96 | JULY 14 • 2022

E

very month, the NY Times describes
a handful of series that are about to
premiere as “notable.”

The Rehearsal, which begins on HBO on
July 15, made the July premiere list.
Nathan Fielder, 39, writes, directs and
stars in this “sort of” reality series. Here’s
the Times description of Rehearsal: “Fielder
helps ordinary people with their ordinary
problems by going to absurd lengths. In
this case, he prepares his clients for poten-
tially stressful or uncomfortable interac-
tions with their friends and families by
hiring actors and constructing detailed sets
so that these men and women can practice
what they want to say.”
You might know Fielder as the co-cre-
ator, writer and host of Nathan for You, a
Comedy Central series (2013-18) that had
a similar premise. He provided outrageous
marketing schemes for real small business-
es. The owners did know that the market-
ing plan’s progress was being filmed for
TV
, but they didn’t realize they were part
of a comedy series.
Nathan For You got
great reviews and
attracted a quite
large audience.
Fielder grew-
up in Vancouver,
Canada. Seth
Rogen, now 40,
was a high school
classmate, and they
were in their high
school’s comedy
improv group.
Rogen’s frequent film writing partner,
Evan Goldberg, now 39, was another high
school classmate.

Fielder made “Jewish news” when
he discovered (in 2017) that Taiga, a
Vancouver-based maker of outdoor jack-
ets, lauded a notorious Holocaust denier
when he died in 2001. Fielder responded
by launching his own line of outdoor jack-
ets, and he opened a pop-up store to sell

the jackets. The proceeds (about $150K)
went to Holocaust awareness and educa-
tion. Fielder did a lot of unusual things
to get publicity — customers could turn
in a Taiga jacket and get a free Fielder
jacket, and if a customer said he believed
the Holocaust happened, he got a “Deny
Nothing” button.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has
recently become the sponsor of one-night
theater showings of classic movies. On
July 17, the Maple Theater in Bloomfield
Township will screen Cabaret, the great
1972 film based on the 1969 Broadway
musical of the same name.
Liza Minnelli won the best
actress Oscar for playing an
American who performed in
a Berlin cabaret just before
the Nazi takeover. Joel Grey,
now 90, won the best sup-
porting actor Oscar, playing
the cabaret’s master-of-cere-
monies. The songs were writ-
ten by John Kander, now 95,
and the late Fred Ebb (They
also wrote Chicago and New
York, New York).
Each year, TCM holds a
film festival in Los Angeles,
and a number of older celeb-
rities are interviewed. This
year, TCM posted those
interviews on YouTube.
The most notable Jewish
interviewees were Steven
Spielberg, 75, and Piper
Laurie, 90. The title of both
interviews are misleading — they make
you think they talk about just one thing.
Both interviews are wide-ranging, if not
exhaustive. (Search for TCM and Spielberg
or Laurie).
I particularly liked how Spielberg
explained how making E.T. helped con-
vince him he could find the time to be a
father (he went on to have seven children).
Laurie, a three-time Oscar nominee,

covers most of her long career, and she
explains why she took a long hiatus from
acting (1964-1976).
Laurie (original name Rosetta Jacobs)
was born in Detroit but grew up in Los
Angeles. The film clips shown during the
interview reveal how attractive Laurie was
well into her 70s. She’s now quite portly
and walks with a cane. But her mind and
memory, the most important things, are
still totally there.
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris opens in theaters
on July 15. It’s about a cleaning lady in
1950s London who decides she must
have an expensive Dior dress.
British Jewish actor Jason
Isaacs, 58, co-stars.
Black Bird is a true-crime
series that recently began
streaming on Apple TV+. It’s
about a young prisoner who
can get out early if he gets
another prisoner to talk about
his crimes. Ray Liotta, who
died in May, co-stars as an old
prisoner. While researching
this series, I stumbled
on something “uber-weird.
”
Liotta often played criminals,
but he had a totally “clean”
record. However, Liotta’s fian-
cée, Jacy Woodman Nittollo,
47, has a crime connection.
Her father, Stewart Woodman,
died in prison in 2014.
Stewart and his brother,
Neil (now serving a life sen-
tence), were convicted of hir-
ing two men to kill the Woodman broth-
ers’ parents in 1985. The murders were
all about money. The Los Angeles media
labeled the killings the “Yom Kippur mur-
ders.” The brothers had their parents mur-
dered on Yom Kippur because the brothers
knew exactly where their parents would
be on Yom Kippur (Oy!). Liotta’s odd con-
nection to these notorious murders hasn’t
been noted in any other media source.

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

Genuinely Funny Reality Shows;
TCM — In Theaters and on YouTube

Nathan Fielder

NORTHWEST - OWN WORK

Piper Laurie, circa 1990

ALAN LIGHT, CC

Jason Isaacs

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