New on TV
A CBS special, “A Day in the Life of Television,” airs at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2. Last fall, 42 TV crews went behind the scenes of some of the most popular television shows to see how they were produced on a single, given day. Among those interviewed is Sephardi Jewish actor Hank Azaria, a principal voice actor on “The Simpsons.”
The new Fox series “Standoff” is about two FBI agents (Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt) who are top hostage negotiators as well as secret lovers. (Starts Tuesday, Sept. 5 at 9 p.m.) The creator and head writer of “Standoff” is Craig Silverstein, 31, who has a number of TV writing credits. In a 2004 profile, Silverstein said that he was bar mitzvahed and belonged to a Jewish singing group when he was in college.
Genius, living with Mom
Russian Jewish mathematician Grigory “Grisha” Perelman, 40, has made the front pages of papers around the world since his mathematical proof to a century-old math puzzle was recently verified.
The proof comes with a $1 million prize, which Perelman indicates he will not take (it will be two years until the prize is awarded, to allow time for others to challenge the proof). The increasingly reclusive Perelman recently refused to accept the Fields Medal, the “Nobel Prize of math” (and the $13,000 award that comes with it).
Many more details of Perelman’s career and his apparent wish for complete privacy can be found online. However, only the British Daily Telegraph newspaper has identified him as Jewish. The Telegraph’s article also provided some details of Perelman’s family background not found elsewhere. The paper says, “Friends were not surprised to learn that [the now unemployed and almost broke Perelman] was [currently] living with his mother in St. Petersburg. The Jewish family — he has a younger sister, Elena, also a mathematician — was always close.”
Good-looking kid on the way
Hot babe and TV host Brooke Burke, 34, just got engaged to hunky Jewish actor David Charvet, also 34. (Burke is Jewish on her mother’s side.) People magazine says that they are expecting a baby. Burke is currently hosting the summer show “Rock Star: Supernova,” while Charvet had co-starring roles on “Baywatch” and “Melrose Place.”
Charvet, 34, who was bar mitzvahed, was born in France and grew up in the States. His father, Paul Guez, was born in Tunisia, moved to France, married David’s mother (whose maiden name is Charvet), and then moved the family to America.
In the early ’80s, Guez became wealthy as the founder of the Sassoon Jeans Company. However, he went bankrupt in 1986. A few years later, despite his bleak finances, he made a commitment to help fund a new translation of the Talmud. A Jewish businessman was so impressed by Guez’s donation that he helped fund Guez’ new business venture: expensive, “tush-lifting” jeans. The “tush lifters,” sold under a variety of names, have made Guez rich again.
Dancing with the stars
Jerry Springer, the shlockmeister extraordinaire of tawdry daytime talk, is going to appear this season as a celebrity dancer on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” (starts Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m.). We think he should dance around the stage to the golden songs of yesterday, with the titles and lyrics altered to fit his persona. Maybe tunes like “Sleezedust,” “Some Enchanted Cheater,” “Mona Lisa, Men Have Called Him,” and, of course, “It Had To Be You — My Best Friend’s Wife.”
Columnist Nate Bloom, an Oaklander, can be reached at [email protected].