Jimmy Smits Honors Troops & Celebrates America's 234th Birthday

By Amber James Posted Jul 4th 2010 03:00AM

Native New Yorker Jimmy Smits has fond memories of holidays spent at Coney Island and watching fireworks over the East River, but he admits there's nothing quite like celebrating the Fourth of July in the nation's capitol. This weekend, Smits will return to host 'A Capitol Fourth,' which will broadcast live Sunday, July 4 from the West Lawn of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., on PBS from 8 to 9:30PM ET.

"It's patriotic and emotional," Smits tells PopEater of the event. "With the backdrop of all the national monuments, it focuses your attention on what the observance of the day really means. Considering our nation is in conflict right now and we have young people who are out protecting our freedom so we can watch fireworks on our day off, being in D.C. puts the Fourth of July in a great perceptive."

The 30th anniversary broadcast of 'A Capitol Fourth' will include performances by Grammy Award-winning music legends like Gladys Knight, Reba McEntire, Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish, David Archuleta ('American Idol'), John Schneider and world-renowned classical pianist Lang Lang with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Symphonic Pops conductor Jack Everly. The event will be broadcast live to our service members around the world on the American Forces Network.

Reba McEntire will be presented with the National Artistic Achievement Award during the event. This is only the fourth time the award has been presented. Other recipients include John Williams, Gloria and Emilio Estefan and Stevie Wonder.

What are some of your memories from the Fourth of July?
Well, I grew up in New York, so the whole thing for me was going to Coney Island and then in the evening, we would rush over to watch the fireworks on the East River.

But you've grown to love celebrating the holiday in D.C.?
The fireworks celebration in D.C. is just awesome. The memories I have as a kid, I'm trying to transfer over to my family. They've been coming with me to D.C. for the past few years, and we make a whole week of it. We go on tours of the monuments.

What does it mean to you to have this broadcast to the troops who are fighting for our country?
They need to know more than anything that no matter what anyone's politics are, we as a country support what they're doing.

So switching topics, there has been a lot of talk about your new show, 'Outlaw.'
It'll air on NBC in September. They're still writing scripts, so we'll start shooting in July. I'm glad we got picked up and have an "up at bat," as they say in sports terms.

Your character, Cyrus Garza, essentially quits his job as a Supreme Court justice and returns to life as an attorney. But it doesn't seem like an average law show because he's out gambling in the pilot.
It is a great character for me to tackle because he is so much different than other characters I've played. This guy loves life and has fun and then gets back to his job. The show will be very topical on a case-by-case basis, too. Cyrus' actions in and out of the courtroom will keep people interested.

So, I was reading on Wikipedia...
Oh no.

... That Conan O'Brien is an executive producer of the show. Is that true?
Wow. That's on Wikipedia? Damn Wikipedia. [Laughs] Actually, Conan's company, Conaco, is one of the lead production entities on the show. I can't say that Conan is going to be there on set every day. His production company has developed the show though ... He may make visits to the set, but he's not participating on an on-going basis about what the stories will be.

Tags: jimmy smits, Outlaw

Comments

(8)

Sunday 04 July

By whynotmehere

Vote down Vote up Report this

test 4 the

test1

By skyehawk

surprized to see Jimmy Smitts at the celebration in DC Hes an activist for Amnesty for illegals ....activist again have both sides of the argument ..For Legal immigration ..For illegal immigration..On global warming they change the name to "Climate Change ..If it gets hotter they win ..if it gets cooler they win ...hard to debate these guys ......

By Dan NMIN

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA ...GOD BLESS THE USA !!!!!!!!!!!

By D

A week or so ago, they had a list of the best romantic/seduction scenes on TV ever. I think they must have forgotten (Jimmy Smits character) Bobby & Diane on NYPD Blue. They had many hot scenes. Probably the sexiest couple ever on TV. And then of course Homer & Marge!!!

By jham436040

The headline led me to believe that in honoring the troops he was in Iraq or Afghanistan.... So sorry to learn that he is in DC

By Michael

AOL has us censored, Hooray for the USA! WE don't want them building Mosque in America! They killed over 3000 in 9,11.

By Myke

Another Hollywood leftie trying to make points by honoring troops but is proamnesty when unless he is stupid knows it will destroy America. I won't watch anything Conan is mixed up in and I won't watch anyone who is proamnesty.

Page 1 of 1