What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1500133
May 28 - June 3, 2023 WHATS UP! T11 particularly back in the '80s when he was just a screenwriter for hire. But he soon found his niche producing procedural crime shows, and he never really looked back. Wolf's earliest credits are cer- tainly his weirdest. He started out as an advertising copy writer with dreams of writing movies, and his first two produced screenplays were a couple of now-forgotten underdog come- dies, "Skateboard" (1978) and "Gas" (1981). But soon he was working as a staff writer on TV cop hits "Hill Street Blues" and "Miami Vice," the latter of which eventually promoted him to co-executive producer. For a while he kept dabbling with the cinema, leading to an- other surprising entry on his re- sume: the 1992 social-issues teen drama "School Ties." It starred Brendan Fraser ("The Mummy," 1999) as a young, working-class student who earns a sports scholarship to attend an elite private school but is forced to keep his Jewish faith a secret. This one was at least in the dra- matic genre, but there wasn't a single exhausted beat cop or self-sacrificing firefighter to be found, so it remains off the Dick Wolf brand. Indeed, that brand was al- ready being established. His de- fining series, "Law & Order," had already debuted by that point (in 1990, to be exact), and Wolf soon had little time for these big- screen sidelines. By the time "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" — the first of many spi- noffs — debuted in 1999, Wolf was basically a full-time proce- dural producer. Almost. One more oddball en- try has shown up on his resume since: he produced the 2009 documentary "When You're Strange," about legendary psy- chedelic rock band The Doors. This was a labor of love on his part — promoting the film at the time, he said he bought their de- but album "the day it came out" and was a lifelong fan from then on. Q: Is "Mr. Mayor" coming back? It didn't grab me at first, but I grew to love it. A: Your arc is pretty much the opposite of most other people's — "Mr. Mayor's" ratings started out decent but fell pretty steadi- ly. They fell so far that NBC can- celled it last year. It got two 10-episode seasons, which is more than most shows get, but this was certainly a let- down for those expecting more from an NBC sitcom created by Robert Carlock and Tina Fey, the duo who gave us "30 Rock." It was also a disappointment for those hoping to get another long-running NBC sitcom star- ring Ted Danson, a la "The Good Place" and, dare we say it, "Cheers." That sort of pedigree adds up to high hopes, but also the kind of hefty expectations that can work against a show. A New York Times review, for example, repeatedly (and unfa- vorably) compared "Mr. Mayor" to "30 Rock," complaining at one point that, "No one in 'Mr. May- or' is as eccentric or as outsize as characters like Liz and Jack in '30 Rock.'" Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. Per- sonal replies will not be provided. Advance Pest Control 2 x 2 TAKE 5 Solution on page T23 Use the clues above and beside the grid to fill in the squares BY ADAM THOMLISON TV Media Q: When is "Stranger Things" coming back? A: It's a little early to even be asking that question, but since you have, the best esti- mate is sometime in 2025. Filming of "Stranger Things" Season 5 is starting this spring, but it's a huge, lav- ish show with complicated ef- fects and a big cast, so the turnaround from filming to re- lease will take a while. The big concern this raises is, of course, the age of the cast. The previous four instal- ments of "Stranger Things" were each set a year apart, even though they aired over seven years. As a result, the age gap between the actors and their supposedly teenage characters has grown. When 2025 rolls around, the once- adorable kids will all be in their 20s. But the show's producers have said there will be a more significant time jump between the fourth and fifth seasons. This will allow the characters to catch up to their actors and will advance the show's plot toward the big finale (the fifth season will also be the last). Without spoiling Season 4 too much, things end with the show's fictional setting of Hawkins, Ind., under the biggest threat yet from the parallel di- mension ("the Upside Down," in the show's parlance), and that threat will only grow in the in- tervening years. Of course, fans' impatience will only grow as well. It's al- ready been almost a year since the final fourth-season episodes dropped. On a side note, if you're really desperate, you can fly over to London, England, to see a pre- quel play being staged later this year. "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" was written by series writer Kate Trefry, with support (and, more importantly, bless- ing) for the story from series creators Matt and Ross Duffer. Q: I've noticed Dick Wolf 's name pop up in so many things — most recently "Law & Order" and the "Chicago One" franchise. Has he done anything other than dramas? A: Not with any great success. TV superproducer Dick Wolf dabbled a little in other genres, The cast of "Stranger Things" during the first season HOLLYWOOD Q&A www.advancepestcontrolnwa.com Family Owned, Competitively Priced, Quality Service Since 1981 Rogers 479-636-5590 Springdale 479-756-1788 Eureka Springs 479-253-8967 PEST CONTROL TERMITE FERTILIZATION WEED CONTROL PRE-EMERGENTS MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2023 WHAT'S UP! 21