A&E's 'The Peacemaker' Looks at L.A.'s Gang Wars

Ice-T is the executive producer behind A&E's new series "The Peacemaker: L.A. Gang Wars," a look at the battle between rival gangs in South L.A.

"The Peacemaker" centers on gang mediator Malik Spellman as he looks to hammer out truces between bitter enemies. A&E picked up five half-hour episodes of the show, which premieres tonight -- Thursday, Dec. 16 -- at 10 p.m.

Here's more on Spellman via A&E:

A violence prevention counselor by day, Spellman is on a mission to bring peace to the troubled neighborhoods he’s lived in for 30 years. For the last two decades, he has dedicated his life to ending gang violence, putting it all on the line to mediate truces between adversaries sometimes separated by less than one city block.

It's not light holiday programming.

The Most Exciting Stuff at the TV Press Tour Has Nothing To Do With TV

You may remember that last summer, John Edwards ducked into the Beverly Hilton to see his mistress, coincidentally during the final night of the summer TV Critics press tour.

This time out, as winter TV Critics press tour continued over the weekend at the Universal Hilton, gang intervention worker Marlo "Bow Wow" Jones allegedly robbed and beat up a member of the rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Jones, at the Universal City Hilton hotel. According to the L.A. Times, Jones' arrest " arrest has again shaken the world of gang intervention, which relies on former gang members to help police prevent violence and get gang members out of the life."

Press tour: Come for the TV hype, stay for the unrelated news events.

(Thanks to Jon for the head's up.)

Help Homeboy Help Others

I'm sure you're familiar with Homeboy Industries, the nonprofit started 20 years ago by Father Greg Boyle to assist former gang members in straightening out their lives via counseling, job training, tattoo removal and other services.

The economic downturn has hit nonprofits hard -- and Homeboy is in danger of having to cut its services. Such a move could reverberate throughout the city, as Homeboy's massive operation reps the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation program around.

The organization is currently holding a fundraising campaign to offset the loss of major financial donations that are no longer coming in. Homeboy recently raised $25,000, which was matched by a donor; that donor has now agreed to match another $25,000 should it raise that amount again by Wednesday, Jan. 7.

You can learn more about donating here. Also, Homeboy Bakery -- the service that the organization first began two decades ago -- is currently taking orders for holiday cookies and tamales here.