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March 21 - 27, 2016 Page 3 ACROSS 1. "__ Man Standing" 5. Role on "The Goldbergs" 9. __ Shore 10. Actor Lloyd 12. "Mayberry __" (1968- 71) 13. Gung ho 16. Actress Ortiz 17. Emilio's initials 18. Actress Nancy 20. "CSI: __" 21. "Late Night __ Seth Meyers" 23. 1992 Robin Williams movie 25. Prefix for natal or classical 26. "The __ Couple" 27. Actress Dawber 28. "__ to Me" (2009-11) 29. Capital city 30. "To __ the Truth" 32. Einstein's initials 33. Ben or Fred 38. Setting for "Designing Women": abbr. 39. "__ Age"; blockbuster animated film of 2002 41. Best picture Oscar winner starring Leslie Caron 42. Actor Chen of "Fresh Off the Boat" 43. "Touched by an Angel" actress 45. Henry or Peter 47. Winter toy 48. Kojak's first name DOWN 1. Sitcom for Colin Hanks (3) 2. "Parks __ Recreation" 3. Suriname's continent: abbr. 4. "__ she blows!" 5. "The King __ __"; film for Deborah Kerr 6. "__ No Harm"; short- lived 2013 series 7. Montgomery's place: abbr. 8. Role on "Modern Family" (2) 9. Bob Barker's successor 11. Votes from antis 14. Setting for "The Wal- tons": abbr. 15. "Star Trek __: The Voyage Home"; 1986 sequel 18. Danny or Richard 19. Christian __ of "Chicago Fire" 22. "The A-__" (1983-87) 24. Cartoon dog 29. Hideaway 31. Actress Turner 34. Elderly 35. "Star Wars Episode __: Return of the Jedi"; 1983 sequel 36. Initials for the star of "Matlock" 37. "The __"; 2015 mystery thriller for Jason Bateman 40. Snakelike fish 42. Ending for Joseph or Paul 44. 90 degrees from NE 46. Actress Sandra Solution on page 2. By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it If you didn't necessarily think of heart surgeons as fun people, here comes "Heartbeat." While it's far from a comedy, NBC's new medical series — which has a "preview" premiere Tuesday, March 22, the night before it settles into its regular Wednesday slot, March 23 — boasts a spirited, energetic performance by Melissa George, seen frequently as grimmer characters in such projects as "In Treat- ment," "Hunted" and last year's NBC drama "The Slap." A nurse's daughter in real life, she now plays cardiothoracic specialist Alex Panttiere, the new Chief Innovations Officer charged with bringing cutting-edge techniques to the hospital where she juggles her profes- sional passion with her involvements with two colleagues: her current boyfriend (Dave Annable, also a doctor last season on Fox's "Red Band Soci- ety") and a surgeon (Don Hany, a native Australian like actress George) with whom she has a past ... and who has just joined her workplace. "Heartbeat" is inspired by the life of Dr. Kathy Magliato, an executive producer of the show along with others in- cluding Jill Gordon (who developed the series for television) and spouses Amy Brenneman ("The Leftovers") and Brad Sil- berling ("City of Angels"). Joshua Leonard ("The Blair Witch Project") also stars as Alex's ex-hus- band, a rock-music star who's still very present for her and their children de- spite "the guy he left me for," as she explains; Ja- mie Kennedy, D.L. Hugh- ley and Shelley Conn are in the regular cast as well. Initially, "Heartbeat" was slated for a fall start, but George's pregnancy (she gave birth to her second son in November) delayed production. "It worked out very well," she maintains. "Usually, the schedule is you get a pilot, you get picked up, you're shooting, you air — and the creative team has a very short window to really flesh out what they want to say. Here, we had three months where the writers could actually produce, and Jill Gordon could create the show that she wanted. I think that's a gift. To me, there are no mistakes. And my son was 10 pounds, I want you to know." Maintaining she "was not looking to produce a TV show" at this point, Brenneman and filmmaker spouse Silberling met with Magliato after the publi- cation of the latter's book "Healing Hearts: A Memoir of a Female Heart Sur- geon." Brenneman recalls "driving away and think- ing, 'That woman is a TV show.' It took a while to find Jill Gordon, who really brought it to life, because I think it's all of her irrev- erence. It's her surprising stories. It's who she is. So, I think it all started with Kathy, and then I got to midwife it to Jill." The emergency-sur- gery-on-an-airplane sequence that opens "Heartbeat" really hap- pened to Magliato, who's as lively as her on-screen alter ego and confirms the series is "based on real characters, people either in my life now or in my life in the past. I'm not getting as much 'action' as (George) is on the set. I asked my husband about a love triangle; he just won't go for it. Kind of an old-school guy. But other than those two things, it's pretty authentic ... pretty true to life." Melissa George. stars in "Heartbeat" CoverStory Female surgeon's work and home lives form new NBC show's 'Heartbeat'

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