2 l January
9 - 15, 2022
Northeast Oregon TV Weekly
BY JAY BOBBIN
Joe Mantegna (left) and Rick Glassman star in
“As We See It,” which begins streaming Friday on Amazon.
Joe Mantegna helps portray autism
‘As We See It’ in Amazon series
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After his long run on “Criminal Minds,”
Joe Mantegna’s new series is quite a switch
for him ... and he brings part of his own
family background to it.
A parent of an autistic daughter, the
Tony Award-winning actor also addresses
the subject in “As We See It,” Amazon’s
adaptation of an Israeili drama series
that begins streaming Friday, Jan, 21.
Mantegna portrays the father of Jack (Rick
Glassman), one of several young-adult
roommates on the autism spectrum who
are supported by their families and each
other. Albert Rutecki and Sue Ann Pien
play the other members of the central
trio, with Sosie Bacon (daughter of Kevin
Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick) as their main
aide.
“I’ve been involved in it since its
inception,” Mantegna says of the show
developed by Emmy-winning executive
producer Jason Katims (“Friday Night
Lights,” “Parenthood”). “They came to me
shortly after ‘Criminal Minds’ stopped, and
when I read the (pilot) script, I was really
knocked out by it ... for a lot of reasons.
Jason is such a wonderful, beautiful writer,
and it had a very personal impact on me.”
Mantegna isn’t sure whether his eldest
daughter Gia’s condition was known
to Katims. “I never asked,” he reveals.
“Jason might have thought that might be
an interesting layer, but I know that it’s
also a personal thing for him. They really
thought it out to the point where, besides
that the three main actors were identified
as being on the autism spectrum, they
were going to hire 12 (autistic) people on
the crew – which is really unheard of. You
have to go through the unions and all that,
and they did that. I hope it’s a sign of the
times, in terms of where we’re going with
inclusion.”
In “As We See It,” Mantegna’s character
Lou faces a health challenge of his own.
“My watchword for a good part of my
life has been, ‘Everybody’s got a story,
and nobody gets a free ride,’ ” reflects
Mantegna. “To me, this is an example of
that. Each of us has a personal story, and
some of those are things we would not
have chosen. And so be it.”
Gia Mantegna is a makeup artist who
almost ended up working on “As We See
It” along with her father, but ultimately
didn’t. However, her dad has enjoyed
acting with Glassman as his on-screen son,
deeming him “a wonderful young man.
Most people in the world would think of
him as just a smart, sunny, quirky guy, yet
being sensitive to that world, I could tell
there’s a reason for that quirkiness. He’s
a stand-up comic, so he has those certain
savant abilities, just like my daughter has.”
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