60 | JANUARY 26 • 2023 

7-HEBREW ACTOR 
SERIES, SPOOKY STUFF, 
FORD SHRINKS SEGAL, 
MORE
Poker Face premieres on 
the streaming Peacock 
channel on Jan. 26. It 
is a “case-of-the-week” 
mystery comedy-drama. 
Natasha Lyonne, 43, 
produces the series and 
she stars in it (I gather 
that she is the only actor 
who will appear in all 10 
episodes).
An astonishing number 
of Jewish thespians will 
star in an episode: Lyonne, 
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 41, 
Adrien Brody, 49, Ellen 
Barkin, 68, Simon 
Helberg, 41, Judith Light, 
73, and Tim Blake Nelson, 
58. (I have this picture, 
in my mind, of Lyonne 
telling the casting people: 
“Hire more Jews, we need 
to keep my people fully 
employed!”)
Wolf Pack is a 
supernatural teen drama 
series that will begin 
streaming on Paramount+ 
on Jan. 26. The star of the 
series is Sarah Michelle 
Geller, 45. She is still best 
known as the star of the 
hit TV series Buffy the 
Vampire Slayer, which ran 
from 1997-2003.
There is little advance 

info on the show’s 
plot other than it is a 
supernatural teen drama. 
Geller “passably” played 
a teen in Buffy. But she 
couldn’t pass now. My 
guess is that her Wolf 
character is an adult 
“overseeing” a passel of 
actors who can pass for 
teenagers.
Shrinking is a comedy 
series that begins 
streaming on Apple TV+ on 
Jan. 27. It was co-created 
by Brett Goldstein, 42, 
Jason Segal, 42, and Bill 
Lawrence. These three 
guys also write the scripts. 
Goldstein, a British Jew, 
was hired to write for Ted 
Lasso, which has become 
the biggest hit on Apple 
TV+. Not long after he 
began writing Lasso, he 
was cast to play aged 
soccer star Roy Kent. 
This role made him well 
known, and he’s won two 
successive Emmys for best 
supporting actor.
Segal not only 
co-created Shrinking, 
he co-stars in the 
series. Harrison Ford, 80, 
also co-stars. Ford plays 
Dr. Rhodes, a therapist, or 
“shrink.” The series trailer 
implies that Segal plays a 
Rhodes patient.
The (scanty) advance 
publicity says that Rhodes 
is “in great grief” as the 

series begins and that 
this grief leads Rhodes to 
breach ethical barriers. 
His biggest breach is 
telling his patients what he 
really thinks. This candor 
results in major changes 
in Rhodes’ life and in the 
lives of his patients. 
Ford can also currently 
be seen in the Paramount+ 
series 1923. I suspect 
that Ford just loves these 
limited-episode series 
(10 episodes per season). 
He can keep his hand in 
acting while not being 
exhausted by the grind of 
a “traditional” 22-episode 
TV series. Plus, it must be 
nice to go to a comedy 
series after being in a grim 
Western like 1923.
Ford is the “always 
secular” son of a Jewish 
mother and a non-
Jewish father. Check out 
The Frisco Kid (1979), a 
comedic Western film. 
Ford plays an Old West 
gunman who befriends 
an immigrant rabbi (Gene 
Wilder). Wilder said he had 
no idea Ford’s mother was 
Jewish when they first met. 
A few days into shooting, 
Wilder started to tutor Ford 
on a Jewish custom. Ford 
stopped the lesson by 
saying, “I know, I know.” 
Then he told Wilder how 
he knew. (If you have 
TCM through a cable or 

satellite provider, you can 
see Frisco on-demand this 
month). 
I made a mistake and 
didn’t alert you last week 
to the premiere (Jan. 17) of 
Night Court, a “reboot” of 
the hit series of the same 
name that ran from 1984-
92. Melissa Rauch, 42 (Big 
Bang Theory), co-stars as 
Judge Abby Stone, the 
daughter of the judge in 
the original series. 
John Laroquette, 75, 
who played an assistant 
D.A. in the original series, 
plays a public defender in 
the reboot. (New episodes 
air Tuesdays, at 8 p.m. on 
NBC). 
I noted the second 
season premiere (Jan. 
24) of the NBC series 
American Auto in my last 
column. Ross Novie, 51, 
the director of the third 
episode (airs Jan. 31, 8:30 
p.m.) recently contacted 
me because his mother is 
a big fan of this column. 
She reads it in the New 
Jersey Jewish Standard. 
Novie was kind enough 
to give me the plot of the 
Jan. 31 episode. It sounds 
funny. Here goes: Payne 
Motors’ CEO Katherine 
Hastings (Ana Gasteyer) 
tries to fight back against 
her reputation in the media 
as “the most hated CEO in 
the country.” To this end, 
she goes on Late Night 
with Seth Meyers. The 
Late Night scenes, Novie 
told me, were shot on 
location at 30 Rockefeller 
Plaza. 

 SNL is also shot at 
“30 Rock.” Meyers and 
Gasteyer are SNL “vets,” 
and they were castmates 
during the 2001-2002 
season. 

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

BY RACH/WIKIPEDIA

Sarah Michelle Geller

GAGE SKIDMORE

Harrison Ford

BY JACKGARRETT

Melissa Rauch

