MediaVillage Podcast Network

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, we are thrilled to be joined by a wonderful panel of actors from the Indigenous community for a special roundtable discussion. Joining us are actors Sarah Podemski (Reservation Dogs, Resident Alien), Jeremiah Bitsui (Better Call Saul, Dark Winds), and Dallas Goldtooth (Reservation Dogs, Ghosts). The three stage and screen stars share their perspectives on the recent strides in regards to Indigenous representation, the changes that need to be made in entertainment, and the work there is still left to do. 

“I definitely feel that for Indigenous narratives it’s been a long time coming,” Podemski shared. “This slow burn has finally led to a push that has been able to be received in the last few years because of a new awareness about our stories, and our creatives who have been given a chance to write and direct. We were ready for this moment and it happened at a moment when audiences were ready to hear our stories told by us.”

When asked about an early memory of feeling represented, Jeremiah Bitsui shared that he first saw himself reflected in rodeos as a form of entertainment, but a pretty big obstacle led to that dream coming to a quick end: a severe allergy to horses and hay. “Rodeos a huge sport in all of our communities but I grew up with allergies so I wasn’t cut out for it. Allergies and ninjas are what brought me into this business.” he laughed, adding that 80s martial arts movies are what drew him into acting. “If I ever got a ninja role, I’d be like a dog who actually caught the car.”

Actor and writer Dallas Goldtooth shared that he was “fangirling” over Jeremiah because of his performance in Breaking Bad and later in the spin-off Better Call Saul, which he describes as “a contemporary example of a Native person in a role that isn’t explicitly Native, it’s just a role. That character wasn’t designed around being Native, and that was really empowering to see. It’s rare to see Indigenous people as how we are today, or skewed to play into these myths.”

“Yes, we want to still tell our community’s stories,” Podemski added. “but we also want those moments where a kid might watch and say ‘oh that’s like my auntie who works at the hospital!’, those roles that are non-specific to our heritage. Look at us aside from our ethnicity and see our potential to being able to tell stories in any context.”

You can see our guests in multiple projects, including:

Sarah Podemski in Reservation Dogs on Hulu and Resident Alien on Peacock

Jeremiah Bitsui in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul on Netflix, and Dark Winds on AMC+

and Dallas Goldtooth on Reservation Dogs on Hulu and Rutherford Falls on Peacock

Jimmy Smits of CBS’ “East New York” 

We are honored and delighted to be joined by Emmy Award-winning actor of stage and screen Jimmy Smits who after decades of work on long-running series like LA Law and NYPD Blue, is back on primetime in CBS’ latest procedural East New York. Jimmy reflects on his career and early inspirations, how it feels seeing a part of Brooklyn where he grew up reflected on television, and admits he didn’t expect to be back on a procedural at this point in his career. 

“I didn’t really see it in the cards that I would be doing a police procedural. A lot of had to do with what we have been through in the last couple of years with the pandemic, the empowerment of the woman’s voice and disenfranchised communities, and the insight we’ve had into law enforcement transgressions,” the actor revealed. “When I found out creatives that I knew were doing a show that mined this landscape, I was interested because I knew where their hearts were and that it was a different kind of take.”

When speaking on recent strides for diversity and representation in entertainment, Smits had this to say, “We’ve made a lot of progress but we’ve got a ways to go. Our population numbers are increasing and you’re seeing in the Latinx space that it’s not just one specific look or story. The moves that we have to make is to be more in control of the content. Not just Jimmy in front of the camera, but Jimmy and Juan getting together and talking about stories that interest them, writing those, pitching those, and getting them on the air, or in film or onstage. That’s where we need to make a leap to the next level, and it’s happening but I want it to happen quicker!”

New episodes of East New York on Sundays at 9pm ET on CBS, available to stream next day on Paramount+

Many soccer or “football” fans across the globe associate the sport’s most famous tournament with summertime. But for the first time, the men’s World Cup is going to take place towards the end of the calendar year, as it kicks off November 20 in Qatar. New York Interconnect’s (NYI), Colin Langan, forecasts that viewership may be even higher than four years ago and beyond as soccer kicks off this week. He joins Justin Paura on the View from the Grandstand podcast to discuss the impact of the United States being in the World Cup, how NYI reaches viewers, and what will make this year’s tournament so unique.

ABC's latest drama, Alaska Daily, stars Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald, an award-winning journalist whose career suffers a nearly fatal blow. Desperate to keep her career alive, she relocates to Anchorage, Alaska, to help a local outlet with a number of unresolved cases related to Missing and Murdered Indigenious Women (MMIW), a very real issue among the indigenious community across North America.

Series star Grace Dove joins us on Multicultural TV Talk to talk about her role in the series as Rosalind "Roz" Friendly, a headstrong young journalist. "Roz" is assigned to open MMIW cold cases alongside Eileen, who has very different investigative tactics. As a result, the two women don't exactly see eye-to-eye. Grace talks about the importance of showcasing these storylines in mainstream media, how she relates to her character, and what it's like to work alongside one of her childhood heroes, actress Irene Bedard, who recurs on the series as Sylvia Nanmac, the mother of a recently deceased young Indigenous woman whose case is being reopened.

ABC's latest drama, Alaska Daily, stars Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald, an award-winning journalist whose career suffers a nearly fatal blow. Desperate to keep her career alive, she relocates to Anchorage, Alaska, to help a local outlet with a number of unresolved cases related to Missing and Murdered Indigenious Women (MMIW), a very real issue among the indigenious community across North America.

Series star Grace Dove joins us on Multicultural TV Talk to talk about her role in the series as Rosalind "Roz" Friendly, a headstrong young journalist. "Roz" is assigned to open MMIW cold cases alongside Eileen, who has very different investigative tactics. As a result, the two women don't exactly see eye-to-eye. Grace talks about the importance of showcasing these storylines in mainstream media, how she relates to her character, and what it's like to work alongside one of her childhood heroes, actress Irene Bedard, who recurs on the series as Sylvia Nanmac, the mother of a recently deceased young Indigenous woman whose case is being reopened.

From the Academy Award-winning writer and director of Spotlight comes ABC’s latest drama, Alaska Daily, starring Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald, an award-winning journalist whose career suffers a nearly fatal blow. Desperate to keep her career alive, she relocates to Anchorage, Alaska to help a local outlet with a number of unresolved cases related to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), a very real issue among the indigenous community across North America.

Series star Grace Dove joins us on Multicultural TV Talk to talk about her role in the series as the headstrong young journalist Rosalind “Roz” Friendly who is assigned to open MMIW cold cases alongside Eileen and the two have different investigative tactics and don’t exactly see eye-to-eye. Grace talks about the importance of showcasing these storylines in mainstream media, how she relates to her character, and working alongside one of her childhood heroes, actress Irene Bedard who recurs on the series as Sylvia Nanmac, the mother of a recently deceased young Indigenous woman whose case is being reopened.

“This has been something that is very prevalent, sadly, in my life, my family and community,” she shared. “This isn’t just in one area. It’s just Alaska, or Northern British Columbia. This is across all of North America and Indigenous territories. We’ve been, unfortunately, living this our whole lives so, it’s not shocking, it’s not new or anything I haven’t heard of. But to be able to showcase it on a network television show and be on the TVs of people who have never heard of this? It matters. It matters that non-Indigenous folks will have an opportunity to educate themselves and to show compassion.”

“I really hope that audiences can take it upon themselves to be curious and to start educating themselves on the true history of the territories that they now live on.”

Alaska Daily airs new episodes at 10pm ET on ABC and is available to stream on Hulu 

Stage and screen actor Mason Alexander Park joins us to talk about their role in NBC’s action-packed revival of Quantum Leap where they play Ian, the series’ resident tech expert and the mastermind that rebuilt Ziggy, the AI unit that gives Ben (Raymond Lee) information on his leaps.

Mason talks about how as a "very strange kid" they delved into science and tech at an early age. They reveal that some of their early inspirations in entertainment included John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show. And they take a deep dive into the increasing representation for members of the trans and non-binary communities in leading and supporting roles in entertainment, and how important it is that they get to play "real" people.

Actor of stage and screen Mason Alexander Park joins us to talk about their role in NBC’s action-packed revival of Quantum Leap where they play Ian, the series’ resident tech expert and the mastermind that rebuilt Ziggy, the AI unit that gives Ben (Raymond Lee) information on his leaps.

Mason talks about as a “very strange kid” he delved into science and tech at an early age, some of their early inspirations in entertainment, including John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Tim Curry in Rocky Horror Picture Show, as well as the increasing representation for members of the trans and non-binary communities in leading and supporting roles in entertainment, and the importance they get to play ‘real’ people.

“Often non-binary characters and trans people are not seen in ‘normal’ jobs very often. I play a real individual, a real person who has a very important job that a lot of non-binary people and trans people work in,” Mason said. “It’s been really exciting to make contact with a bunch of people that otherwise hadn’t been represented in that way on television before.”

“It’s so much more meaningful to represent marginalized people in the most normalized context because it’s the Trojan horse. It’s the way to get people used to having these conversations in the day-to-day. Everybody meets trans and non-binary people all the time and half the time they don’t even know it. It’s amazing how integrated we are in society now but are still such a ‘strange’, hot button topic. To just let me breathe and exist and be present in the story is very radical and very cool. I look forward to what that does for future generations of non-binary characters.”

New episodes of Quantum Leap air Mondays at 10pm on NBC.

As winter approaches, its time to head back to the sunny Las Colinas resort as the cast of Acapulco teases some of the new storylines, relationships and changes ahead in the second season of the beloved Apple TV+ comedy series. Paired together in this group interview are Enrique Arrizon and Fernando Carsa as best friends Maximo and Memo; Chord Overstreet and Camila Perez as the newly engaged Chad and Julia; and Jessica Collins and Rafael Cebrián as two of the show’s biggest personalities, resort owner Diane and head poolboy Hector.

Summer may be over but it’s time to head back to Las Colinas resort as the cast of Acapulco tease some of the new storylines, relationships and changes in the second season of the beloved Apple TV+ comedy series. Paired together are Enrique Arrizon and Fernando Carsa as best friends Maximo and Memo; Chord Overstreet and Camila Perez as the newly engaged Chad and Julia; and Jessica Collins and Rafael Cebrián as two of the show’s biggest personalities, resort owner Diane and head poolboy Hector.

“It’s a new year and a new Maximo and he wants to succeed but things don’t always go the way he wants,” Arrizon shared. “There is a lot of growth in all of the characters so people are going to relate to us more.” 

“There’s a lot of healing,” Carsa added. “It’s definitely a loaded season with more drama, but with all the drama, comes a lot of healing. A good laugh, a good cry and leaving every episode with a heart full of love and hope.”

When talking about the differences between seasons one and two, Overstreet had this to say. “You don’t really know what to expect. You haven’t seen anything yet, you don’t know the tone, but with season two you hit the ground running. You know the characters, you know the world. It’s like with pre-season football. You can go in full speed.”

Speaking on the family dynamic both on and off-screen, Collins revealed that the cast and crew stay and live on the resort where they film during the three months they film each season. “We work together, we eat together, we see each other at the gym, we can’t get away from each other!” she laughed. “We really are a family for those three months. There’s no acting. We are a family at this point.”

“This is my first comedy,” Cebrian shared. So trusting myself and disregarding my insecurities, and trusting my peers, the fact that we are all so close makes that easier. I know who they are, I know they’ve got my back and that makes my job as an actor easy.”

Season two of Acapulco premieres October 21st on Apple TV+