Curt Schleier is a freelance writer and author who covers business and the arts for a variety of publications. Follow him on Twitter at @tvsoundoff.
Curt Schleier
By Curt Schleier
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Culture This 25-Year-Old Jewish Guy Plays SpongeBob On Broadway
NEW YORK (JTA) — There’s a new star on Broadway and his name is — wait for it — SpongeBob SquarePants. “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical” opened earlier this month to rapturous reviews. And no one collected higher praise than the title character, played by Ethan Slater, a graduate of Ramah summer camps. For those unfamiliar…
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Culture Robert Smigel Shows His Serious Side (And Triumph’s Back Side)
Robert Smigel has spent a good deal of his professional life with his hand up a dog’s tukhes. And, no, he is not a veterinarian. Smigel is a comedian, writer and producer and his canine companion, Triumph, the insult comic dog, is the Don Rickles of pooches. Beyond the snappy lines, though, beyond handling (literally)…
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Fast Forward Family Learns They’re Scarlett Johansson’s Relatives — From ‘Finding Your Roots’
(JTA) — Turns out you don’t actually have to be a guest on Henry Louis Gates’ PBS show “Finding Your Roots” to, well, find your roots. Gili Rozenfeld, 29, a video editor who lives in Tel Aviv, caught a glimpse of the episode that ran Tuesday on Israeli TV showing actress Scarlett Johansson tearing up…
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Culture Rob Reiner Talks Judaism, Movies And ‘Home Shuling’
(JTA) — By his own admission, Rob Reiner was not the right person to direct “LBJ,” a film biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States. “I had a lot of trepidation,” he said in a telephone interview with JTA. In addition to a successful career as an actor, Reiner is…
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Fast Forward Paul Rudd Tells ‘Finding Your Roots’ About Family’s Struggle With Anti-Semitism
(JTA) — Paul Rudd, in a forthcoming episode of the PBS series “Finding Your Roots,” learns about the anti-Semitism his grandfather endured in England in the wake of World War II. Just how does he learn of this information? Courtesy of a Jewish Telegraphic Agency news brief that was published in 1947. “The Hempstead, Edgware, Catford…
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Culture How ‘E.T.’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ Reveal Steven Spielberg’s Story
Susan Lacy had a much better interview with Steven Spielberg than I did, so I’m understandably jealous. She spent about 30 hours with the director, and was able to elicit nuggets about his life and work that form the basis of Lacy’s appropriately titled documentary, “Spielberg,” which debuts on HBO Oct. 7. Like many, I’ve…
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Culture How Emmy Runner-Up Jackie Hoffman Journeyed From Shtetl to Hollywood to Broadway
At last night’s Emmy Awards, actress Jackie Hoffman gained notoriety for seeming, uh, ungracious for her reaction to losing out on a trophy to Laura Dern. To commemorate (or observe) that open, we’re re-running our interview with the actress from earlier this year. Actress/comedienne Jackie Hoffman has long been a fixture on the New York…
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Breaking News Ralph Friedman, New York’s Toughest Cop, Is Now A TV Star
(JTA) — There are almost as many reality cop shows on television as there are Real Housewives. “Cops” is the granddaddy of them all, in its 30th season, plus there’s “Night Watch” and “Live PD,” to name just a few. The newest is “Street Justice: The Bronx,” which premieres Sept. 19 on the Discovery Channel….
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