CBS' The Unit is back from holiday hiatus with a new episode [airing this Tuesday at 9 pm/ET]. In "The Broom Cupboard," the unit is assigned to protect a Texas senator who is touring in a hostile country. And Jonas is given a secret assignment by the president, played by William H. Macy, while Molly, Kim and Tiffy plan a surprise for Crystal.
I spent the holidays back in Dallas. I love taking long walks every day through my neighborhood. Rolling hills and wide open sky. I think that limitless horizon inspires a body to dream — I can’t help but to wander off on your own way. I remember as a child catching hell a few times for being a little “off the beaten track,” but I got Texas grit in my veins.... I kept stepping. Sometimes you have to make your own individual path.
Audrey Marie “Hepburn” Anderson knows about that sky. She’s another fellow Texan from Fort Worth. Audrey is eclectic. An inventive cook and a great photographer, she makes her own funky-looking clothes, likes all sorts of music and movies, and she does a good beat box and raps old-school and new. Texas grit — she can stand her own ground. Her father, a laborer all his life, recently broke his back, but it took several months for him to realize it.... He just kept moving through. That’s the stock from which she comes.
Summer Glau knows, too. San Antonio. She remembers living in a trailer park on her way to her dream of becoming a premier ballerina. A severe injury put her on her path to acting in L.A. Her first break was on the series Angel, and she played the character of River on Firefly. In The Unit, Summer is Crystal Burns, the girlfriend of Jeremy (Daniel Wisler) who Molly recruits to a private security missions overseas.
Audrey’s partner owns a great L.A. restaurant called Dominick's, just down from the Beverly Center. Daniel works there as a waiter in the in-betweens. Walk straight through to the back of the restaurant and there’s a tranquil patio with a fireplace. The cast broke bread together there before the holidays. It’s rare for the whole cast to be in the same room — we’re always on separate missions on the set. Everyone enjoys each others' company when we do get together. Good to see that everybody made it. The brown and beautiful Demore Barnes stopped by for a while. He was on his way to a holiday meal with his girlfriend’s parents. Demore used to be shy until he stepped on stage on a dare at Sir Oliver Mowat High School in Toronto, Canada. From there he became a stand-up comedian before taking the next step into acting. He can do uncanny impressions of anyone in the room.
I like seeing everyone and their partners on this rare occasion. Same time last year, I brought a blind date. This year I came by myself without any apologies. Felt good. I’m in a fully committed relationship with myself. Though we do fall out every once in a while.
William H. Macy of Fargo fame met David Mamet while both were at Goddard College. After graduation, he and Mamet and others founded a theater company together in Chicago, Illinois. The beginning of a long, committed relationship of collaborations over the years. Macy originated roles in a number of Mamet plays — American Buffalo to Oleana — and movies written and/or directed by Mamet (House of Games to State and Main. William H. Macy has been married to (non-)Desperate Housewife Felicity Huffman since 1997. Their portmanteau couple nickname is “Filliam H. Muffman.”
This past week, The Unit, Dennis Haysbert and myself were nominated for NAACP Image Awards. It’s the beginning of a blessed year for which I am truly grateful.
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