MONDAY OCTOBER 26 2015 5

tonight television

MONDAY OCTOBER 26 20154

tonight television

THE CSI franchise has been a keycontributor to the crime drama genreon TV. While CSI, CSI: NY and CSI:

Miami enjoyed good runs, CSI: Cyber

is now carrying the torch of the brand. In this world of burgeoning technology,

the format was certainly ingenious. It is edgy,fresh and relatable.

The characters in the series were wild-cards, too. When the series started, there wasintense curiosity to see if the lead actors –Patricia Arquette (Medium) and James vander Beek (Dawson’s Creek, Don’t Trust that

B**** in Apartment 2B) – would achievesimilar success as the predecessors of thebrand like Gary Sinise (CSI: NY), DavidCaruso (CSI: Miami), William Peterson and Laurence Fishburne (CSI).

They have brought a compelling newdimension and flavour to the show.

Now that the fourth spin-off series hascurried favour with fans, the writers havedecided to switch things up in the secondseason.

And by that, I mean they are injectingsome familiar blood into the series in theform of Ted Danson as DB Russell.

Starting over, after the death of JulieFinlay and his current divorce, he brings acertain calm to the frenetic world of the CSI:

Cyber team. What’s remarkable is that he isalso the new-gadget guy. And, given that he issurrounded by computer geniuses, that’s aninteresting old-school-meets-new-schoolcurve ball right there.

On joining the series, Danson says: “James van der Beek is a wonderful actor andPatricia Arquette, she was over here and didan amazing job and picked up an AcademyAward since then. And, yeah, it’s a great teamof people and they are all kind of excited to bethere and happy to come to work.”

He continues: “He’s turning over a newleaf. He’s getting divorced, you know, andthat’s huge. He’s left the dead bodies part ofhis life. His son has moved. Jules died andthat was kind of his emotional work-wife. So it feels like he’s taking a deep breath andgoing: ‘I need to move on. I need to be upliftedin whatever I do’.”

Season two of the series no longer has FBI Assistant Director Simon Sifter (PeterMacNicol). That means the post is up forgrabs and Special Agent Avery Ryan(Arquette) is primed to be his successor –although she hasn’t quite made up her mindabout the post.

As for his contribution to the geek squad,Danson offers: “DB Russell is a great thinker.He may not be dealing with dead bodies, buthe is dealing with computers, which have abrain. Also, we are trying to stay ahead of thebad guys and there are new gizmos comingout every day in the real world. Bluetoothpacifiers, for example, can track themedicines that you give to your children.That information gets sent back to theparents’ phone. So my job is to gather all thesenew gizmos as they come on the market andtest their vulnerabilities to stay ahead of thebad guys.”

Arquette adds: “Often, there’s technologyand then there’s also the forensic reality ofthings that are left at the scene and on thebody, so Ted’s coming in with that level ofexpertise. And this is the way that law

enforcement has to work now; multipledisciplines looking at the same crimetogether with their skill sets. He has this kindof a sage, funny perspective on life. All thecharacters have their own personalities – heis a little more eccentric – so to see them allworking together is nice.”

As for her character’s indecision aboutheading the Cyber department, she offers:“She loves working with her team and beingon the ground and to give that up is weird –even though it would mean a promotion tohave this new opportunity. That’s a hardchoice for her to make.”

This season has a few interesting cases forthe team, like a doll with wi-fi capabilitiesthat threatens the security of families anddating apps that come with serious risks.

CSI: Cyber beautifully marries proceduralcrime dramas with human storytellingintermingled with everyone’s real-life

crutch: technology. Oh, there is a also an office romance that’s

being kept on the down-low… or so theythink!

●CSI: Cyber 2 airs on M-Net (DStvchannel 101) on Wednesdays at 9.30pm.

You can’t runin cyberspace

MUNYA VOMO

THE NBA season is upon us and formerprofessional player, Cedric Ceballos(pictured), who played for the Phoenix Sunsand LA Lakers, among others, is in the countryto promote NBA Africa’s initiative to grow thegame on African soil. The project, BasketballWithout Borders, identifies and nurturesyoung players in the hope of turning them into professionals.

“We just launched a junior NBA league inTanzania and that was great. It is going to begreat to have kids play there with the facilitiesthat have been provided. Last year’s champion-ships in the Royal Bafokeng were phenomenalso we have huge expectations this timearound,” said Ceballos.

While there is so much talent in Africa, wecan’t ignore the fact that basketball is still anew game as the continent is occupied withother popular sports like football and cricket.

“There is still a lot of education that needsto happen with the game in Africa. There islittle history of basketball in South Africa, butwith programmes like this, it will grow intosomething phenomenal. We in the US are alsoin the learning stages of cricket and netball.Basketball is great in that you don’t need toplay with the others or have a special ring, it’sall around us. You can always work on yourskills in daily stuff like throwing your trashaway or putting your clothes in the washingmachine. The great thing about NBA Africa isgiving these young people the knowledge of thegame, whether you are a short guy or tall one,”said Ceballos.

The former sportsman was also part ofthe NBA delegation that came out for the firstNBA Africa game which saw top players playagainst each other in Joburg.

“The NBA Africa game held here a fewweeks ago was huge because that neverhappens anywhere in the world. This gamehad two rosters of active NBA players off-season playing together. All-star games aresprinkled all over the world with a few NBAplayers to represent the game,” he said.

For someone who played for several teamsin his career, Ceballos has one team that he stillsupports in the league today: “I have a deeplove for the LA Lakers and I grew up in LosAngeles watching them play. Playing for themin the end was really incredible,” he confessed.

Every year, the NBA releases video gamesunder the title 2K, through PlayStation andXbox, and Ceballos is part of that world, too.

“I play my character in video games all thetime. It’s one thing my kids love so much.Playing their dad in their video game. The onlytime I was in the finals, we faced the ChicagoBulls and Michael Jordan showed up and welost. I play that game on the video game just tochange the result. You don’t realise how hard itis to get to the finals until you try again.”

He was also part of the select few who madethe cut for the hit animated movie, Space Jam,which also starred Jordan: “No matter what Ihave achieved on the court, that my kids seeme on the TV with Bugs Bunny in Space Jam isphenomenal. It made me immortal,” he said.

Like NBA players Shaquille O’Neal andMetta World Peace, Ceballos also has a love formusic and has been cashing in on it.

“As a kid, I fell in love with DJing andwanted to be a part of all music genres. Afterplaying the game, I used my popularity to opendoors. Like music, basketball has rhythm so Ihave used that to make sounds of my own.”

●The NBA’s season starts tomorrow andspecific games will be aired on SuperSport.

DEBASHINE THANGEVELO

WITH the crime drama genre immenselyappealing to whodunit TV buffs, there isgood news on the horizon. Several of yourfavourite shows are back for new seasons.

Friday nights will be keeping fans athome with Rizzoli & Isles back for a sixthinstalment, while the Emmy-nominatedseries, NCIS: LA, returns for season seven.

Aside from the action and engagingdrama, these two shows have become firmfavourites more for their characters.

Our female crime-fighting duo ofDetective Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexanderas medical examiner Dr Maura Isles, whoare also BFFS, works well because they arepolar opposites, personality-wise. At thesame time, there is this respect and love thathelps them forge a strong partnership insolving murders.

This season starts with Maura getting anew apprentice, Kent Draka, who served in

Afghanistan. Frankie finds himself in hotwater with Internal Affair, while Jane findsherself being wooed by an angler whileinvestigating the murder of a bassfisherman.

Of course, there will be plenty of familydrama and madness manifested in thestorylines, too.

NCIS: LA sees the return of G Callen andpartner Sam Hanna. Of course, Kensi Blyeand Marty Deek’s relationship is a bit morecomplicated now that they are partners andlovers. Meanwhile, our resident geeks, EricBeale and Nell Jones, continue to flirt withtechnology and each other.

This season opens with Callen goingrogue, leaving the whole team in the dark.

This Friday, Del Campo seeks out the help of the NCIS team after his partner ismurdered. Meanwhile, Kensi and Deeks take the next step in their relationship – heintroduces her to his mother.

The third instalment of Unforgettable is

back on our screens. It stars PoppyMontgomery (Without a Trace fame) asDetective Carrie Wells. Think along the linesof her being a female Mike Ross (Suits), butin a criminal background.

Although this show might not follow thestandard blueprint in the genre, it piquescuriosity with its characterisation of Wells,who has hyperthymesia, which is a medicalcondition that allows her to remembereverything she has seen and heard. There isa backstory to her, though: she is haunted bythe murder of her sister – the one thing shecan’t remember.

In this season, Wells and her partneruncover a counterfeiting ring, look into themurder of a champion boxer and findthemselves in the mudslinging world ofpolitics when the director of the NSA isfound murdered. This show airs onWednesdays on M-Net Edge at 7pm.

And on that note, happy viewing to all the amateur Sherlock Holmes!

Ceballos carries the ballfor NBA on African soil

MUNYA VOMO

TRUE to SonyMax’s material, Escape or Die,

joins the ranks of programming that is meantfor the male adrenalin junkie.

Hosted by the amazing Dean Gunnarson(pictured), the show looks at the ins and outs of the dangerous world of escape artists.

Canadian Gunnarson is a world-renowned“escapologist” who has been doing large-scalestunts for TV shows for years. To date, he hasappeared on various shows in 165 countries toprove to people how well he can cheat death. InChina alone, where he won The World’s TopEscape Artist accolade, he performed more than500 shows.

This guy does anything from sliding hishands out of tight handcuffs to wiggling hisbody out of a straightjacket while strung up-sidedown. The stunts he does are probably whatHoudini did in his prime.

Each and every episode of Escape or Die

shows you just how much Gunnarson flirts with death and yet he survives to shoot anotherepisode. It goes without saying that you shouldnot try this stuff at home, because even he gets itwrong – sometimes.

For instance, there was an incident in 1983,when he attempted a stunt which saw himhandcuffed, chained and nailed into a coffin.The coffin was then dropped into a river andGunnarson had only a few minutes to escape thecuffs, the chains and then the box. Somethingwent wrong and he wasn’t fast enough and hewas trapped, facing imminent death. Those whoworked with him knew something was wrong asthe timing was off so they pulled him up, only tofind him unconscious. As is standard procedurein shows like this, medical experts are always onstandby and they saved his life.

You would think that that incident wouldhave driven the man who was now known asthat “crazy Canadian” to change his career, butthat only inspired him further. In a way, it alsomakes Escape or Die worth it because it revealsyou just how far Gunnarson is prepared to go toshow off his escapologist skills.

So, are you ready to see a man do what heconsiders “a career to die for”? Then tune intoGunnarson’s show where things might just gowrong.

●Escape Or Die premieres on December 4on SonyMax (DStv channel 128) at 9pm.

Dean unlocksthe clues tocheating death

It’s super-sleuthing for couch potatoes

CSI: Cyber offers the perfect marriage of geeksand technology. Season two sees Ted Dansonjoin the series, writes Debashine Thangevelo

TONIGHT is giving away Xbox and PlayStationgames for the NBA 2k16 title to lucky winners.

To stand a chance to win, answer thefollowing question: Which team won the NBAChampionship last season?

Send your name, city, console and number tomunyaradzi.vomo@inl.co.za by Wednesday.

WIN! WIN! WIN!EXPLORING THE WEB OF CRIME: Patricia Arquette, far left, is back and this time she has Ted Danson, above right, join the team, showing theyounger FBI recruits his tech skills, in the second season of the crime drama, CSI: Cyber. PICTURE: ©CBS

Poppy Montgomery as Detective Carrie Wellsin Unforgettable.