’s left the dead bodies part of
his life. His son has moved. Jules died and
that was kind of his emotional work-wife.
So it feels like he’s taking a deep breath and
going: ‘I need to move on. I need to be uplifted
in whatever I do’.”
Season two of the series no longer has
FBI Assistant Director Simon Sifter (Peter
MacNicol). That means the post is up for
grabs and Special Agent Avery Ryan
(Arquette) is primed to be his successor –
although she hasn’t quite made up her mind
about the post.
As for his contribution to the geek squad,
Danson offers: “DB Russell is a great thinker.
He may not be dealing with dead bodies, but
he is dealing with computers, which have a
brain. Also, we are trying to stay ahead of the
bad guys and there are new gizmos coming
out every day in the real world. Bluetooth
pacifiers, for example, can track the
medicines that you give to your children.
That information gets sent back to the
parents’ phone. So my job is to gather all these
new gizmos as they come on the market and
test their vulnerabilities to stay ahead of the
bad guys.”
Arquette adds: “Often, there’s technology
and then there’s also the forensic reality of
things that are left at the scene and on the
body, so Ted’s coming in with that level of
expertise. And this is the way that law
enforcement has to work now; multiple
disciplines looking at the same crime
together with their skill sets. He has this kind
of a sage, funny perspective on life. All the
characters have their own personalities – he
is a little more eccentric – so to see them all
working together is nice.”
As for her character’s indecision about
heading the Cyber department, she offers:
“She loves working with her team and being
on the ground and to give that up is weird –
even though it would mean a promotion to
have this new opportunity. That’s a hard
choice for her to make.”
This season has a few interesting cases for
the team, like a doll with wi-fi capabilities
that threatens the security of families and
dating apps that come with serious risks.
CSI: Cyber beautifully marries procedural
crime dramas with human storytelling
intermingled with everyone’s real-life
crutch: technology.
Oh, there is a also an office romance that’s
being kept on the down-low… or so they
think!
● CSI: Cyber 2 airs on M-Net (DStv
channel 101) on Wednesdays at 9.30pm.
Youcan’trun
incyberspace
MUNYA VOMO
THE NBA season is upon us and former
professional player, Cedric Ceballos
(pictured), who played for the Phoenix Suns
and LA Lakers, among others, is in the country
to promote NBA Africa’s initiative to grow the
game on African soil. The project, Basketball
Without Borders, identifies and nurtures
young players in the hope of turning them
into professionals.
“We just launched a junior NBA league in
Tanzania and that was great. It is going to be
great to have kids play there with the facilities
that have been provided. Last year’s champion-
ships in the Royal Bafokeng were phenomenal
so we have huge expectations this time
around,” said Ceballos.
While there is so much talent in Africa, we
can’t ignore the fact that basketball is still a
new game as the continent is occupied with
other popular sports like football and cricket.
“There is still a lot of education that needs
to happen with the game in Africa. There is
little history of basketball in South Africa, but
with programmes like this, it will grow into
something phenomenal. We in the US are also
in the learning stages of cricket and netball.
Basketball is great in that you don’t need to
play with the others or have a special ring, it’s
all around us. You can always work on your
skills in daily stuff like throwing your trash
away or putting your clothes in the washing
machine. The great thing about NBA Africa is
giving these young people the knowledge of the
game, whether you are a short guy or tall one,”
said Ceballos.
The former sportsman was also part of
the NBA delegation that came out for the first
NBA Africa game which saw top players play
against each other in Joburg.
“The NBA Africa game held here a few
weeks ago was huge because that never
happens anywhere in the world. This game
had two rosters of active NBA players off-
season playing together. All-star games are
sprinkled all over the world with a few NBA
players to represent the game,” he said.
For someone who played for several teams
in his career, Ceballos has one team that he still
supports in the league today: “I have a deep
love for the LA Lakers and I grew up in Los
Angeles watching them play. Playing for them
in the end was really incredible,” he confessed.
Every year, the NBA releases video games
under the title 2K, through PlayStation and
Xbox, and Ceballos is part of that world, too.
“I play my character in video games all the
time. It’s one thing my kids love so much.
Playing their dad in their video game. The only
time I was in the finals, we faced the Chicago
Bulls and Michael Jordan showed up and we
lost. I play that game on the video game just to
change the result. You don’t realise how hard it
is to get to the finals until you try again.”
He was also part of the select few who made
the cut for the hit animated movie, Space Jam,
which also starred Jordan: “No matter what I
have achieved on the court, that my kids see
me on the TV with Bugs Bunny in Space Jam is
phenomenal. It made me immortal,” he said.
Like NBA players Shaquille O’Neal and
Metta World Peace, Ceballos also has a love for
music and has been cashing in on it.
“As a kid, I fell in love with DJing and
wanted to be a part of all music genres. After
playing the game, I used my popularity to open
doors. Like music, basketball has rhythm so I
have used that to make sounds of my own.”
●The NBA’s season starts tomorrow and
specific games will be aired on SuperSport.
DEBASHINE THANGEVELO
WITH the crime drama genre immensely
appealing to whodunit TV buffs, there is
good news on the horizon. Several of your
favourite shows are back for new seasons.
Friday nights will be keeping fans at
home with Rizzoli & Isles back for a sixth
instalment, while the Emmy-nominated
series, NCIS: LA, returns for season seven.
Aside from the action and engaging
drama, these two shows have become firm
favourites more for their characters.
Our female crime-fighting duo of
Detective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander
as medical examiner Dr Maura Isles, who
are also BFFS, works well because they are
polar opposites, personality-wise. At the
same time, there is this respect and love that
helps them forge a strong partnership in
solving murders.
This season starts with Maura getting a
new apprentice, Kent Draka, who served in
Afghanistan. Frankie finds himself in hot
water with Internal Affair, while Jane finds
herself being wooed by an angler while
investigating the murder of a bass
fisherman.
Of course, there will be plenty of family
drama and madness manifested in the
storylines, too.
NCIS: LA sees the return of G Callen and
partner Sam Hanna. Of course, Kensi Blye
and Marty Deek’s relationship is a bit more
complicated now that they are partners and
lovers. Meanwhile, our resident geeks, Eric
Beale and Nell Jones, continue to flirt with
technology and each other.
This season opens with Callen going
rogue, leaving the whole team in the dark.
This Friday, Del Campo seeks out the
help of the NCIS team after his partner is
murdered. Meanwhile, Kensi and Deeks
take the next step in their relationship – he
introduces her to his mother.
The third instalment of Unforgettable is
back on our screens. It stars Poppy
Montgomery (Without a Trace fame) as
Detective Carrie Wells. Think along the lines
of her being a female Mike Ross (Suits), but
in a criminal background.
Although this show might not follow the
standard blueprint in the genre, it piques
curiosity with its characterisation of Wells,
who has hyperthymesia, which is a medical
condition that allows her to remember
everything she has seen and heard. There is
a backstory to her, though: she is haunted by
the murder of her sister – the one thing she
can’t remember.
In this season, Wells and her partner
uncover a counterfeiting ring, look into the
murder of a champion boxer and find
themselves in the mudslinging world of
politics when the director of the NSA is
found murdered. This show airs on
Wednesdays on M-Net Edge at 7pm.
And on that note, happy viewing to
all the amateur Sherlock Holmes!
Ceballos carries the ball
for NBA on African soil
MUNYA VOMO
TRUE to SonyMax’s material, Escape or Die,
joins the ranks of programming that is meant
for the male adrenalin junkie.
Hosted by the amazing Dean Gunnarson
(pictured), the show looks at the ins and outs
of the dangerous world of escape artists.
Canadian Gunnarson is a world-renowned
“escapologist” who has been doing large-scale
stunts for TV shows for years. To date, he has
appeared on various shows in 165 countries to
prove to people how well he can cheat death. In
China alone, where he won The World’s Top
Escape Artist accolade, he performed more than
500 shows.
This guy does anything from sliding his
hands out of tight handcuffs to wiggling his
body out of a straightjacket while strung up-side
down. The stunts he does are probably what
Houdini did in his prime.
Each and every episode of Escape or Die
shows you just how much Gunnarson flirts
with death and yet he survives to shoot another
episode. It goes without saying that you should
not try this stuff at home, because even he gets it
wrong – sometimes.
For instance, there was an incident in 1983,
when he attempted a stunt which saw him
handcuffed, chained and nailed into a coffin.
The coffin was then dropped into a river and
Gunnarson had only a few minutes to escape the
cuffs, the chains and then the box. Something
went wrong and he wasn’t fast enough and he
was trapped, facing imminent death. Those who
worked with him knew something was wrong as
the timing was off so they pulled him up, only to
find him unconscious. As is standard procedure
in shows like this, medical experts are always on
standby and they saved his life.
You would think that that incident would
have driven the man who was now known as
that “crazy Canadian” to change his career, but
that only inspired him further. In a way, it also
makes Escape or Die worth it because it reveals
you just how far Gunnarson is prepared to go to
show off his escapologist skills.
So, are you ready to see a man do what he
considers “a career to die for”? Then tune into
Gunnarson’s show where things might just go
wrong.
● Escape Or Die premieres on December 4
on SonyMax (DStv channel 128) at 9pm.
Deanunlocks
thecluesto
cheatingdeath
It’ssuper-sleuthingforcouchpotatoes
CSI: Cyber offers the perfect marriage of geeks
and technology.Season two seesTed Danson
join the series,writes DebashineThangevelo
TONIGHT is giving away Xbox and PlayStation
games for the NBA 2k16 title to lucky winners.
To stand a chance to win, answer the
following question: Which team won the NBA
Championship last season?
Send your name, city, console and number to
munyaradzi.vomo@inl.co.za by Wednesday.
WIN! WIN! WIN!
EXPLORING THE WEB OF CRIME: Patricia Arquette, far left, is back and this time she has Ted Danson, above right, join the team, showing the
younger FBI recruits his tech skills, in the second season of the crime drama, CSI: Cyber. PICTURE: ©CBS
Poppy Montgomery as Detective Carrie Wells
in Unforgettable.