44 | JANUARY 18 • 2024 J
N

CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
JEWS, MEXICAN JEWISH
FILMMAKER, LOVE
STORY: DON AND BOB
Other items have crowded
out my coverage of the
second season of Celebrity
Jeopardy. But, as I write
this (Jan. 8), one out of the
three Jewish contestants
are still in the running. The
finale will air on Jan. 23,
2024 (ABC, 8 p.m.). There
will be many online sourc-
es happy to tell you who
is in the finale (including
ABC).
This season’s Hebrews
are actor Steven Weber,
actress/comedian Rachel
Dratch and actress Kyra
Sedgwick.
As in regular Jeopardy,
three contestants play in
a Celebrity game. Twenty-
seven celebrity contestants
were in the first, nine-game
round. The first of three
semi-final games aired Jan.
2. On Jan. 9, the second
semi-final game aired.
Steven Weber was a con-
testant in this game, but he
ended up losing.
Weber is best known for
Wings (1990-97), a hit sit-
com about two brothers
(Weber and Tim Daly) who
run a single-plane airline
for tourists. Currently,
he is a “main cast” actor
on Chicago Med (Dr. Dean
Archer).
Weber’s father managed
“Borscht Belt” comedians.
Weber wrote an insight-
ful HuffPost piece (2011)
shortly after returning from
Israel (it’s online, free).
While he wasn’t raised in a
religious home, Weber has

clearly thought a great deal
about Jewish/Israeli history
and his “Jewishness.”
Rachel Dratch, 57, was
set to compete in the
semi-final round that aired
on Jan. 16 (after press
time). In the first round,
she just edged out
Macaulay Culkin in a very
exciting game (she won by
$1!).
Dratch, who grew up in
a Reform Jewish home, is
best known for her long
stint on SNL (1999-2006).
Her most SNL famous
character was Debbie
Downer. I really liked
Dratch in several “Love-
Ahs” sketches with Will
Ferrell. In 2022, Dratch
won a Tony (best featured
actress).
Sadly, Kyra Sedgwick, 58,
was eliminated in the first
round. She’s best known
as the star of Closer, a hit
TV series (2006-2012). She
played the deputy police
chief of the Los Angeles
major crimes unit. She won
an Emmy and a Golden
Globe for this role.
Sedgwick’s dad was a
not-religious white Anglo-
Saxon Protestant with lots
of Mayflower ancestors.
Her mother was Jewish,
but never said anything
about being Jewish.
Kyra’s proudly Jewish
stepfather acquainted her
with “Jewish things” and,

around age 20, she decid-
ed to identify as Jewish.
Memory is a film that
opened “wide” on Jan. 5.
Last month, I followed an
educated guess that
Memory writer/direc-
tor Michel Franco, was
Jewish. I was right. He was
profiled by the Jerusalem
Post in 2021. Franco, like
his Jewish father, was born
and raised in Mexico. His
mother is an Israeli Jew
who settled in Mexico.
Franco, 44, is fluent in
Hebrew.
I was waiting for the
reviews of Memory to
come in before I wrote
about it. Franco has made
seven films to date that
have really divided critics.
An early review of Memory,
in Variety, was mostly
favorable and I hoped this
film would be Franco’s
breakthrough and maybe
get some Oscar nomina-
tions.
Well, those things
probably won’t happen.
The NY Times critic
“killed” Memory and so
did some other critics.
However, praise came
from many critics, including
some who didn’t like
Franco’s prior work.
Memory is Franco’s first
film set in America
(Brooklyn). Capsule
premise: Sylvia (Jessica
Chastain) was traumatized

by sexual assault in high
school. Her memory of it
is hazy. At a high school
reunion, she meets Saul
(Peter Saarsgard) and he
frightens her as he follows
her home. But he’s not the
creep Sylvia thinks he is.
He has his own tsuris that
I won’t reveal here. (Josh
Charles, 52, has a big sup-
porting role as Isaac, Saul’s
brother).
Without any fanfare, a
20-minute documentary,
directed by Judd Apatow,
53, was posted on
YouTube about a month
ago. Bob and Don: A Love
Story is on the The New
Yorker (YouTube) channel.
It is about the seemingly
unlikely 60-year friendship
of (the late) Don Rickles
and Bob Newhart, now 94.
The film is short enough
that I could convey all the
good reasons why they,
and their respective wives,
got on so well. But you
really should watch the
film. There are home movie
clips that feature the cou-
ples on vacation together
and clips of their children
(also friends) playing — and
there is the poignancy
of Newhart and his wife,
Ginny, talking about their
love for Don and his wife,
Barbara Sklar Rickles
(who died in 2021). These
are things I can’t replicate
here.

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

GREG2600, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Steven Weber

PHILIP ROMANO, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Rachel Dratch

ANGELA GEORGE, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Kyra Sedgwick