Courter: Nashville shines in new ABC series

Sunday, January 1, 1905

The second episode of "Nashville" aired Wednesday on ABC, with The Dirty Guv'nahs providing a track, and the early reviews are mostly positive. It's a big-budget production shot in the Music City, starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere and country music singers. Britton, who you likely loved in "Friday Night Lights," is an established star, and Panettiere plays a star on the rise. The two don't much like each other.

The big news is that it is shot in Nashville, and it is done so beautifully. It's not the first series set in Tennessee, but "Memphis Beat," for example, was actually shot in Louisiana. "Nashville" being shot in Tennessee means two things: Money is being spent in the state by hundreds of cast and crew members, and the city is getting some good publicity.

As with most things Hollywood, certain liberties are taken. Christian singer Brandon Heath (he'll be performing at Calvary Chapel on Broad Street on Oct. 26) said in a phone interview last week that the show is definitely a hot topic in music circles up there.

"I'm so glad they brought politics into it," he said. "That makes it more interesting. We all did laugh during the scene on the [Shelby Street] pedestrian bridge when [Britton's character] asks [Charles Esten] to walk her to Tootsie's. That's a pretty far walk, and nobody would go there anyway. It's where the tourists go."

* Sale Creek resident Misty Fugate has had one of her photographs selected as the possible inspiration for a short film to be directed by one of five celebrity directors.

Ron Howard, whose career includes playing Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham, as well as directing such films as "Cocoon," "Apollo 13," "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Da Vinci Code," with the help of public voting selected Fugate's photo as part of Canon's "Project Imaginat10n." Fugate's was one of 91 photos selected.

The five celebrity directors -- Eva Longoria, Jamie Foxx, Georgina Chapman (designer and co-founder of Marchesa), James Murphy (founder of LCD Soundsystem) and Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter) -- are now in the process of choosing which of the nominated photos they want to use as inspiration for short films they will direct. Five additional directors will be named later, and the winning films will go into production this winter for a spring release.

There are nine categories in addition to one themed "Discovery" that Howard will choose. The themes are Character, Mood, Goal, Backstory, Setting, Obstacle, Relationship, The Unknown and Time.

Fugate's photo, titled "Predator," was nominated in the Backstory category. It is a dramatic shot of a person dressed in black holding a doll, which she describes as "male holding doll with bloody clothes in shadowy woods."

The winning photographs can be seen at imagination. usa.canon.com.

* I will be so glad when the election is over so that people can get back to populating my Facebook page with really insightful posts about what they had for breakfast, their mood at the moment and invitations to whatever game they are playing. Seriously, I'd rather read those.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.