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April 12 - 18, 2021 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Role on "All Rise" (2) 9. "The Beverly Hillbillies" role 10. Singer Perry 11. Groove 13. Refueling ship 15. Horse's vote? 17. Christine of "Bob Hearts Abishola" 18. Entertainer Don 20. "Keeping __ With the Kardashians" 21. Luau strings 23. Current calendar page 24. Word attached to wax or ache 25. __ polloi; the common people 26. Initials for the star of "Father Knows Best" 29. Mayberry's location: abbr. 30. Kelly __; role on "Chicago Fire" 34. Dog on "The Jetsons" 36. Raccoon's cousin 38. "Voyage to the Bottom of the __" 39. Smidgen 42. Scrubbing pad brand 43. Role on "Chicago P.D." (2) DOWN 1. Flowery ring 2. Eric of Monty Python 3. Farmland unit 4. Derek, for one 5. Character in "The Wizard of Oz" 6. Advice to Nanette (2) 7. Pennsylvania port 8. Floor covering 9. Actor on "This Is Us" (2) 12. "__ __ __ Right" 14. Flow back 16. BPOE member 19. Word of agreement 20. "Once __ a Time" (2011-18) 22. Series for Maura Tierney 23. Hitchcock's initials 27. Word attached to cent or chance 28. Irving Berlin's "What'll __ __" 30. "__ Search" (1983- 2004) 31. Empty space 32. Suffix for method or period 33. "Witches of __ End" (2013-14) 35. "__ It Up"; 2018 Zoey Deutch film 37. "Sesame Street" fan 40. Comment from Fran of "The Nanny" 41. Initials for actor Tyrone Solution is on page 2. CoverStory By George Dickie A driven college basket- ball coach gets a lesson in humanity when he's forced to head up a girls high- school team in a comedy/ drama series upcoming on Disney+. In "Big Shot," premiering Friday, April 16, John Sta- mos is cast in the role of Marvyn Korn, whose quick temper got him ousted as coach of Wisconsin's men's hoops team after he threw a chair at a referee. To sal - vage his career and profes- sional reputation, he takes a job at The Westbrook School for Girls, an elite private institution and a far cry from his days in the Big 10. But the gig also offers him the opportunity to step out of his comfort zone, re-examine his priorities and make changes for the better as he learns to work with a different kind of ath - lete — and they with him. Created by David E. Kel- ley ("Big Little Lies," "The Undoing"), Dean Lorey ("iZombie," "Harley Quinn") and Brad Garrett, the series also stars Jessalyn Gilsig ("Glee") as assistant coach Holly Barrett and Yvette Nicole Brown ("Communi - ty) as school headmaster Sherilyn Thomas. For Stamos, "Big Shot" entailed a major learning curve as he readily admits his lack of basketball knowl- edge coming in was almost comical. "I sort of panicked when I heard it was about bas- ketball," he explains, "but I dug into that part of it as much as I could. I went to a rehearsal with (Los Angeles Lakers great) Jerry West. I guess they call it a practice, but I called it a rehearsal, and ... that was the first moment he gave me a dirty look. And then I thought that his team ... (was) the Clippers. I thought they were a college team, and that didn't go over well. "But I really took it as a challenge, honestly," he continues, "because it was just such a character that I've never played and it was the first character that I've been offered that every - body is talking about him like how unlikable he is and what a crab he is and he's not a nice person. So I dug into that." As it evolves, the rela- tionship between Marvyn and his new players be- comes symbiotic — he learns to treat them as more than X's and O's and they get a lesson in professionalism and taking themselves seriously. For Lorey, this is a fish-out-of- water story about second chances. "Even though it's a basketball-themed show, we wanted to make it very character-driven," Lorey explains," and we wanted to make sure that we never showed a basketball game that wasn't advancing some sort of major character sto - ry or something like that ..." A 'Big Shot' gets a little attitude adjustment in Disney+ dramedy 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. Nobody Knows Our Hometown Better!

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