Up & Coming Weekly

22 UCW JANUARY 13-19, 2010 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM A charming rogue beats the bad guys while flirting with the ladies and dodging slow-motion explosions. Human Target (Sunday, 8 p.m. Fox) takes the same ap- proach as countless TV series featuring wisecracking law-enforcement types, color- ful sidekicks and nonstop action. The only difference: This one works. Mark Valley plays Christopher Chance, a contractor who goes undercover in situations where normal police protection won't work. Valley is effortlessly appealing – a refreshing change from all those would-be action heroes who try way too hard with little payoff. The series remains true to its graphic-novel roots, jumping from one peril to another. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but the scenes are so well staged that we still get caught up in the plot. In other words, the filmmakers have per- fect control of their tone. In the pilot, Chance is hired to protect a beautiful transportation executive…on a speeding train…whose brakes are about to blow. He rigs up a homemade parachute and urges the executive to jump off with him before the inevitable crash. "Come on," he says. "This will be fun." He's right about that. Leverage Wednesday, 10 pm (TNT) The con-artist dramedy has grown more campy since I last checked in, but it's still an enjoyable hour of TV. Timothy Hutton's Nate leads a team of grifters who use Mission: Impossible-style techniques to settle scores with powerful scumbags. In this week's episode, guest star Jeri Ryan joins the team to thwart a couple running a sweatshop. Ryan's Tara poses as a flamboyant Italian designer, hamming it up with a broad accent. The sweatshop owners fall for her act way too easily, but plausibility isn't really the point here. The point is to have fun, and Ryan dives into her role with gusto. "Admit it, you kind of like me now," she tells the skeptical Nate. I admit it. How about making Tara a Leverage regular? Golden Globe Awards Sunday, 8 pm (NBC) As an obscure awards show on cable TV, the Golden Globes were enjoyably taste- less. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association had a reputation for picking awful winners (remember Pia Zadora?), accepting lavish favors from nominees and putting on a cheesy production. The show cleaned up its act since moving to broadcast TV but has grown dull in the process. Last year, presenter Ricky Gervais marred the proceedings with a couple of unpleas- ant Holocaust jokes. Rather than banning him from this year's ceremony, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has made him the host. Are we witnessing a strategic return to tastelessness? 24 Sunday, 9 pm (Fox) It appears that this season's 24 real-time hours will be uneventful. Agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is retired from the government's Counter Terrorism Unit and spending time with his adorable granddaughter. He makes the healthy decision to leave New York City to accompany his daughter to Los Angeles for a quiet life as a consultant. Meanwhile, the U.S. president has brokered a peace treaty with a key Arab leader. They need only sign it at the United Nations to secure a bright future for the Middle East. So life is good, world peace is imminent and…wait a minute. An injured informant ac- costs Jack and reveals that assassins have targeted the treaty-signing ceremony at the U.N. So much for the adorable granddaughter. So much for world peace. It's time for exploding helicopters, back-alley shootouts and government agents shouting into their headsets. Phew. For about 15 minutes there, 24's new season looked like a dud. Big Love Sunday, 9 pm (HBO) The series about a polygamous Mormon family has lost none of its dramatic edge in season four. In this week's episode, Bill (Bill Paxton) weighs the choice of running for Utah state senate or replacing the murdered Roman Grant as his sect's "prophet." In the mean- time, Bill's three wives (Chloe Sevigny as Nicki, Jeanne Tripplehorn as Barb and Ginnifer Goodwin as Margene) and one of his daughters (Amanda Seyfried as Sarah) struggle with their prescribed roles. Sarah plans to marry outside the church. Margene bristles at Bill's order to donate her hard-earned money into the collective pot. Nicki refuses to attend her father Roman's funeral, calling him a "false prophet." Like many American women, these characters struggle against the patriarchy. It's just that their version makes our patriarchy look practically benign. Where The Action Is Human Target laughs in the face of danger TV by DEAN ROBBINS Business Profile: Orchid Garden by STEPHANIE CRIDER STEPHANIE CRIDER, Staff Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or Stephanie@upandcomingweekly.com Beth Collier's mom, Kampun "Nang" Songngam, had been cooking Thai food for various restaurants in the U.S. for more than 30 years when she opened Orchid Garden just off Yadkin Road in 2008. With Beth, Songngam and one other cook in the kitchen things can get kind of hectic, as they serve up Udon Thani signature dishes. According to Collier though it is worth it when they see how much their customers enjoy their efforts. Between their customers, their peers and the local Thai community, Collier feels welcome and inspired and sees the Orchid Garden as a permanent part of the Fayetteville landscape in the coming years. "I grew up here and the Thai community is very big, but so support- ive," said Collier. "Then you have the military community, which is a large part of Fayetteville. We are surrounded by all these great people and we are just trying to accommodate and support them. We are a very family oriented business — from our employees to our customers." Supporting and uplifting one another is a philosophy that seems to be the standard in Collier's circle of acquaintances. A family emer- gency popped up recently for her and not only did customers offer to assist in a va- riety of ways, a chef from another restaurant even stepped in to help keep the Orchid Garden doors open while things were sorted out. But it doesn't take an emergency for the community to pull together. It's no big deal to make a phone call and borrow a box of spring roll wrappers or other supplies. "You just kind of help each other out," said Collier. "We borrow back and forth with each other when we need to." So what is the magic ingredient that is drawing in such a loyal follow- ing for this still relatively new establishment? The atmosphere at Orchid Garden is quite friendly and laid back, and Collier's sparkly personality is surely a plus, but she credits the menu and fresh ingredients that the chefs use in the recipes. " We definitely have more specialty items than some other places. We serve unique dishes that you would get in Thailand," said Collier. "They are sometimes a little more time consuming to make. All of our ingredients are fresh too. We don't use anything that is prepackaged or pre made. We just don't compromise where our food is concerned." The lunch buffet changes daily. For $8.95 customers get lunch and a drink, tax included. Every Friday there is a seafood buffet for the same price. While Collier has been seeing plenty of new customers walking through the doors and enjoys greeting her regulars with a smile too. She says that the one thing she hopes that people know about Orchid Garden is "our quality of food is unbeatable. No matter how bad the economy or how expensive supplies get we don't scale back. We are here because of our great customers and we are going to give them what they want. Our customers are like family to us." Orchid Garden is located at 5048 Yadkin Rd. Their hours are 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12-8 p.m. Sunday. Check out www.orchidgardenfaync.com or give them a call at 864-2305 for more info.

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