Articles by Barb Oates

Niecy Nash on Season 2 of Claws
Interview

Niecy Nash Talks Season 2 of “Claws,” Press-Ons and Getting Her Hollywood Star

June 8, 2018 Barb Oates 0

When Niecy Nash was 9 years old, she had a chance run-in with Ed Asner on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Recognizing him, she excitedly exclaimed, “I know you!” And then she told him her plans. “I’m gonna be famous one day, and my name is gonna be right here on the ground. My name is Niecy!” Well, that very young Niecy knew what she was talking about, as next month (July 11), the former Reno 911! and current Claws star will be honored with her own star on Hollywood’s famed boulevard. Here Nash helps us decompress the epic Season 1 […]

Interview

‘Code Black’: The Hit Medical Drama Goes Musical?

May 2, 2018 Barb Oates Comments Off on ‘Code Black’: The Hit Medical Drama Goes Musical?

Brace yourself for some fun, Code Black fans, as Angels Memorial is about to get a little trippy. Series creator Michael Seitzman surprises viewers in Season 3’s second episode (airing May 2) with some full-on singing and dancing. We asked the bossman, Dr. Will Campbell (Boris Kodjoe), to fill us in on what the heck is going on. “When you’re working on a medical drama, the chances of doing a musical, or even just being able to sing or dance or do any of that, are very slim to none,” Kodjoe laughs, giving huge praise to Seitzman for continuously pushing […]

Interview

TV’s Best New Pairing: Bill Hader and Henry Winkler In “Barry”

March 24, 2018 Barb Oates Comments Off on TV’s Best New Pairing: Bill Hader and Henry Winkler In “Barry”

You don’t expect it, and you won’t be able to help it, but you’re going to fall in love with Barry. The socially awkward ex-Marine turned hitman is having a midlife crisis of sorts in HBO’s endearingly dark comedy Barry (Sundays beginning March 25). You see, Barry’s really good at killing people. He’s actually legendary in the unusual criminal underworld he works in, but he’s a lonely guy. Things start to look up for Barry when he accidentally stumbles into an acting class where he finds acceptance from a close-knit, albeit eccentric, L.A. theater group. And from there the fun […]

Drama

NBC’s New “Rise” Pits Football Against Theater

March 13, 2018 Barb Oates Comments Off on NBC’s New “Rise” Pits Football Against Theater

Fans of Parenthood and Friday Night Lights will appreciate producer and showrunner Jason Katims applying what he does best — creating heartfelt family-fueled dramas — to his latest project Rise (Tuesdays at 10/9c). With hints of FNL, Smash and Glee (Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller is also involved), Katims introduces us to a working-class town where football rules and the theater program is simply an afterthought, if a thought at all. Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) stars as a dedicated American lit teacher and family man who re-energizes his life when he asks to take on the high school’s […]

Jeanté Godlock & Simone Biles
Interview

The Simone Biles Story

February 1, 2018 Barb Oates Comments Off on The Simone Biles Story

After 13 years of training, Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles took some time off to catch up on life outside of a gymnasium post her epic 2016 Rio Olympic victories. Our country’s most decorated gymnast enjoyed a whirlwind of bucket-list experiences — she met her celebrity crush Zac Efron (along with the Obamas and countless other celebs), she was honored as the 2017 Best Female Athlete at the ESPY Awards, she was a semifinalist in Dancing With the Stars, she released the book Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance, and now her book is being […]

Gold Rush White Water Dakota Fred
Interview

The Dakota Boys Claim They Will Bring The “Real” Back To Reality TV In ‘Gold Rush: White Water’

January 18, 2018 Barb Oates 7

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Dakota Boys — father and son gold miners Fred and Dustin Hurt — who were series regulars for a few seasons on Discovery’s hit series Gold Rush. While the Dakota Boys parted ways with Todd Hoffman and team a few seasons back, they never actually left the Alaskan gold mining circus or the McKinley Creek area. In Gold Rush: White Water (Fridays at 10/9c) cameras follow Dakota Fred and Dustin as they put together a team of divers, mountaineers and bush mechanics (plus Fred’s new wife Jen and his new stepson Zach […]

Undercover High on A&E
TV News & Program Updates

Adults Pose as Students in Revealing Docuseries Undercover High

January 1, 2018 Barb Oates 2

The team that brought us the prison-life docuseries 60 Days In (Lucky 8 TV) turns its cameras on the challenges of high-school students in A&E’s new social experiment Undercover High. Seven young adults ranging in age from 21 to 26 go undercover as high-school students for one semester in this 11-episode docuseries. “While the shows have that similar DNA, they’re very different,” executive producer Gregory Henry stresses. “It’s not like, ‘Can you survive high school?’ That’s not the intent here. It really is, how do you pierce that teen veil, that teen bubble, because it’s become so difficult for adults […]

Kathleen Durst movie on Lifetime stars Katharine McPhee
Interview

What Really Happened To Kathleen Durst? Lifetime Original Tells Her Story

November 4, 2017 Barb Oates Comments Off on What Really Happened To Kathleen Durst? Lifetime Original Tells Her Story

In 1982 New York real estate heir Robert “Bob” Durst walked into a New York precinct and reported his wife of nine years, Kathleen “Kathie” Durst, missing. Her body was never found. Durst — long suspected in her death — was never criminally charged. Her story is the subject of Lifetime’s original film The Lost Wife of Robert Durst (Saturday, Nov 4 at 8/7c), which is based on investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck’s A Deadly Secret: The Strange Disappearance of Kathie Durst. American Idol runner-up and Scorpion star Katharine McPhee warmly paints a picture of a kind and intelligent Kathie Durst, […]