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Al Jazeera adding Chicago reporters in push to expand U.S. audience
LORI RACKL: The Middle East-based news organization beefs up its Chicago bureau as it prepares to turn Al Gore’s Current TV into a 24/7 U.S. news channel, Al Jazeera America, later this summer.
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‘Check, Please!’ host contenders get a taste of being on camera
LORI RACKL: The 17 remaining finalists hoping to succeed Alpana Singh step into the studio to helm a mock version of WTTW’s restaurant review show. This part of the audition process will be made into a behind-the-scenes special airing May 17.
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Wilmette’s Nico Tortorella talks about his fate on ‘The Following’
LORI RACKL: The New Trier grad wishes he could have stayed longer on the Fox drama, which caps off its blood-soaked freshman season Monday.
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CNN stumbles against TV’s instant 24/7 rivals in race to cover Boston Marathon tragedy
LORI RACKL: With virtual round-the-clock coverage of the most popular show on television Friday — “Manhunt” — broadcast networks beat cable news at its own game. CNN struggled the most this week when it came to chronicling the unfolding drama in Boston, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the ratings.
Released inmate adjusts to freedom in engrossing Sundance series ‘Rectify’
LORI RACKL: Inspired by a succession of overturned death sentences in Illinois, the poignant story of a man set free from Death Row comes to life in “Rectify,” the beautifully paced series debuting Monday on Sundance Channel. A sneak peek screening takes place Tuesday at Music Box Theatre.
Online spoof of ‘The Bachelor’ next tears down ‘Bachelor Pad’
LORI RACKL: The husband-and-wife team behind the hilarious “Burning Love” launch their latest star-studded parody Friday on Yahoo Screen.
How Ike Barinholtz went from Windy City to ‘Mindy Project’
LORI RACKL: The Chicago-born comic, actor and Cub fan is a writer and — thanks to a promotion earlier this year — a series regular on Mindy Kaling’s Fox sitcom. He’d gladly sacrifice an Emmy if it meant his beloved Cubs could win the World Series.
NBC’s new ‘Hannibal’ has a look and a feel worth devouring
LORI RACKL: A delicious dive into the dark side, the serial-killer thriller pairs Dr. Hannibal Lecter with a tortured criminal profiler.
Single mom moves back home in a ‘topical, timely’ sitcom
LORI RACKL: ABC’s new midseason comedy “How To Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)” hits home with its creator, who moved back in with her parents as an adult. Starring Sarah Chalke, Brad Garrett and Elizabeth Perkins, the so-so pilot doesn’t make the most of the cast’s talent.
Devin Velez, though axed from ‘Idol,’ still feels like a winner
LORI RACKL: Devin Velez won’t be the next “American Idol,” but the Chicago teenager has designs on a different crown: prom king at Rickover Naval Academy in Edgewater.
‘Game of Thrones’ has roots in producer’s Highland Park childhood
LORI RACKL: D.B. Weiss talks sex scenes, logistical challenges and pranks on “Game of Thrones,” the HBO hit he co-created. The third season starts Sunday.
Jeremy Piven felt ‘connected’ to Marshall Field exec he plays on ‘Mr. Selfridge’
LORI RACKL: A sort of “Downton Abbey” set in a department store, the new PBS “Masterpiece” drama tells the tumultuous story of a Chicago retail magnate pursuing the American dream in London.
‘Mob Wives Chicago’ women pulled back in to reality TV
LORI RACKL: Now on the market is “Bo$$ Ladies,” with Leah DiSimone from the short-lived VH1 show alongside Franky Forliano, daughter of Harry “The Hit” Aleman. This series, Forliano says, will not “depict Italian people as garbage.” Staying out is another “Mob Wives” alum, Pia Rizza, who helped set up the new show.
Story of Chicago’s 19th-century power couple told in documentary
LORI RACKL: A new film on Potter Palmer and his wife, Bertha, delves into the Chicago retailer’s massive role in modern-day shopping, making it the perfect appetizer before digging into the upcoming PBS series “Mr. Selfridge.”
She’s not to everyone’s ‘Taste,’ but Chicago chef lands job anyway
LORI RACKL: The judges on “The Taste” rejected Renee Everett for the show, but Ludo Lefebvre liked her enough to hire her to work at his new L.A. restaurant.
In the beginning, ‘The Bible’ off to commanding ratings lead
LORI RACKL: The miniseries’ producers — “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett and “Touched by an Angel” star Roma Downey — came to Chicago to excite congregations about their faithful but “dynamic” telling of great stories from Scripture.
‘American Idol’s’ Devin Velez, singing since he was a toddler
LORI RACKL: One of “American Idol’s” youngest contestants at 18, the Rickover Naval Academy senior will perform live Wednesday for a shot at the finals. At home in Chicago, he works at Starbucks, plays in jazz band and vows to pursue music “until the day I die.”
Sign language will say it all on a ‘Switched at Birth’ episode
LORI RACKL: ABC Family will quietly make television history Monday when it airs an entire episode of its hit series in American Sign Language.
‘Golden Boy’ lacks the gleam of a shiny new cop show
LORI RACKL: The CBS drama starring Theo James and Chi McBride is just another police procedural pretending to be something bigger.
Twitter helps to propel ‘Scandal’ to ABC ratings gold
LORI RACKL: The Kerry Washington drama has hit its stride this season, blossoming into a sophisticated, serialized soap-opera-meets-political-thriller that knows how to light up the Twittersphere on Thursdays.
