Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/24308
The Gritty City True to its name, The Chicago Code serves up the Windy City on a platter. Everything feels authentic in this new cop series (Monday, 9 p.m., Fox), starting with settings that range from posh skyscraper offices to cruddy vacant lots. Then there’s the pervasive corruption that everyone takes for granted — everyone except Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals). A whiz-kid promoted to the city’s top cop, Teresa is fearless in tak- ing on both dirty police officers and dirty politicians, including a string-pulling alderman (Delroy Lindo). She finds a kindred spirit in her former partner, Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke), a White Sox-loving straight-shooter who’s given special author- ity to take on interesting cases. And for once, they really are interesting, involving connections among mobsters, street thugs, powerbrokers and businesses. The Chicago Code hits the mean streets TV by DEAN ROBBINS The series’ pace is exhilarating, and so is the acting. I don’t know where Beals — the former Flashdancer and still glamor- ous beauty — found the reserves of toughness to play her role, but I hope she keeps finding them. You don’t doubt for a second that she can stand up to a demoted cop who calls her a “smug little bitch,” nor do you doubt that there’s an actual human heart beating under that righteous persona. The Chicago Code promises to take us to brutal corners of the city. “If there’s one thing Chicago knows,” says Wysocki, “it’s how to punch back.” I can’t wait to be punched again next week. Who Do You Think You Are? Friday, 8 pm (NBC) The normally uplifting series about celebrity genealogy takes on a more sinis- ter tone in the second-season premiere. African-American actress Vanessa Williams doesn’t have to go very far back in her family tree — only to her great great grand- father’s generation — to encounter a really awful United States of America. Voted Fayetteville’s Best Overall Restaurant Authentic Italian Cuisine Brick Fired NY Pizza Don’t Forget To Make Your Reservations For Valentine’s Day! We Accept Reservations Hails & Farewells We Cater Owner Operated 822-3590 • 5780 Ramsey St. Next to Methodist University 20 UCW FEBRUARY 2-8, 2011 678-8885 • Hay St. Historic Downtown One of her ancestors was likely born a slave in Tennessee. He had an opportunity to serve in the state leg- islature after Emancipation but then fell victim to the Ku Klux Klan-enforced racism that denied Southern blacks their civil rights. Another ancestor fought for the North in the Civil War, knowing he would be enslaved if captured by the Confederates. Williams is in tears by the end of the episode. The rest of us will be, too. Nancy Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime Sunday, 10 pm (PBS) This portrait of First Lady Nancy Reagan is generally sympathetic but doesn’t gloss over problematic issues. It acknowledges that she alienated her share of Americans by wallowing in opulence even while President Reagan was cutting welfare. It also covers her notorious reliance on a White House astrologer to set the president’s schedule. The documentary’s chief concern, though, is explor- ing Nancy’s considerable power during her husband’s two terms in office. Indeed, historians have concluded that she was one of the most powerful First Ladies of modern times, despite her public persona as the adoring, traditional, pre-feminist wife. Scholars and administration officials detail her behind-the-scenes role in hiring and fir- ing, as well as her moderating influence on Ronald Reagan’s hard-right impulses. According to one commentator, the arms-reduction talks between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev might not have happened but for Nancy’s various interventions. I came away from the documentary with a new understanding of the First Lady. I highly recommend watching it, if your astrologer approves. Indulgence... k What she really wants under the tree this year! Gift Certificates Custom Spa Packages • Hair • Skin • Nails A Gift Certi cate from MI HWA’S S l & Salon & Spa Sl &S • Massage • Acupuncture • Teeth Whitening l&Sp 260 Robeson St. • Fayetteville 910.423.4466 WWW.MIHWAS.COM WWW.MIHWAS.COM MI HWA’S Salon & Spa 260 Robeson St. • Fayetteville 910.423.4466 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Spoil Your Valentine with the Perfect Indulgence. Always the perfect size. Always the perfect color. Always What They Really Want.