Tag archives: television

Another day at Maison Mineards Montecito, another TV crew! This one from Germany’s ZDF network with a five-person team, two of whom had flown in specially and one producer, Mo Davies, who jetted in from London and knew many of my royal expert friends from dealing with them over the decades. Los Angeles-based producer, Melanie […]

Wendy Eley Jackson draws on three decades of experience in film and television in her talk, “The Transformative Power of Storytelling,” for a Westmont Downtown Lecture on Thursday, Feb. 1, at 5:30 pm at the Community Arts Workshop (631 Garden Street), in downtown Santa Barbara. The event is free and open to the public; no […]

by Paul Vercammen Long before David Bolton ascended to 2023 El Presidente of Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days, just another lofty position and title for him, he slept in his Honda Accord. For four and a half weeks in 1992, he crashed on a futon that replaced the removed passenger seat. David needed to be […]

Yes, that was Montecito interior designer Penny Bianchi in the HBO Emmy-winning satirical comedy hit series The White Lotus that just wrapped its second successful season at the 111-room historic Four Seasons’ San Domenico Hotel in Taormina, Sicily, perched over the glittering Ionian Sea and below the fiery Mt. Etna volcano. Penny, a near neighbor […]

Wendy Eley Jackson brings more than a quarter century of experience in film and television to Westmont as the theater department’s new artist/scholar-in-residence for justice, reconciliation, and diversity. Jackson, a native of Atlanta, is teaching Documentary Filmmaking, Screenwriting, and Creative Writing this semester for the theater and English departments. “My hope is to find a […]

Apparently Music Academy of the West personnel aren’t just nerdy (er, well-versed) in classical music. At least that’s the conclusion one must draw from the fact that a MAW staffer, Henry Michaels, will be appearing on an episode of Jeopardy! airing on NBC on February 2.  Michaels is the Music Academy’s Director of Audience Experience […]

As you are reading this, it’s the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s birthday (January 8) and I’ve been talking to Steve Binder, an American producer and director born in Los Angeles. Steve, who just celebrated his 88th birthday last month, is currently working as a creative consultant on Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis, where Dacre Montgomery is […]

Montecito mega director Dick Wolf, 74, is coming to the aid of Broadway, which has suffered major damage during the current pandemic. His long-running NBC TV show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which has been on the air for more than two decades, has been turning to actors more used to the stages on […]

The extensive Chinese collection of the late society doyenne Beverley Jackson is being sold by Kaminski Auctions in, appropriately enough, Beverly, Massachusetts. The former society editor of the News-Press for 22 years, who died in August aged 91, was an avowed Sinophile after a visit to China during the Cultural Revolution changed her life. The […]

UCSB Arts & Lectures’ free outdoor fall film festival series of screenings at the West Wind Drive-In comes to a close with two Christmas classics, with a modern parable followed by a Jimmy Stewart tearjerker. In 2003’s Elf, Will Ferrell stars as an elf named Buddy who discovers that he’s actually a human whom Santa […]

If you haven’t yet checked out The Queen’s Gambit, deservedly one of the top-ranked shows on Netflix and one of the best original series in the streaming service’s catalog, now would be a good time to get started on the seven-episode series about a chess prodigy turned accomplished if tortured young woman. That’s because Scott […]

On a personal note, I mark the passing of Alex Trebek, the long-running host of the TV quiz show Jeopardy! for 36 years who died at the age of 80 after a valiant battle with pancreatic cancer. I started watching the Merv Griffin-produced show in the 1980s and have been hooked ever since, learning much […]

High Five, Santa Monica suspense writer Joe Ide’s latest action-packed thriller in his IQ series of books that Time Magazine calls “an electrifying combination of Holmseian mystery and SoCal grit,” will be dissected in a virtual conversation with the author at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, November 18. Ide will talk about the series, which rapper […]

Michael DeVorzon grew up in Montecito, with a great family lineage in music, and carved his own way in film and TV. Still working actively during the lockdown, he is polished in defining the narrative of the hard work it takes to stay in the game, do it like a pro, and always with kindness. […]

Sometimes providence pops up in the unlikeliest of places – even during pandemics. But who would have predicted that COVID-19 could make a childhood dream come true? Like countless others during the initial days of stay-at-home lockdown, one of my Corona Coping Methods was binge-watching old television shows – peeling off the decades, gorging on […]

Good Life TV with Dean Wilson, executive director of the Turner Foundation, which provides accommodation for the elderly and economically challenged, is taped in the garden at his Montecito home near the Rosewood Miramar and is dedicated to bringing “real stories from real people.” “We invite people from all walks of life to share their […]

Six-time Golden Globe nominee Rob Lowe is re-teaming with his 911: Lone Star creator Ryan Murphy to develop a project inspired by Netflix’s hit docu-series Tiger King. Longtime Montecito resident Rob, 56, has revealed they will be developing “our version of this insane story” to his 3.2 million social media followers. Rob is clearly vying […]

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to keep us indoors, online streaming and video content has helped us feel a sense of connection as we remain isolated. From online concerts to exercise lessons, this time is showing us the importance of video content in allowing one to share their story and connect to the community. A […]