PAGE 8 • TV
THE BULLETIN • OCTOBER 21 - 27, 2021
What’s Available NOW On
“Bob Ballard: An Explorer’s Life”
(Oct. 29)
The oceanographer credited with the
discoveries of numerous notorious
shipwrecks including the Titanic, the
Bismarck and the USS Yorktown reveals
the inside stories behind his most exciting
finds, while sharing the personal triumphs,
challenges and tragedies that led him to
them in this 2020 documentary from
National Geographic
BY GEORGE DICKIE
“Impact With Gal Gadot”
(Available now)
“McFarland, USA” (Oct. 29)
Kevin Costner heads the cast of this 2015
drama as a high school football coach who
lost his last job because he was too rough
on his entitled charges. He finds his calling
when he lands at a rural California school
and turns seven disappointing students
into one of the best cross-country track
teams in the country. Maria Bello and
Morgan Saylor also star.
The “Wonder Woman” star hosts this
short-form documentary series from
National Geographic that spotlights
six women working to improve their
communities around the world. Among
the women featured are a 20-year-old
Detroit figure-skating coach who trains
young girls of color and helps empower
them on and off the ice, and a woman
who uses “surf therapy” to help others
recover from loss.
“Rookie of the Year” (Available
now)
A 12-year-old boy (Thomas Ian Nicholas)
becomes a major-league sensation when
an accident renders him a phenomenal
pitching arm. Naturally, he helps hurl
baseball’s hapless Chicago Cubs into the
playoffs. Gary Busey, Dan Hedaya and
Daniel Stern also star in this 1993 comedy
that was Stern’s rookie effort as a director.
Michael Keaton
OF ‘DOPESICK’ ON HULU
You’ve been doing a lot of true-
story projects in film and television
lately. Is there something especially
fulfilling about portraying these
relatively recent true stories and
these characters who feel the moral
obligation to do the right thing?
or “9/11” or this or some other things
that I’ve done, yeah, I’m fortunate in
that regard, I think. I look at it as just
a perk to what I’ve chosen to do for a
living. I’m not necessarily seeking these
things out, but they certainly get my
attention.
Well, sure. I mean, I guess personally
there is but ego-wise, to be honest, I
guess there is. I haven’t thought of it
like that. But it’s satisfying because I’m
in a fortunate position where what I do
for a living affords me an opportunity
to possibly change things or affect
people in some way. And if you’re
talking about “Spotlight” or “Worth”
You played an addict in “Clean
and Sober” back in 1988. How do
you see this in terms of portraying
addiction now? What are the
changes over the years that you’ve
seen as far as being able to just tell
stories more freely about the actual
depths of addiction and what it
does to people?
Well ... addiction’s been around since
forever, opium addicts and heroin
addicts ... and alcoholism and all that.
And so ... the awareness is much
greater and what we know about it.
And also the ... stigma has changed
about addiction in general. And I kind
of thought, well, I played that one time
and I did something on that subject. And
then this came up. So, sometimes I think,
well, do I really want to read this and
anything, because I tend to not want to
read just anything? Do I really want to?
But this is societal and has a much larger
canvas or bigger story to tell, I think.
And what people know, the information
that’s out there now is greater.