PAGE 26 • TV
THE BULLETIN • MAY 6 - 12, 2021
What’s Available NOW On
“Movie: Songbird”
Adam Mason (“Junkie,” “Blood
River”) co-wrote and directed this
2020 sci-fi drama with a storyline that
may hit a little too close to home for
some: a pandemic-ravaged world circa
2024 where a handful of individuals
navigate the problems plaguing society,
among them disease, vigilantes, martial
law and quarantine. K.J. Apa, Sofia
Carson, Craig Robinson and Bradley
Whitford head the cast.
“Movie: Girl”
A young woman searches for answers
after she heads to her hometown to kill
her abusive father, only to find he’d
been slain the day prior in this 2020
thriller from writer/director Chad
Faust (“The 4400,” “Saved!”). Bella
Thorne (“Midnight Sun”) stars as the
title character in a cast with Mickey
Rourke, Elizabeth Saunders and Faust.
Checking in with
CCH POUNDER
BY JAY BOBBIN
“Movie: The Upside”
Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart might
seem like unlikely co-stars, but that’s
a character point in director Neil
Burger’s hit 2017 dramedy about a
paralyzed billionaire (Cranston) who
hires a recently paroled convict (Hart)
to take care of him. Unexpectedly, a
friendship eventually develops between
these two very different men. Nicole
Kidman, Tate Donovan and Julianna
Margulies also star.
As “NCIS: New Orleans” nears its end, CCH Pounder is
getting ready for her next professional chapter.
The accomplished actress is a founding cast member of
the Sunday drama, which concludes its seven-season CBS
run May 23. In keeping with the history of her character –
medical examiner Loretta Wade, who regularly assists Naval
Criminal Investigative Service team leader Dwayne Pride
(Scott Bakula) – she isn’t going out quietly. At the same time,
though, Pounder has her eyes open for new opportunities.
“I always knew what I wanted to do,” the pleasant Pounder
reflects. “I wanted to be in every genre that I could, and
not do only one thing well that you then end up doing in
perpetuity. I played a lot of prostitutes and girls who made
awful choices, then I realized how powerful television was,
and I decided that I needed to be a little more upstanding.
“Then, for years, I played women of authority,” Pounder
adds. “I did my very best in a genre that likes to recognize
familiarity and not change too much. Wiggling my way
around that and adding something else to the characters has
always been my biggest pride.”
Pounder gave up her California home for one in New
Orleans during her “NCIS” gig, and she plans to remain
based in the Big Easy, at least for now. “I’m in a transition
that I think will require a couple of more years of work,” she
“Movie: Desierto”
From Mexico and co-writer/director
Jonás Cuarón (“Year of the Nail”)
comes this 2020 actioner that casts
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Sam, a wild-
eyed American vigilante who stations
himself at the U.S./Mexico border and
intercepts Moises (Gael García Bernal)
and his group of refugees attempting
to cross. Alondra Hidalgo and Diego
Catano also star.
says. “Many moons ago, someone told me, ‘Nothing is really
going to happen for you until you’re quite an old lady.’ And
I thought, ‘Well, OK. I’ll just practice in the meantime.’ ”
Birthdate: Dec. 25, 1952
Birthplace: Georgetown, British Guiana
Current residence: New Orleans
Marital status: Pounder’s husband passed in 2016
Other television credits include: “Archer”
(voice only), “The Lion Guard” (voice only), “Sons of
Anarchy,” “Revenge,” “Warehouse 13,” “Brothers,”
“NUMB3RS,” “Justice League Unlimited” (voice only),
“The Shield,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,”
“The Practice,” “The Outer Limits,” “The West Wing,”
“Millennium,” “If These Walls Could Talk,” “Living
Single,” “ER,” “The X-Files,” “Return to Lonesome
Dove,” “Cop Rock,” “Quantum Leap,” “Miami Vice,”
“227,” “L.A. Law,” “Cagney & Lacey,” “Hill Street
Blues”
Movie credits include: “Godzilla: King of the
Monsters,” “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,”
“Avatar,” “End of Days,” “Face/Off,” “RoboCop 3,”
“Sliver,” “Benny & Joon,” “Postcards From the Edge,”
“Bagdad Cafe,” “Prizzi’s Honor,” “I’m Dancing as Fast
as I Can,” “All That Jazz”