Who doesn’t love the Food Network? I am thrilled to offer this amazing giveaway from Food Network and Ultimate Recipe Showdown!

With thousands of recipes submitted from home cooks across America, Ultimate Recipe Showdown returns for its third season of delicious competition as the top 24 contestants slice, dice and battle head-to-head for national glory. Hosted by Guy Fieri (Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, Guy’s Big Bite), the series features six categories: Comfort Food, Party Food, Hot & Spicy, Burgers, Cakes & Desserts and Hometown Favorites. Each week, three judges crown an “ultimate” winner who receives $25,000. Find out more at http://www.foodnetwork.com/ultimate-recipe-showdown/index.html

This season there are 6 categories the contestants will tackle including: Comfort Food, Party Foods, Hot and Spicy, Burgers, Cakes & Deserts and Hometown Favorites.

The following 6 items in our “Ultimate Kohl’s” prize package include:

• Food Network Pizza Wheel: Stainless steel blade with air pockets provides easy food release, and soft-grip handle ensures comfortable control. Price: $19.99. Episode Category: Comfort Food

• Food Network 4-pc. Square Bowl & Bamboo Serving Tray Set: This Food Network square bowl and bamboo serving tray set keeps every party chic with sleek line that add a contemporary touch to any table. The dishwasher and microwave save square bowls hold condiments, appetizers and more. Episode Category: Party Foods

• Food Network Conical Box Grater: Unique conical design provides comfort and stability while grating, and stainless steel construction lasts for years without staining or rusting. Episode Category: Hot and Spicy

• Bobby Flay Ultimate Spatula. This stainless steel spatula is a must-have for all grilling needs. Durable stainless steel construction ensures long-lasting use and serrated edges aid in cutting and cooking. Built-in bottle opener adds even more versatility. Wooden handle provides a safe, comfortable grip. Episode Category: Burgers

• Food Network Dough Scraper: Long-lasting stainless steel construction maximizes use, while a ruler on the blade’s edge makes measuring easy. Episode Category: Cakes & Deserts

• Food Network Digital Thermometer & Timer: Digital readout tracks time and temperature simultaneously, and versatile setup allows for wall mount, magnetic mount, or countertop use. Episode Category: Hometown Favorites

Approximate Retail Value of Prize Pack is $130.00

All you have to do to enter to win this amazing prize pack is tell me what type of food is YOUR favorite. You can choose from the six categories: Comfort Food, Party Foods, Hot and Spicy, Burgers, Cakes & Deserts and Hometown Favorites OR choose something completely different! I look forward to reading your answers!

And check out this video preview of Season 3:

Sadly, last night was the season finale of Make It Or Break It. Thankfully, it will be back in the summer with all new episodes. This finale was not without surprises and drama. The episode, titled “Are We Family?” centered around China’s unstoppable team coming to the US to compete against a “rogue” Rock team that Sasha Belov put together of his best girls. When the Chinese team arrives at The Rock for a press conference, Kaylie is nowhere to be found. Sasha announces that an alternate will take her place, and the Chinese coach isn’t pleased about this at all. All of the girls get interviewed during the press conference: Payson says she’s not up to competition level yet but she will be on the floor supporting her teammates, Emily gets embarassed by reporters who don’t really know who she is, and Lauren claims she had the stomach flu in Beijing. Meanwhile, Damon is at the Pizza Shack and Carter encourages him to leave a note for Emily. A lot more on this storyline later.

Lauren and Carter then show up at Kaylie’s place after she fails to show up for practice, and she doesn’t want to hear it. Carter explains that Lauren was only being a friend, and he was staying at her house after he got kicked out of his own house. Kaylie reminds Lauren that she promised she would stay away from Carter, but Carter defends her. Carter tells Kaylie she shouldn’t use this to pull out of the China meet. Lauren tells her they need her to compete, but Kaylie scoffs that they only need her because the team will do better with her than without her. She declares that this time she is looking out for herself. Lauren leaves, and Carter tries to defend himself. Kaylie closes the door in his face.

In the last round of training before the competition, Emily is still struggling to land her Yurchenko one and a half with a blind landing. Leo (Kaylie’s brother) is helping her, but she still can’t get over her fear. Kaylie’s mom (Ronnie) comes to The Rock to ask Sasha to go talk to Kaylie and convince her to compete. Ronnie tells Sasha he’s the only man in Kaylie’s life right now, and she needs him. Sasha, quite intelligently I might add, goes to talk to Kaylie’s dad and asks him to step up and be there for her daughter. Emily returns to the Pizza Shack to pick up her check and Leo sees the note Damon left for her and takes it before Emily can see it. Emily had previously talked about how she didn’t want any distractions and Leo obviously likes her and thinks he’s doing this for her own benefit.

The next morning, a crowd is ready for The Rock vs China meet. Emily is scared to do her new vault and tells Payson she might go back to her old one. Payson admits she still hasn’t been able to get on the bars since her injury. Emily tells Payson she and Damon said I love you to each other, and Payson explains that if she can do that, then the vault shouldn’t be a problem. I really like this new found Emily and Payson friendship. They both balance each other out quite well. Emily needs help trusting, and so does Payson, and I like that they have been able to help each other overcome their fears.

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Pilots in general aren’t usually the best episode of any series. I can probably count on one hand the pilots that I thought were so phenomenal I didn’t know what could top them. (Modern Family, Glee, Gilmore Girls). That said, I really enjoyed the pilot episode of the Parenthood reboot, and I was excited to see more. The 2nd episode, titled Man vs. Possum involves all of the family members. For Sarah, it’s about starting her new life and trying to find a job. Her dad encourages her to apply for a PR job (not a bartending job) and she reluctantly agrees. However, her dad goes to talk to her brother, Adam to get him to make a phone call to bring Sarah in for an interview (unbeknownst to her of course). Julia is still struggling to bond with her daughter, and insists on taking her to school. She runs into trouble in the parking area, which later leads to an interesting mother showdown. Crosby, now a new dad, finds out that his son and his son’s mother actually decided to move back into town. Crosby tries to bond with Jabbar but finds that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing. And remember the mom from the parking lot, she has an adopted daughter who is friends with Sydney (Julia and Joel’s daughter) and is spending a little too much time with Sydney and Joel for Julia’s liking.

In addition, Adam and Kristina find out that Max does have Aspberger’s Syndrome (they hadn’t gotten a final diagnosis in the pilot). They meet with a family whose son was also diagnosed and of course he is playing guitar and dancing around in his underwear. The parents explain they will have to change Max’s diet, see a ton of behavior specialists, and Adam and Kristina are clearly overwhelmed. They get into see a specialist, who helps them understand how to treat Max’s condition.

There’s also a storyline with Sarah and her kids, some other sweet moments, and obviously there is a possum involved somewhere, but I don’t want to spoil too much. I can tell you that after this second episode, I am hooked. I would watch anything that Lauren Graham is in, and after the first episode, I decided I would give the show a shot. However, after the second episode, I truly see a ton of potential in this series. The episode was heartwarming in many ways but also had it’s funny and quirky moments like any good drama should have. I found myself wanting to see more once the episode ended and that is an extremely good sign. People have come up to me and told me that they can’t wrap their heads around watching Lauren Graham play someone other than Lorelai Gilmore. I completely understand and at first it was strange for me too. But I feel like Graham is embracing the role of Sarah, while bringing pieces of Lorelai to it as well. They are certainly polar opposite characters but there are moments in Parenthood (especially in this episode) where you see Lorelai’s wry smile or her sense of humor and sarcasm shine through. There are serious moments for Graham as well (perhaps the ones that seem out of place if you are used to Lorelai), but I’m asking all my readers who might not have been crazy about the first episode, to give this show one more try. If you watched the Friends pilot when it aired, you might have given up on that, but I think Parenthood is going great places. Jason Katims hasn’t let anyone down with Friday Night Lights, and I think he will take Parenthood to great places. The cast of this show is phenomenal, and I like that there are so many story lines to become invested in. I can’t wait to see more.

Be sure to tune in tonight to NBC at 10 pm for “Man vs. Possum.”

It was another heart-wrenching episode of Life Unexpected last night, which centered around the Cate/Ryan tension post-breakup. Of course, they still have to host a radio show and act like they are a happy couple. Ryan ends up taking shots at Baze and Cate implies (through a rather amazing sweatpants metaphor) that she is moving on. After the brutal show ends, Alice tells Cate that her and Ryan are signed up to host a bridal expo and they can’t back out of it.

Meanwhile, back at Lux and Baze’s new happy abode, Lux is quite depressed. She is spending hours on the phone with Tasha and moping around because of Bug. She’s also skipping school, which was only alluded to, but it made me think that Cate wouldn’t have stood for that. In any case, Baze runs into Jones outside his bar, who came to give Lux her homework. After he had just talked with Jamie and Math about Lux needing friends, he decides to enlist Jones. Jones agrees to ask Lux out, and one of the best moments of the show is when he does, and she says “Why?” Despite her hesitation, she says yes. He promises her that she will love what he has planned. She doesn’t know how he knows what she loves, but he explains that he has his sources.

Back in bridal hell, Cate and Ryan have to tell their engagement story to an entire audience. However, not before we get a hilarious story from a couple that may or may not have resulted in a green card wedding. When Cate and Ryan tell their story, it actually seems like they might reconnect in some way. Ryan had been very cold and harsh to Cate but it is during these small moments that we see him break. They miss each other, and they want to get back together but there is something (or someone) standing in the way.

But back to Lux and Jones’ “date,” that he picks her up at 9 am for. They are driving somewhere quite far and Lux is skeptical. However, they discover that they both have the same taste in music. (At first I thought that Baze told Jones what Lux likes, but it turns out that isn’t true). While Lux and Jones are on their date, Baze finds a text message from Ryan to Lux (she left her phone at home). Ryan is going to buy Lux a car, and Baze is none too pleased about this fact. Finally, Lux and Jones arrive at their destination and Tasha runs out of the house. Lux and Tasha embrace in an incredibly great moment. Jones is obviously a good guy. I am still wondering about Bug and if he will ever come back, but I like that there is another love interest for Lux. Lux and Tasha spend the whole day catching up, and Jones babysits the other foster kids. (Team Abercrombie?)

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In addition to speaking with the entire cast of White Collar at the Character Approved reception, I also had the opportunity to participate in a conference call with creator Jeff Eastin. The big season finale of White Collar is tonight, and there is going to be a huge cliffhanger. Eastin talks about the writers room, Matt Bomer’s star power, White Collar drinking games and a possible White Collar/Burn Notice crossover. (I had asked this question of Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar in a previous conference call).

I just wondered if you could maybe talk a little bit about planning for that, what you might do different, and are we going to get a major cliffhanger leading into that?
Yes. We have a pretty major cliffhanger coming up here in two weeks. And what we’ve done in season two is really—we’re right into it now. The writers’ group has been going about two weeks now and most of that time; we’ve been just working on the mythology moving forward into season two. What I did, really, was looked and say what we thought we really did right in season one and just try to duplicate that. Luckily, I was sort of surprised, but most new shows, there’s usually a few shows you’re sort of not happy with and I’ve got to say, I mean, just amazing case, amazing crew. We had some really good directors this year and we got really lucky. I mean, I can’t really think of any show in season one that I wasn’t happy with. I mean, I’ve got my favorites.  But even the ones that are my least favorite, I still think came out pretty good.  So I’m pretty happy about that.  I mean, we have been dealing pretty specifically with Tiffani’s pregnancy.  That’s something we’re really trying to deal with in season two. We’ve decided not to bring it up on the show.  So working around that has been a real challenge and very interesting, but kind of fun to find out technologically what you can do in terms of green screen and things like that to be able to work around that.  So those are the challenges we’ve got going into season two. But for the most part, the way I’m looking at the show right now is it ain’t broke and we’re not going to try to change anything majorly in season two in terms of dynamic. For me, the show is really about Peter and Neal and that’s where the focus is going to stay, supported by Elizabeth and Mozzie, and that’s really where we want to keep it going into season two.

One of the things that I think was probably the most amazing things I’ve read was how when you’re coming up with this concept, you’d never been to New York and you did your research, I guess, with Google Streets.  I was kind of wondering how in hindsight did that work out, and is New York, I guess, different than you thought it would be?
That is true. Yes, I had not been to New York.  New York was a very obvious choice if you’re going to do a world of white collar crime.  And Manhattan, you really can’t beat it.  I mean, it’s the perfect city for the show.  And the one problem that I had was that I had not been there. So I’m a computer geek anyway, and I think Google Streetview when it had first came out, I thought it was pretty amazing, and once I started poking around on it, in Manhattan, it was really nice. I mean, you could stroll down the street. I could plan out Neal and Peter’s movements and actually walk through them. That was really helpful just in terms of sort of orienting myself geographically. What really shocked me about New York, I have to say, are the people. I mean, I sort of—being from Colorado originally and then from L.A., there was sort of a perception that people from New York can be very cold and sort of distant.  I was really surprised that that was the exact opposite of what I found.  I found that people there were incredibly nice, incredibly warm. I have to say that I was sort of—Central Park was probably the biggest surprise I had.  I spent some of the most peaceful moments in my life I’ve spent just sort of strolling through Central Park.  And that’s from a guy who grew up in a very small town in Colorado.  So that was probably the biggest shock is that there were these places of solitude in New York that you could find.  It wasn’t the big hustle bustle capital that I was expecting. It does have those elements, but there are also these wonderfully tranquil moments that really surprised me.

You’ve often said in interviews that Neal and Peter are the smartest guys in the room. And over the course of the season, we’ve seen them go up against some pretty clever criminals, but really the only one who kind of seems like a match for them has been Keller, which makes me wonder since Fowler is somehow connected to the whole case scenario. Clearly, he’s not the guy pulling the strings. So when are we going to learn more about the mastermind behind that and how is that going to play into future episodes?
Yes. The, as we call him, the big bad, as we call him, who ultimately will be the guy that Fowler reports to. We’ll learn a lot more about him in season two. Our season two, and knock wood, our season three mythology really deals with that and really we spend some time exploring Fowler’s back story, which is actually kind of interesting stuff.  Glad to hear.  I’m don’t know if that was you saying you like Keller, but that he was formidable, which I was very happy to hear. We liked Keller quite a bit, and actually the bad guy, Wilkes, who’s coming up in next week’s episode of “Front Man,” is pretty formidable also. Just as a side note, people have asked in “Free Fall,” which is our finale where Neal had bailed out of a judge’s chambers and ended up in the front page of the newspaper, whether there were going to be ramifications. And yes, Keller is one of those ramifications. Wilkes, also, is somebody from Neal’s past, which is that sort of by exposing himself, Neal sort of comes out of the shadows slightly, and that’s attracted some of the people from his own life. So two of the bad guys, Fowler will return and we’ll find out a little bit more about who’s pulling his strings and why, which I think is actually a pretty interesting story.

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A couple of weeks ago, I attended USA Network’s 2nd Annual Character Approved Awards reception, where they honored innovators in various different fields of work. To learn more about the nominees (which include Green Day and Katherine Bigelow), you can visit the Character Approved website. Many of the stars of the USA Network shows attended the reception, and I was able to talk with the cast of one of my new favorite shows, White Collar. I had interviewed Tim DeKay (Peter Burke) over the phone in the past, and he was so wonderful to meet in person, and just incredibly nice and forthcoming. So forthcoming in fact, that he ALMOST revealed a huge location that would have given away a major plot point from the season finale. We talked about Peter and Neal’s relationship, the success of White Collar, and of course, what it’s like working with Matt Bomer.

What’s coming on the big season finale of White Collar?
You know, what, you’re a great interviewer, and I know you’re going to ask me all types of questions to get to the same answer. All I’m going to say is everybody’s involved. Certainly Neal and Peter, Mozzie, Elizabeth, Fowler, Kate, and even countries other than the United States.

Interesting! When you signed on, did you know White Collar was going to be so successful?
No. You never know. This was my 11th pilot, so I’m 3 for 11 with pilots. The others were all sort of…No I didn’t know! But because you have this guarded optimism as an actor because you think “Oh, I love this project, I love working with Matt, I love these characters,” don’t get too excited because you’re going to get the call and say It’s great, but it didn’t test well, or whatever. You know, there are so many people that make these decisions, to say “Yeah, let’s go with it.” But sometimes when you do these things, you feel all these, and you think all of these thoughts about the series or about the show, and then it’s confirmed by other people. You think, “Oh, I was right. It’s exactly what I thought people would think it was.” That’s a wonderful feeling.

Are we going to see more of Peter being watched by Fowler?
Yeah, the last episode, [he] becomes very stealth, I’ll use that word. The stakes are high, very high.

I know last time we spoke, you talked about shooting all over New York City. Do you have another location that you’ve filmed at recently that was one of your favorites?
We shot at — Oh no, I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you. I was just going to tell you and then you were going to say — Ohhh! You don’t even know when you’re asking good questions! You don’t even know!

(laughs) I didn’t mean it that way! Do you have a location that won’t give away anything?
They’re all good locations. I can’t talk to you. I was about to tell you a location that would have given a huge part of the story away!

I wasn’t trying to get you to spoil it, I swear! (laughs)
Bad, bad!

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A couple of weeks ago, I attended USA Network’s 2nd Annual Character Approved Awards reception, where they honored innovators in various different fields of work. To learn more about the nominees (which include Green Day and Katherine Bigelow), you can visit the Character Approved website. Many of the stars of the USA Network shows attended the reception, and I was able to talk with the cast of one of my new favorite shows, White Collar. Willie Garson, who we all know and love as Stanford Blatch from Sex and The City, spoke about who he bases Mozzie on, the fashion on White Collar and even a little bit about the upcoming Sex and the City movie.

How do you like playing Moz on White Collar? I love the character.
Oh it’s really great. They write it to me, they came to me with it, they write exactly in my wheel house. I get to play around with it a lot, just the fun of being able to play different characters depending on the scam and it’s great fun.

Have you done any research into what exactly your character does?
Oh God no. Yes, of course. You know, I start — because I’m kind of a gigi actor, I start with how things look. And I looked at those guys in Tompkins Square Park who play chess all day. And I figured, they must make a living, they must do something for a living — so that’s what I base Mozzie on mostly and then scams. Whatever scam we’re doing on that episode, we find out all about that as we go along.

The fashion is amazing on the show. Have you been enjoying working with the costume designers?
Stephanie’s great. We have a very specific look for Mozzie. It took actually a few episodes to find it, so we won’t be having the Scooby Doo neckerchief anymore, but again, it’s those guys in the park playing chess. They’re clean, they live somewhere, they’re just wearing kind of unique pieces. They’re one of a kind, and Mozzie’s one of a kind. And we knew, USA knew, by bringing me, I have, I’m a little fashion iconic, so they knew they had to kind of build to that. I couldn’t be wearing like an airline jump suit, people are expecting me to be dressed. So that’s why Mozzie has to be kind of dressed, because I’m playing him.

Right. And do you have a favorite moment from filming the show so far?
A favorite moment in the show…we have great moments. I love being out on the street in New York. And we have a lot of fun and especially because it’s me on the street– there’s always an adventure when we’re shooting out on the street. People are interrupting takes, screaming Stanford in the middle of it — so New York’s always a blast. It’s hilarious.

And can you tell us anything about the new movie coming out? [Sex And The City 2]
I can tell you that it IS coming out.

Any chance there will be a Sex and the City 3?
I have no idea. I hope so! I would like some vacation probably.

What it was it like working on the sequel?
Great. It’s just a gift from the fans that we’re [going to be] doing this. I mean, we joke about it. We’re like what are we Bonanza? We started talking about the pilot in 1996. This is crazy that we get to still do this. And it’s because the fans are letting us. So, God bless ‘em you know!

Did you have any idea it was going to be such a big phenomenon?
Oh God no. God no. That’s at the beginning at the show, and certainly when we released the first movie–we would never be so bold as to think that we’d end up with whatever, 500 million dollars worldwide. It’s like what? We just were making it for our fans. We didn’t realize how many of them there are. So, we love them. We love them, love them, love them.

Who did you hang out with on the Sex and the City set?
Sarah Jessica and I are pretty close, for almost 25 years now. She’s my best friend, so if I didn’t say her, I’d be lying.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow night to USA Network at 10 pm for the season finale of White Collar.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to attend USA Network’s 2nd Annual Character Approved Awards reception, where they honored innovators in various different fields of work. It was an amazing reception, where guests were treated to a performance by American Idiot before the cast makes its Broadway debut. The Character Approved award honorees are Katherine Bigelow (pre-Oscar win), Nora Ephron, Green Day, Narciso Rodriguez, Angela Brooks (groundbreaking architect), Kehinde Wiley (urban arts painter), Yves Behar (designer of a bluetooth headset and $100 laptop), Dan Barber (well known restauranteur), Jessica Jackley (founder kiva.org), and Alex Rigopulos & Erin Egozy (creators of Rock Band and Guitar Hero). To learn more about the nominees, you can visit the Character Approved website. It was great to see such leaders in their own field be honored by a network that is innovative in and of itself. Many of the stars of the USA Network shows attended the reception, and I was able to speak with the cast of White Collar. Matt Bomer, ever so dashing and lovely, took some time out to talk about Neal, what’s coming up on the big season finale and his favorite part of filming the show so far. (And of course, the most important thing–what was he wearing?)

What are you wearing tonight?
I’m wearing Calvin Klein.

Is there any way Bryce will be back on Chuck?
That’d be really fun. We’ll see. The opportunity is open, but timing-wise with both of our schedules it hasn’t really worked out so far. But I love that show, I love everybody on it, I wish them all the best, always.

What’s coming up on White Collar?
We have a big season finale coming up. A lot of big story lines coming to climax, a lot of really unexpected stuff going on, and we’re really setting ourselves up nicely for the second season. Check it out!

What has been your favorite part of filming the show so far?
I think really the cast, who I love, and we get along amazingly, and it’s truly a joy to come to work every day. And also getting to shoot in New York City. We get to see a side of New York City that a lot of people don’t get to see even if you live here. We’re shooting in huge, amazing townhouses and brownstones and getting to see the insides of a lot of the white collar aspects of New York City.

Do you have a favorite location from filming the show?
We got to shoot in a lot of really iconic places, like Times Square, the NASDAQ building and Columbus Circle, so for me, as somebody whose lived in New York, it was really a surreal experience for me. So I would say it would be somewhere between that and something really nice — we got to shoot in a really nice townhouse on the Upper East Side that had a million dollar chandelier that went down six stories and spread out on the floor. It’s just crazy opulence that I’ve never experienced before.

And you and Tim just recently rang the opening bell at the Stock Exchange. What was that like?
It was so much more exciting than I thought it was going to be. The countdown and leading up to it, and getting to introduce it, it’s such a huge part of New York City, just being in the financial capital of the world and getting to do it was a real honor. I can’t believe they let a criminal, though, ring the bell…but…

Has being on White Collar made you more aware of white collar crime? Have you done and investigation into some of the cases?
I think it was so out there, we were so fortunate, because we just came out there in the zeitgeist at the right time. We shot the pilot and then the whole thing with Madoff went down which was so fortuitous for us. And then, you know, it just kept rolling out and became more and more front page stories so the work sort of did itself that way. Anybody who picked up a paper was aware of a white collar scandal at the time.

Do you think Neal is going to trust Peter more in the upcoming season?
I think Neal never really trusted anybody 100 percent, but I think Peter’s probably the person he trusted the most so you know, I don’t think he’ll ever be really, completely given over to him in terms of trust but he definitely has a lot of trust in him.

Did you know the show was going to be such a huge success when you started?
No! We had no idea. To me, I just loved the script, I loved the character, it was so much fun to do that whatever came about was great. I think I’ve been in this business long enough to not really have any expectations, just show up, do the work, and do the best I could. And I knew I was on a network that really gave shows a shot, and really got behind their shows and so I’m really grateful to be working for them and I was pleasantly surprised.

Do you have anything else you are working on?
Right now, it was tough because this hiatus was so short. I did have movie offers, but I couldn’t shoot them in such a brief period of time so that was tricky. But right now, I’m doing a workshop of a new Broadway musical. They’re re-making the last Rat Pack movie actually, Robin and The Seven Hoods, and I’m playing the Sinatra role in that, so that was sort of a fun way for me to get to flex my creative muscles with a much smaller time constraint.

Is there a particular genre of film that you like?
I really respond to a lot of the really fun romantic comedy stuff. I think it’s fun, and it gives you a real sense of liberty as an actor to make fun choices, and I think that’d be a really fun place to start.

Do you have anyone in mind who you’d want to play the lead actress opposite you?
Oh my gosh, the list is endless. I really like Ginnifer Goodwin a lot. Who else do I really like? Anna Faris I love her, too. I think she’s hysterical.

And are you anything like your character? Are you anything like Neal at all?
Well, I think I’m gonna miss him because I’m definitely a bit quixotic like he is but I’m not nearly as smooth in terms of pulling off crimes, so the similarities end there.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow night to USA Network at 10 pm for the season finale of White Collar.

Have you ever wondered who you are really related to? Or if your relatives played an important part in history? In a new NBC series (which is an adaptation of the hit BBC television documentary series) Executive Produced by Lisa Kudrow, they are out to answer just that. It follows the story of 7 celebrities (Kudrow included) as they embark upon a journey into their past. For some, it’s emotional, for others, eye opening and life changing.

The celebrities featured on the series are: Sarah Jessica Parker, Emmitt Smith, Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Broderick, Spike Lee and the aforementioned Kudrow. Each episode tells one celebrity’s story. Sarah Jessica Parker’s journey starts with a visit to her hometown in Ohio. She then travels to all over and ends up in Massachusetts to find out that one of her relatives was accused of being a witch and was almost killed. Another one of her relatives was part of the gold rush.

The most moving episode out of all 7 for me was Lisa Kudrow. She starts off by asking her dad about their genealogy. He mentions the story of a cousin who told him when he was a kid (as well as his parents) that his grandma had died in a massacre by the Nazis. The cousin then vanished and they had heard he died. He got choked up telling her this story, and it was incredibly moving to see how the Holocaust impacts him, even so many years later. Kudrow takes off to a tiny village in what is now Belarus and speaks to a lady who was around at the time of the Holocaust and knew her grandma. She pays tribute to the Holocaust memorial in the village, and is able to see the view her grandma grew up with every day. Her travels then take her to another small town where she is able to track her long lost cousin. He is still alive with a son and grandson of his own and they reconnect. She also sets it up so her father and her cousin can video chat. After all those years of thinking he died, he was alive and well in Eastern Europe. This was an incredibly emotional journey for Kudrow, and anyone watching as well. It was interesting to see how one relative lead to another then to another then to the person she was looking for.

The show uses the help of geneology experts, ancestry.com, historians, libraries and of course, family members. It made me want to travel back to Europe to see what I could find about my ancestors. One thing I do wish for the future of this show is that maybe they branch out into celebrities and people like me. I don’t know that someone would want to watch my history unfold, so I understand the celebrity appeal. However, in the world of new media, perhaps the broadcast show could focus on celebrities while there might be some other way through a website (or something of the like) to connect with relatives. But I digress. The show is great, and definitely worth checking out. There are so many reality shows out there that don’t make you think (in fact they do just the opposite) but Who Do You Think You Are is insightful. One of the things I like the most about it is that there is no host. The celebrity who is tracing their past guides you through the episode with voice overs and various different interactions.

Check out this video preview from the Sarah Jessica Parker episode (which airs tonight):

And be sure to tune into NBC tonight at 8 pm for the series premiere of Who Do You Think You Are. It is definitely worth watching!

Tonight is the big season finale of Burn Notice on USA Network. Burn Notice centers around Michael (Jeffrey Donovan), a “burned” spy and his adventures trying to figure out why, and lift the burn notice. It has a phenomenal supporting cast in Gabrielle Anwar (Fiona), Bruce Campbell (Sam) and Sharon Gless (Madeline–Michael’s mom). I recently had the chance to speak with Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar about the evolution of their characters, a possible USA Network show crossover and what drew them to the show and the medium of television.

Are you surprised at the success of this show?  And I know at times, for USA, the show is either competitive with NBC or sometimes even through passing and are you surprised with the following that it’s gotten over the years?

J. Donovan: Well, I think that all you can hope for is that you make something that people want to watch and then somehow keep integrity while doing that. And so I think we’re very happy with the ratings definitely.  I know we work really hard, so surprised, yes, we’re always surprised when anything succeeds in this day and age.

Can you talk about your characters and just kind of the evolution that we’ve seen in your characters, and are you happy with where you guys have ended up with your characters?  And if you’re in charge of everything, where would you like to see them go I guess in the season or in the future?

G. Anwar: Do you think we’ve evolved?

I’m sure you could always do it better, I mean everybody’s got to have that feel for their character.

G. Anwar: I don’t know where we’re going, where are we going, Jeffrey?

J. Donovan: Well, I think that, I’ll speak for Gabrielle, I mean I know from talking with all the other cast mates, we’re very happy with where it’s going.  But sometimes Matt Nix and all the other writers keep us slightly in the character dark, not because they don’t trust us with the knowledge, but they’re just trying to figure it out as well along the way. When you’re dealing with espionage and covert affairs, sometimes the secret is more exciting than the knowledge.  If we were both in charge, I would love a deeper insight into Michael’s past, that’s for me.  I don’t know about Gabrielle, what would you like?

G. Anwar: I’m quite happy with Fiona’s enigmatic state of being.  I don’t think I need to know more about, I’d love to know more about where you’re from, absolutely, but I quite like not knowing.  I don’t like to know who I am.

I read online that in an upcoming episode, Michael will be going somewhere other than Miami and that he won’t be alone.  Can you tell us where your characters going and why, as well as who’s going with him?

J. Donovan: Well, obviously I can’t.  It’s the season finale, and it’s really literally in the last five minutes of the show.  It’s a bit of a cliffhanger.  Michael’s been stuck in Miami for quite some time, and there’s a couple of psychopaths on his tail, and things come to a hilt.  And by the end of the show, Michael is actually transported out of Miami, but I can’t tell you where, but it’s a bit of a cliffhanger.

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