televisionBY FRANK LOVECESpecial to Newsday
He is all over the Ameri-can Southwest play-ing bad guy
ButchCavendish in TheLone Ranger, open-
ing today. And he is all overParis, Nice and Prague as thestar
of the new crime dramaCrossing Lines, airing Sun-days at 10 p.m. on
NBC. But foractor William Fichtner, nomatter where he goes, part
ofhim stays on Long Island.I have relatives from one end
of the Island to the other, hesays, giving shout-outs to
hisUncle Jimmy and Aunt CharleneLannigan in East Islip and hisUncle
Butch Keegan in Com-mack. I was born at what usedto be Mitchel Air
Force Base,and I went to Farmingdale [StateCollege] for my first
two yearsof college. Though he now livesin Los Angeles, Im an
Islandguy and I love it. As soon as Ibreak out over the water,
overthe Robert Moses Causeway,and Im heading out to the light-house
and you do that little hopand a skip over Captree, wherethe fishing
boats are, and comeover that last bridge and downto the lighthouse.
. . . His voicetrails. Man, I just love to walkthat beach. Its a
place of peacefor me.Its a testament to his talent
just how little this sounds likeanything most of his
characters
would say, whether its thehaunted, drug-popping FBIagent Alex
Mahone in PrisonBreak, harried producer PhilYagoda in Entourage or
hisvarious driven or taciturn menin Heat, Armageddon, ThePerfect
Storm and other films.This holds truewith his Cross-
ing Lines character, Carl Hick-mana disgraced or
perhapsbackstabbed formerNYPDdetectivewhose disfigured righthand
leaves himunable towrite areport or hold a gun, and inenough pain
that he requiresmorphine patches.Working amenial job under the
radar inAmsterdam, he balks at firstwhenDet.Major Louis Daniel
(Marc Lavoine) of theFrench police recruits himfor a teamof
cross-bordercops under the auspices ofTheHague-based Interna-tional
Criminal Court.Through circumstanc-
es and hard times, heslost everything, Ficht-ner, 56, says of
his charac-ter. And its really affect-ed his mind. Hes tryingto
recover from that andwhats helping his recov-ery is trying to
find
whos responsible for doing thisto him. Thats the undercurrentof
the whole first season of 10episodes, which premiered inEurope just
before airing here.Given the darkness of many
of his characters and ButchCavendish does some trulyheinous
things Fichtner sayshe is fortunately not one ofthose guys who
takes it home atthe end of the day and takes itout on the dog. When
I gethome, I clean out the garageand play ball with my son.Thats
it. Theres always a senseof playfulness in terms of whatI do for a
living, he says, evenwhen playing evil or broken.Thats what makes
it fun.
PHOTO
BYDUSA
NMART
ICEK
A&Es Duck Dynasty hashad a lot of success show-casing the
exploits of thegloriously bearded Robertsonfamily of West Monroe,
La., butfor the shows upcoming fourthseason, the producers are
mess-ing with the formula. Theyreadding another one of the
Rob-ertson brothers.Alan Robertson, the eldest of
the four Robertson brothers,will join the cast of the hitreality
series when it returnsAug. 14. And the most notablething about the
47-year-oldformer pastor is that, unlike hisdad, uncle and younger
broth-ers, hes beardless.Robertson has given up his
job as a preacher to work forthe family business, Duck
Com-mander, as the beards andbeauty wrangler, managing thefamilys
speaking engagements.
The shows third-seasonfinale, which aired in April,drew a record
9.6 million view-ers, making it the most-watchedprogram in A&Es
history.And the family is definitely
making moves to capitalize onits newfound fame. Besides
their best-selling books,Happy, Happy, Happy andThe Duck
Commmander Fami-ly, the family is recording aChristmas album, Duck
theHalls: A Robertson FamilyChristmas, due out Oct. 29.
Los Angeles TimesGAMEDAY Boys lacrosse (4 p.m., Ch. 14)
Chaminadevs. Yorktown (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) (repeat)
NOVA: DOGSDECODED (9 p.m.,WNET/13) Discov-eries in
geneticsreveal the origin ofdogs and the bondbetween humans
anddogs; breeding pro-gram for foxes.
]MODERN FAMILY(9 p.m., ABC/7) While at the hospital,Claire
(Julie Bowen)and Phil (Ty Burrell)see an older versionof their
family.(repeat)TODDLERS &TIARAS (9 p.m.,TLC) A diva-in-training
and a hockey-loving girlcompete in a pageant in Charlotte, N.C.
DAYTIMECBS THISMORNING (7 a.m., CBS/2)Chef MyronMixonTODAY (7
a.m., NBC/4) Martha StewartGOODMORNING AMERICA (7 a.m., ABC/7)
RoccoDiSpiritoKELLY &MICHAEL (9 a.m., WABC/7) Jane LynchRACHAEL
RAY (10 a.m., WABC/7) Beach-ready bodyWENDYWILLIAMS (10 a.m.,
WNYW/5, 4 p.m.,WWOR/9, midnight, BET) Kevin HartTHE VIEW (11 a.m.,
ABC/7) Kevin HartANDERSON COOPER (Noon, WNYW/5) HeatherMcDonald
(repeat)THE TALK (2 p.m., CBS/2) Gretchen WilsonDR. PHIL (3 p.m.,
WCBS/2; 7 p.m., WLNY/10/55) Elder abuse (repeat)STEVE HARVEY (3
p.m., NBC/4) Kiss secrets (repeat)KATIE COURIC (3 p.m., ABC/7) Tim
McGraw (repeat)ELLENDEGENERES (4 p.m.,WNBC/4)SteveCarell
(repeat)
NIGHTDAILYSHOW (11 p.m., ComedyCentral)Questlove (repeat)CONAN
(11 p.m., TBS) Russell Brand (repeat)COLBERT (11:30 p.m., Comedy
Central) Bill Moyers(repeat)LENO (11:35 p.m., NBC/4) Jamie Foxx
(repeat)LETTERMAN (11:35 p.m., CBS/2) Neil Patrick
Harris(repeat)KIMMEL (11:35 p.m., ABC/7) Michael C. HallFALLON
(12:35 a.m., NBC/4)Gov. Chris Christie (repeat)FERGUSON (12:35
a.m., CBS/2) Zac Efron (repeat)
CLEOPATRAS COSTUME Thats whats up for grabs onthis weeks Beverly
Hills Pawn (9 p.m., Reelz). Specifical-ly, its a dress worn by
Elizabeth Taylor in her notoriousmovie epic Cleopatra, now
celebrating its 50th anniversa-ry with a new Blu-ray release. The
movie won an Oscar forcostume design. More at reelz.com/reelztv.
DIANE WERTS
newsday.com/tv
Hes in LAbut still loves LINative Long IslanderWilliam Fichtner
stars inNBCs Crossing Lines,Sunday nights at 10.] Video: See
Fichtnertalk about the show atnewsday.com/tv
DuckDynastyaddsbeardlessbrotherThe
wildlypopularRobertsonfamilyshow onA&E willbe backwith
aclean-shavenbrotherwhen itstarts itsfall seasonAug. 14.
BLOOMBERG
PHOTO
msgvarsity
Lyudmila Trut with a tame silverfox in Siberia, on NOVA
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