SAG Election Interviews with Ned Vaughn, David Joliffe, and William Mapother (Video)

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Jury Selection To Begin In Jackson Doctors Trial

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The doctor charged in Michael Jacksons death is returning to court to meet the first batch of potential jurors who may eventually decide whether to convict him of involuntary manslaughter. It will be the second time this year that a judge, prosecutors and attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray try to pick a panel to hear the case, which is expected to last four to six weeks and will put the spotlight on the King of Pops final moments once again. Roughly 160 people are expected will undergo an initial screening Thursday to see if theyre available to serve during the lengthy criminal trial. Those who are able will then fill out a 30-page questionnaire aimed at determining their level of knowledge of the case and any strong opinions about Jackson or Murray. Getting an eligible pool of jurors took three days earlier this year, and Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor begrudgingly dismissed them in May when he agreed to delay Murrays trial to give his attorneys more time to prepare. This time, Pastor hopes to find 100 people to fill out the questionnaire, court spokeswoman Mary Hearn said. Prosecutors and defense attorneys will have several days to scrutinize the responses before direct questioning of potential jurors begins on Sept. 23. Finding people who hadnt heard about the case was a challenge last time only one person, who didnt speak English, expressed no knowledge of the case. Awareness of a high-profile case is not automatic grounds for disqualification from jury service, and Pastor has expressed confidence that a group can be found who will listen to the evidence impartially and also ignore widespread media coverage of the trial. Jacksons death on June 25, 2009 stunned the world. The singer had been in final preparations for a series of comeback concerts in London, and the focus quickly turned to Murray, his personal physician. In an interview with detectives, Murray admitted giving Jackson the anesthetic propofol to help him sleep, but authorities and Murrays attorneys differ on the timeline of events that occur in Jacksons rented mansion on the day he died. Authorities contend that Murray gave Jackson a lethal dose of propofol and other sedatives, but the doctors attorneys have said Murray did not give the singer anything that should have killed him. In pretrial motions and hearings they have suggested that Jackson administered the lethal dose to himself. The Houston-based cardiologist faces up to four years and the loss of his medical license if convicted. The case is expected to be highly-technical, but not without its share of Hollywood touches. Jacksons family will attend the proceedings with some members taking a break to watch a planned tribute concert in October and prosecutors also plan to show clips of the singer shot during his final rehearsals. Copyright 2011 by Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

L.A. lensing solid on rush of reality

Off-lot TV activity in L.A. registered a solid performance last week with 390 permitted days thanks to a strong showing by reality shows. E! Entertainment Television's "How Do I Look" was the most active production with 21 days, according to figures provided Tuesday by the FilmL.A. permitting agency. TV shooting for the week increased 18% to 390 days or 76 more than the same week last year and 53 more than the previous week. Other TV series shooting in Los Angeles include "90210," "Perception," "Private Practice," "Top Shot," "CSI: Miami," "Don't Tell the Bride," "Joan & Melissa," and "America's Got Talent." Features continued to see more activity this year compared with 2010: Third-quarter shooting is so far up by over 60%. For the week, feature activity totaled 150 days, led by the indie project "Gus," up 20 days from the year-ago week but well below the 2011 highs for the year of 246 days and 229 during the last two weeks of June. Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," which had been the most active offlot feature in the Aug. 22-28 week under the title "Magnus Rex," was also shooting last week in Los Angeles along with reshoots of David Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." due out in December. Overall production for films, TV and spots totaled 670 permitted production days during the week that ended Sunday -- up 30% from the year-ago period, or 153 days. Commercials increased by 57 days to 130. Paydirt was the most active producer with 11 days with a spot for Siemens. Location scout Overall offlot producing in L.A. was up 30% with 670 permitted days last week, according to figures from permitting agency FilmL.A. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

Jenner, Underwood join CBS' 'The Talk'

Jenner UnderwoodChanges at "The Talk" have been in motion.Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner is placed to complete in the CBS daytime talker a while right after the growing season starts Sept. 6, for 2 days. Also coming aboard is radio personality and comedian Sheryl Underwood, set to become on "The Talk" once the season launches. Underwood is really a cause of "The Steve Harvey Morning Show" and hosts a Tuesday-evening show on Sirius Radio. She could be a permanent co-host, but which has not yet been determined.Leah Remini and Carol Robinson Peete were only about the femme-skewing gabfest because of its first season, with Sharon Osbourne getting expressed a desire for moving onto other projects, the show gets a reboot. "Talk" creator Sara Gilbert and Julie Chen stick to the panel, frequently talking concerning the news during the day.Jenner continues to be instrumental for making the "Kardashian" franchise an enormous hit for E!, becoming an on-air personality and professional producer.Kaira Bessey started as professional producer of "The Talk" if this opened in October but has since left the show. John Redmann and Gilbert would be the current professional producers. Contact Stuart Levine at stuart.levine@variety.com

Motown's Nick Ashford dies

Nickolas Ashford, the longtime Motown tunesmith and producer who attained fame as a vocalist with his wife and writing partner Valerie Simpson, died Monday, Aug. 22, in New York from complications of throat cancer. He was 70.Born in North Carolina, Ashford met Simpson in a New York church in 1963; they married in 1974. In the mid-'60s, they wrote for such Scepter and Wand Records acts as Chuck Jackson and Maxine Brown and recorded unsuccessfully as Valerie and Nick. A pair of 1966 singles they wrote for Ray Charles, "Let's Go Get Stoned" (a No. 1 R&B hit) and "I Don't Need No Doctor" (later covered by Humble Pie), attracted the attention of Motown chief Berry Gordy Jr.At the Detroit label, Ashford & Simpson penned such memorable Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell hits as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You" and moved on to produce the duo's "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By." They also crafted material for Diana Ross ("Reach Out and Touch [Somebody's Hand]"), Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, the Marvelettes and the Supremes.Ashford and Simpson exited Motown in 1973 and were signed as a recording act at Warner Bros. Their career was slow to lift off, but they finally started notching major R&B hits. These included "Don't Cost You Nothing" (No. 10, 1978), "It Seems to Hang On" (No. 2, 1978), "Found a Cure" (No. 2, 1979) and "Love Don't Make It Right" (No. 6, 1980).Moving to Capitol in 1982, they scored with "Street Corner" (No. 9, 1982), "Solid" (No. 1, 1984) and "I'll Be There for You" (No. 2, 1989). In all, the duo launched 35 chart singles through 1997.During the '90s, Ashford & Simpson's biggest hit was Whitney Houston's No. 5 smash "I'm Every Woman," drawn from the 1992 soundtrack of "The Bodyguard." They went on to cut an album with poet Maya Angelou and DJed on New York's KISS-FM. During the last decade, they scored a writing credit on Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" after the late Brit-soul singer employed a sample from "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" on her "Tears Dry on Their Own." They appeared regularly at New York cabarets like Feinstein's and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.Ashford is survived by Simpson and two daughters. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Strike Back Explodes Onto Cinemax

Strike Back They are coming some misconception at Cinemax - literally. The funnel, a testosterone-dripping more youthful brother to Cinemax, is adding the explosive new action series Strike In an offer to grow its oft-maligned original programming. "Cinemax required to evolve and seem like reasonably limited to customers," states Cinemax miniseries leader Kary Antholis, who also runs shows for Cinemax. "We are attempting to grow the company to some place where it's serving another purpose for individuals.Inch But fans of "Skin-emax" is going to be relieved to listen to that Strike Back features a myriad of action - in the bed room as well as on the battleground. "We checked out what our clients appreciated about Cinemax to begin with, and also the best-carrying out programs were high-octane, combat-oriented action movies," Antholis states. One of the most popular movie game titles about the funnel: the Transporter (which Cinemax can also be turning out to be a TV series alas, without star Jason Statham), Transformers and X-Males franchises. Strike Back, that could be referred to like a jumped-up-on-anabolic steroids version of 24, should easily fit in all right. The series involves a U.S. Special Forces operative (Sullivan Stapleton of Animal Kingdom) who teams track of an english black-operations agent (Fringe's Philip Winchester) to prevent worldwide terrorists. "It's boys being boys, killing criminals, coming s--t up, stealing cars and jumping from teeth," states Stapleton, who appreciated the experience and was subjected to a difficult boot camping to be able to emulate the actual special-operations unit Delta Pressure. "We visited hell and back." Strike Back was inspired by a number of books by British author Chris Ryan. "His books aren't brilliant literature, but they are epic which wonderful, almost Greek tragedies," states executive producer Serta Percival, who also directed several episodes. "It's people caught and jeopardized through the need to do right, finding themselves in impossible situations where moral options are blurred." The initial season of Strike Back was created for British funnel Sky1 this year and featured Captain America costar Richard Armitage (who wasn't readily available for Season 2). Antholis thought the show will make an excellent fit for that new Cinemax and struck an offer to coproduce Season 2 with Sky. With Cinemax aboard, Strike Back was refurbished. Your budget was elevated (to some hefty $3 million a chapter), and Stapleton's American character was added. X-Files alum Frank Spotnitz seemed to be introduced directly into write several episodes. "We are incredibly happy with what they have done," Antholis states. "We are providing people with something like a small action movie in each and every episode." The show, that was shot on location in Nigeria and Hungary, consists of plots ripped in the head lines and inspired by occasions such as the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The growing season concentrates on a Pakistani terrorist and stands out an easy on that country's instability - a plot that grew to become much more relevant when Osama bin Laden was discovered and wiped out there. Percival confesses it had been strange to become creating a show about terrorism as that story unfolded. "That which was surreal was seeing the type of rhetoric playing in the real life that people were dramatizing," he states. "But that is everyone around you that Strike Back lives in." British actress Amanda Mealing (Four Wedding ceremonies along with a Funeral), who plays a take-charge colonel, states the cast and crew found work the next day of bin Laden was taken lower, and in comparison the tales on Strike To the Special Forces pursuit to search the Al Qaeda leader. "It is a drama - we are not creating a documentary. But to consider that what we are doing is really happening... It sent a chill through everybody," she states. Strike Back does not be put off by showing the brutality of terrorism, with heads blown off, children at risk and snipers around every corner. A significant character even dies within the first episode. Percival states nobody on the program is protected. "There is a running joke about the set that who knows once the bullet is originating for you personally,Inch he states. "There is something that confounds your anticipation each week. But that is war - and real existence." Strike Back premieres Friday at 10/9c on Cinemax. Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now!

Breaking Bad Sneak Look: Is Wally Prepared to Function as the Boss?

Bryan Cranston and Marius Stan Is Breaking Bad's Walter Whitened prepared to function as the boss?AMC orders 16-episode final season of Breaking BadWe're not speaking concerning the drug cartel - we mean Walt's recently bought vehicle clean, obviously. In Sunday's episode (10/9c, AMC), Wally (Bryan Cranston) visits his former employer to get the secrets to his start up business, a front by which to launder his drug money. But Bogdan (Marius Stan) - who's more happy coping with Wally than his manipulative wife Skyler (Anna Gunn) -give in to pushing Walt's buttons."So, you're the boss now," he states within the sneak look online video below. "You believe you are ready?"What's in your Watchlist? Create one and add your faves, like Breaking BadSomething informs us we might be aware of answer that question for good through the finish of the season.Breaking Bad airs Sundays at 10/9c on AMC. Watch the clip below: