What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T2 WHATS UP! May 29 - June 4, 2022 TV FEATURE BY CHRISTINA MCIVOR TV Media T here are certain char- acters who burst onto the television screen and command atten- tion from their very first scene, and it immediately becomes ap- parent that they deserve a se- ries of their own. For fans of CW's "Nancy Drew," this is the case with Tom Swift (Tian Richards, "The Quad"), who leads his own self-titled series as of Tuesday, May 31, on the same network. Audiences familiar with "Nancy Drew" will remember billionaire inventor Tom from his appearance in the Season 2 episode "The Celestial Visitor," in which he enlists Nancy's (Kennedy McMann, "Law & Or- der: Special Victims Unit") help to find the meteorite that crashed into their town 90 years earlier. The purely science-driv- en Tom quickly finds his beliefs tested as he encounters more than he bargained for in the form of the supernatural, but finds a friend in Nancy as well as the courage to come out to his fa- ther, Barton (played in "Tom Swift" by Christopher B. Dun- can, "Black Lightning"). Now it's Tom's turn to take the spotlight. The character, who first ap- peared in the 1910 novel "Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle," was first portrayed as a brilliant teenage inventor fascinated by the rapidly evolving science and technology of the times. Creat- ed by Edward Stratemeyer, whose publishing house also produced the Nancy Drew book series, the Tom Swift novels were written by many ghost- writers who published under the pseudonym Victor Apple- ton. To date, there are over 100 books featuring Tom and his son, Tom Swift Jr., the most re- cent of which was published in March 2022. The upcoming series reimag- ines Tom as a gay Black man, a far cry from his first appearance as a straight white man over a century ago. "The original Tom Swift was great for his time and what he represented," Richards told TV- Line last year. "At the time, that was the face of young boys, all- American kids full of possibili- ties. But in 2021, that can look so different. It can look like some- one like me — a Black guy who is chocolate, who is queer, who is all those things that we're told aren't the normal or the status quo." This incarnation of Tom is an MIT-educated billionaire and future heir to his father's empire, poised to one day take over Swift Enterprises. However, the bril- liant inventor is thrown into a world of shadowy conspiracy af- ter Barton vanishes. Tom be- comes determined to find his fa- ther and uncover the web of mysteries surrounding his dis- appearance, many of which re- quire him to leave his extrava- gant lifestyle behind and plunge deep into the unexplained. Pursuing Tom throughout the series and throwing a wrench in his plans is a mysterious organi- zation that will stop at nothing to keep him from discovering the truth. Needless to say, Tom will need all his considerable wits and genius to save the day Bentonville Acupuncture 5 x 5 continued on page T10 Ashleigh Murray and Tian Richards in "Tom Swift" Get 'Swifty' Did you know those images are available for purchase? IT'S EASY! Just go to nwaonline.com, click on "Photos" in the top menu bar and use the search to fi nd the photo you want. Then just click "Purchase" for sizing options. You can also have the image put on a coff ee mug, mouse pad, key tag, holiday ornament and more! Did you see a photo in our newspaper or on our website that you would love a copy of? Check it out!