3.24.06 - Jeri Ryan joins James Woods in the new CBS drama project Shark from Spike Lee. Ryan will play Woods's boss.

1.27.06 - Chi McBride has been cast in the ABC drama project formerly called Nine Lives about a lengthy hostage crisis from the point of vieew of the hostages.

10.12.05 - Loretta Devine recently appeared on ABC's Grey's Anatomy as Adele Webber. She will also be a recurring guest star on the WB's new show, Supernatural, where she plays a psychic who may be able to shed some light on the mystery of the two boys' mother's death.

10.12.05 - Michael Rapaport's new sitcom, The War at Home, has been picked up by FOX for a full season.

10.11.05 - Rob Estes has replaced Nicky Katt as a lead in ABC's new series, The Evidence.

Michael Rapaport by Chris Cuffaro/FOX

by Matt Webb Mitovich

Fox's Simpson, Hill, Griffin and Smith families are getting a funny new neighbor: the Golds of The War at Home (premiering Sunday at 8:30 pm/ET). Playing pop to a trio of challenging teens (blossoming Hillary, sexually misunderstood Larry and videogamer Mike) is Michael Rapaport (Small Time Crooks, Hitch), whose previous TV run was as a firebrand teacher on Boston Public. TVGuide.com got a few minutes during the busy actor's lunch break to discuss fatherhood, films and his real-life friend in need.

TVGuide.com: What did your three-season stint as Boston Public's Danny teach you?
Michael Rapaport: It taught me that good work is good work, and having the opportunity to act every day is a really special thing. That's what I walked away [with].

TVGuide.com: Did it give you an appetite for further episodic series such as War at Home?
Rapaport: It definitely did. I liked the consistency of the work and, as I said, I enjoy acting a lot. So often in this business, you rarely get to act; you spend time trying to get jobs and that kind of thing. But what's great about doing a TV show, especially one that I like, is that you do get to act every day, as opposed to chasing work, which is a real pain in the ass.

TVGuide.com: Some liken War at Home to Married... with Children. Do you agree with that comparison?
Rapaport: I think it's more like a Roseanne or an All in the Family. Although Married... with Children was an extraordinarily funny show, this show is based in a stronger sense of reality.

TVGuide.com: Are you excited about Sunday's premiere?
Rapaport: I'm really, really, really excited. I'm so proud of this show and so proud of the cast. I can't wait for people to see it. I think once people see it they're going to enjoy it. I really believe in this show

TVGuide.com: How do you like Anita Barone (The Jeff Foxworthy Show) as your TV wife?
Rapaport: I love her. She's great. Dave and Vicky have a good, healthy, fun and playful relationship — they're friends and still very attracted to and sexually into each other.

TVGuide.com: Where are you coming from to play a father of teens? Your own kids aren't nearly that old.
Rapaport: A big inspiration for me is always my father, and I also sort of take from [creator/executive producer] Rob Lotterstein's inspiration, which is his father. But the fact that I am a father of two boys — Julian, who's 5, and Maceo, my 3-year-old — is obviously the best firsthand experience I have.

TVGuide.com: What do you make of the pseudo-"controversy" of a show titled The War at Home's debuting on 9/11?
Rapaport: I didn't even think about it. It didn't cross my mind.

TVGuide.com: Not that you are averse to controversy, which you experienced much of as a cast member of Bamboozled.
Rapaport: I'm extremely proud of that movie. It dealt with a lot of stereotypes in the black community and the way they are exploited by Hollywood — the television industry, more specifically — and it didn't pull any punches. [Writer/director] Spike [Lee] took incredible risks making it, and because of the controversy and all that, it didn't get a chance. But it's a very, very important movie that people should be able to enjoy for a long time.

TVGuide.com: Are there any new films coming up that you're particularly proud of?
Rapaport: Special, which is going to premiere at the [January 2006] Sundance Film Festival, I'm really excited about. It's a little independent movie about a guy who is sort of depressed and sheltered and he winds up taking an antidepressant and starts to [experience] adverse reactions — he starts to think he has supernatural powers because the medication doesn't really work properly. It has a dark, comedic element to it, but it's really a dramatic portrayal of a guy who is suffering from depression and is desperate to try to fix it. I'm enormously proud of it, and I'm looking forward to people getting a chance to see it.

TVGuide.com: Lastly, I'd like to ask if you have heard any updates regarding Natasha Lyonne (American Pie). [Rapaport's longtime friend/Comic Book Villains cast mate was recently in a New York City hospital ICU with hepatitis C, a collapsed lung and a heart infection.]
Rapaport: I haven't spoken to her. I hope she's doing good. I've been thinking about her a lot lately and I care about her....

TVGuide.com: I saw somewhere that her father was threatening the hospital with a lawsuit for violating confidentiality and letting her admittance be leaked out.
Rapaport: The thing about her father that hasn't been put out there is... she doesn't speak to her father — she has a restraining order against him — so he's just trying to get his face into the papers for some reason. I don't know why a sixtysomething-year-old man would be so interested in getting in the press when his daughter is so sick. Natasha knows how I feel about her, aside from all the stuff that we went through [when her unruly behavior forced Rapaport to evict Lyonne from an apartment building he owns]. She's like family to me. She's a very, very good person, and I'm hoping that she's able to get better.

6.8.05 - Jessalyn Gilsig is being promoted to cast regular on Nip/Tuck.

3.16.05 - Chi McBride has been cast in the Fox drama pilot Deviant Behavior.

3.8.05 - Nicky Katt has been added to the cast of The Evidence, a new show from Warner Bros. TV/John Wells Productions starring Martin Landau and Orlando Jones. It's a procedural drama about two homicide detective, and is being produced for ABC.

9.24.04 - Boston Public repeats will premiere on WE on Monday, September 27th, and will be airing at 7pm and 1am on weekdays.

7.7.04 - WE: Women's Entertainment has acquired the off-net cable rights to Boston Public. Boston Public comes with 81 episodes and is scheduled to begin airing on WE this fall.

6.23.04 - Jeri Ryan accused her former husband, Republican Senate candidate Jack Ryan, of trying to coerce her into performing sex acts at various clubs while others watched. The charges -- first leveled during the couple's bitter child-custody battle back in 2000 -- were made public on Monday. In the documents the actress also acknowledged infidelity on her part, but only after the marriage was irretrievably broken.

6.2.04 - David E. Kelley will develop his own reality show that will include real lawyers. In creating a real firm, the lawyers/players will handle civil cases with binding arbitration presided over by sitting or former judges (the same type of binding arbitration as used in various syndicated court shows), and at the same time be vying for a partnership position within the lawfirm. NBC has ordered up 8 episodes which will be produced by Kelley and Renegade 83.

5.14.04 - Kristin at E!Online reports that when Chi McBride was asked if there was a chance that Boston Public would ever return, McBride just laughed. "Boston Public is as dead as fried chicken. There's about as much hope of it returning as a drumstick attaching all the other pieces together and running in your yard."

5.11.04 - Michael Rapaport and wife Nichole are going their separate ways after four years of marriage. They have two children.

4.7.04 - Zap2It.com: Gilsig Subs for Ross on 'NYPD Blue' - Charlotte Ross' departure from "NYPD Blue" has opened the door for former "Boston Public" star Jessalyn Gilsig to join the cast....

3.17.04 - From the March 20th issue of TV Guide: Graduation Day
Fox has yet to officially dismiss Boston Public, but there's every indication that school is out for the gang at Winslow High. "The cast has been released from their contracts, and the show's sets have been torn down," sniffs a Boston native. "It's over." Two unaired episodes won't give fans much closure; creator-producer David E. Kelley was not given enough notice to script an appropriate farewell. For that, Fox gets a big fat F.

3.17.04 - Jeri Ryan is in final talks to star opposite Kim Delaney in the pilot for Sudbury, a CBS drama that revolves around two sisters who also happen to be witches.

3.1.04 - Chi McBride will join the cast of Countdown (Fremantle Media/Vertikal/Touchstone) as the SWAT team leader. McBride's fellow cast members include Jason O'Mara, Louis Mandylor, Salli Richardson, and Adam Beach. This show was previous known as 43 Minutes.

1.24.04 - Zap2It.com: School Year Ends Early for 'Boston Public' - While most shows typically complete 22 episodes per season, FOX has halted production on "Boston Public," which was in the middle of shooting its 15th episode this past week. David E. Kelley's drama, which centers around the lives of students and faculty at a high school, is currently in its fourth season. Many suspected it would be the show's last since FOX had originally only ordered 13 episodes before tacking on an additional two....

12.15.03 - Zap2It.com: R.E.M. Unplugs for 'Boston Public' - So many people are crowded into Doyle's Cafe on the set of FOX's "Boston Public" that, if it were a real pub, the place might be in violation of the fire code. The occasion is the filming of "Chapter Seventy-Six," the Friday, Dec. 19, episode of the high-school drama, and it's far from business as usual on the soundstages in Manhattan Beach, Calif....

10.29.03 - R.E.M. will perform an acoustic version of "Losing My Religion" during Boston Public's Christmas-themed episode Dec. 19. As part of the deal, producers agreed to play the group's new single "Bad Day" in the background of the episode. So, everyone wins.

10.10.03 - From TV Guide Online: "Idol Star Goes Gay for Pay" by Michael Ausiello

American Idol lullababe Tamyra Gray is going from thespian to lesbian. The Boston Public grad will play a sapphic singer who develops a crush on Rachel True's Mona character on the Nov. 3 episode of UPN's Half & Half. The 24-year-old crooner admits she had some reservations about making her sitcom debut with such a "challenging" role.

"In the beginning [I was a little apprehensive], but mostly because I didn't know the other actress, Rachel, who I was playing side-by-side with," she tells TV Guide Online. "But it's kind of lighthearted, so it wasn't so bad. It wasn't bad at all, actually; it was pretty easy."

In the story, Mona tries to sign a hot new singer named Zora (Gray) to Delicious Records, but the hetero-leaning exec quickly realizes that the artist is sporting designs on more than just a lucrative album deal. "My character on Boston Public was a little shy," Gray says. "[Zora] is much more outgoing and aggressive."

Um, just how aggressive are we talking here? "There are no kissing scenes," laughs Gray. "That probably would have been my [deal]breaker, because I don't know if I'm ready for it just yet."

When Gray is not pursuing girls, er, acting gigs, she's busy putting the finishing touches on her debut album, which is due out in the spring. "For the most part, I will have written most of my album except for one song," says the Maryland native, who describes the CD as "a blend of old school and new school, with alternative pop and R&B."

And if Gray has it her way, her album's release will coincide with another big career development. "Hopefully by the time my album is about to drop, then I'll be back on Boston Public," she says with a smile, "because [my character] ended with a record deal. So, she'll have something to do." Sounds like Gray may have a future in marketing, too.

10.9.03 - Zap2It.com: Milo Ventimiglia: Neither Bad Nor a Boy - "My manager makes fun of me," says Milo Ventimiglia. "He's like, 'Since you started in the business, you've aged eight years, but on television, you've only aged two or three.' It's a frustrating thing....

10.1.03 - NBC is looking at a sitcom with Michael Rapaport, currently titled First Comes Love, which was also written by Rapaport along with Les Firestein, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

9.23.03 - Variety reports that David E. Kelley will be writing a big-screen remake of Agatha Christie's classic mystery "Witness for the Prosecution."

9.22.03 - Zap2It.com: Fenn Enrolls on 'Boston Public' - Anxious to maintain its audience after a move to Friday night, David E. Kelley's "Boston Public" is filling up with guest stars like so many over-crowded public school classrooms. Dennis Miller was already slated to begin a multi-episode arc on Friday, Oct. 24 and he'll be joined by former "Twin Peaks" gal Sherilyn Fenn. Fenn has signed on to do at least two episodes of the FOX drama, starting with Oct. 24 show....

9.22.03 - Michael Rapaport will be on Last Call with Carson Daly the night of Thursday, September 25th.

9.17.03 - Fox has ordered a pilot script for a comedy from David E. Kelley Prods. called Five Finger Discount, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The script will be penned by Kerry Ehrin, a consulting producer on Boston Public.

8.27.03 - Dennis Miller has signed on for a 3-episode arc the will begin Friday, October 24th. For more information on his role, see the previews page.

8.25.03 - Lyndsy Fonseca (The Young and the Restless) will guest star on three episodes of Boston Public.

8.14.03 - FOX has changed the premiere date of Boston Public from September 26th to Septmeber 19th.

8.13.03 - Milo Ventimiglia, who was last seen as Jess on Gilmore Girls will appear in three episodes of Boston Public, Variety reports. He'll play a bad boy with a hidden agenda.

8.11.03 - Kristin at E!Online reports that James Van Der Beek could be headed back to the big screen. He's in talks to star in "Standing Still," described as a "Big Chill" for Gen Y, which also stars Michael Rapaport and Estella Warren.

7.31.03 - Zap2It.com: 'Angel' Brings in Fresh Face, Old Friend - As the only currently active outpost in the know Buffy-verse, "Angel" is swelling its cast to include even more familiar faces, as well as one or two new characters to replace departed Charisma Carpenter and Vincent Kartheiser.

As has long been rumored, Mercedes McNab will join the show on a recurring basis, revisiting her Harmony character. This will allow Harmony, a somewhat bumbling vampire whose attempts at self-empowerment rarely end well, to reunite with former flame Spike (James Marsters, who has already been announced as a new series regular). McNab made appearances as Harmony on both "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel."

McNab's other credits include appearances on "Dawson's Creek" and "Boston Public."

The WB has also confirmed that another "Boston Public" alum, Sarah Thompson, will join "Angel" for at least six episodes as Eve, a new assistant to David Boreanaz's Angel at Wolfram & Hart. Those in the know are coy about Thompson's character, who may or may not provide temptation for the show's undead hero.

Thompson, who played high school seductress Dana Pool in the first season of "Boston Public," appeared on episodes of "The District" and "Touched by an Angel" last season. She also was in the feature "Malibu's Most Wanted."

7.29.03 - TV Guide Online: Meet Boston Public's "Spicy Latina" - This fall, Natalia Baron joins the cast of Boston Public as Miss Carmen Torres. "I'm a spicy Latina student teacher," the newbie tells TV Guide Online. "She's still in college and she comes in speaking Spanish the whole way, even though she's teaching physics, not Spanish!" What gives with Carmen livin' la vida loca en Español? "She believes that all the kids should learn Spanish — as well as all the teachers — because we're fighting in a bilingual job market," Baron smiles. "So she shakes things up...."

7.29.03 - FOX has schedule the season premiere of Boston Public for Friday, September 26th.

7.22.03 - From TV Guide Online: Former New Kid Joey McIntyre and That '70s Show's Mila Kunis are taking the plunge, signing on to star in a big-screen adaptation of the interactive stage show Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding.

7.17.03 - Boston Public received one Emmy nomination for Outstanding Choreography. The Emmy Awards will be presented live on Fox from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium on Sunday, September 21st.

6.18.03 - Tamyra Gray was nominated for a Teen Choice Award as Breakout Female TV Star for her recurring role on Boston Public. The awards are scheduled to air Wednesday, Aug. 6 on FOX. Teens can vote on several categories at TeenPeople.com (a subscription is required).

6.3.03 - Couple of program changes coming to Fox's Friday night schedule next month: as of July 11th The Bernie Mac Show will air back to back episodes from 8-9pm and Boston Public moves to 9pm. As of August 8th, Wanda at Large slides into the 8:30pm time slot, displacing the second Bernie Mac.

5.28.03 - TV Guide gives JEERS to Whitney Houston's unlikely appearance on Fox's Boston Public. As if it weren't stretching credibility that Houston would play a high school prom, the pop diva further challenged reality by showing up for the gig on time!

5.27.03 - Joey McIntyre, Jon Abrahams, Cara DeLizia and China Jesusita Shavers will not be returning next year.

5.15.03 - Bianca Kajlich (Lisa Grier, first season) and Joey Slotnick's new comedy, Rock Me Baby, has been picked up by UPN for the fall season. It will air on Tuesdays at 9pm ET.

5.15.03 - Boston Public has been renewed for another season by FOX, but will now be airing on Fridays at 9pm ET.

5.13.03 - David E. Kelley's new drama, The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H. (starring, among others, Cleo King, the "smell that shoe" woman), has been picked up by CBS for the fall and will air on Wednesday nights.

5.13.03 - Indigo's (Cheyenne) new cop drama, 10-8, has been picked up for the fall season by ABC, and will air on Sundays at 8pm ET.

5.3.03 - From the May 3rd issue of TV Guide: A diva moment: It wasn't jealousy over Tamyra Gray's rendition of "I Will Always Love you" that convinced Whitney Houston to play herself in the May 12 season finale of Fox's Boston Public but rather a plea from series creator David E. Kelley. He phoned Houston and asked if she'd play a student's superstar prom date. To sweeten the deal, Kelley is letting the diva sing a track from her latest CD. It's not right, but it's OK.

3.7.03 - Indigo (fka Alyssa Ashley Nichols, who plays Cheyenne) has been signed to play Officer Graves, a trainee at the Sheriff's Dept., in the ABC crime drama 10-8.