Arts & Entertainment

Broadcast News

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

Supernatural, seen at 9 p.m. Thursdays
on the CW network, lists a producer-writer
who was raised in Toledo and spent lots
of time in Ann Arbor. Runaway, briefly
broadcast by CW, had a writer who grew
up in Detroit. Big Day, debuting on ABC
in November, includes an actress raised in
Ferndale.

Eric Kripke
The widower and two sons of a woman
killed by paranormal forces seek revenge
and safety for themselves in Supernatural,
an on-the-road series created by Eric
Kripke. The show is in its second season.
"I don't think I ever counted on how
fleshed out and dimensionalized the char-
acters would become," says Kripke, 32,
always drawn to horror films. "That has
to do with the other talented writers who

University of Southern California School of
Cinema-Television. His early projects were
short films shown atfestivals.
After finding work writing for the.
short-lived WB series Tarzan, Kripke was
able to pitch the idea for Supernatural.
He also wrote the script for Boogeyman,
a feature film produced by former
Michiganian Sam Raimi.
"I find it very satisfying to get a visceral
reaction out of audiences of scary mov-
ies': says Kripke. "I had a lot of failures and
rejection and learned to have a thick skin.
People have far more failures than successes
in this business."
Kripke, who is polishing scripts for 22
Supernatural episodes this season, has no
overt Jewish material in the series.
"I really feel that who I am makes its
way into the show," he says. "I was raised
in a Jewish household, and I think the
importance the show puts on family is
part of that.
"I also think the spirit of the show in
questioning and raising curiosity reflects
Jewish identity"

Ed Zuckerman
41 Zuckerman, who entered the field of
writing by reporting for the Detroit Jewish
News and went on to do many scripts for
Law & Order, was called in to polish the
writing of the series Runaway.
The drama, which followed a family in
hiding as the fugitive father hunted evi-
dence to prove himself innocent of murder,
needed someone with experience on cop
shows. To the disappointment of cast and
crew, the series didn't catch on.
"That's show biz: says Zuckerman, 58,
whose long TV career as a writer-producer
has placed him with JAG and a string of
other series. "The odds of a TV show get-
ting on the air are infinitesimal, and the
odds of one succeeding once it gets on the
air are almost as small.
"I've worked on 10 different series since
I've been in L.A., and I hope to work for
several more before they toss me out of
here. My immediate next project is a pilot
I'm writing for ABC, a cop show that's a
candidate for next fall's schedule. Here we
go again."
Zuckerman, married and the father
of two daughters, plans to attend the
November reunion of his Mumford High -
School graduating class. While living in

.

Eric Kripke

came on to the show. I set out to scare .
people, but what audiences have really.
responded to is the family dysfunction:'
Kripke, the son of Toledo-based U-M
alums Larry and Joanie Kripke, visited Ann
Arbor frequently when his siblings, Dana
and Matthew, attended college there. He
knew he wanted to create movies and TV
shows in his childhood and started out as
a comedy writer after graduating from the

56

November 2 • 2006

Ai

Pho to by An drew Sou t ham /ABC

Three family-focused TV series one continuing,
one just ended and one about to begin have local ties.

Ed Zuckerman

Miriam Shor

Michigan, he was a member of Temple
Israel.
Before entering the world of TV at
the suggestion and guidance of a friend,
Zuckerman earned a bachelor's degree in
English from Cornell University, worked
on newspapers and magazines and.wrote
books, trying various outdoor adventures to
come up with dramatic subjects.
As Zuckerman plans the pilot for his
new series, he is working with a high-
profile director, also with a local link
— Guy Ritchie, husband of Michigan-bred
Madonna.
"I'm planning to have a Chanukah party
at my house this year,".Zuckerman says,
perhaps tongue-in-cheek."If all goes well
with the pilot, maybe Madonna will be one
of the guests."

between Michigan and Italy after her par-
ents divorced. "Becca wears a lot of black,
listens to punk-rock music and plays the
electric bass.
"I've never been married, but both of my
sisters got married last year so I understand
what goes on in a family when that hap-
pens. There can be a lot of tension, and the
family in the series is very uptight"
Shor, now based in New York, knew she
wanted to be on stage as a seventh-grader
watching a sister in a high-school musi-
cal. After some student performances at
Ferndale High School, Shor went on to
study drama at the University of Michigan.
With experience working at the Purple
Rose in Chelsea, Shor was cast in a national
tour of Fiddler on the Roof She went on to
regional theater stage and film versions of
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, playing the
Jewish husband of a German transsexual.
Shor's own Jewish heritage is from her
dad, Francis Shor, a professor at Wayne
State University. While growing up in
Michigan, her religious instruction came
through programs at Workmen's Circle.
"I studied the history of Judaism, and
that's what I feel connected to' says Shor,
whose most recent work places her in a still
unnamed movie about relationships in a
small town. "Acting seems to be working
out for me, but I know the wind can change
at any point." E

Miriam Shor
Although actress Miriam Shor has been
linked romantically to actor Justin Hagan
for three years, she has no plans for mar-
riage. Maybe Shor has seen enough of what
can go wrong at a wedding as she takes the
role of Becca, the bride's older sister in the
new comedy series Big Day.
The program, which runs 9 p.m. Tuesdays
starting Nov. 28, has 22 episodes — all
related to the day of the nuptials.
"Becca is a bitter person': says the 30ish
Shor, whose formative years were divided