CBS Unveils Identities of "Pirate Master" Contestants

Ahoy, mateys!

CBS has officially unveiled the identities of the 16 men and women who will be competing on this summer's much anticipated reality series Pirate Master.

As shown from the list below, Los Angeles is (naturally) over-represented but there seem to be some interesting characters already emerging (my favorite has got to be the scientist/Chippendale dancer; where else are you going to find that combo?) including a smokejumper, a dive master, and a glassblower, but I can't help but wonder if we really needed more than one bartender on this ship. (Yo ho, ho, and all that.)

Christa DeAngelo (29)
Hometown: Tamaqua, Pennsylvania
Occupation: Ex-military

Ben Fagan (23)
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Occupation: Student/musician

Louie Frase (43)
Hometown: Fishing Creek, Maryland
Occupation: Marina owner

Kendra Guffey (38)
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Dive master

Jay Hatkow (37)
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Occupation: Automotive parts salesman

Azmyth Kaminski (26)
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Music producer

Cheryl Kosewicz (35)
Hometown: Sparks, Nevada
Occupation: Fundraiser

John Lakness (25)
Hometown: Carlisle, Massachusetts
Occupation: Scientist/Chippendale dancer

Joceyln "Joy" McElveen (21)
Hometown: West Columbia, South Carolina
Occupation: Receptionist

Elicia "Jupiter" Mendoza (30)
Hometown: Los Angeles
Occupation: Bartender

Joe Don "J.D." Norton (36)
Hometown: Ft. Wainwright, Alaska
Occupation: Smokejumper

Nessa Nemir (29)
Hometown: Berkeley, California
Occupation: Make-up artist

Christian Okoye (45)
Hometown: Rancho Cucamonga, California (originally Nigeria)
Occupation: Former Kansas City Chiefs player

Laurel Schmidt (21)
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Occupation: Glass blower

Alexis Shubin (26)
Hometown: Laguna Beach, California
Occupation: Fashion publicist

Sean Twomey (27)
Hometown: Venice, California
Occupation: Bartender

Just going on gut instinct, I'm gonna say that Louie is a real character, if only for the reason that the guy owns a marina. But I really want to see just how well the scientist/Chippendale dancer (John), the makeup artist (Nessa) and the fashion publicity (Alexis) adapt to a rather cutthroat life aboard a pirate ship. How long before these players have to swab the deck?

As for me, I can't wait for May 31st to come around already. Let the games begin.

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

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What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

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In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj

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