Today's Entertainment

January 10 - 16, 2022 Page 3 ACROSS 1. "__ Hearts Abishola" 4. "Ulee's __"; Peter Fon- da movie 8. Word in the title of Ice- T's series 11. Ending for Joseph & Ernest 12. Ron Howard role 13. Channing Tatum's state of birth: abbr. 14. "Truth or __" 17. Mensa measures, for short 18. "Norma __"; Sally Field film 19. List of dishes 21. "__ __-Called Life" 24. "I __ Legend"; movie for Will Smith 25. "__ Astra"; 2019 Brad Pitt film 26. Mitchum's initials 27. "__ Honey, I'm Home" (1991-92) 28. Actress Teri 30. Actor on "Gilligan's Is- land" 32. Suffix for boss or class 34. McShane or McKellen 35. Role on "Chicago Med" (2) 41. Ending for lemon or lime 42. Jacob's twin 43. Wallach or Marienthal 44. Capt. __ Holt; "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" role 45. Deadly vipers 46. "__ to Me" (2009-11) DOWN 1. Pen name 2. Most famous widow of 1980 3. West African nation 4. "Mr. Smith __ to Wash- ington"; James Stewart film 5. File drawer, perhaps 6. Actress Lucy 7. "The __ Hunter"; movie for Robert De Niro 8. Tyne Daly role 9. Drink in a stein 10. "How the West __ Won" 15. Rocky, for one, of "Rocky and Bullwinkle" 16. "__ __ Tune" 19. Ms. Helgenberger 20. __ Swan; "Once Upon a Time" role 22. Comedian Mort 23. Cartoon pooch 29. "The Life of __" (1953- 58) 31. As slippery as __ __ 33. "Cheers" actress 34. "This __ __" 35. "World __ Z"; Brad Pitt movie 36. Actress/director Lupino 37. Long-eared animal 38. Word attached to dog or top 39. Actress MacGraw 40. "Live Free or __ Hard"; Bruce Willis film Solution is on page 2. CoverStory By Jay Bobbin After being part of the Sui- cide Squad, Peacemaker is ready to go off on his own. Following the 2021 movie about the team of convicts turned crime-fighters, John Cena works again with writ- er-director James Gunn by reprising the DC Comics character — who intends to instill peace, even if that takes committing mayhem — as the new series "Peace - maker" begins streaming Thursday, Jan. 13, on HBO Max. A black ops soldier, Christopher Smith (Cena) uses everything at his dispos - al to try to shape the world the way he'd like it, whatever price anyone else must pay in the process. "I was not planning to do it at all," maintains "Guardians of the Galaxy" filmmaker Gunn of revisiting "Peace- maker" in series form, but he thought differently after he was approached by DC exec- utives. "They were like, 'Hey, if you could do a TV show on any one of the characters from "The Suicide Squad," who would you do?' "I just found something really interesting about Peacemaker, because I loved working with John Cena and I thought that he had a lot of acting gifts and comedy gifts that we weren't able to fully utilize in the movie. And also because I thought he was just a really cool, interesting char - acter that could be pertinent to today's world, in terms of his sort of backwards way of looking at things. A lot of the show is about his friendships with these other characters, even though they represent very different parts of Ameri- ca today." Robert Patrick ("Scorpion") is cast as Peacemaker/Chris- topher's disapproving father Auggie, with the "Harry Pot- ter" movies' Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase, a district attorney who moonlights as crime-battler Vigilante. Dan- ielle Brooks ("Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia"), Steve Agee and Jennifer Holland also are series regulars. The notably glib Cena built a successful acting career out of his fame as a WWE su- perstar, and while he deems "Peacemaker" a sensible ca- reer step, he also feels it fits his overall approach. "Living life with a sense of curiosity and a sense of challenge to want to see more, learn more, do more, I think that's a great way to go about us- ing the gift that we're given," Cena reasons. "That's only my perspective, but I don't think that should be just ap- plied towards a career. I think that's a great way to look at life." As for what he believes will sustain the character throughout a series, Gunn re- flects, "Peacemaker has a lot to learn, and it wouldn't take just one season of TV for him to learn that. But it is that ability to learn that he does have, I believe, that for me makes him a little bit more likable." John Cena is 'Peacemaker' again in HBO Max series 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. InFocus "The Gilded Age" (HBO — series premiere, Jan. 24) This new period drama, created by Julian Fellowes ("Downton Abbey"), opens in 1882, boasting a dazzling cast in chronicling a period of American history that wit- nessed immense economic change and a dramatic clash between the "old ways" and brand new systems of the era. Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon head the main cast, with a supporting en- semble that includes such theater luminaries as Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald, Mi- chael Cerveris, Donna Mur- phy, Bill Irwin, Kelli O'Hara and Carrie Coon.

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