Jason Tam, the islander whose acting career has embraced Broadway and TV, recently filmed two new pilots. One’s a go, one’s not.
Look for Tam in a four-episode arc on "Do No Harm," which premieres 9 p.m. Jan. 31 on NBC. The network has ordered 13 episodes so far; Steven Pasquale stars as both Dr. Jason Cole and Ian Price, in a Jekyll and Hyde-like split personality; the cast includes Phylicia Rashad as Dr. Vanessa Young.
Tam also tweeted, "Got to shoot a scene with Cuba Gooding Jr., directed by McG," on the pilot for"Guilty."However, the Fox show won’t be picked up.
Tam is best noted for his earlier Markko Rivera role on the soap opera "One Life to Live," along with his highly acclaimed lead role of Paul San Marco in the last "A Chorus Line" revival on the Great White Way. …
IMPROV MOMENT: "Boeing Boeing," Manoa Valley Theatre’s unexpected hit comedy, had an unplanned but hilarious moment when a piece of the set (an above-the-door panel improperly fastened) fell, crashing onto the floor. Actors Mathais Maas (Bernard, the architect-playboy involved in affairs with three flight attendants) and Ken Roberts (Robert, his college buddy) were in the midst of a scene on a recent Saturday night when bang-crash-#?*!, the thing dropped to floor.Fortunately, no one was beneath the doorway, so there were no injuries, but the pair reacted with "what happened?" gasps, then quickly removed the piece.
The scene-stealer was Shannon Winpenny (Bertha, a domestic in Bernard’s apartment), who is an improv specialist off stage; she whisked in and handily removed the debris, as any good maid or improvisationist would, receiving spontaneous, delirious laughter. Attorney Jeff Portnoy, MVT board president, was in the audience and was thankful no one got hurt, but he muttered at intermission, "Maybe we should keep this (the faux pas) in the show," since it got the biggest unexpected chuckle and applause. …
MAVRO-LOUS: Artists have been swarming to Chef Mavro for chef George Mavrothalassitis‘ award-winning regional cuisine and relaxed ambiance designed by Mary Philpotts. Tim Meadows, who holds the record for longest-running cast member on "Saturday Night Live," had a Mavro-lous tete-a-tete one night; on another, Tony Kaye (from the 2012 "Detachment" film with actor Adrien Brody) and his wife, Yan Lin Kaye, enjoyed the Winter Menu while talking shop with show biz colleagues. …
SHOW BITS: Singers Katy Perry and John Mayer were a coosome twosome holidaying on Kauai. Their Kodak moments — an ATV outing — are in the current People magazine. …
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," filmed in Georgia and Hawaii, is Fandango’s Most Anticipated Blockbuster of 2013. The second installment of the "Hunger" franchise, due in November, topped "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" and "Iron Man 3." …
Margaret Cho‘s stand-up comedy and Carlos Santana‘s Latino-rock jams are heading this-a-way:Cho brings her "Mother" show Feb. 9 for two performances at the Hawaii Theatre;and as earlier mentioned here, Santana rocks Feb. 26 at Blaisdell Arena and Feb. 28 atthe Maui Arts and Cultural Center. …
HIGH FIVE: Reaction to last week’s "Hawaii Five-0" you-choose-the-ending-by-voting episode has been mixed, with the New York Times opining, "The vote makes everything that happens before the ending meaningless; it turns a mystery into a video game." The paper also said "‘Hawaii Five-0′ is already one of the most formulaic shows in network prime time. The effect of the stunt was to force the writers to come up with an even more simplistic, gimcrack plot than usual … the notion of the audience choosing among multiple endings destroys the essential pleasure of a mystery or crime procedural … the whole show already is a stunt." Ouch! …
And that’s "Show Biz." …
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Wayne Harada is a veteran entertainment columnist; reach him at 266-0926 or wayneharada@gmail.com; read his Show and Tell Hawaii blog at www.staradvertiser.com.
