TV Verdict

Chief Justice Michael Stailey had the pleasure of sitting down with producer/director John Badham to discuss the relevance of Wargames in today’s technologically advanced world, the joys and pains of working on two current hit television series — Psych and Heroes, and how television directing has evolved from the late ’60s when he first got into the business.

TV Verdict: Two of your films have recently been given the Special Edition DVD treatment — Wargames to coincide with the release of the follow-up WarGames: Dead Code and Short Circuit to capitalize on WALL-E…

John Badham: We think WALL-E is capitalizing on Short Circuit. (He laughs)

TVV: Do you look at these films differently now, twenty years later, than you did when you were making them?

JB: Gosh, no. I love both of these movies and you hope that every movie you work on you’re going to be that excited about; that thrill, because you know it’s such a great script. In the course of your life, you’re gonna have to work on some stuff that maybe is not the greatest — for one reason or another — and reading both of these scripts, I’ll always remember my reaction to them, which was so positive and strong. “Whoa man, this is great!” Feeling that they both turned out really well even early on, that’s the strength of the script being decently done by the actors and the director. But if you don’t have a good script, you’re never gonna have something you’re happy with. All you can do with a bad script is dress it up and try and dance around it; do what Bob Fosse called “all that jazz,” to try and conceal the weaknesses of it. But when you get down to the heart of it, it’s still a piece of crap. But that’s not the case with these movies. You know, these movies stand because the characters are strong. Number 5 is a strong character. David Lightman is a character you just go “Aw man, I care about this kid. He’s in a lot of trouble. How’s he gonna get out of this shit?”

TVV: These two films are so contrasting, not only in aesthetic but in the way technology is viewed and it’s impact on society. You have one that emphasizes the overwhelming paranoia of a worst case scenario, and on the other side you have this wonderful artificial intelligence that changes the way people view the future of technology. Do you get the feeling those fears and dreams have tempered in this day and age?”

JB: Well, yes I do. I think you’re right. I think we have been lulled into a sense of security by the way technology works so well. And yet all we have to do is have the slightest bump in the road and this house of cards starts to collapse. We don’t realize that almost everything we do is run by computers nowadays, and what kinda trouble we’d be in if they went down. You know? There’s always that myth of the great hackers who could get in and stall the whole system, and the gravity of it is beyond scary because everything is run off computers… except your lawnmower.

TVV: (Laughing) And even that some day will be tied into the house.

JB: Oh yeah! Someday. I think we’re very complacent about it all. I’ve worked on a movie for quite a while but could never get anyone excited about it, about what would happen under these circumstances and how bad it would be. People just look at you and go “What? A couple of ATMs would go down. What are we talkin’ about?” Yet even today we had a little earthquake about quarter of twelve and there was a lot of disruption. Right away the cell phones went out and that’s like cutting people’s toes off. “Oh my god!! Oh my god!! I can’t make a call!” Fret, fret, fret, fret. There’ll be a day of reckoning when major stuff gets shut down and we’ll see just how bad off we are. In fact, I just heard — and I haven’t even had a chance to read up on it yet — that there was some kind of big problem at Apple today. I don’t know, I gotta look into it because now I’m literally passing on rumors. Something to do with their Mobile Me servers that follow you all around and keep your iPhone up-to-date. There’s been some kind of a problem. You know, they’re running all the iPhones and my computer is backed up to Mobile Me, which is formerly called .Mac, so they may just be overloaded with all these new iPhones.

TVV: You know, I was up in Vancouver last month on the set of Psych and they had nothing but great things to say about you and the work you’ve done on the series.

JB: Oh, how nice! They’re so much fun. I’ve done three, and just finished two back-to-back. One is coming on in the next couple of weeks, it’s about an Evel Knievel-type motorcycle guy.

TVV: That’s on this week. “Daredevils“– It’s on Friday (Aug 1). With Jeff Fahey?

JB: Yeah, yeah, yeah! This Friday? I haven’t even seen it finished. It was supposed to be two or three weeks from now and they moved it up real quickly. And that was a panic because there’s a lot of effects in there. Waaaay more than they normally do. You know, it’s a pretty simple show, and suddenly there’s all kinds of green screen, computerized motorcycles, and stuff like that which they’re just not used to handling. And they had me shooting this thing in seven days (laughing) and you’re going “Okay guys, here we go!” But Jeff Fahey (Frank Lapidus on Lost) was fabulous and there’s some very funny stuff in there. So it should be a really good show.

TVV: The second season was really strong, but “Bounty Hunters” was a lot of fun.

JB: Oh, it was fun! Yeah, all that stuff out on the water… (laughing) They got me out on the water again two weeks ago. I was out there bouncing around in Vancouver Harbor… (laughing) And they say, “When we do water, we get John up here.” They’re just not used to action is what it is. You know, that’s one thing I’ve learned how to do; so it’s fun to do it, even when you don’t have a lot of time.

TVV: Speaking of action, are you doing any Heroes episodes this season?

JB: No, I’m not doing any, which kinda makes me sad. They’re trying out some new directors and stuff. They checked on me for some dates and I thought, “Oh great! Okay, this is gonna work!” but we couldn’t work the dates out.

TVV: That’s too bad…

JB: Yeah, yeah, because it’s a lot of fun. It’ll make you crazy doing that show. You know, they spend $5 Million an episode.

TVV: Wow!

JB: Yeah, yeah, and the shows are scheduled in eight days, but all of them take 11 or 12. They haven’t made one in less than 11 days, and many of them are 14 or 17. So the network goes crazy because they’re paying for it and yet they can’t deny they’re getting ratings and popularity. It’s kind of a monster with its own velocity.

TVV: Do you find television production today to be more complex than it was when you first started out in the business?

JB: Oh, oh… way, way, way more complex! Early on, let’s see… Universal was making 24 hours of television a week on one studio lot. Every single show that was an hour show, whether it was Kojak, The New Doctors, or Marcus Welby, they were six days shows, working six 9-hour days, and in order to make that you had to write your script so it was mostly dialogue. Nowadays, if you see a scene that goes on for three pages, that’s a long scene. Back then, the same scene would be five pages. So there was a lot of talk. And if you look up an old one, on one of the old networks, you’ll see what I mean. So the networks are asking, “Gimme a little more. Gimme a little more action. Gimme a little more this.” and year by year by year it would just ooch up — a little more of this, a little more of that. And they get very demanding. You know, Miami Vice broke the mold and said, “We’re goin’ ahead. We’re doin’ stuff with cigarette boats and this and that. We’re doin’ all this stuff.”

TVV: Executive producer Mel Damski said for Psych they do two days out (on location) and five days in (studio).

JB: Right, and it’s hard! If we didn’t have Mike McMurray, the cameraman we have, they’d never make it. I mean, this man is a miracle maker for making stuff look good. With him, when I think up shots, I go “Mike can do this.” With other cameramen, I do “Oh shoot. I’m afraid of this. I don’t know if this guy is gonna make it.” But Mike is fast and he’s got his gaffer — Fred Boyd, his lighting guy — is also a cameraman, so he understands it brilliantly. You know, we walk into a set and I look at Fred, wave my arms around, say a few things, Mike says a couple of things, and we go away and come back and Fred’s lit the shit outta this thing! You know, it looks great! And you go “Oh my god, this is fabulous!” Some of the stuff he did for the Jeff Fahey show in this huge auditorium, where we’ve go nobody, and he’s lit it so you think there’s millions of people there.

TVV: Do you find it easier to be a recurring director on a series, rather than coming in and doing a one and out?

JB: It’s easier because you know the people. You get a level of trust with them. They know you, they know what to expect. Everybody breathes easier. The producers breathe easier because they know they can depend on you, and they’re not breathing down your neck every second. And you’re not having to adjust to their needs… because everybody is very different! I mean, I went onto that show Men in Trees right when the writers’ strike started and I had the head producer, who had written the script, sitting right by me during the whole thing… which is fine, I’m okay with that. But she was giving me opinions and she and I were just talking different languages. It was like she was speaking Mandarin Chinese and I was speaking ancient Persian. And I’m doing my best to please her, but I know in my heart she’s miserable because something’s not right. She just operated on a level of subtlety that my brain doesn’t go to, I guess.

TVV: Which is funny how different those experiences can be, when they and Psych shoot on the same lot.

JB: Exactly! They’re right around the corner from each other.

TVV: So what other projects do you have in the works right now?

JB: Well, I’ve got two movies that are just bouncing on the edge of getting ready to go. One I think is going to happen this fall, that’s getting a face of reality about it that has me encouraged. And next week, I’m going to go over to Chicago to visit my friend Patrick Swayze and help him with his show The Beast.

For more information:

Learn more about John and his career by visiting The Badham Company.

Read Judge Paul Pritchard’s review of Wargames: Dead Code.

Read Judge Mac McEntire’s review of Short Circuit: Special Edition and Judge Clark Douglas’s review of Short Circuit (Blu-ray).

Watch all new episodes of Psych Friday nights on USA or anytime at usanetwork.com.

Heroes returns for its third season on September 22. Watch promos, webisodes, and full episodes at nbc.com.