Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, October 1, 2013 — 13

Caley Cuoco

BridaltheoryBIG Bang Theory actressKaley Cuoco is engagedafter a whirlwind three-month romance.

Cuoco has put an end torumours that startedcirculating earlier after shestepped out sporting a hugediamond ring on her en-gagement finger.

She is to wed her tennisplayer beau Ryan Sweeting.

‘‘It’s only been threemonths but she knows Ryanis the one. When you know,you know,’’ a friend close tothe star told Us magazine.

‘‘[She’s] never felt thisway. She knows this is it.‘‘

The pair recently madetheir first public appearancetogether, stepping out as acouple on the red carpet atthe Emmy Awards. Cuocoand tennis star Sweetingwere first spotted togetherat a horse ranch inMoorpark, California, at thebeginning of August.

The 27-year-old actress iscurrently filming new movieThe Wedding Ringer, inwhich she plays a bridewhose husband hires astranger as his best man.

Before Cuoco met Sweet-ing, she enjoyed a brief ro-mance with Man of Steelactor Henry Cavill.

Bryan Cranston

Returnof bossBRYAN Cranston is back toguest star as Ted’s boss onHow I Met Your Mother.

The Breaking Bad starwill reprise his role asHammond Druthers. Ted isplayed by series star JoshRadnor. It’s a real change ofpace for Cranston, whoplays teacher-turned-methmaker Walter White onBreaking Bad.

The series, which won abest drama Emmy Awardlast weekend, aired itsmuch-anticipated seasonfinale on Sunday. How I MetYour Mother has just begunits final season.

Superhero spin-off sureto light up small screenSara Smith and Chuck Barney

THE Avengers (from left): Black Widow(Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris

Hemsworth), Captain America (ChrisEvans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Iron

Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and Hulk(Mark Ruffalo)

JOSS Whedon’s creations raisedthe bar for teen dramas (Buffy theVampire Slayer), elevated sciencefiction (Firefly) and up-endedthe horror formula (The Cabin inthe Woods).

Then he got hold of Marvel’sstable of superheroes and madethem fun again.

The Avengers, which ended up asthe third-biggest movie ever, intro-duced millions to the sensibilities ofHollywood’s most powerful nerd(besides J.J. Abrams).

Now, that movie’s small-screenspin-off arrives on American net-work TV in prime time — and will befast-tracked to Australian screensby Channel 7.

But there are no vampires, space-ships, zombies or Gwyneth Paltrowin this show. There are no scares,gross-outs or complex mythology.Also no excuses.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does carryover some favourite faces from TheAvengers, including the steadfastAgent Hill (How I Met Your Motheractress Cobie Smulders), still strid-ing confidently through the hall-ways of the Strategic HomelandIntervention Enforcement andLogistics Division.

‘‘Welcome to Level Seven,’’ shetells Agent Ward (Brett Dalton),who has just been called up to thebig leagues.

He’s cocky and in over his head,but he grasps the agency’s mission:‘‘We’re the line between the worldand the much weirder world.’’

And because the world witnessedthe Avengers’ coming-out party,now called the Battle of New York,that line is constantly shifting.

Paired with the endearing self-awareness and cerebral nods to popculture Whedon brings to his best

projects, it’s the perfect set-up forthe most promising new TV show ofthe American fall season.

Because Disney bought the rightsto Marvel’s Avengers franchisethree years ago, Agents ofS.H.I.E.L.D. landed on the AmericanABC network.

The Mouse House obviously sanksome resources into the show, butsceptics wondered whether it waspossible to make a superhero serieson a small-screen budget.

This is no ‘‘cosplay’’ convention:Samuel L. Jackson will not beshowing up in an eye patch.

Luckily for ABC — and anyonewho had to look up the word

‘‘cosplay’’ — S.H.I.E.L.D. isn’t asuperhero show.

Despite being network-pretty tothe last drop, its heroes are all JasonBourne and no Jar-Jar Binks.

The focus will be on characterswho don’t possess stupendouspowers — the mortals, as Whedonsays, ‘‘who didn’t get the hammer orthe super soldier serum’’.

‘‘The thing that appealed to mefrom the beginning was the ideathat everybody matters, that thepeople who get shunted to the sidein a giant epic can take the spot-light,’’ he said.

‘‘You know, the underdog, thecommon man.’’

‘‘I’m completely compelled by theidea of a world post-Avengers wherethings are out of control, and hu-mans are once again either eager toget ahold of, or are already inpossession of, things we aren’treally socially evolved to the point ofdealing with.’’

Whedon, who co-wrote the pilot, ison board to write and direct TheAvengers’ big-screen sequel, so itisn’t clear how much involvementhe will be able to have with theTV show.

But he pledges that the producingteam he has put in place will keepthings fresh and interesting on anepisode-to-episode basis.

Drama’s back with fresh actionRobert Rorke

Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison and David Harewood as David Estes in Homeland

SEASON three of Home-land began on Ten lastnight with Brody (DamianLewis) on the run andCarrie (Claire Danes) in thehot seat and Saul (MandyPatinkin) having to makesome very difficult decisionsabout her future.

In case you’re late to thisthrilling party, here are thekey moments from the firsttwo seasons.

1. CIA case officer CarrieMathison bribes her wayinto an Iraqi prison, whereone of her informants isbeing held. As Carrie is spot-ted and dragged away byguards, the informant whis-pers something into her ear:an American prisoner hasbeen turned into a terrorist.

2. Back in Washington,D C , d i r e c t o r o fcounterterrorism DavidEstes (David Harewood) an-nounces that after a raid onan al-Qa’ida compound, aneight-year POW MarineSergeant Nicholas Brodyhas been rescued.

3. Convinced that Brody isthe terrorist, Carrie hiressomeone to help her con-duct surveillance. She bugsthe Brody house and

watches his activities 24/7,including Brody’s sexualproblems with his wife,Jessica (Morena Baccarin).

4. Crazy Carrie begins tostalk Brody and they begin adisastrous affair.

After he passes a poly-graph test, he takes Carrieon a trip out of town. Shedirects him to a family cabinnot far from DC. The nextmorning, while discussing

breakfast, Carrie slips upand mentions Brodys favor-ite brand of tea: YorkshireGold. Brody asks how sheknows the tea he drinks, andaccuses her of spying onhim. Carrie, knowing she’sbeen caught, elects to turnthe tables; she directly ac-cuses Brody of being anagent of al-Qa’ida.

5. At the beginning ofseason two, Vice-President

Walden (Jamey Sheridan)asks Brody is he wouldconsider being his runningmate when he campaignsfor the presidency. Latero n , j o u r n a l i s t R o y aHammad (Zuleikha Robin-son) reveals herself to Brodyas an ally of Abu Nazir. Sherelays an assignment: toretrieve a list of potentialattack targets from a safe inEstes’ office.

6. Brody texts Abu Nazir(Navid Neghaban) while in ameeting with Walden towarn him about an assassin-ation in the works. As Nazirexits his vehicle, one of hismen shows him the textmessage as the Delta Forceteam prepares to open fire.Nazir ducks back into hisvehicle and successfully es-capes while two of hislieutenants, includingAbbas Ali, are slain.

7. Brody invites Carrie tohave a drink at a hotel bar.He admits he is on the outswith his wife. They discusshow Carrie is hot on the trailof Abu Nazir. Carrie is or-dered back to headquartersbut she goes to Brody’s hotelroom, calling him a traitorand a terrorist. Brody isapprehended by CIA goonsand removed.

8. Abu Nazir is killed by aSWAT team. The Brodyscall it quits.

9. Carrie and Brody attendWalden’s memorial service.They sneak away to makeout. A bomb in Brody’s carkills 300 people, including

Walden’s wife and son.Carrie drives Brody toCanada. Saul is promoted toacting director and is re-lieved to see Carrie is alive.