MNN - Mother Nature Network

 

Jesse Tyler Ferguson recently bought a tabletop composter for his coffee grinds and other kitchen waste, and is working on a garden to put that compost to use. On the "Modern Family" set, the cast and writers have gone paperless. "We have iPads. The writers use them and the actors read their scripts on them," he says.

 

The Feb. 16 episode centers around baby Lily's princess birthday party. "We have Cameron [Eric Stonestreet] wanting to bring Fizbo the clown and I absolutely do not want that, so there's a big conflict," Ferguson previews. Matt Dillon and Shelley Long guest star.

 

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"NCIS: Los Angeles"' Barrett Foa has his eye on a hybrid vehicle. "My friend just got a Lexus hybrid and I rode in it — it's nice. But I want something used, maybe a certified pre-owned hybrid," he said at the premiere of the movie "I Am Number Four." Foa (pictured left) was thrilled to learn that his computer maven character Eric might be getting out into the field in an upcoming episode, though the last time that happened, it didn't go well. "I got to go out once with Pauley Perrette," when her "NCIS" character Abby appeared in a crossover, "but then she got kidnapped so I was sent back to my cage. I hope they let me out again."

 

"Sell the Escalade, get yourself a hybrid," like-minded Holt McCallany of "Lights Out" declared at the same premiere. Invited by cast member Timothy Olyphant ("Justified"), with whom he hung out at the Super Bowl, getting the VIP treatment courtesy of Fox, McCallany (pictured right) said that he's waiting to hear about renewal for his FX series. "If we can build our viewership by 20 percent, I think we'll be OK," he said, acknowledging that rave reviews for "Lights Out" have elevated his stock in Hollywood. "I'm getting some terrific meetings and auditions for very good things. And I sold a script that I wrote to Lifetime that I'll produce. It's called 'Mother Justice.' It's based on a 'Vanity Fair' article and it's about a woman in Brooklyn whose son was wrongly convicted of murder. She changes her appearance and assumes a new identity to go undercover and prove that there was corruption on the jury and get her son released from prison. It's a tour de force part for an actress, I play the lawyer who advises her. We might go into production as soon as April."

 

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Tune in: Nat Geo Wild focuses on man's best friend on the job in "Blue Collar Dogs," a three-hour event on Feb. 21. The first episode depicts the use of dogs in detecting diseases, the second follows canines employed to guard our borders and sniff out smugglers and the third focuses on the New York City Police Department's K-9 squad.

 

On Feb. 20, PBS Nature presents the documentary "Broken Tail: A Tiger's Last Journey," chronicling what happens when an Indian tiger journeys from a protected tiger reserve to the dangerous outside world.

 

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