Today's Entertainment

September 14 - 20, 2015 Page 3 ACROSS 1. Jesse __ Soffer of "Chicago PD" 4. "__ Man Walking"; Sean Penn movie 8. "Law & Order: SVU" role 11. "The Man With the Gold- en __"; '55 Frank Sinatra film 12. "Queen of Jazz" 13. Actress Ortiz 14. Star of "The Mysteries of Laura" (2) 17. Suffix for auction or command 18. 2013 Joaquin Phoenix movie 19. Mr. Griffin 21. "__ Blue" (1993-2005) 24. "__ Plain Sight" 25. Emilio's initials 26. Tom Selleck's state of birth: abbr. 27. Initials for Acuff 28. Lupino's namesakes 30. "Resident __"; Milla Jovovich movie 32. "Harry's __" (2011-12) 34. "I'd like to buy __ __, Pat" 35. Role on "Chicago Fire" (2) 41. Courteney Cox's state of birth: abbr. 42. Jellystone Park resident 43. Role on "The Good Wife" 44. "The Adventures of __ Tin Tin" 45. Bad air 46. "Men __ __ Certain Age" DOWN 1. "__: A Dog"; 1962 Carroll O'Connor film 2. Prior to 3. Glowing coal fragment 4. "Yes, __" 5. "A Nightmare on __ Street"; Johnny Depp chiller 6. Drink served in a stein 7. Punctuation mark 8. Tinker Bell, for one 9. Hampton or Holiday 10. Unpleasant spouse 15. "__ of Fortune"; 1990 Glenn Close movie 16. "__ __ __ Flowers"; 1964 Rock Hudson film 19. Kennedy or Rogers 20. "__ Is Sleeping"; 1990 Elizabeth Perkins movie 22. __ Gilpin of "Frasier" 23. "Let's Make a __" 29. Edgar __ Poe 31. VCR insertion 33. "A Million __ to Die in the West"; Seth MacFarlane film 34. "I'm __ __ Girl Now" 35. "World __ Z" 36. Actress Larter 37. "I-See-You.__"; 2006 Beau Bridges movie 38. Sense of self-esteem 39. 2003 Will Ferrell film 40. Actress Long Solution on page 2. CoverStory By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it It's a little of this and a little of that, and Neil Patrick Harris claims he's ready for all of it. A five-time Emmy winner, the "How I Met Your Mother" and "Doogie Howser, M.D." veteran has become a host for all occasions, evidenced by his turns guiding the Tonys, the Emmys and the Oscars — and he's parlaying that into a bid to revive television variety shows. NBC gives "Best Time Ever With Neil Pat- rick Harris" an initial two- month run starting Tues- day, Sept. 15, and the fact it will air live (in the East- ern half of the country) has Harris excited. And somewhat cautious. "This is a new structure and kind of a new idea for a show," he allows, "and it's a little bit difficult to explain in many ways. But you need to have the bi- ble, someone who knows and has tested all of these things. I don't want to put a show out live with brand-new, untested material, because I think an audience deserves to actually be entertained as opposed to (being) sort of a litmus test for entertain- ment." With that rationale, Har- ris has imported fellow ex- ecutive producer Siobhan Greene of "Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Take- away," the British show on which "Best Time Ever" is based. She reasons that the ace up the program's sleeve is "the show being live. And actually, when things do go wrong, I think the audience will love it because they can appre- ciate it." While "Best Time Ever" is an entertainment potpourri, with Reese Witherspoon scheduled to be the premiere's guest announcer, Harris realizes other programs already cover some of the turf: "I love variety, and I was interested in the notion that I can show people at home — or in an audience — cool, interesting things that are clever (and) you can set your remote down and watch. I love the mag- ic. I love the circus. I love the juggling. I love singu- lar talents. But there's already those shows. 'America's Got Talent' is doing better than ever. And there are singing competition shows, and there's dancing competi- tion shows." Harris hesitates to give up everything "Best Time Ever" will be, but he ex- plains "it's essentially pro- ducing six or seven shows simultaneously. You have game-show elements, so you have people who are creating games, finding ideas and prizes. Then you have the 'Little NPH' (a child actor who plays a young Harris), who is going out on his own segments. I'm going to be pranking celebrities, so we're having to deal with the logistics of that. "We have people in the audience who are going to be in the audience and who will authentically not have any idea that they're going to be a part of the show ... and not only that, they've been followed for weeks if not months by segment producers and hidden cameras to ac- complish a task, whether it's them interacting with a celebrity that they've loved or talking about a secret that they've had. I went and photo-bombed a wed- ding, and the couple has no idea that they're even going to be coming to the show." A Tony Award winner last year for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," Harris likes making "Best Time Ever" for a network that already does a substantial amount of live program- ming, given "Saturday Night Live," much of the seasons of NBC's com- petition shows and such specials as this Decem- ber's staging of "The Wiz." He hopes that element also will make his show "a reason to actually sit and watch something, and that adds its own sort of spon- taneity and uniqueness and viewability. Which isn't a word, but probably should be." "Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris" premieres Tuesday on NBC. Neil Patrick Harris aims to supply 'Best Time Ever' RETIRE WORK Take Control of Your Future 64825 County Road 31 Goshen, IN 46528 1-866-764-1601 www.QualityDriveAway.com See America and Supplement Your Income!! Get Paid to Deliver Vehicles Throughout the U.S. & Canada Retiring Doesn't have to be Scary We Have Vehicles for Every License Type! Call Us Today! Buffet 7 Days A Week! 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