Recap:

• Jacob fills in for Gloria at a photoshoot and clashes with Nick over his ab makeup and his wanting to be taken seriously as an actor.
• Gloria is the one finding her quiet time interrupted when Jacob barges in with the new budget proposal and a demand for respect.
• Meanwhile Sam is blindsided during an interview about his new movie when the interviewers press him about doing an action film at his age, implying he is too old. Sam’s attempts to recover go awry much to Becky’s dismay.
• Gloria has a run in with a studio executive over the show’s budget and delivers a passionate defense of Hearts on Fire.
• Becky and Sam have a fiery clash after his disastrous interview which he feels wasn’t as bad as she is making it seem.

Line of the episode:

“Did Mommy not breastfeed you? Is that what happened to you?” ~ Becky to Sam

Fun facts:

Lilly Melgar and Sean Kanan adlibbed the fight between Becky and Sam after the interview. Lilly shared with us that she was surprised the entire scene was going to be improv and wasn’t sure she could do it, but Sean had faith in her and pushed her to new acting heights, “Never in my entire career have I done improv for the entire scene, but we did that, and I love the scene and it is so good! And it’s so much fun to work with someone who can do that like he (Sean Kanan) does, that is one of his strengths. So, for me it was one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in a long time, and I like to be challenged so as mad as I was, it was thrilling and exciting and it definitely called me to be more present than I’ve ever been. I had to be.”  

James Lott Jr. is a podcaster in real life, and he played the podcaster who interviewed Sam and put him on the spot about his age. He had this to say about his guest spot on Studio City, “I basically play a host and I’m the opposite of myself. I got to do the things that I normally wouldn’t do as a host. I ask questions and say things I would never say in real life. I’m just coming at him, and I don’t do that in my interviews. You don’t invite someone on your show and then attack them but I kinda do that and it’s just his (Sam’s) reactions that are the best!”

Meet the characters:

Lilly Melgar plays Becky Pope, the PR person assigned to Sam by the studio producing his movie. She had this to say about her character, “She’s a ball buster which is very true to me and Sean’s relationship through the years, so I think he was inspired by our actual relationship, just amped it up a bit. She’s a ball buster but she’s got some heart.”

Philip Bruenn talked to us about Nick Cassidy, who plays Sam’s rival, Devon Stryker, om Hearts on Fire, and he told us, “He is like any guy who wants to make something of himself. He grew up watching Sam and it’s that idolization. He’s got a little bit of pompousness to him …and what I really liked about the second season is that he goes through a moment of second guessing, a little bit of that internal journey of ‘am I who I thought I am? Hold on, someone needs to validate me real quick!’”

Studio City season 2 is available on Amazon Prime Video! Come back next week for our recap of episode 3, Maximum Velocity, as well as exclusive content from cast and crew of the award-winning Studio City!

The post Studio City Episode 2 Recap: America’s Abs appeared first on TV Source Magazine. TV Source Magazine - TV News, Spoilers, Recaps, Interviews

An exhausted Sam who is portraying an exhausted Pierce is trying to contact his agent Bryan to help get his crazy schedule sorted out now that he is filming two roles.

Attempting to engage fans and raise ratings, producer, Gloria has arranged for behind-the-scenes interviews for the cast and crew, but they don’t go exactly as planned.

Christine is frustrated with Nik when he cares more about his process than rehearsing their scenes.

Sam finally gets a quiet moment, but it is soon interrupted by the arrival of the publicist assigned to him by his new movie studio. She is unimpressed by him and lays down the law before leaving.

No sooner has left when Gloria shows up and piles on to the bad day he’s having.

Later at the hospital, Sam tries to convince Doc to get treatment. He refuses and tries unsuccessfully to push Sam away.

Line of the episode:

“Don’t be the monkey wrench in this well oiled machined, just be my monkey.” ~ Gloria to Sam

Fun facts:

In the episode Sam Stevens says he always takes his coffee the same way, “2 Splenda’s, almond milk.”

We asked Sean Kanan, who plays Sam, if this was his coffee order too and he told us that he likes his coffee black or with Stevia and almond milk. Art doesn’t always imitate life!

Michele Kanan, Studio City writer, executive producer, supervising producer and wife of Sean Kanan, ALSO appeared in the opening scene as the patient, Minnie, who Pierce is treating on Hearts on Fire! This woman does it all!

She told us all about her role as supervising producer, “The first year we had a pretty big crew, and we did 6 episodes and then we took a break because of Covid. Then we did 5 more episodes and during those 5 episodes we were only allowed 10 people together at a time. So, I had to do pretty much everything except for sound and lights and camera. This year I did the same thing, but I had a few more people.”

Meet the characters:

Erin Michele Soto filled us in on her character Christine, who plays Anastasia, Sam’s love interest on Hearts on Fire, “My character is finding her way into the acting world and fighting for her position. She’s dealing with a man’s world and nepotism and what that looks like.”

Scott Turner Schofield who plays Max, the portrayer of Dr. Brantly on Hearts on Fire, told us, “Max is like me and not like me. There is an element of Max that we took from my real life in terms of being an actor who is transgender, who is dealing with all of that behind the scenes and in life and then there is plenty that is just acting. He is an actor who is determined, and he wants to just be an actor. That’s his number one goal in life, to shine for that talent that he has. As the co-star of Hearts on Fire, he is always navigating everybody else’s nonsense.”

Studio City season 2 is available on Amazon Prime Video! Come back next week for our recap of episode 2, America’s Abs, as well as exclusive content from cast and crew of the award-winning Studio City!

The post ‘Studio City’ Season 2 Episode 1 Recap: “Here’s Your Coffee” appeared first on TV Source Magazine. TV Source Magazine - TV News, Spoilers, Recaps, Interviews

Season 1 received a jaw dropping 16 Daytime Emmy nominations and took home 3 wins! They also got 11 Indie Series Awards nominations with 4 wins and swept all 5 categories they were nominated for at the LA Live Film Festival and all of that was just for season 1! Pretty good first outing for what Kanan terms “a little engine that could”.

In the first season we were introduced to Sam Stevens, an aging soap heartthrob who leads Hearts on Fire, America’s number 2 daytime drama as Dr. Pierce Hartley and his cast mates including Christina, (Erin Michele Soto) who plays his onscreen love interest Anastasia; Nick Cassidy (Philip Bruenn) who plays Dr. Devyn Stryker, Sam’s rival both on and offscreen; Max Carter (Scott Turner Schofield) a transgender man who plays Dr. Brantly and runs a transgender support group; and Isabella (Melissa Riso) who is Sam’s real life fiancé and Hearts On Fire’s newest cast member, Mia.

Hearts on Fire is led by producer Gloria Winton (Carolyn Hennesy) who butts heads with Sam over his new contract and storylines on the show while running roughshod over her cast and crew and especially, her assistant Jacob (Justin Torkildsen).

We met Sam’s family including his domineering mother Violet (Patrick Darbo), his ailing stepfather Doc (Tristan Rogers), half sister Laurie (Sarah Joy Brown) and possible daughter, Delilah (Juliet Vega).

As the season progressed, we were also introduced to Sam’s friend and agent Bryan Michaels (Michael James Lazar), casting director Jolene Hernandez (Anna Marie Horsford), pr person Becky Pope (Lilly Melgar), Movie star Shelby Brock (Natalie Burn) and Ronn Moss and Devin DeVasguez playing themselves in a hysterical guest spot!

The amazing season 1 brought us all these wonderful characters and immersed us in their lives, giving us a real feel for them all. We followed Sam’s fight for his future on Hearts on Fire as well as finally getting his big break into movies, his entire family dealing with Doc’s illness and desire to stop treatment, and his own conflict over what his mother revealed to him about his own paternity and the possibility that he may have fathered Delilah. We saw Max’s fears for his transgender support group and if he was the right leader for them after tragedy struck and Christina’s fight to not just be a supporting actress to leading men but to also lead her own stories on the show. All of this and more was in the 11-episode first season which is available on Amazon Prime. If you haven’t seen it yet, see it now! You will not regret it!

In the press release announcing season 2 of Studio City, Kanan said “I am unbelievably proud of STUDIO CITY and what we accomplished during season one. It was a project that, with the hard work of an ensemble of talented creatives, came to fruition and won the Daytime Emmy in 2021 for Outstanding Fiction Series. We are excited to bring you season two.”

We recently got to speak to Sean about the upcoming season 2 and this is what he previewed for us:

“In season two we see that Sam Stevens finally gets his big shot to be an action star in a film however, he encounters a little bit of resistance among the media who are a little concerned that Sam is a little long in the tooth for an action career at this stage of the game and Sam does not like that one bit. Sam is assigned a new publicist from the studio that’s doing the movie, played by the lovely Lilly Melgar and she’s fantastic.

We’re gonna see Justin Torkildsen, who had a much smaller part in the first season, has a much larger role this season which is great. We’re gonna see Carolyn Hennesy and Tristan Rogers back. Juliet Vega, who may or may not be my daughter, has some terrific stuff.

We also have a terrific actress named Natalie Burn who is in a great deal of the episodes, and she plays my costar in the action film. Her character’s name is Shelby Brock and there is a mysterious and seemingly nefarious character who is the head of the movie studio that is played by Will Roberts who is a terrific actor.

A lot of really good stuff in these 6 episodes. Phil Bruenn and Erin Soto are back again, and they are both terrific.

We played with a new narrative component where we’re doing interviews with the actors as their characters which adds a fun new little thing.

I’m really excited to see what people think of it. As always, we put our hearts and souls into it.”

The press release tells us that “in addition to Kanan, the star-studded cast of season two includes Carolyn Hennesy, Tristan Rogers, Anna Maria-Horsford, Juliet Vega, Philip P. Bruenn, Justin Torkildsen, Natalie Burn, Erin Soto, Lilly Melgar, Will Roberts, and Scott Turner Schofield.”

“Created by producer, actor, and author Sean Kanan and Jason Antognoli, season two of STUDIO CITY is directed by Timothy Woodward, Jr. and written by the husband and wife producing and writing team, Michele and Sean Kanan along with Timothy Woodward, Jr.  Sean Kanan, Michele Kanan, and Timothy Woodward, Jr. serve as Executive Producers. Season two consists of six episodes” and will be available on Amazon Prime Video this week! Make sure to check it out and come back every week to read our episode recaps with exclusive comments from the cast and crew of the incomparable Studio City!

The post Amazon’s ‘Studio City’ Is Back! Series Creator Sean Kanan Previews Season 2 appeared first on TV Source Magazine. TV Source Magazine - TV News, Spoilers, Recaps, Interviews