Today's Entertainment

April 11 - 17, 2022 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Actor on "Kenan" (2) 9. __-jongg 10. Actress Heche 11. Largest nation: abbr. 13. Potato salad ingredient 15. Scarlett's love 17. Role on "FBI" (2) 18. "__ Kill a Mockingbird" 20. CNN founder Turner's initials 21. "How the West __ Won" 23. Actor Mantegna 24. "Eureka!" 25. Drug tragedies, for short 26. Fraternity letter 29. "Who __ You Think You Are?" 30. Barry __; Troy Gentile's role 34. Swelling due to excess fluid 36. "We __ __ Little Christmas"; song from "Mame" 38. Hitchcock or Scorsese: abbr. 39. Cautious 42. __ Aviv 43. Role on "Blue Bloods" (2) DOWN 1. Role on "The Conners" 2. "The Oh in __"; Parker Posey film 3. Actress __ Marie Hupp 4. "The Last Man __ Earth" 5. Initials for Ozzie's wife 6. Urkel, for one 7. City next to Provo 8. Kook 9. "FBI: __ __" 12. "United __ __ __" 14. Tumor suffix 16. "__ I Met Your Mother" 19. "Magnum P.I." setting 20. Actor Bridges 22. Guyana's continent: abbr. 23. Nancy McKeon's "The Facts of Life" role 27. "Home Economics" role 28. Role on "black-ish" 30. Actor Richard 31. Croquet game setting 32. Popular Irish singer 33. "__ __ Life" (1990-92) 35. Prefix for like or mount 37. Comfy room 40. "Evening Shade" setting: abbr. 41. Prefix for run or place Solution is on page 2. CoverStory By Jay Bobbin Two action heroes of "NCIS: Los Angeles" might not be expected to produce a dance compe- tition. Nevertheless, that's the additional job Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J are assuming for CBS. They're among the mak- ers of "Come Dance With Me," premiering Friday, April 15, and pairing young dance enthusi- asts (ages 9 to 15) with older members of their respective families who aren't particularly skilled at busting a move. Cho- reographers help them in their quests to win the approval of the judges: Jenna Dewan, dancer Dexter Mayfield and choreographer Tricia Mi - randa. Songwriter Philip Lawrence, a former as- sociate of Bruno Mars, is the series' host. "The idea was brought by a friend of mine," the pleasant O'Donnell re- veals. "A parent at my kids' grade school had experience doing reality shows in the Nether- lands, and he brought this to me. It wasn't my area of expertise, but I showed it to LL and he said, 'Man, this is hot. We should look into this.' So I told my friend, 'Good news! Not only will I get involved, but LL wants to be involved.' And that was a big bonus for (the series' other producers), since they sort of got to jump the line at CBS in pitching the show be- cause of the access we were able to afford them." That was just before the coronavirus pandemic hit, but it also coincided with the TikTok craze. "We were sitting around watching our kids teach each other how to do these dances," recalls O'Donnell, "but to me, one of the sweetest memories is of going to father-daughter dances as my daughters were growing up. That was just simple dancing, though. They weren't trying to teach me anything." Still, O'Donnell says he believes "Come Dance With Me" is "something that people can connect with. Lots of shows com- ing out now are so dark, you wouldn't watch them if your kids were any- where near the room, but this is something you can really enjoy watching with your kids." An alumnus of such movies as "Scent of a Woman" and "Vertical Limit," O'Donnell main- tains he was "heavily inspired" by the syndicat- ed show "Dance Fever" during his youth. "When the performance wasn't good and the judges had to be nice, it was always awkward," he notes. "Here, you have kids involved, and they're the ones who nail It. It's the adults who make fools of themselves." Competing youngsters ask relatives to 'Come Dance With Me' 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 "Hidden Assets: Season 1" (Acorn TV — series premiere, April 18) From across the pond comes this six-part original Irish crime thriller series about a police detective who sees a link between a diamond haul in Limerick, a body in Antwerp and a terrorist bombing campaign. Angeline Ball ("Keeping Faith"), Simone Kirby ("His Dark Materials") and Wouter Hendrickx ("De Infiltrant") head the cast.

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