Today's Entertainment

November 9 - 15, 2020 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Actor on "Superstore" (2) 9. "Modern Family" role 10. Gymnast Korbut 11. "__ __ Sam"; movie for Sean Penn 13. "The Sum __ __ Fears"; Ben Affleck/ Morgan Freeman film 15. "Yabba __ Doo!" 17. Cobie of "Stumptown" 18. J's followers 20. Initials for Opie's pa's portrayer 21. Astronaut Grissom 23. George Eads series 24. "__ __ Man Answers"; Sandra Dee/Bobby Darin movie 25. "A Million Ways to __ in the West"; Seth MacFarlane film 26. Initials for Andy's aunt on "The Andy Griffith Show" 29. __-negative; rare blood type 30. Series for Josh Dallas 34. Give a speech 36. Can wrapper 38. Natalie Cole's dad 39. "__ 222" (1969-74) 42. Hole-making tool 43. Actress on "This Is Us" (2) DOWN 1. Dr. __ Lightman; Tim Roth's "Lie to Me" role 2. Olive and her brother Castor 3. Health nut's lunch, perhaps 4. "__' Blue Eyes Is Back"; Sinatra album 5. Mr. Gingrich's initials 6. Miami-__; most populous Florida county 7. Points for calligraphers' pens 8. Capture 9. Role on "Station 19" (2) 12. "FBI" role (2) 14. Tumor suffix 16. Actress Joan Van __ 19. Lorna __; daughter of Judy Garland 20. Tajikistan's continent 22. Actress Anton's initials 23. Musical disc, for short 27. Paulsen or Morita 28. As dumb __ __ box of rocks 30. "__ Hari"; Greta Garbo movie 31. Urkel, for one 32. Red Muppet 33. Ski lift type (hyph.) 35. Male animal 37. Female animal 40. "__ vey!" 41. Initials for Felix Unger's roommate Solution is on page 2. CoverStory By Jay Bobbin What can happen when an educator crosses the line with a student? Possible answers are supplied by "A Teach- er," a limited FX on Hulu drama series that begins streaming Tuesday, Nov. 10. Also an executive pro- ducer of the project, Kate Mara has the title role as Claire Wilson, who risks her new job, her family life and everything else by get- ting romantically involved with Eric Walker (played by Nick Robinson, of the movie "Love, Simon"), a senior in her high school English classes in Texas ... where such a relationship is illegal. Fellow executive producer Hannah Fidell, expanding upon her same- named 2013 independent film, directed the majority of the 10 episodes and wrote or co-wrote many of them. "I was really interested in exploring consent and ma- nipulation and victimhood," Fidell explains, "and what that means in a narrative that I think that our culture is fairly obsessed with. What I was really curious about was what happens after. What are the con - sequences for the student especially, but for both of them? Do they both have to live with a scarlet letter for the rest of their lives? And how does victimhood present itself differently for a male victim as opposed to a female victim?" Mara's youthful look helps make the affair depicted by "A Teacher" that much more plausible. "In high school," the ac- tress recalls, "my favorite teacher was ... at the time, I thought she was way older than me, but she was probably 25 or something, which is much younger than I am now. As a stu- dent, that was someone I really looked up to, and who had a lot of control. "And so, when playing Claire, I wanted to make sure that she did seem young. Claire's behavior is what is very interesting to me in this character and in this story. Just because she looks young, and may- be you wouldn't think twice if you saw her with Eric walking down the street, that doesn't justify the fact that she is abusing her power. That was definitely something that Hannah and I talked about a lot." Also featuring Ashley Zukerman ("Succession") as Claire's husband and Rya Kihlstedt as Eric's mother, "A Teacher" un- folds in very digestible half- hour segments. "What is so exciting for me, being able to do it as a TV show," Fidell says, "is to have that time to really explore the how and the why and the effects and the consequences on both characters. It's incredibly rewarding to be able to continue to work through this subject matter, and also just to explore differ- ent facets of the story that I wasn't able to on an Indie, low-budget scale." Kate Mara is 'A Teacher' in trouble in new FX on Hulu drama The identity of the featured celebrity is found within the answers in the puzzle. In order to take the TV Challenge, unscramble the letters noted with asterisks within the puzzle.

• Cover