Crash: 2009 Fall TV Preview

“They say Los Angeles is a city built of desire—a place of hope, possibilities, and a brighter tomorrow. Los Angeles is also a vast urban sprawl where those who don’t attain their dreams can fall into isolation and despair.Season two of Crash goes beyond the police storylines of the first season to focus on a farther-reaching collection of Angelenos from different social strata as their lives intersect. Is it by fate or coincidence that a billionaire visionary collapses in a parking lot and is helped by a strip-mall security guard? That a girl is murdered at the athletic club where she works? This season Crash will explore the human connections made in pivotal moments when characters must literally or figuratively fight for their lives. Nothing is random. There are no accidents. Unpredictable. Smart. Fatal. Sexy. Edgy. You never know what’s going to happen on “Crash,” but some greater force seems to be behind the glamour and the darkness.Season two will explore how Old Hollywood affects New Hollywood in a string of unsolved murders; whether a ballplayer who missed the big time can ever get over that failure; if the urban homeless can get a second chance; and how the gorgeous dames of L.A.’s film-noir past are not so very different than an ambitious temptress of today who understands what men want. They are all part of the glitz and grit of contemporary Los Angeles.New to the cast this season are Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, Heroes) as Seth, a billionaire entrepreneur with unfathomable success and drive; Linda Park (Jurassic Park III, Star Trek: Enterprise) as Maggie, Seth’s trophy wife who writes of a joyful life in her children’s books but has trouble living it; Jake McLaughlin (In the Valley of Elah) as Bo, a former high-school pitching ace and shoo-in for the big leagues who was derailed by a career-ending injury; Tess Harper (No Country for Old Men, Tender Mercies) as Bo’s heavy-smoking mother Wendy, who owns a hobby-shop business; Dana Ashbrook (Twin Peaks, The Kill Point) as Jimmy, a charismatic gambler and lover trying to put his bad choices behind him; and Julie Warner (Doc Hollywood, Nip/Tuck) as Seth’s ambitious right-hand woman.Returning are Dennis Hopper (Hoosiers, Speed, 24) as former rock-music producer Ben Cendars, just out of rehab and searching for clues surrounding a mysterious death; Jocko Sims as Anthony Adams, whose friendship with Ben will once again be tested when he helps Ben delve into a dangerous murder-mystery; Ross McCall as former cop Kenny Battaglia, a lowly strip-mall guard about to luck into a gig in the world of the super-rich; and Moran Atias as the enigmatic gypsy Inez, now making serious cash working as a hostess at an exclusive men’s club but with cunning aspirations.”