Q&A media session with Melissa Joan Hart: ABC Family’s “Melissa & Joey” (May 2012) (J!-ENT Interviews & Articles)

Melissa Joan Hart plays the character of Melissa Burke on ABC Family’s “Melissa & Joey” (Image courtesy of ABC FAMILY)

Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence make their return in the third season of ABC Family’s “Melissa & Joey”!

For many of us who grew up watching Nickelodeon the early ’90s, actress Melissa Joan Hart was an actress that captured the attention of many viewers as the blonde, blue-eyed crafty Clarissa Darling. And when the series ended, needless to say, for many guys or fans of Melissa, many would go through “Clarissa withdrawal”.

But fortunately, in the mid-’90s, Melissa Joan Hart would return with a few “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” movies and it would eventually lead to the multi-award winning ABC comedy series “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” which lasted from 1996-2003.

And as many viewers have grown up watching Melissa Joan Hart  on television, many can now watch her on the hit ABC Family comedy series “Melissa & Joey”, a series which Melissa also stars alongside another actor which many have grown up watching on television, Joey Lawrence.

“Melissa & Joey” features Melissa Joan Hart as the character Melissa Burke.  Melissa Burke was a former wild child that came from a political family and now, having matured, she now has aspirations to become a politician.  But a scandal hits the family when her sister ends up in prison and her brother-in-law flees. So now, Melissa is forced to take care of her teenage niece Lennox and her nephew Ryder.

And its difficult enough to focus on politics and taking care of two teenagers, so in desperate need of help,  she hires Joey (played by Joey Lawrence), who moves in with the family to become the family’s nanny… or “manny”.

And now the third season of “Melissa & Joey” is set to premiere on Wednesday, May 30th and recently a Q&A media session was held with Melissa Joan Hart who talks about the third season of the ABC Family show and also directing episodes for this new season.

Here is a transcript from the media Q&A:

Moderator    In addition to being the star of the show, your Heartbreak Films also produces Melissa & Joey.  Could you tell us about your creative vision for this season?

M. J. Hart     That’s up to the writers.  We have a writing team, the executive producers/show runners, which is Bob and David, David Kendall and Bob Young, and they are, along with a team of really great writers, they sort of plot out the season along with the network.

This second season, it was just—you know what was nice about it—I think we started off really strong.  I think our first season, which consisted of 30 episodes, but I think our first few even just out of the gate were great.

I think that we had a really great crew.  We had really great writing staff.  We had a great cast.  It was able to all gel really well together, and I think that’s kind of rare.  If you watch a lot of shows, it takes a while to get the ball rolling.

But that being said, I think we came out of the gate pretty strong.  But at the same time the second season just gets better, and I think that happens with every show.  As the oil in the machine starts to really warm up, you just get the ball rolling and you get these stronger episodes.  So in the second season we just have funnier, more solid episodes.

 

Moderator     Is there anything you can tell us about any surprises we can look forward to this summer?

M. J. Hart    There are some surprises.  I don’t know how far I’m allowed to say.  Last season, season one, ended with a bathtub falling through the roof.  So the beginning of the show starts off with a few episodes about the construction and the family living on top of each other.

Mel has a little fling with the cabinetmaker, played by Bren Foster, but then there is some stuff that happens at the end where Joey falls in love with a Russian colleague and there’s quite a little romance that goes on there, and that’s an arc.  We have that for a few episodes.  So Mel has to put up with this Russian chick in her house.

But in between that, there are really just a lot of fun, standalone story lines that happen and some great guest stars.  This season it was really about keeping it light.  Not having that very special episode.  We don’t like to do those.  We just want to make people laugh.

 

Moderator    Could you  tease us some of the other guest stars we’ll be seeing this season?

M. J. Hart    Yes.  Bren Foster, I think he’s Australian and he’s in one of the episodes; one of the first few episodes, one of the one’s that will air next week.  Who else do we have?  All the 45 episodes we’ve done kind of run together.  So I’m having trouble remembering what people have seen and what they haven’t.

Who else do we have?  Christine Lakin comes back for a really funny episode.  She played my friend in one of the episodes last season.  This season she is looking for a sperm donor and happens to want some of Joey’s stuff.  That’s one of my favorite episodes; that is my favorite episode of this season coming up, the sperm donor episode.

But yes, that’s all I can think of right now.  But Debi Mazar plays a great character.  She’s like my—I’m thinking about reelection and she is my coach, my reelection campaign manager.  So she is—it’s an episode called “The Knockout” and it’s pretty funny.

There’s a guy in a movie theater who starts picking a fight with Ryder, my nephew, and I stand up to him after telling Joey not to.  I knock him out and it gets on video and it goes viral.  And then the whole campaign is around whether or not I should be promoting the fact that I knock him out kind of thing, whether or not that’s a good example for the kids.  It’s a really fun episode, and Debi Mazar does a great job in it.

And she and I met on the set of Dancing with the Stars.  I really like bringing in a lot of these people that I’ve worked with before.  That’s one of the fun parts about being Executive Producer is finding talented people all over the place and being able to work with them.

 

Moderator   What is it about being a part of Twitter that really helps you with the promotion and connecting with people who are fans of the show?

M. J. Hart    Well within two seconds I can correspond with 200,000 people, which is pretty incredible; across the world.  And what I really like about it is just seeing the immediate response of things.

Like the other night, “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” the first movie, the Showtime movie was on.  I don’t know what it was one, but it aired and my timeline was filled with people just talking about it.  Being shocked that Ryan Reynolds was in that movie.  It was just funny to see how many people were watching it.

I think it was actually maybe airing in the U.K. or the U.K. just got Netflix.  So they can now watch Melissa & Joey in the U.K., which they’re all very excited about because it’s not airing yet there on a network and they’re all mad at me about that.  But it’s fun.  It’s like that instant response to of like, you know, just driving people to try products that I like or to know a little something about my family or something that I find funny.

I try to be careful not to over use it too much, but to also give everyone like a flavor of everything.  Like what it’s like for me being a mom.  What it’s like for me being an actress.  What it’s like for me being a wife, you know.  So like little tidbits of what my inside life is like.

But of course it’s an amazing tool to use.  To be able to reach fans and get the audience to move, whether it’s for a certain charity reason or to watch the show, that kind of thing.  It’s really amazing too to see how many shows this season got picked up because there was a buzz even though the ratings weren’t there.  So you know that it can be used to help push different projects through.

 

Moderator  Both you and Joey Lawrence are directing this season.  How does that affect the way you prepare for the episode?

M. J. Hart   It’s just a lot more work.  It’s a lot of work.  I’m trying to remember what my episode was even about.  I’m having such a hard time with this season; getting it so confused with the other season.  It’s just so much prep because you’re involved in every step of it along the way, even more so than just being an executive producer.

You have the production meeting with the entire crew where you decide what prop will get used for this scene and what effect might be used for this scene or what camera might be used for this scene.  And then you’re working with the camera coordinator or DP on lightening and this and that staging.  And then you’ve got to get the actors to listen to you, which in this case is really difficult.

We all help each other out all the time anyways.  It’s a very collaborative effort always, but when you’re the director you get so nervous.  It’s like, “What if Joey doesn’t want to listen to me?  What if Taylor won’t go where I tell her to?  What if they don’t like my ideas?  What if they think I’m terrible?  What if I annoy them?  What if I don’t say enough?”

So it’s always hard being an actor and talking to other actors, but I think that other actors kind of respect an actor’s director more so than a camera director because you’ll get help with your acting.  You’ll get attention paid to your actual performance as opposed to just, “Go here.  Go there.  Stay in your light.  Get on camera,” because you have different kinds of directors.  You have ones that just care about the camera and the lighting and then you have ones that also care about the performance.

As an actor I’ve seen that, and it’s difficult sometimes to not have someone paying attention to your performance when you really want that guidance.  So luckily we all take great notes and we adjust and we’re very collaborative.  So it’s a really fun process, but you just get nervous like, “What if they don’t like my ideas.”  So it’s a lot of work.

And then you’ve got to do the editing once that episode is done.  When you’re acting, it’s Monday to Friday.  When you’re directing it’s like a three to four week process.

 

Moderator   Having a background as a teen actor, do you think that’s given you a better insight into working with Taylor and Nick on the show?

M. J. Hart    It’s funny.  Joey and I both—they both respect us a lot, which is really nice.  Teenagers, you never know if they’re going to totally rebel or be willing to learn, and they’re both really willing to learn.  They really want to be in this business for a long time and they see what we’ve been able to do and they have shown that they really respect us.  So it’s nice because we feel free to be able to tell them, “When you do this or you do that be careful,” or, “Watch out on social networks.”

They come to us sometimes with advice too, “What should we do with our career this way or that way?”  And Taylor and I have become very, very close.  She turns to me sometimes for boy advice and she baby-sits for me once in a while, which is really nice.  So it is, it’s a great little working relationship.

Joey and I are constantly rolling our eyes and having flashbacks to our own years on sitcoms when we had aunts and uncles and parents on the show, and now here we are basically the aunt and uncle of these teenagers.  On Sabrina I had two aunts.  So now I’m the aunt.  It’s weird.  I hear myself saying things that they would say to me like, “You need to wear a bra.”  I hear myself say it and I go, “Gosh, I remember rolling my eyes at Caroline Rhea when she said that to me.”

It’s funny; the tables have turned a bit.  But we’re really lucky that we have good kids that are willing to listen, learn and be a part of the cast, really be an active part.

 

Moderator  Have you guys ever shot a scene where you couldn’t stop laughing?  Like you just kept doing bloopers?

M. J. Hart    Yes.  We’ve had a few of those.  There have been a few.  We use iPhones on the set and sometimes we snap pictures with the iPhones.  And then other times we have to be pretending we’re looking at the phone and kind of turning it to each other and saying, “See look.  See the message,” or whatever, but there’ll be a stupid picture on the phone and it just makes us giggle and it’s always hard to pull it back.

I think there was an episode coming up where Nick had to eat a lot of junk food, junk food from the vending machines at school as a school project for Taylor to write about in her blog.  There were snowballs and all this stuff on the set.  He was trying to eat but he was just so disgusted by all the food he had to eat.  There was a lot spit takes in that one.

 

Moderator    What challenges will Mel be facing with the kids this season?

M.J. Hart    Well they’re getting older.  There’s an episode where Taylor tries to befriend the new girl that she sees at school because she was the new girl last year.  So she’s trying to be the good person by bringing this girl into her circle and trying to befriend her, but realizes that not everybody wants to be popular or liked or taken under someone’s wing.

There are a few episodes about relationships.  Nick has a little girlfriend who we adore on the show.  She’s been back and forth a little bit, Holly.  She pretty much tortures him.  So there are a few episodes with her involved.

And Taylor has a few episodes where she’s got a romantic guy with her.  The one I directed with her and—what was the actor’s name?  Anyway we’ve got these great little teen actors on the show and one of them plays her boyfriend for—for a few episodes—and there’s a nice little story line that happens with her and that relationship and us giving her relationship advice and stuff like that.

So the typical teen stuff, but they are getting older and they’re starting to teach us a few things as well.

 

Moderator       What do you admire most about Mel?

M.J. Hart    She’s really determined.  She sets her heart to something.  She thinks she’s got the—when she thinks she’s on the right path or she thinks there’s a mission to accomplish she will get to it.  She will finish that mission.  She is one of those women that is determined and has her convictions and sees things through, but she does it in a really silly, funny way.

 

Moderator   We know last season ended when you kissed Joe when you left his apartment and then you guys kind of didn’t really address it through the rest of the episode and then he moved back in.  Is that going to be something that is addresses this season?  I know you mentioned you guys both are going to have different love interests.

M. J. Hart  No, once we moved back in together I think the whole idea was that we realized we can’t have a working relationship and—I think the idea behind that was that when we were thinking about living separate lives we could maybe date, but the fact that we’re under the same roof kind of trying to raise these kids together, again, doesn’t leave much room for romance.  So that got left behind in season one.

So season two will pick up sort of the same way season one did, which is just that constant, “Is he the right guy for me?”  “Is she the right girl for me?”  “Am I missing the person that’s right under my nose,” and then that whole, “No, I don’t want to be with that person.”  So it’s that cat and dog, that constant flirting but never really getting together moonlighting kind of thing.

 

Moderator  It’s a fun story line to watch.  So I hope it kind of continues to weave in and out.

M. J. Hart     We both believe, and I think the network and the writers are behind us on it, we’re fine with hinting at it once in a while and winking at the audience a little bit like we know we should be together but it’s not going to happen.  But we don’t think that that relationship, unless we can come up with a really interesting new twist, the Ross/Rachel sort of thing.

When you get these characters together a lot of time it sort of kills the drive of the show.  It kills the funny.  And part of the funny part of this show is that they’re idiots that they’re not getting together, but at the same time it works for them.

So I think that maybe we’ll do a season finale at some point or do a show finale where they get together, but I don’t think—I’d rather them have a baby together than get together.  Have like a one-night fling kind of thing.  I think that would cause a lot more—you want that sexual tension, I think.  It really drives the show.

 

Moderator    Is there a particular scene that you had with Joey, as you think back over the past few episodes that really stand out as one of your favorite highlights since working on the show?

M. J. Hart   There have been a few.  I mean the season ender in season one was pretty great.  There’s a scene in his apartment and we’re eating Chinese food and there’s that moment where we could kiss.  We might not kiss.  We’re sharing Chinese.  It’s dark.  There was that—that was a nice moment.

But the ones we really like are the ones where we’re just bickering endlessly, and it’s that fast paced, quick, cutting humor.  There are a few scenes I can remember in the kitchen around the island, in the season coming up, where it’s just—I think one of the ones I’m thinking of is the sperm donor episode where we just are tearing into each other.  I’m picking on him.  He realizes he was wrong or vice versa a lot of the time, where one of us is just kind of poking at the other one.

And it’s that fun, fast comedy that you don’t really see that often anymore.  You see a lot of it in old movies like “His Girl Friday,” where it’s that fast paced humor going on, and we like to do that.  Those are the ones when we have a hard time not cracking up at each other.  But one of the more sentimental moments was definitely the end of season one.

 

Moderator    Another episode that our listeners at the radio station really love is the interaction between you and your kids, and one of them would be you going out with Lennox to a concert and getting kicked out of the club. How much of those particular episodes or how many of those moments do you actually get input on?  Is any of that based on true to life experiences of Melissa or Joey?

M. J. Hart     The structure of it’s always there from the writers, but then we like to tweak it within itself, like the episode with climbing out the window and stuff like that.

I like to constantly remind the writers, not that they need a lot of reminding, that I don’t know what I’m doing here, that I don’t want to know what I’m doing.  I want to make mistakes, as a parent.  That’s where a lot of the humor comes from, and that’s true to life, I think, too.  We’ve been thrown these teenagers.  It’s not like we raised them from scratch.  There’s a lot of room for error.

What I really like to do is go look at my natural parenting instincts and do the opposite.  So a lot of the time if I feel like there’s something that can be the opposite or there’s an episode where we’re kind of lecturing the kids too much we’ll go sit down with the writers and say, “We think it’d be really funny if the kids actually lectured us on this,” or if Lennox and I are both sneaking into the house late at night and have to shush each other because we don’t want to wake up Joey.  Both of us don’t want to get in trouble, inappropriate behavior as adults really.

 

Moderator     It seems like there are a lot of chances for improvisational on set with your cast.

M. J. Hart      We do.  That’s what’s great about doing the live show too.  We shoot live on Friday nights, which I’ve never really done before, but it does really help because you get to try out different jokes in front of the audience.  You do three or four takes and you try out a few different jokes and see which one gets the biggest laugh and then hopefully the editor will use that one.

It’s fun to be able to sort of improve that stuff.  And sometimes one thing will happen that’s totally authentic and natural and they’ll use it in the episode, which is wonderful.

 

Moderator    You were a child actress on Nickelodeon on the first series with a female lead.  And back then we all know the network had some doubts about whether teens would actually tune in.  So now that you’re on a network kind of known for this genre is that something that attracted you to ABC Family?

M. J. Hart     ABC Family has been doing great things for years now.  Well they had Sabrina on the air for many, many, many years and they also did my wedding as a reality show way back when, nine years ago.  They’re just one of those networks that has gotten stronger over the years.  They’re backed by Disney and Disney’s principals, but at the same time they’re much more grown up.  They’re able to take more risks probably even than ABC proper just because it is cable.

But yes, it’s female driven and I think that they’ve realized that females are the consumers.  Females are the ones that are watching more TV while the men are tuned into ESPN, yet another Disney channel.  The women and girls are watching ABC Family.

I love that they took a risk with this show, especially Melissa & Joey, just being that they don’t really have adult humor on the channel.  They don’t really have comedy.  So now they’re starting to build these comedy blocks and they’re realizing that they’re actually drawing in men with our show as well, I think.

I noticed a lot of men, a lot of men, coming up to me and saying, “I love your show.  My wife made me watch it and now I’m hooked.”  And a lot more men are being drawn, I think, to the network now because of our show, which is great to hear.  It’s just fun because I think it’s really a kind of comedy men can get behind.

I think people these days, the audience is really searching for shows like this because there’s just not that much left on network.  There are great shows on cable and whatnot, but I also think a lot of those are big time commitment.  They’re these shows that are episodic.  So if you miss one week you’ve missed a lot.  I’ve missed the last few weeks of House.  So I feel like I’m totally lost.

But then with a comedy there’s not really that many like Friends, like The Cosby Show shows on the air.  And that’s what we really wanted to do was put that back out there.  I think they’re finding that it’s a real draw and that when people are finding it they’re really sticking with it.

 

Moderator    From your experience with ABC Family thus far, what kind of character crossovers maybe from other ABC Family shows would you potentially like to see in some of the upcoming Melissa & Joey episodes?

M. J. Hart   The fact that they don’t really have any comedies it makes it tough for a crossover with our show.  But last season we had a guy play my love interest for three episodes who was from Greek.  So that was fun.  He had so many fans on the network of course that tuned in to see him on our show that we got new fans because of that.

But hopefully they’ll bring—they have these new comedies coming out, and hopefully we’ll be able to get some really great actors to kind of come in and cross over a little bit, but as of right now we haven’t really had that discussion yet.

 

Moderator    What would your dream casting be for Mel’s very infamous sister and brother-in-law?  Have you ever thought about that?  Who you’d like to play them?

M. J. Hart    We’ve actually already seen the brother-in-law in a Halloween episode last year.  This season you meet her mom. And Chris Rich plays my dad in a few episodes, which he’s fantastic, so much fun.  We love having him on.  He’s just kooky funny.  He fits right in with us.

We have not seen my sister yet though.  But it’s funny.  I don’t know.  I’ve thought about it a lot, and I just don’t know.  It would be so tricky because she has to be a little bit older than me.  She has to look like the family.  She has to look like the kids because they’re her kids.  So it would be really tricky.

We have actually thought of someone that we thought looked like Taylor older, but now I can’t think of who it was.  But there are so many phenomenal actors out there.  I think it would be fantastic to even go out and to a casting and find a new talent.  Not just stunt cast it, but to find someone really funny who could really fit in and become a part of the continuing guest cast and come back and do a recurring possibly.

But I don’t know.  I’ll have to give that more thought.  Sorry I can’t give you a name right now.

 

Moderator      You have been a successful teen/child actor with Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.  And you made the transition to being an adult actress, which a lot of teen stars find difficult.  What has been the secret to your success with that?

M. J. Hart      I’m actually in the process of possibly writing a book about that because I don’t really know what that recipe is.  I think that a lot of the balance and success in my life comes from my family.  It comes from my mom and my dad and my siblings growing up, and now from my husband and my children and putting that always as a priority.  Having that as my balance, as my sort of gage of where to go with my life.

But as far as my career, I think it’s just been that at a young age growing up on the East Coast in this business I did a lot of auditioning.  It was pretty cut throat.  There was a lot of competition, and if you weren’t the best one for the job there was someone right behind you to do it.  So you had to work really hard.  You had to know your lines.  You had to hit your mark.  You had to have the biggest smile and think those Fruit Loops were the best thing ever.

And I think that I learned that if I want longevity I’ve just got to stick it out.  I’ve got to work hard, and that’s—I’ve never given up.  No matter—this career, in this business you just go up and you go down.  There’s no finding that soaring star to hitch onto and carry you off into the galaxy.  It’s constant work to reinvent and figure out the next role and keep working upward.

I’ve just learned that if I want to stick with it that’s what I’ve got to do.  If I want a career in this business and I don’t want to transition and do something else, then I need to stick with it.  Keep auditioning.  Keep meeting people.  Keep reinventing myself, finding great characters to play.

And that’s where producing comes in as well.  I started producing at the age of 17 because I wanted to have some control over the projects I was putting out there and the characters I was playing.  So producing has definitely helped.

And then also transitioning to directing because I got a little bit bored with the acting.  I wanted to be more creative and found directing.  So that’s been a great outlet for me as well just to keep me in the business.  I just love being on a set.  I don’t necessarily always need to act.  I just love being on a set.

 

Moderator      Is there an aspect or a quality about your character on this show that you enjoy playing the most?

M. J. Hart   I love that she’s a mess.  She’s a big hot mess and I love that because every other show I’ve played the characters have sort of been really put together and, you know, they’ve been careful with their choices and sort of always been the grounded centered ones of the show.  And this one I like that my character gets to be an absolute disaster and has to get her way out of—It’s kind of like I Love Lucy.  She’s constantly getting herself in a mess and having to figure it out, and I love that.

I love being able to be selfish and silly and just a little exaggerated.  I love being able to wear really high heels and not be able to walk in them very well and use physical humor as well as the words on the page to make people laugh.

 

Moderator      If you could create any new kind of TV show that you’ve wanted what would it be like?

M. J. Hart    You know it’s about reinventing the wheel, but I would like to just go back to old family comedy, kind of like what we’re doing.  I miss shows like The Cosby Show and Family Ties.  These shows that we grew up on that kind of gave us an outlet, a place to be entertained.  A place to also feel like we were represented on television as far as kids or teenagers or seeing parents misbehave.  Knowing that if Bill Cosby does that then my dad’s not so weird I guess.

Comedy is just lacking on television right now, and I miss having shows to go to where you can just laugh and forget your troubles for a half an hour.  And if you miss one you didn’t miss the—you can skip season to season and still be entertained.  So that’s what I would want to see come back on—and I’ve been, myself, trying to develop a few different sitcoms as well to try and get something out there.

But I’ve been working in the race world for a little while.  I love racecar driving, and I’ve been out pitching an idea for a racecar driving sitcom that I think would be really funny.  Kind of in the vein of “Taxi” as an adult comedy, but I don’t know.  Everybody is so afraid of the racing world so I don’t know if it’s going to happen.

 

Moderator    When you watch TV with your husband or with your kids can you tell us any sort of shows that you like to watch together?

M. J. Hart   My husband and I like to go through seasons these days of shows.  We did Friday Night Lights together last summer, and it just was amazing for our marriage and for us at night to put the kids to bed and just stay up watching episode after episode of Friday Night Lights in order.  We watched them all in about three weeks and it just—it was such a nice escape for us.

But now we’ve just gone through all the seasons of How I Met Your Mother and we’re currently trying to figure out what our next series is going to be.  I would like it to be Dexter, but I think he wants to do another comedy.  So we’ll see who wins that battle for the next one.

But with the kids, they’re really growing up quick right now.  They’re into Transformers and Avengers and all these shows that are on The Hub right now, but we still try to keep them tuned to Disney Channel and do things like Little Einsteins. 

We’re trying to keep them young because I’m so sick of the blowing up things in the house and play fighting and that kind of thing.  So I’m trying to really keep them tuned into the baby shows, especially since we have a new baby coming.  I want to keep it soft and quiet around here.

 

Moderator   How do you balance your career and your family?

M. J. Hart    Well that’s the trick.  That’s what everyone, I think, is striving for these days.  I work in L.A. but we live on the East Coast.  We live in Connecticut.  So during the season when the show’s going on I travel back and forth.  This last season for these 15 episodes we shot these 15 in 18 weeks and I came home almost every weekend.  I didn’t go more than ten days without seeing my kids this time around.

But the first season was tough because I went sometimes 16 days without seeing my kids, which was really difficult on me.  You can see that in the first season, as I gained a lot of weight in the first season, as the season progressed.  I think because of a little bit of depression being away from my family and having to do both, work and try to be a full-time mom.

I’m really lucky and blessed that I have a wonderful husband who also has a career like mine where he can do his music at home or at his studio and have time to be at the kids’ hockey games or bath time.  He makes them breakfast every day.  He’s very hands on and I’m really lucky.  Without him I couldn’t do it.

We also have a great nanny who is always with the kids.  So I know we have someone we can count to sort of fill my shoes a little bit when I’m gone.  But it is—it’s a constant, everyday battle of what’s the schedule?  Who can get whom for which activity?

But I made sure that this year I was home—my son left for kindergarten and the show gave me the week off to be with him for his first week of kindergarten.  So I try to schedule in important dates like that and be around for them for those things.

But it’s nice.  My boys are very well adjusted, luckily, and they don’t have a problem with me leaving.  They don’t like it, but they’ve really adjusted well to it and their teachers have all kept a close on them to make sure that—if they have any issues, we’ll all move back to California if we have to.  But I really like that they’re here sleeping in their beds with their friends and neighbors and school teachers and having a normal life.

And so I come home—I’m home this whole year.  Especially because I’m pregnant now we can’t go back to work on the show anytime soon.  So I get 2012 to just be a mom.  So I’m really blessed in a way that I get to be a full-time actress and a full-time mom.  Where this fall basically I was an actress and now I’m a full-time mom.

And like I said, without my husband here all fall I couldn’t have done it.  I couldn’t have gone back and forth.  I would’ve had to bring my kids with me and enrolled them in school out there and tried to figure out our lives out there, but I was lucky enough to leave them here at home.

 

Moderator     If your kids showed an interest in the entertainment industry, would you encourage them to follow in your footsteps?

M. J. Hart    Mason, the oldest one, he’s starting to.  But first of all, I don’t have the time to be taking them to auditions and get photos done and get them a manager, all that nonsense that goes along with it, but if they should show an interest in it, absolutely.  I’ll put them in music classes.  I’ll send them to acting camp in the summer.

 

Catch “Melissa & Joey” on Wednesday nights (8/7c) on ABC Family! Second Season premiere is on May 30th!

 

James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – Twice in a Blue Moon (as part of the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection) (a J!-ENT Video Game Review)

The third video game in the “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club” video game series takes the good from the first two games and gives us the best game of the series yet!  Challenging hidden objects games, puzzles and more in “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – Twice in a Blue Moon”

VIDEO GAME TITLE: James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – A Darker Shade of Grey (as part of the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection)

YEAR OF INITIAL RELEASE: 2010

VIDEO GAME GENRE: Hidden Objects/Interactive Hidden Objects

PUBLISHER: I-Play

MEDIA: PC CD-Rom

MEDIUM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP, Vista, Pentium 1.0 GHz processor or faster, 256 MB of RAM, 89 MB Hard Drive space, DirectX 9.0, Keyboard, Mouse

RATINGS: T for Teen

RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2010

VIDEO GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

Typically, when developers release a game based on a series that same year, two things come to mind.  One is two different development teams and the second would be a rushed video game series.

With the release of the third “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club” game titled “Twice in a Blue Moon”, what we get is the best in gameplay of the first two games, spoken dialogue and graphics which are much better than the previous two games.

So, what is “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club”?

In 2002, James Patterson released his first “Women’s Murder Club” novel “1st to Die” and since then created a total of eleven novels as of 2012.  The novels feature homicide cases and four women who have a group known as “Women’s Murder Club” who work together to solve each murder mystery.

The main protagonist is Inspector Lindsay Boxer who investigates various homicide cases and is aided by her friends Deputy District Attorney Jill Bernhardt (who tries to keep Lindsay within the law and issues the search warrants), Dr. Claire Washburn (who works in the forensics lab) and Cindy Thomas, a journalist at the San Francisco Bee.

In 2008, a ten episode drama series based on the characters aired on ABC and with the popularity of the novels and drama series, hidden objects games were released on the PC/Mac and the Nintendo DS.

For the PC and Mac, a trio of hidden objects games were released: “Death in Scarlet” (2008), “Darker Shade of Grey” (2009) and “Twice in the Blue Moon” (2009) and each were collected in a triple pack titled “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” in 2010.

Also attracting people to the “Women’s Murder Club” games was the fact that “Gabriel Knight” creator Jane Jensen was involved as a designer and director for the trilogy.

While each game revolves around homicide cases, what makes the third game much more interesting is the adversary.  What we have is a serial killer who is committing homicides copied from serial murderers such as  Jack the Ripper, H.H. Holmes, etc.

But this time, the killer is toying with the police, Inspector Lindsay Boxer and journalist Cindy Thomas.  Giving them clues before he commits the murderer, but for some reason, they are also receiving distressed letters from another person in connection with the serial killer.

This is Lindsay’s biggest challenge yet.  Will she be able to find the serial killer before he kills more victims?

INSTALLATION:

The “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” was easy to install and had no problems with installation whatsoever. There is one icon that is installed onto your desktop and when selecting the icon, you have a choice to click either of the three games. You can not install each game separately.

GAMEPLAY

“James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – Twice in a Blue Moon” is  major improvement over the past two games.  Where the first game was primarily hidden objects with puzzle elements and the second game focusing a lot more on the puzzles than the hidden objects, perhaps there were many complaints with “A Darker Shade of Grey” or a different developer because things are much different this time around.

First, the list of hidden objects to find makes its return to the “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club” game.  When “A Darker Shade of Grey” ditched it, I was upset, but the developers wanted to make sure that there was balance by incorporating the list of hidden objects of the first game to find pieces of a main hidden object of the second game, that it made it a much more enjoyable game.

As for the hidden objects, if one is easy, three is average and five is difficult, I give this game a three.  I found it average in terms of finding hidden objects.  They were not too small or too difficult to find, but there were some that were very challenging and even made me use a hint at times.  But for most of them, I didn’t need to utilize a hint, but that was fine with me.  No frustrating or hard to find (or transparent) hidden objects, they are there…but it’s up to you to find them.  I will say that there were a few that required precise mouse clicking on an object (primarily in one hidden object scenewhich featured a ripped letter sent by the serial killer that had gone astray all over the office).

As for the puzzles, the second game was challenging because it required some major mouse clicking.  The same can be said with this third game BUT I found these games much more easier on a laptop (mouse pad), where the second game…you literally needed to attach a mouse because time and timing was an issue.  This time, it was much easier than before.

With that being said, there were puzzles that were difficult and I had to click on “Solve”.  These were challenging and frustrating but would benefit those who wanted more of a challenge.  One featured journalist Cindy Thomas at a law school library and the object is to find books in shelves broken down by year.  But there are other students zipping away trying to get books and the object is not to crash into them.  I was literally playing about 20 times but kept losing at the end and had to hit solve.

The final game also features something bit similar but these two games are the ones that made me hit solve.  The others are not so bad, such as, putting a puzzle together or decoding a letter from the serial killer or a distressed mysterious person.

It’s important to note that Dr. Claire’s brown bottles of organization from “Death in Scarlet” returns in this third game and fortunately, it is not redundant and not too difficult.

A reminder that the game only gives you five hints per chapter for hidden objects and you always get a “solve” during the puzzles.  In terms of gameplay, I would say that this game will take anywhere between 4-6 hours, depending on one’s experience with hidden objects and puzzle games.

Overall, the gameplay was much more enjoyable for this third game and it’s something that developers can definitely build upon for future Women’s Murder Club games.

GRAPHICS:

The graphics for “Twice in a Blue Moon” is a major improvement.  The cut scenes are still in comic book style format, but instead of hand-drawn characters that are colored or characters that are slightly painted, this time they are all painted and the graphics for each scene look very good, beautifully detailed for a game made back in 2009.

AUDIO:

The music for “Twice in a Blue Moon” uses the same style of music as the previous two games but the biggest difference is the fact that there is dialogue.  Unfortunately, the dialogue is only at the beginning cut-scene of the game.  Not sure why they didn’t do it for the complete game but the intro cut scene has dialogue and in another scene which features someone calling out Lindsay’s name.  Other than that, audio was good and the spoken dialogue was a major improvement.

REPLAY VALUE:

No replay value.  Once you beat it, you’re done.  Unless, you want to beat the game without using a hint or solve, then I can see one wanting to replay the game.

I have to admit that the first two “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club” were games that I enjoyed its story, but felt the games had things that were good and bad, while the second game was much more frustrating despite the more entertaining storyline.  The good news is that “Twice in a Blue Moon” takes the good from the first two games in terms of hidden objects and puzzles, and with better graphics, audio and a really dark mystery storyline, it makes this game the best of the first three games.

“James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – Twice in a Blue Moon” was such a major improvement in gameplay but the storyline of trying to capture this serial killer, it’s what made this game so dark.  Especially how the game tries to incorporate the creepy mindset that the killer uses from previous homicide cases of major serial killers such as Jack the Ripper, H.H. Holmes to name a few.  And where the last games had suspects, these suspects have more to do with the storyline than how the other games have utilized them before.  In the previous two games, it was formulaic and you can literally tell who was responsible for the crime.  For “Twice in a Blue Moon”, it literally kept me glued to this game as I wanted to know who was responsible.

But there is no doubt that this third game is the best in this trilogy so far.   And with the price of the triple pack at under $10, for three games that last quite awhile and are not too easy or too difficult, it’s definitely worth purchasing “the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” for that low of a price.

Overall, I recommend the purchase of “Twice in a Blue Moon” but moreso, the purchase of “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” because you get three games for the price of one.  So, if you are wanting to give these “Women’s Murder Club” games a try, I highly recommend purchasing the “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club collection” rather than purchasing them individually.

For “Twice in a Blue Moon”, I give it a RATING: A-

 

Q&A Interview with Shaun Parkes of “The River” (for the DVD release of “The River – The Complete First Season”) (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

The horror/drama series known as “The River” is coming out on DVD via “The River – The Complete First Season” on May 22nd.

“The River” was created by horror filmmaker/writer Oren Peli (“Paranormal Activity” films, “Chernobyl Diaries”, “Area 51″),veteran TV writer Michael R. Perry (“Millennium”, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, “The Guardian”) and veteran TV writer Michael Green (“Smallville”, “Heroes”, “Everwood”, “Green Lantern”). The series also features Steven Spielberg as the executive producer.

With the upcoming DVD release of “The River – The Complete First Season”, J!-ENT will be featuring media Q&A’s with the several cast members of “The River”. We kicked things off with actor Bruce Greenwood, actress Elois Mumford and Joe Anderson, this time, we feature Shaun Parkes, who plays the role of Andreus Jude “A.J.” Poulaine.

Shaun Parkes is known for his roles in various films such as “The Mummy Returns”, “Notes on a Scandal” and TV series such as “Identity”, “Moses Jones” and “Harley Street”.  In “The River”, Parkes character of A.J. Poulaine is a cameraman who can rub people the wrong way with his sarcastic humor, but also his unwillingness to help people when they are in need.  He’s getting paid to film and he feels he doesn’t need to be involved whenever the others are in trouble.  And sure enough, people don’t take kindly to him when he behaves that way.

But like everyone on the crew in search of Dr. Emmet Cole, he also experiences the paranormal and begins to wonder if he should get the heck out of there.

Through this media Q&A we learn of how actor Shaun Parkes feels about working on “The River” and his thoughts on being part of paranormal thriller:

How would you describe your character in The River?

Shaun Parkes: AJ is a cameraman. He’s been brought to the Amazon solely to do that: to film people. He’s a top dude, but he’s not there to help or save other people, he just films whatever happens. He is like a news cameraman in a war-torn country where you see footage taken with a shaky camera. He’s one of those guys who’s been there and done everything. He’s not that scared, either. He knows it’s all about the shot. That’s who AJ is.

 

There are a lot of tense action scenes in The River. Was shooting the show as physically arduous as it looks on screen?

Yes, it was. For the most part, I have to do everything with a camera on my arm, which was very different to anything I’d ever done before. It was a real camera on my arm and it was filming everything, so I became an actor and a cameraman for The River. I had people coming up to me going: “Did you get that shot?” It takes on a whole different intensity for me.

 

The River is a paranormal thriller. How would you describe the supernatural element to the show?

Shaun Parkes:  There’s a lot of Amazonian folklore mentioned in the show. There’s a lot of mysticism and mystery. There are things out there that these characters don’t know anything about – and this group of people are confronting it and filming it at the same time. The producers didn’t want to create a show that was dependent on the look of monsters, so there’s a real psychological feel to the story. This isn’t Cloverfield or Super 8. The River is about a group of people reacting to what’s around them.

 

If you lived in AJ’s shoes and you saw all of these strange events happening around you in the Amazon – how far would you personally go before deciding the job wasn’t worth it?

I think I would have left right away! No, I’m joking. To be honest, I think I’d be interested for a while, but then I would have left. I can take quite a lot because I’m aware that there are things out there that I have seen and heard about that I couldn’t explain – but I find things like that incredibly interesting. I’ve also been in absolute panic when I was caught up in a riot, so I know what it feels like to be scared. I stood there and watched everyone else lose their mind, so I know that I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to panic too much. However, I don’t think I could stick around and carry on filming while a friend is being attacked or dying, which is what happens on The River.

 

Did anything scare you on the set of the show?

Shaun Parkes:  I will admit that a few things came very close to scaring me, but it wasn’t anything that was physically on set. It was the idea of the history of the location. We filmed in a haunted, old children’s asylum, which was located next to a cemetery and that was definitely creepy. There were lots of stories of abuse and how the nurses maybe killed a guy who was mistreating the kids. We were working with a local crew who refused to come into the asylum because of the stories from the past. There were people asking you: “Are you going in?” And I’d reply: “Yeah.” But then you watch your local colleagues standing next to you saying: “I refuse to go anywhere near that building.” That’s when it got scary. People really believed the stories. It was very creepy indeed.

 

How does a British actor end up on television in the USA?

Shaun Parkes:  I left drama school in London in 1994 and I worked in the UK for many years, doing various films, television and theater. And then a couple of years ago I decided to come to Los Angeles to give it a go. I love American TV and it all worked out well for me. I couldn’t be happier.

 

What do you like about American TV?

Shaun Parkes:  I love so much American television. I think one of the best TV shows ever made was The Wire. It absolutely blew my mind. And then you’ve got shows like Dexter and Weeds, too. I could go on mentioning loads more shows, but I’ll stop there. Obviously, The River is also one of my favorites. This whole project has been amazing to be involved with.

 

Is it rare for a British actor to find success in Hollywood?

Shaun Parkes:  To be honest, I know quite a few Londoners who have come over to the USA and are doing very well with various parts in TV shows and movies. We’ve all grown up together in the business over in London. Matthew Rhys, who was in Brothers And Sisters, and Andrew Lincoln, who appears in The Walking Dead, are both really good friends of mine. We were all in the same year at drama college, so we’ve known each other for half our lives. And then there’s Marianne Jean-Baptiste, too.

 

Was their success an inspiration for you?

Shaun Parkes:  Their success helped my brain realize that it can be done over here. If not an inspiration exactly, seeing these people come here and do something that they love to do within three or four years… Why wouldn’t I want a piece of that?

 

Have you moved to LA permanently now?

Shaun Parkes: No, I haven’t done that yet because it’s difficult to know what’s going to happen with my career. I’ve got a place in London that I call home, so I haven’t fully made the move to the States. We shot The River in Hawaii and I spent a lot of time traveling from London to Hawaii for the film shoot – but it wasn’t too much fuss. I’ll probably continue to travel like that for a while longer.

 

Is there a television production infrastructure in Hawaii that’s similar to shooting in London or in LA?

Shaun Parkes:  Lost was shot in Hawaii and that didn’t finish filming too long ago. We used the sound stages they used and we also used the same crew, too. It is fortunate for us to have the same people working The River who worked on Lost as they really know what they’re doing and they bring an element of professionalism that is very impressive.

 

Was there any discussion about where you should adopt an American accent for The River?

Shaun Parkes: I went in for three or four different auditions for two different roles – and I had to do two different accents for each of the roles. Essentially, they opted for the English accent because they wanted an element of realism and naturalism. They wanted the actors to be able to do things off the cuff. Sometimes with an accent, if it’s not your natural accent, it can be difficult to riff and improvise. However, they cast a British documentary crew with the British actor Paul Blackthorne (who plays AJ’s boss Clark Quietly) and a British cameraman, so it all makes sense.

 

Does your character get along with his boss?

Shaun Parkes: I guess it’s a fairly typical boss/worker relationship. Getting documentary footage is not similar to work in a creative film industry where you need to like the people around you; it’s an industry where you get the best people for the job. And in those situations, there can be problems with ego and there can be problems if you make desperate moves and you make desperate choices. At the end of the day, I don’t think AJ and Clark particularly love each other. I just think they respect each other for the jobs that they do – and that’s it. It certainly adds a fun dimension to their relationship.

 

“The River – The Complete First Season” will be released on DVD on May 22nd.

Images courtesy of ABC Studios.

(Note: The Q&A’s were conducted before the recent announcement that ABC had canceled the series.)

 

Q&A Interview with Joe Anderson of “The River” (for the DVD release of “The River – The Complete First Season”) (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

The horror/drama series known as “The River” is coming out on DVD via “The River – The Complete First Season” on May 22nd.

“The River” was created by horror filmmaker/writer Oren Peli (“Paranormal Activity” films, “Chernobyl Diaries”, “Area 51″),veteran TV writer Michael R. Perry (“Millennium”, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, “The Guardian”) and veteran TV writer Michael Green (“Smallville”, “Heroes”, “Everwood”, “Green Lantern”). The series also features Steven Spielberg as the executive producer.

With the upcoming DVD release of “The River – The Complete First Season”, J!-ENT will be featuring media Q&A’s with the several cast members of “The River”. We kicked things off with actor Bruce Greenwood and Elois Mumford, this time we feature Joe Anderson, who plays Lincoln Cole, the estranged son of Dr. Emmet Cole.

Joe Anderson has appeared in several films such as “Across The Universe”, “The Grey”, “The Crazies” and “Control”.  While he appeared in TV series such as “Midsomer Murders” and “Afterlife”, “The River” is Joe Anderson’s first major starring role, playing the main protagonist Lincoln Cole.

In “The River”, Lincoln Cole is a graduate student who’s plans are put on hold when his mother Tess tells him that a beacon for his father has gone off and that he may be alive.

For Lincoln, he has gotten use to the fact that his father is dead and because their relationship wasn’t that strong during his teenage to young adult years (as Dr. Emmet Cole chose his work over his family), he is reluctant in searching for his father but as a request from his mother, he decides to accompany her.

But Lincoln’s sanity is tested once he arrives to the Amazon jungle and starts to experience various supernatural situations that put him, his mother and the accompanying group in danger.  Will Lincoln be able to find his father?

Through this media Q&A we learn of how actor Joe Anderson feels about working on “The River” and his thoughts on being part of a horror drama series.

What attracted you to the role of Lincoln Cole in The River?

JOE ANDERSON: As an actor, I look closely at the character and arc of any prospective role. What is the dynamic and how many layers does this character have? Will I be stuck doing the same thing in a year’s time as I was in the second episode? When I read the script of The River, I knew there was no way that was going to happen. That really appealed to me. I thought the father/son relationship was really interesting and there were many places where the writers could go with this story. I was hooked from the very start.

 

How would you describe the relationship between Lincoln and his father?

JOE ANDERSON: It’s an estranged relationship. I like to equate what it must be like to grow up with a successful father to the thought of being the son of Mozart. If that was the case, you really wouldn’t want to play the piano in front of him. It’s a similar situation for Lincoln. Emmet Cole is a world-famous wildlife television personality. He’s about as successful as you can get. For Lincoln, going to medical school and leaving the life of the Amazon seems to be more of a surefire deal for him. If he does that, he wouldn’t end up making the same mistakes his father has. However, he’s tempted back to the Amazon when his father goes missing – and the story of The River continues from there.

 

When you read the script of the pilot episode, what did you think Lincoln’s arc was going to be?

JOE ANDERSON: The obvious choice would be for Lincoln to fill his father’s shoes and become a young Indiana Jones-type figure on the same crusade that his father was on. But if you take into account the issues that happened before the pilot episode and the fact that they have an estranged relationship, then that wouldn’t be an easy journey at all. I didn’t think the writers wanted Lincoln to step into those shoes. I thought it was more likely for his arc to be about forgiveness and understanding. He’s growing up and realizing that there’s more to life than books. He is studying for a good job, but there’s magic out there and I think that’s something that he wasn’t necessarily aware of – and that’s what he’ll be discovering.

 

When you first signed up for the role, did the producers go into detail about how Lincoln would develop as the show progresses?

JOE ANDERSON: I was left completely in the dark, but that’s what I loved about the project. Usually, when you read script after script, you can see a format developing. But with this premise, after a while you realize that your imagination is working overtime because there are so many possibilities. The writers don’t want to tell us more because they want to keep us in the moment. And it means you’re not worrying while shooting episode two about something that might happen in episode eight. You just live in the moment and I think that’s exactly what they wanted us to do.

 

What’s your standout memory from shooting the pilot episode in Puerto Rico?

JOE ANDERSON: There’s a scene in the pilot episode where we’re moving the boat and Leslie Hope [who plays Lincoln’s mother, Tess Cole] is trying to floor the engines to get the boat off a mud bank. Well, that was all for real; there was no faking involved. They basically put the boat on a mud bank and then realized they couldn’t get it off. When Leslie was revving the engines, there was mud, wood, stones and everything flying out of the back of that boat – and it wasn’t moving. There were other memorable moments as well, like the time we had to swim under the boat and shoot upside down in the water. We got a lot of nastiness in our ears when that happened.

 

Was the film shoot challenging?

It was definitely challenging at times. Later on, you’d find yourself playing a scene and you’d go deaf all of a sudden. You literally couldn’t hear anything because of what you got in your ears earlier. You learn to adapt very quickly when you’re working on a show like this.

 

How do you think the cast would handle a survival situation similar to the one your characters experience in The River?

JOE ANDERSON: I think we’d be okay because there’s a fair balance of ages on the boat. There’s a nice balance in terms of life experience, too. I think it all helps.

 

Did you have to learn about boating for the role?

JOE ANDERSON: No, not really. Obviously you don’t want to be saying starboard when it’s port, but it’s a flat-bottom boat for navigating shallow river channels and it’s not incredibly complex. It’s not like sailing a ship where you have to hoist sails or climb the masts. There’s none of that. On our vessel, you press forward and the boat goes forward. It’s really quite simple.

 

Did you have the opportunity to improvise any of the dialogue in The River?

JOE ANDERSON: The script is great, but sometimes we discover there are gaps in the dialogue that need to be filled once movement is added or other things are going on. That’s what makes the show so much fun for me as an actor. I look forward to the moments when we get to improvise or add a little something.

 

There are some hauntingly chilling moments in The River. Are you a fan of the horror genre?

JOE ANDERSON: I’ve always been a big horror movie fan, but I don’t want to see somebody sticking a screwdriver into someone’s head or anything gruesome like that. If they’re talking about doing it, then that might be quite interesting, but I prefer a different type of horror to the mainstream shocks and gore. I prefer psychological horrors like Michael Haneke’s Funny Games and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. It’s not scary but Allan Parker’s Midnight Express is another movie in my top three horror films. It involves people in horrific situations but at the same time is based in reality, which I love.

 

It sees like all of the characters in The River have hidden depths and secrets. Is Lincoln the same?

JOE ANDERSON: Definitely. I can’t say what, obviously, but there’s definitely more to Lincoln than you first see. Where you think there is one layer, there are actually eight – but you’ll have to watch to find out.

 

“The River – The Complete First Season” will be released on DVD on May 22nd.

Images courtesy of ABC Studios.

(Note: The Q&A’s were conducted before the recent announcement that ABC had canceled the series.)

 

Q&A Interview with Eloise Mumford of “The River” (for the DVD release of “The River – The Complete First Season”) (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

The horror/drama series known as “The River” is coming out on DVD via “The River – The Complete First Season”.

“The River” was created by horror filmmaker/writer Oren Peli (“Paranormal Activity” films, “Chernobyl Diaries”, “Area 51″),veteran TV writer Michael R. Perry (“Millennium”, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, “The Guardian”) and veteran TV writer Michael Green (“Smallville”, “Heroes”, “Everwood”, “Green Lantern”).  The series also features Steven Spielberg as the executive producer.

With the upcoming DVD release of “The River – The Complete First Season”, J!-ENT will be featuring media Q&A’s with the several cast members of “The River”.  We kicked things off with actor Bruce Greenwood, who plays the character role of the famous explorer Dr. Emmet Cole.  For our second Q&A, we feature Eloise Mumford, who plays Lena Landry on “The River”.

Eloise  appeared in several TV series such as “Lone Star” and “Crash”.  In “The River”, Eloise plays the mysterious character Lena Landry, who grew up with Dr. Emmet Cole’s son Lincoln (played by Joe Anderson).

Lena’s father is also missing and she accompanies Tess and Lincoln Cole along with the production crew to the Amazon jungle in hopes of finding her father.  But there may be more to Lena than the others may know about her.

What secrets is she keeping from Lincoln and the group about the missing Dr. Emmet Cole?

Through this media Q&A we learn of how Eloise got the role for “The River” and her thoughts on being part of a horror/paranormal drama series.

What attracted you to the role of Lena Landry in The River?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  I stumbled across The River by accident. I was auditioning for something else when I overheard two actors talking quite loudly about their favorite pilots. I’d heard about most of the shows they were discussing, but then they mentioned The River, which I hadn’t read yet. The one thing I remember about what they said was the fact that the producers were looking for actors who could act as realistically as possible. That was the whole focus of the show, that it is meant to seem real and it was like a documentary-style program. I thought to myself: ‘Huh, that’s interesting.’ As soon as I got out of the audition, I emailed my manager and I asked him: “Hey, what’s the deal with The River?”

 

What happened next?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  I went and auditioned for The River the next morning. After I did some scenes, the producers said to me: “Okay, great. Do you mind if we now interview you as the character?” I was ecstatic because I love that kind of thing. The show’s creator, Oren Peli, then interviewed me for 15 minutes as Lena Landry.

 

Did you think you aced the audition?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  When I left the room, I really wasn’t sure if I could pull off the role. Lena is a helicopter pilot and she’s very different to me – but I knew I’d love to be on a show where you’re given such freedom as an actor. By that night, I was booked to appear in the pilot. It was a crazy 36 hours of emotions, but I was thrilled to be part of such an exciting and fresh new show.

 

The show is about the search for Dr. Emmet Cole, but it’s also about survival in the Amazon. Are you much of an outdoors girl in real life?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  I am, luckily, which is why it was extra fun to shoot out in the open. It was also fun to get to do something where I could be tough and strong. As a young actress, it’s unusual to find a role where you get to be intelligent and have your own secrets and storyline, without it being about makeup and looks.

 

Talking of secrets, your character seems to know more than she is letting on…

ELOISE MUMFORD:  I’m not sure how much I can give away, but the audience soon figures out that Dr. Cole has been communicating with Lena. However, nobody is quite sure why or to what degree. I know I’m allowed to say that the show will explore how much Lena knows because she definitely knows more than everyone else in the group – but she doesn’t let on anything for a while. There is something really untruthful going on and Lena is being really secretive about her information.

 

What research did you undertake for the role of Lena?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  Lena is a helicopter pilot, so I read a lot about helicopters before we shot the pilot. I even watched the movie Blue Thunder, which is all about helicopters. As the show progressed, I found myself reading more and more about the Amazon, especially when it comes to the folklore and mystery of the region. It’s quite fascinating how much of the magic from the show isn’t made up. People actually believe in the magic of the Amazon and the folklore down there.

 

How much did your helicopter research help you tackle the role?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  I’ll let you into a secret… When you see me in the helicopter in the first episode of The River, that is the first time I had been in a helicopter in my life. But I learned pretty fast how to get out of it like a natural.

 

Did you enjoy shooting that scene?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  It was pretty funny because I had never been shown how to get out of a helicopter properly. As soon as I walked on to the set, I was told: “Okay, we’re rolling.” And I asked: “Wait! Aren’t we going to practice me getting out of the helicopter?” The chopper was going already and they replied: “No, Eloise… ACTION!” I just had to get on with it and guess what to do – but it was fine. I am actually quite good at it now.

 

How much have you learned about the Amazon and boating?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  I’ve had a blast filming the show, but we learned a lot along the way. I remember the first time we practiced in the little motorboats on the show. We zoomed around underneath these huge canopies – and now we’re all experts at it. That’s what is sometimes so thrilling about being an actor; you get to experience these things that otherwise you’d never get the chance to do.

 

There are lots of plot twists and secrets to this series. How much did they keep you in the dark about the big mysteries as the filming went on?

ELOISE MUMFORD:  As actors, we’re always somewhat in the dark because that’s the nature of TV shows. The producers need to be able to change things, so you don’t ever know too much about what’s going on in the future. You kind of ride the wave a little bit, which is also really liberating because you can just be in the moment and react to exactly what’s going on around you.

 

The River creator Oren Peli is famous for creating the horror movie franchise, Paranormal Activity. Did you watch any of his previous projects to research your role in The River?

ELOISE MUMFORD: When I landed this part, I rented one of Oren’s movies – but then I carried it around with me for a month because I get creeped out by horrors if I watch them alone. I kept trying to watch it in my hotel room, but I couldn’t do it. In the end, I watched the trailer instead – but even that creeped me out. When it came to shooting the pilot episode, I decided it was more important for me to get a good night’s sleep and to do well on the shoot than to watch Oren’s movies.

 

If you’re easily scared, were you frightened by the prospect of working on a paranormal show like The River?

ELOISE MUMFORD: When I heard about some of the plotlines for the first season of the show, I was definitely scared because I knew there were going to be a lot of creepy events happening. There was one scene in particular that I was extremely nervous about filming because it was incredibly intense, but I knew I’d be fine. It’s never as tense when you’re an actor and you know what is going on because you see all of the set-up. It’s not so much creepy as fun to be a part of.

 

Can you tell what scenes are going to be creepy to shoot when you read a script?

ELOISE MUMFORD: Usually, I can spot the creepy scenes – but most of the time it’s not creepy at all because we shot a lot of scenes in the middle of a soundstage surrounded by the crew. However, it’s very different when we’re out on location. During the first season, we shot a scene where we’re in the river in the dark. Joe Anderson [who plays Lincoln Cole] and I were actually in the water at 4 o’clock in the morning. There were bugs all over the place, fish swimming up against us in the water and some really strange sounds in the distance. That was genuinely creepy.

 

Has working on The River made you want to explore more roles in the horror genre?

ELOISE MUMFORD: I think what makes The River different from traditional horrors is that it’s far more about the suspense and the thrill of it. I don’t have a huge interest in being in straight-up horror films, but this is great because it’s very different. It’s been a thrill to shoot the show and I think it’s going to be a thrill to watch it. It’s suspenseful, chilling and a really fun ride.

 

“The River – The Complete First Season” will be released on DVD on May 22nd.

Images courtesy of ABC Studios.

(Note: The Q&A’s were conducted before the recent announcement that ABC had canceled the series.)

 

Q&A Interview with Bruce Greenwood of “The River” (for the DVD release of “The River – The Complete First Season”) (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

The horror/drama series known as “The River” is coming out on DVD via “The River – The Complete First Season”.

“The River” was created by horror filmmaker/writer Oren Peli (“Paranormal Activity” films, “Chernobyl Diaries”, “Area 51″),veteran TV writer Michael R. Perry (“Millennium”, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”, “The Guardian”) and veteran TV writer Michael Green (“Smallville”, “Heroes”, “Everwood”, “Green Lantern”).  The series also features Steven Spielberg as the executive producer.

With the upcoming DVD release of “The River – The Complete First Season”, J!-ENT will be featuring Q&A with the several cast members of “The River”.

We kick things off with actor Bruce Greenwood, who plays the character role of the famous explorer Dr. Emmet Cole.

Bruce Greenwood has appeared in many films including “Star Trek”, “i, Robot”, “Deja Vu” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”.  His voice can also be heard as Batman/Bruce Wayne on the animated series “Young Justice” and the video “Batman: Under the Red Hood” and the video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3″ as the Overlord.

In “The River”, Greenwood plays the role of the famous explorer Dr. Emmet Cole, who has gone missing on an expedition.   His disappearance has been a mystery but after six months since his disappearance, an emergency beacon has gone off.   This prompts his wife, son and a television crew to go to the Amazon jungle to find out what had happened to him and find out if he’s dead or alive.

Through this media Q&A we learn of how Bruce Greenwood got the role and the research he done in playing the role of Dr. Cole plus his feeling of filming the series in Hawaii.

Why did you decide to sign up for the role of Dr. Emmet Cole in The River?

BRUCE GREENWOOD:  I signed up for The River because the character of Dr. Emmet Cole was very different from anything I’ve played before. I play a lot of guys in suits, but this character was something new. It’s nice to play a man who is not a ‘cat in a suit’ with a hidden agenda.

 

Did you base your portrayal of Dr. Emmet Cole on any wildlife experts or conservationists in particular?

BRUCE GREENWOOD:  No, not really. I watched a lot of nature shows as a kid, so I had an idea in my mind about who I wanted Cole to be. However, my portrayal of this character isn’t based on anyone in particular.

 

Did you research the animals and environments that your character is familiar with?

BRUCE GREENWOOD:  With this show, you never know what you’re going to get handed on any given episode. Cole goes from knowing a great deal about the animals, the flora and fauna of the area to discovering more about the legends of the region, which is something he isn’t too familiar with.

 

Dr. Emmet Cole clearly has a passion for animals, but are you naturally good with them?

BRUCE GREENWOOD:  I am good with animals. In fact, I really like animals. I can calm them and they calm me. Do I have any pets? It’s a constant source of anguish for me, but I travel so much that I don’t have any animals at home. It’s a shame because I’d love to have pets. I just can’t right now.

 

The show’s pilot was filmed in Puerto Rico, but the rest of the series was shot in Hawaii. What were the major differences between the two locations?

BRUCE GREENWOOD:  Practically speaking, Puerto Rico is much further away in terms of time zones and mileage when you’re trying to run a show from Hollywood. In Puerto Rico, there was food that I’ve never had before, which was really interesting, but it made sense to shoot from Hawaii on a whole lot of levels, especially when a lot of your team hails from the West Coast.

 

Did you move to Hawaii when the show was filmed there?

BRUCE GREENWOOD:  I got to Hawaii in August 2011. I took off my shoes and socks, and I didn’t wear them again until November. It was awesome. My wife and I were looking at each other saying: “Wow, Hawaii!” And now we’re home again, my wife is now saying: “We could go back there for a while you know.”

 

The characters searching for Cole in the show find lots of old videos of him along the way. What was it like to film those short and often chilling pieces?

BRUCE GREENWOOD:  It was a completely new experience for me, especially as I had to hold the camera for many of the shots. We used all kinds of cameras, from big ones to little video cams, and sometimes it’s even strapped to our arms. All of the actors on The River get to shoot a little with the handheld cameras, which is really fun. It’s intense to try and balance what you have to do emotionally with what you have to do practically and logistically with the camera, though.

 

How does that affect your performance?

BRUCE GREENWOOD:  There’s a little more juggling involved than you’re used to. However, once you get the rhythm down, you can operate the camera and you can have part of your brain go: ‘I want to frame this is in a wonky way.’ You want to frame everything so it doesn’t feel perfect, but you also don’t want to be shooting right up your nose.

 

The River has a very international, diverse cast with actors from Germany, Mexico, Canada and Britain. Does that make it a different filming experience?

BRUCE GREENWOOD: Yes, because everybody comes with a little bit of his or her culture to the set. It’s a really great mix and they’re all wonderful people too. We’ve had a blast shooting the show.

 

How often do you get to work with the rest of the cast, especially as your character is lost and everyone his hunting for him?

BRUCE GREENWOOD: I’m not sure how much I want to give away by answering this question. For the first few episodes, I was definitely alone – but as I worked on the flashback scenes, I had the experience of working with the cast. Ultimately, we ended up working quite a bit together – but you’re going to have to watch the show if you want to know exactly what happens.

 

What tempted you to consider a TV series when you usually work on movies?

BRUCE GREENWOOD: If I’m told it’s a TV script, I usually say: “I’m busy. I’m busy. I’m canoeing.” But I talked to series creator Michael R. Perry and he talked to me thematically. The big themes that we’re trying to explore ultimately through the course of this series are things that I find really interesting. There are really large, classical themes like life and death, and what it means to be here. Is there a collective unconscious? There’s also a big father-son component to the arc of my character and Joe Anderson’s character – and those hold a special interest for me. Overall, it reached out to a lot of the things that I find really interesting. And then you get to work and you realize you’re making a scary show and it’s very different. It’s been a wonderful experience.

 

“The River – The Complete First Season” will be released on DVD on May 22nd.

Images courtesy of ABC Studios.

(Note: The Q&A’s were conducted before the recent announcement that ABC had canceled the series.)

 

James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – A Darker Shade of Grey (as part of the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection) (a J!-ENT Video Game Review)

The second game in the “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club” series, “A Darker Shade of Grey” featured an enjoyable and captivating mystery storyline, better graphics over the first game and also some challenging puzzles.  But it also takes a  few steps back by eliminating the hidden objects gameplay (utilizing lists)  of the first game and instead going for something new and different, especially using timed click-based games.  Some may love it, some may hate it. For me, “A Darker Shade of Grey” was good, but not great.

VIDEO GAME TITLE: James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – A Darker Shade of Grey (as part of the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection)

YEAR OF INITIAL RELEASE: 2009

VIDEO GAME GENRE: Hidden Objects/Interactive Hidden Objects

PUBLISHER: I-Play

MEDIA: PC CD-Rom

MEDIUM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP, Vista, Pentium 1.0 GHz processor or faster, 256 MB of RAM, 89 MB Hard Drive space, DirectX 9.0, Keyboard, Mouse

RATINGS: T for Teen

RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2010

VIDEO GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

In 2002, James Patterson released his first “Women’s Murder Club” novel “1st to Die” and since then have created a total of eleven novels.

The novels feature homicide cases and four women who have a group known as “Women’s Murder Club” who work together to solve each murder mystery.

The main protagonist is Inspector Lindsay Boxer who investigates various homicide cases and is aided by her friends Deputy District Attorney Jill Bernhardt (who tries to keep Lindsay within the law and issues the search warrants), Dr. Claire Washburn (who works in the forensics lab) and Cindy Thomas, a journalist at the San Francisco Bee.

In 2008, a ten episode drama series based on the characters aired on ABC and with the popularity of the novels and drama series, hidden objects games were released on the PC/Mac and the Nintendo DS.

For the PC and Mac, a trio of hidden objects games were released: “Death in Scarlet” (2008), “Darker Shade of Grey” (2009) and “Twice in the Blue Moon” (2009) and each were collected in a triple pack titled “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” in 2010.

Also attracting people to the “Women’s Murder Club” games was the fact that “Gabriel Knight” creator Jane Jensen was involved as a designer and director for the trilogy.

The second game of the series “A Darker Shade of Grey” begins with the four women of the Women’s Murder Club discussing how great there are no homicides in the San Francisco area and perhaps now is the best time to go on vacation.  And right about the time when Lindsay is looking forward to that vacation, she receives a call that a teenage boy was found dead.

The teenage boy is a student of Jackson-Moore Academy, a military school in the South.

While the death of the boy looks like an accident due to falling off a cliff, as Lindsay works on her investigation to know more about the identity of the boy, Claire’s forensic evidence points to not accidental death but murder.

When Lindsay brings up the evidence to Lt. Colonel Brad Burns, he immediately wants the military to conduct their own autopsy on the boy named Winston Adams.  And sure enough, the autopsy done by the military determines that the boy must have slipped off the cliff during his jog.

But Lindsay and the Women’s Murder Club feel strongly that there may be a cover up and now Lindsay travels to the South in order to conduct her own investigation as evidence is showing that Winston Adam’s death is not an accident, but a homicide.

INSTALLATION:

The “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” was easy to install and had no problems with installation whatsoever. There is one icon that is installed onto your desktop and when selecting the icon, you have a choice to click either of the three games. You can not install each game separately.

GAMEPLAY

“James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – A Darker Shade of Grey” is a hidden objects game that is much different from “Death in Scarlett”.  Whereas “Death in Scarlett” was a hidden objects game with puzzles, “A Darker Shade of Grey” is more puzzles than hidden objects.  In fact, there are no lists for the hidden objects like first game “Death in Scarlet”.  For “A Darker Shade of Grey”, you literally are finding two dozen pieces of shredded paper or coins or putting things back in place which lead you to puzzles that require you to put pieces back together or quickly using your mouse to click on certain objects before the time is up.

While this does add to the challenge of the game, it doesn’t help those who play on a laptop and use a mouse pointer pad on their laptop.  This is one of those games where you want to use a regular mouse connected to your laptop or computer and prepare to click things before the time ends.

Personally, I dislike timed puzzles that require quick clicking because I usually play hidden objects games while in bed.  Not sitting on my computer.  And so I’m usually using the mouse-based pad on my laptop which is not responsive during quick movements.  Especially during one puzzle which required quick clicking during a secret morse code meeting and another which Cindy has to play a duck game (think “concentration”) and find a duck and farmer before an alligator eats the duck.  Once again, you have to be quick.

The number of hints accumulate with each puzzle solved and you don’t get penalized for searching too quickly.  And for puzzles, you do get an unlimited number of “Solve” buttons.

While the hidden objects and many of the puzzles were easy, Claire’s forensic testing was not like the last game (which was redundant) but this time, I found the bottle organization system so difficult, I lost interest and clicked on solve.  And unfortunately, I had to skip many puzzles that were timed as I’m usually playing hidden object games in bed, not on a desk and with a separate, more responsive mouse attached.

I also noticed that this game was wanting more precise button clicks on objects.  There were times I was clicking on an object but it never disappeared.  When I clicked hint, sure enough it was the object I was clicking on many times before.  So, it’s another issue I had with this game is that it required exact positioning and can easily fool gamers that the object they were clicking on was not correct, when it actually was correct.

So, overall…in terms of difficulty, if one is easy, three is average and five is difficult, I give this one about a 3 or 3.5.  Because the hidden object challenges that existed in the first game was simplified, and objects were much easier to find, it’s the puzzles that are the most challenging in the game.

For those who are hardcore completionist, the good news is that there is a point system, so for those who want to get a perfect score will need to play everything without using a hint or using the “solve” button during the puzzles.

GRAPHICS:

The graphics for “A Darker Shade of Grey” featured much more detail in the painting of the characters, scenery and rooms.  The cut scenes are still done in a comic-book style format with word balloons but instead of all hand-drawn designs with basic coloring, this time they tried to give a balance of both hand drawn and painted figures.

AUDIO:

There is also an improvement of music as you do get more musical tracks, from the same guitar rock diddles to the synth suspense music.  Music was not obstructive to the overall gameplay, so that’s a positive.

REPLAY VALUE:

There is replay value for those who want to get a perfect score (via points) in the game and want to try playing without using a hint or using the solve button.

After the first game and complaining about the redundancy but enjoying the storyline, I was hoping that Jane Jensen would improve on gameplay for this second game.  But instead, the game not only gets rid of the hidden objects gameplay (ala the list of objects to find), the game is more puzzle-driven and require you to use your mouse and have quick reflexes.

For me, this was one of the first hidden objects games where there was more emphasis on the puzzles and the quick click games.  So, for this second game, you can’t casually play this lying on your bed, you need to use the mouse and prepare for timed puzzles that require you to move your mouse cursor and click.  While this will be no problem for those who play on their desktop PC and have a good mouse to count on, for those using the built-in mouse pad on their laptop will feel these timed puzzles are not worth the aggravation and some will choose to bypass them.

While I did enjoy the storyline and was happy that they gave this game ending credits, I really didn’t like the changes made to the hidden objects portion of the game, especially puzzles like the forensic lab organization system. Another thing that I disliked is that you are required to watch the cut scenes unlike the first game where one click you’ll bypass the wait for word bubbles.  But this time, you have to wait as the timed word bubbles are not quick.  In fact, if you do click while reading the cut scenes, it will ask if you want to skip the whole thing.  I did not want to skip the storyline, I just didn’t want to wait for each word bubble to come up in a slow pace.  I liked how the first game allowed you to click after you read a word bubble and quickly get to the next scene.

While the storyline, graphics, music and some hidden object games and puzzles were a step up, “A Darker Shade of Grey” was also a step-back for some gameplay elements.  I was surprised they dumped out so many of those elements (and without spoiling the third game, they did return to the basics and also improved gameplay for the third game, “Twice in a Blue Room”.  But it’s unfortunate that the positive things about gameplay in the first game “Death in Scarlet” was removed.  The problem for the first game was redundacy (for the forensic lab games) and small, hard to find objects.  Those could have been fixed easily in the second but instead, they changed the whole gameplay style and I wasn’t enjoying the puzzles as much.

Granted, there are some fun puzzles such as alluding the guard checking the hallways to using all washer and dryers at once but the timed quick click games that required near precise clicking, and also on hidden objects was another pain to deal with.

Fortunately, the storyline was too good to bypass and it made playing this game worthwhile.  I really enjoyed the storyline of this second game over the first.  And with the price of the triple pack at under $10, for three games that last quite awhile and are not too easy or too difficult, it’s definitely worth purchasing “the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” for that low of a price.

Overall, “A Darker Shade of Grey” was a game that featured an enjoyable and addictive mystery storyline but the gameplay that I enjoyed from the first game was left off the second.  Sure, “A Darker Shade of Grey” is not a perfect game and has its share of problems but fortunately, you do get enough hints and infinite solve buttons that the game can be completed, for those having difficulty playing the game.  It’s definitely a different gameplay style than the first game but there were a good number of improvements in “A Darker Shade of Grey” as well.  So, it has its good and bad points.  Fortunately, more positives than negatives.

So, if you are wanting to give these “Women’s Murder Club” games a try, I highly recommend purchasing the “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club collection” rather than purchasing these games individually.

For “A Darker Shade of Grey”, I give it a RATING: B-

 

James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – Death in Scarlet (as part of the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection) (a J!-ENT Video Game Review)

The first game in the “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club” series is a pretty challenging but enjoyable hidden objects game.  Unfortunately, there are games that are too redundant and start to take the fun out of the game, but overall, with a enjoyable mystery storyline and the ability to use three different players makes this game quite enjoyable.   Plus, for the low price of “the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” triple pack, it definitely makes this set worth buying!

VIDEO GAME TITLE: James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – Death in Scarlet (as part of the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection)

YEAR OF INITIAL RELEASE: August 29, 2008

VIDEO GAME GENRE: Hidden Objects/Interactive Hidden Objects

PUBLISHER: I-Play

MEDIA: PC CD-Rom

MEDIUM REQUIREMENTS: Windows Vista, XP

RATINGS: T for Teen

RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2010

VIDEO GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

In 2002, James Patterson released his first “Women’s Murder Club” novel “1st to Die” and since then have created a total of eleven novels.

The novels feature homicide cases and four women who have a group known as “Women’s Murder Club” who work together to solve each murder mystery.

The main protagonist is Inspector Lindsay Boxer who investigates various homicide cases and is aided by her friends Deputy District Attorney Jill Bernhardt (who tries to keep Lindsay within the law and issues the search warrants), Dr. Claire Washburn (who works in the forensics lab) and Cindy Thomas, a journalist at the San Francisco Bee.

In 2008, a ten episode drama series based on the characters aired on ABC and with the popularity of the novels and drama series, hidden objects games were released on the PC/Mac and the Nintendo DS.

For the PC and Mac, a trio of hidden objects games were released:  “Death in Scarlet” (2007),  “Darker Shade of Grey” (2008) and “Twice in the Blue Moon” (2009) and each were collected in a triple pack titled “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” in 2010.

The first game in the video game series is “Death in Scarlet” and would feature the work of Jane Jensen (best known for creating the popular “Gabriel Knight” series), who was the designer and director of the “Women’s Murder Club” PC/Mac games.

The story begins with a jogger finding a dead Chinese woman laying near the harbor, as inspector Lindsay Boxer is called in to investigate the homicide, she notices a woman with Chinese characters branded onto her chest.  Who is this woman and what are these letters?  Also, how did she die as there are no external wounds?

Next thing you know, another woman was found dead and this time it’s the popular Chinese newscaster on television and similar to the earlier death, she also had been branded on her chest and no external wounds.

Now the Women’s Murder Club must work together and try to find out if there is a serial killer on the loose and who is responsible before he/she kills another.

INSTALLATION:

The “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection” was easy to install and had no problems with installation whatsoever.  There is one icon that is installed onto your desktop and when selecting the icon, you have a choice to click either of the three games.  You can not install each game separately.

GAMEPLAY

“James Patterson Women’s Murder Club – Death in Scarlet” is a hidden objects game with puzzles.  You get a chance to play three of the four women.  Inspector Lindsay Boxer takes on the homicides and investigates various locations.  Hidden objects games if rated 1 for easy, 3 for average and 5 for difficult, this game would probably get a 3.5 or 4 depending one one’s experience with hidden objects games.  Part of the challenge is that each chapter, the player is only given 5 hints.  So, for those typically use a lot of hints, you have to make sure you use your hints wisely.

Most of the hidden objects were easy for me (as I play a lot of these games) but I admit that some were so small to find that those were the only moments I used my hint button.

The challenges are usually the puzzles.  While putting puzzle pieces are easy, one will find certain puzzles challenging and the good news is there is a “solve” button for each puzzle, for those who get easily stumped.  I have to admit that I used the “solve” button quite a bit primarily with Dr. Claire Washburn as each time Lindsay takes a blood sample for Dr. Washburn to analyze, you have to go through a redundant process of organizing the bottles (after finding the bottles, petri dishes and eye dropper which are all over her lab) in the correct order.  It’s one thing to do a redo a puzzle twice or even three times but in this game, you have to do these re-ordering of bottles quite often and I grew tired of them and ended up hitting “solve”.

Possibly the most entertaining games revolved around journalist Cindy Thomas who got to play a “guess the word” type of slot machine game in order to get a prize in exchange for information from fellow informants. Cindy gets into a lot of interactive puzzles such as controlling Cindy to visit an underground tunnel area to solving a variety of puzzles.

And with the storyline, for each of the three women, you visit and revisit areas to take on various hidden object challenges.  And some objects you need to utilize in an investigation or utilize in a puzzle.

As for hours to complete, I say about 5-6 hours at the most.  It all comes down to one’s hidden object searching skills but for the most part, this game is accessible for anyone with hidden object video game experience including beginners.

GRAPHICS:

The graphics are very good and are on par with many hidden objects games created back in 2008.  The actual storyline is told in a comic book fashion, with panels and word balloons.  But the main game is painted characters and scenery.

AUDIO:

The music is features a mix between guitar diddly to synth suspense.  It’s actually pretty good but for the most part, audio was good, not obstructive during gameplay.

REPLAY VALUE:

There is no replay value for this game. You beat the game and that is it.

I have been wanting to play the “James Patterson Women’s Murder Club” games for awhile and for the most part, one of the reasons why I wanted to play these games was that I’m a big fan of Jane Jensen’s work.

While I enjoyed the storyline of “Death in Scarlet” and its various twists and turns, part of what hampered this game a bit were the redundant games, especially involving Dr. Clarie Washburn’s bottles for blood testing.

There was just too much of it and I understand that her character is typically stuck in the forensics lab and most of the time you are doing blood tests but it started to become too redundant for my tastes that I skipped them by hitting “solve”.  It was fine for the first four or five times but when it started happening more often, I grew tired of it.

Otherwise I did enjoy the hidden objects part of the game and the challenge of only being given five hints per chapter.  While I didn’t have to use the hint button all that much, there were times were objects were just too small and I found myself having to get the monitor so close to my eyes, so I can see in the darker rooms.

I noticed that the TV series tend to focus on the women’s social lives outside of their career, I would expect the novels to probably do the same but “Death in Scarlet” focuses on the case and never strays away from it.  It’s about four women working together to solve a crime and that’s it.

While there is no replay factor in my opinion, for an earlier hidden object game, it was good but not great.  It definitely had a better storyline than some (including a longer ending, although I felt that it ended a bit abruptly on the final reveal) hidden objects games which tend to not put much towards the final scene.  And there was quite a bit of a challenge as the hidden objects and puzzles were also a bit challenging. And also, the ability to play three different characters was also quite fun!

And with the price of the triple pack at under $10, for three games that last quite awhile and are not too easy or too difficult, it’s definitely worth purchasing “the James Patterson Women’s Murder Club Collection”.

For “Death in Scarlet”, I give it a RATING: B-

 

Echoes of Sorrow (a J!-ENT Video Game Review)

“Echoes of Sorrow” is a fascinating, dark, hidden objects game with a very good story but also a game that has a few quirks such as its frequent loading times and questionable mouse positioning for exiting a scene.  But the gameplay and storyline made up for those little quirks and in the end, I really enjoyed “Echoes of Sorrow!”

VIDEO GAME TITLE: Echoes of Sorrow

YEAR OF INITIAL RELEASE: April 20, 2011

VIDEO GAME GENRE: Hidden Objects/Fractal Objects/Interactive Hidden Objects

PUBLISHER: Viva Media

MEDIA: (Available on several Viva Media Packs or as a download)

MEDIUM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 1GHz, 1 GB of Ram, 400 MB, Video Card 256 MB VRAM

RATINGS: E for Everyone

RELEASE DATE: April 20, 2011

VIDEO GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

Viva Media is a distributor known for releasing hidden objects and adventure-lite video games created by Russian video game developer/publisher Alawar Entertainment.

And most often, there are some games that are featured in a variety of collector’s editions or video game packs.

One of those games is “Echoes of Sorrow” which can be found in the “Sacra Terra: Angelic Night – Collector’s Edition”, “Legends of Terror -12 Game Mega Pack” or the most recently released “Mystery Masters Secret Stories Collection – 15 Pack” or available online via download.

“Echoes of Sorrow” revolves around a young woman named Rose and the game begins with Rose running away from a man who appears to be after her.  She trips and hits her head on a rock and is taken to the hospital.

As Rose lies unconscious, she is take into a dreamworld where everything looks dark.

In the middle of a courtyard is a statue of a woman chained and four areas that can be visited.  A home, a college, a prison and a church.  What do these areas signify for Rose and who is this dark ominous shadow looking at her?

Help Rose through her unconsciousness, piece together important and tragic moments of her life and bring her back to consciousness.

INSTALLATION:

“Echoes of Sorrow” was included with my “Sacra Terra: Angelic Night – Collector’s Edition” and installation was easy. Viva Universal dashboard appears and you can select which game to install.  While others had problems with the downloaded version, the versions included with the packs have no problem on my Windows XP laptop.

GAMEPLAY

“Echoes of Sorrow” is a game that is hidden objects (HoG), fractal objects (FRoG) and interactive hidden objects (IHog) and is a casual game with very few puzzles.  If anything, this game is a straight-up hidden objects game but definitely one of the better storylines in an Alawar game (that is included in several packs).

The game is dark and eerie but it fits perfectly with Rose’s storyline as she has suffered quite a bit of tragic moments in her life. With that being said, this is not a horror video game but a game about one young woman trying to piece together things from her life, tragic moments that lead to a surprising conclusion.

The storyline is well-presented with cut scenes and movement (not fully animated) but the good news is that these scenes are longer, especially how things are ended.  It’s not as abrupt like other Alawar Games, there was a build up of storyline and I’m glad the developers focused not just on gameplay but also the storyline.

The areas you visit are areas that are familiar to her and require one to play through a hidden objects area, open up a special item which then can be used in another area.  As you progress in the game, certain things can only be found  in one area and you’ll have to backtrack to that area later on in order to complete it.  So, there is interactivity with the hidden objects and a few fractal objects that you need to put together.

The gameplay takes about 4-6 hours depending on one’s ability to find hidden objects.  But there is a hint button that can be used during the hidden objects section and it reloads quickly.  You will not get penalized for multiple selection mistakes and the difficulty level, if one is easy, three is average and five is difficult, “Echoes of Sorrow” would get a three.

Personally the hidden objects sections are not that difficult but it took awhile to figure out that you can’t complete one section 100% (that is what took me awhile to figure out), you need to keep progressing in the game by visiting areas when they are open and then get these objects to bring them back to another area.  Puzzles are mostly putting pictures that were ripped together or putting pictures in an album or wall, but because the shadow of the pictures can be seen, you can figure these puzzles quite easily.

While the hidden objects gameplay and the storyline were very appealing, the game does have three quirks.

The first will most likely test beginners as the hint is only for the hidden objects.  It will not tell you where to go put the objects or where you should go next.  Fortunately, there are not many scenes to visit, so it doesn’t get too confusing but you need to observe and move your mouse around to know which objects you need to find later in the game.

The second quirk is the mouse positioning to exit out of an area is too high.  Typically, you need to go towards the edge of the screen to leave an area, but in this game, they didn’t do that.  So, you need to make sure that if you are an inch or an inch-and-a-half away from the edges of the screen, that if you are trying to search for a hidden object, you aren’t whisked away from that scene.

And this leads to probably the worst quirk of the game.  It’s the loading times.  It’s something you don’t usually see in Alawar Games as going from one area to another is fluid, but for this game, each scene will bring up a load screen.  Some that takes seconds to load and others that may take a minute to load.  So, with the mouse positioning quirk, I found myself going back and forward to scenes which took a while to load and while my patience was slowly getting tested, those who don’t have any patience at all, will probably go crazy by the load times.

But aside from the loading screens, “Echoes of Sorrow” had really good gameplay and a much better storyline compared to other casual Alawar Games that I have played.

GRAPHICS:

As for the graphics of this game, the settings are well-detailed, dark and eerie.  But it’s a game that looks very good although a game that looks as it was developed several years ago and was released in 2011.

AUDIO:

The music is actually pretty good for this game, but like other hidden objects games, it’s piano and synth-based and doesn’t interfere with overall gameplay.  One of those soundtracks that you hear mostly during the loading screen or the title screen but since you are focused on the gameplay, you’re probably not going to remember the music all that much.

REPLAY VALUE:

There is no replay value for this game. You beat the game and that is it.

For a game that comes with various Viva Media packs, “Echoes of Sorrow” is a fun game and those who want to slowly get into more dark and eerie type of games.

To tell you the truth, aside from the look of the game and certain scenes of violence, by no means is this game horror-based.  Without spoiling the game, all I can say is that Rose has suffered a lot of tragedies from her childhood, her teenage years and adulthood.  She is a person that has suffered a lot of pain and the object of the game is trying to help her out and piece things together.  But when you find out what happened in her past, you can’t help but be surprised by certain story elements.

It’s important to note that while this game is available for download, if you are a frequent purchaser of Viva Media/Alawar Games, I recommend purchasing the “Legends of Terror -12 Game Mega Pack” or the most recently released “Mystery Masters Secret Stories Collection – 15 Pack” as you get more bang for your buck as you get other games that you will probably be paying $8-$10 for.  But instead, will pay between $16-20 for a dozen or more games.

As for the game, it’s a straight-forward hidden objects game for the most part with some interactivity and some fractal objects that have to be found. There are very few puzzles, but they were very easy to complete.  The game is overall a casual game and it gives players anywhere between 4-6 hours of gameplay.

The game does have its quirks and the mouse positioning of going from one scene to another, plus the long loading times is a bit of a drag, but to play this game and really get into the overall storyline made it worth it.

For “Echoes of Sorrow”, I give it a RATING: C+

 

Amanda Rose: The Game of Time (a J!-ENT Video Game Review)

“Amanda Rose: The Game of Time” is an enjoyable sci-fi game but it’s also a very easy hidden objects game.  The fact that the game can be found in various Viva Media collection packs, the game is primarily for casual fans and beginners of hidden object video games.

VIDEO GAME TITLE: Amanda Rose: The Game of Time

YEAR OF INITIAL RELEASE: 2010 (the 4-pack was released in 2012)

VIDEO GAME GENRE: Hidden Objects/Fractal Objects/Interactive Hidden Objects

PUBLISHER: Viva Media

MEDIA: (Available on several Viva Media Packs or as a download)

MEDIUM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 1GHz, 512 MB ram, 405MB HD, Video Card 32MB 3D, DirectX 8.1 or Later

RATINGS: E for Everyone

RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2011

VIDEO GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

Viva Media is a distributor known for releasing hidden objects and adventure-lite video games created by Russian video game developer/publisher Alawar Entertainment.

And most often, there are some games that are featured in a variety of collector’s editions or video game packs.

One of those games is “Amanda Rose: The Game of Time” which can be found in the “Sacra Terra: Angelic Night – Collector’s Edition”, “Legends of Terror -12 Game Mega Pack” or the most recently released “Mystery Masters Secret Stories Collection – 15 Pack” or available online via download.

“Amanda Rose: The Game of Time” revolves around a young woman named Amanda Rose who receives a message from her father that she will be receiving news that his plane has been involved in an accident, but he is doing fine.  But he has discovered something that will require the help of his daughter, but first she must head to the crash site and find a cube that was left for her.  And off Amanda goes to retrieve this cube that her father had left for her.

What is going with her father?  And why is he sending these mysterious messages to her?

Sure enough, as Amanda goes to retrieve the cube, she collapses…but when she wakes up, she’s no longer in her own time period.  Apparently, she was sent back in time possibly sometime during the 1800′s.  With messages left with people in town for Amanda, it appears that her father and a friend also went back in time but have discovered something amazing.  But what did they discover?

INSTALLATION:

“Amanda Rose: The Game of Time” was included with my “Sacra Terra: Angelic Night – Collector’s Edition” and installation was easy.  Viva Universal dashboard appears and you can select which game to install.

GAMEPLAY

“Amanda Rose: The Game of Time” is a game that is hidden objects (HoG), fractal objects (FRoG) and interactive hidden objects (IHog) with a few puzzles and about 15 chapters of quick gameplay.  If anything, this game is casual and in terms of hidden objects, the game in difficulty if 1 is easy, 3 is average and 5 is difficult, it would be about a 2.5.  Everything was very easy to find, puzzles were not difficult and as games typically get more challenging towards the end, this is one of those games that gets easier.

First, let’s discuss how gameplay works.  “Amanda Rose: The Game of Time” has Amanda first searching a room for hidden objects, followed by a second round of hidden objects which can be interactive.  Some objects are needed to open a door, drawer or activate some machine or vehicle.  The scene is not isolated to one scene as objects may require moving to a room next door or room upstairs, but the load times are fairly quick and not noticeable.

And there are times where you run into a few puzzles but this game was too easy in the puzzle department and if anything, the focus is more on the hidden objects.

As for the storyline, the storyline is not CG-animated but told in a comic book panel type of way.  But at least the storyline is coherent, easy to follow and does make sense.  As each chapter is focused on, I found myself breezing through each chapter fairly quickly, some less than 5 minutes.  Average gameplay time is about 3-4 hours at the most.  And fortunately, the ending is not as abrupt like other early Alawar related games which last only a minute.  This one lasts a few minutes but at least the ending coincides and supports the cut scenes.

I did encounter one major glitch and that is the final astrology-based puzzle.  While the game crashed, when the final chapter reloaded, the puzzle wouldn’t load.  All that is displayed was a swirling background and  all I can do was skip the puzzle, since the puzzle wasn’t loading.  And sure enough, by doing that, the game was over.

But overall, gameplay was fun, fairly easy and not as challenging. But for those who are looking for something not too difficult and are a beginner to these type of games, “Amanda Rose: Game of Time” is perfect for the beginner.

If by any chance, you do get stuck and need help, I recommend visiting this link on the Big Fish Games website.

GRAPHICS:

As for the graphics of this game, the settings are well-detailed, I liked the use of the comic book style panels but for the actual game and hidden objects, the scenery looks very good!

AUDIO:

The music is actually pretty good for this game.  From a piano-based medley to sound effects that benefit that certain setting (such as an investigator’s radio or Native American drums).

REPLAY VALUE:

There is no replay value for this game. You beat the game and that is it.

For a game that comes with various Viva Media packs, “Amanda Rose: The Game of Time” is a fun game but it’s way too easy and probably not much of a challenge for experienced HoG gamers.   It’s a very casual game that beginners to hidden object games will probably want to try out, but even intermediate fans may like the overall gameplay and also its fascinating plot of time travel.

Also, the graphics and audio are pretty good considering the game’s easy difficult level.  But the positive of this game is unless you are downloading this game, this game can be found in other it Viva Media packs or the “Sacra Terra – Angelic Night – Collector’s Edition” for free.

But despite the game being free, it still plays better than some other games I have played from Alawar Entertainment.  And I liked how it incorporated hidden objects, fractal objects and also interactive hidden objects with puzzles all in this one game.

But there is potential with the Amanda Rose storyline and perhaps Alawar Entertainment can follow-up with her character in a brand new storyline.

Overall, “Amanda Rose: The Game of Time” is an enjoyable, casual and easy PC game for those wanting a hidden objects video game without the frustration.

For “Amanda Rose: The Game of Time”, I give it a RATING: C+

 

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