We were recently on the phone with Piper for a Q&A conference call.

Q: There is a lot of buzz about the show. Is there going to be a link to viewership based on buzz about the show?

P. Perabo: I don’t know. I hope so, but I don’t know. This is my first television show. I’ve never done press at the same time as we’re shooting, and in a way I think it’s really exciting because hopefully fans of the show can give us input and tell us how they’re feeling about the story and it can affect how we continue.

Q: Being lumped together with “Alias” so frequently, do you think that’s something that’s going to help or hinder the show?

P. Perabo: When I first got working on the show and I was speaking to actor friends of mine about what the show was about and how I was going to create the character, people said, “You should watch Alias.” I had never watched the show, don’t ask me how I missed it, so I got the pilot and I watched the pilot and I thought it was genius. I didn’t really want to watch anymore because I don’t want to in any way imitate what Jennifer was doing and I want to make sure that Annie is her own woman and dealing with her own world. But I thought that what I saw of the work on that pilot was really exciting and the fight sequences were really dynamic and she was just a really powerful, smart, intuitive woman who can make decisions on the fly, she’s brave, and she’s still a real person. I think those parallels can be drawn to Annie.

I think in our show, though, you see a lot more of the real life of a spy, what kind of car you drive and what it’s like when you get home at night after you’ve just been chasing an assassin all day. So in that way I think we are really different. I think that if people come and watch our show because they like Alias, then that’s great, but I think they’re going to get to see a much bigger world than they saw and so hopefully they’ll keep watching.

Q: Tell us about your day at the CIA and how you took notes.

P. Perabo: Oh, that’s interesting. Yes, Doug Liman, our executive producer, was in the middle of editing Fair Game when I got cast in the pilot, which is the story of Valerie Plame Wilson, so I knew he had contacts down at Langley. And I asked him if he could get me an introduction so that I could go there and see what it’s really like and talk to real people who do this for a living. So he did, and this sort of shows my naiveté, but I brought a notebook with me so I could take notes. I had a lot of questions that I wanted to ask.

When I got there they told me, of course, you can’t bring a notebook into the CIA. … number one is … take notes in the secret agency. I said, “Oh, okay when we get inside could I have some paper and a pen?” And the agent who was taking me around said, “Sure, but you have to leave it inside when you leave.” Of course you can’t take notes out of the CIA either. I said, “Well, how am I supposed to keep all this information?” He said, “You have to be like a spy and remember it.” It was interesting that before I even got inside you can feel how tight and secret the whole world is. It was an amazing day. It started there and it was incredible.

Q: What I’m wondering is how did the role of Annie Walker come to you?

P. Perabo: The way that the role came to me was I was doing a Broadway play, I was doing Neil Labute’s new play, Reasons to be Pretty, and we were almost done with our run and I was reading movie scripts and I wasn’t finding anything that was really speaking to me and my agent suggested that I read this. And I hadn’t thought about doing television, but when I read it, it kind of changed everything for me. She’s such a powerful character, she’s so smart, the action is so intense, and I really thought it would be fun to do.

Then I met Doug and I went to the CIA and I started creating the character, and I met the creators, Matt Corman and Chris Ord, and we did a lot of talking about how – because the pilot is Annie’s first day at the CIA. And so as the show continues Annie’s really a rookie, and so what she excels at and what she isn’t very good at, I think is in some ways tailored to me. I really like driving. I really like action. I really like stunts. And those are things that I haven’t gotten to do in the past and so when I told them that all of a sudden that stuff started getting more and more intense and more creative. And Doug has been very active in ramping up the action sequences for each episode we do, so I think in a lot of ways the action was even kicked up a higher notch because I was so excited to do it.

Q: What’s it like on the set? You’ve got a pretty high powered cast.

P. Perabo: It’s going really well on the set. Sendhil Ramamurthy joined us for the season, and Sendhil, Chris Gorham and I really get on like a house on fire, which is good because a lot of times when we leave the CIA those are the people I’m leaving the CIA with to go abroad. It’s really long days because the action sequences, if you’ve ever been on a set where they’re shooting action, it takes a long time. It goes in really long pieces so that you can get the angles you want and that everything is safe, and so I’m really lucky that I really love the people that I work with, and it’s not bad doing a 17 hour day with these guys.

Q: You mentioned that you were at the CIA, I’m assuming Langley. What sort of special training did you get while you were there or did you have to undergo to play this character?

P. Perabo: The fight training that I went through to play this character wasn’t at Langley. They go to the farm to do their fight training and I wasn’t able to go there. The fight training that I did was with our head of stunts, and they hired different martial arts and hand-to-hand combat teachers.

So, first, the creators and Doug sat down about what kind of style of fighting Annie would have. Doug is a real fan of close hand-to-hand combat that you shoot on a steadicam, the way that Jason Bourne fights, but you have to tailor that to a woman because obviously when I’m fighting a man, if we’re going to keep it real, which is what we’re going for, Annie Walker isn’t a super hero, then you have to find styles of fighting that could give her an advantage and make it plausible that she can win or at least hold out in some of these fights. So we ended up with Krav Maga, which is Israeli army style of street fighting, and Wing Chun, which is a martial arts that was developed for women. So we were working for weeks and weeks on that and training on that, I was training on that before we started the pilot.

When I went to Langley a lot of it was really I couldn’t train there and they can’t really show me the technology they have. So a lot of that day was about asking the agents about their personal lives, because that they can sort of share, they’re not telling me their real names anyway. So, does your boyfriend know what you do, and what kind of car do you drive, and how much do you make; those kinds of questions are really important when you’re creating a character, and they were really forthcoming with that kind of information.

Q: I wondered if you could talk a little bit more about the time you spent with Valerie Plame and what insights she gave you that you took to Annie.

P. Perabo: Valerie Plame was our consultant on the pilot, which was incredible to have her insight, because since she’s no longer in the CIA and because of the way she left it, she is more willing to share things than someone who’s from the agency can’t really talk about it. Also, just being on the ground, she can walk through the set of the CIA. We were shooting a scene that had extras, there’s an induction ceremony situation, and there were extras that came in to the CIA and in their wardrobe they had purses, but that’s impossible because you can’t carry anything in or out of the CIA, so having Valerie around to continually say well, these are the kinds of ID cards. And another thing was the CIA is a giant office, like any other office, and so there are reams and reams of paper. They’re can’t be regular trash in the CIA because obviously that paper is carrying all kinds of top secret documents, and it’s not just shredded at the CIA, it’s all burn bagged. So then all the trash cans were taken out and all the burn bags were brought in so everyone has burn bags under their desk. It was just again and again her attention to detail that was really, really helpful.

Q: How crazy was it acting through that whole sniper scene in the pilot, which was so intense? Was that hard to do?

P. Perabo: It was really hard and it was really crazy. They buried … in the wall so that when you built the set there are little, for cameras when you’re doing marks they have all these rolls of tape and they’ll use the tape where all the … are , so that in the rehearsal you know what parts of the wall are going to blow up. But when we shoot everybody else on the crew puts on face shields and packing blankets over their bodies, and they take away all the marks where the explosions are going to happen, and the only person who’s not protected is me. Then they say, “Go,” and the room explodes. So it took a little getting used to.

Q: We’ve heard mention of a lot of different guest stars that you’re going to have this season and I was wondering, is there anyone in particular that you’ve especially enjoyed working with?

P. Perabo: Eriq La Salle did an episode … and I really liked working with him. I watched ER a lot, especially when I was in college studying acting was when ER, I’m sure you remember, they did that episode once that was live and they did it live on the East Coast and live on the West Coast. As a theater student we all sat down as actors together and watched it together, the East Coast one and the West Coast one, and it was so cool and it was so brave and it was so exciting. So I wanted to really pick his brain about that and about how you shoot for such a dynamic emotional one-hour drama, and he was so patient and generous and also just a really good actor.

Q: In the pilot we saw a lot of different sides to Annie, the vulnerable side, the tough side, and is there a lot about her that we don’t even know yet?

P. Perabo: There’s a lot about her that you don’t even know yet. Annie’s whole family life and also what happened in her relationship is still to unfold. And actually going back to talking about Valerie for a second, Valerie was also really generous with me about emotionally the toll that it takes keeping all those secrets from your family and your friends. And I think that her personal story that she told me was also very helpful in kind of folding into Annie’s secret and how that plays out in her relationship with her sister and her family. So as Annie weaves the lie that she has to tell so many people, the secrets start overlapping and overlapping, and it just gets very complicated.

Q: What film or TV characters were an influence for you as a reference point for Annie?

P. Perabo: There were two. One is the original La Femme Nikita that Luc Besson did. I thought that film was a great balance of the pressure of the job and the real emotional pull that it takes. Also, I loved how he handled action with a woman and I just think that movie is so beautiful and she’s so strong, and it just was a big influence on me for Annie.

Then Lee Miller, who was an artist and a war photographer, she was a beautiful journalist who put herself in the middle of these battles in order to take photographs. So I had read a lot about her and how she maintained her integrity and still was a beautiful woman amid the battlefield, and I thought that was really inspiring thinking about Annie.

Q: I’m wondering, why do you think we’re seeing more and more film stars making a transition to TV? This isn’t really something that we would have seen 15, 20 years ago.

P. Perabo: Yes, that’s an interesting question. I’ve been thinking about that a lot too. One of the things is I think there’s a lot of great writing happening in television, not that there hasn’t been great writing in television before, but there seems to be a burst of new writers, young writers writing for television and writing really dynamic, complex characters, so that will always draw actors is good writing. I also think there seems to be a surge of dramas helmed by women, which wasn’t the case before, so that draws great actresses to the screen. Damages is one of my favorite shows, and to watch Glenn Close and Rose Byrne do those scenes, it’s great writing. I think maybe that’s what got them there in the first place. I don’t know, but I would assume so. Then when you add that talent to it, it just makes for great television. So I think creating these powerful female characters is changing television.

Q: What is it like to be the original character in the premiere of a show, as opposed to appearing in an established show?

P. Perabo: Certainly it’s a lot more work on the show because of the action component and whether it’s fights or car chases or explosions, and also Annie Walker is a language expert, so right now we’re up to nine different languages that Annie can speak. So between lessons and stunt choreography and training, I’m there all the time setting the tone and creating the character. I think creating a new character always takes a lot, because you want to make sure that you’re making someone who’s full and dynamic. You don’t want to give everything away at the top. You need to have a layered performance filled with history.

So it’s a lot of work but it’s also really fun because new things come up in each episode, we’ll come to a crossroads of a decision about what would Annie do, and then there’s this big conversation with the creators and the writers and the actors about well, what has she done in the past and where do we want her to go and what would she base her decision on? And so it makes for a really dynamic and artistic set.

Q: What would you say are Annie’s strong points and shortcomings?

P. Perabo: Definitely language is a strong point for Annie. Then she has things that can be both a strong point and a shortcoming. Annie’s a little bit of an adrenaline junkie, and so that can help sometimes but it also can take her off track. She’s also quite a flirt, and so although that can get her in the door at some of these embassy parties, I think she can be a little distracted by all the beautiful men and she’s not always paying attention to the mission at hand, depending on how handsome the guy in the tuxedo is. Hopefully that won’t get her into too much trouble. I have that problem as well, so I can really sympathize.

Q: Are you interested in fashion and what do you think of Annie’s clothing so far?

P. Perabo: I am interested in fashion. I really like it. I live in New York City and I think the women here are dressed so beautifully. I think the glamour of fictional characters and of the spy world have always interested me. I’ve never played a character who wore suits before, so that’s really an interesting thing diving into that whole line of fashion. But it’s really fun because there’s a certain fantasy element. Obviously on a government salary you can’t have this many Louis Vuitton shoes, but it is really fun to pick the ones that go best with your pinstripe suit in the morning.

Q: Tell us about getting Annie’s bedroom closet all fixed up.

P. Perabo: Oh my gosh, that’s so funny, because there’s a scene that’s coming up where someone ransacks my room, and I had a long meeting with wardrobe and set dec to make sure that all Annie’s fancy shoes and pinstripe suits and all that, I said, bloggers came in and looked at Annie’s closet and there’s a pair of ugly slippers and there was an exercise ball and a tablecloth in there. It didn’t make any sense. Set dec had just done something colorful in the … so we took it all out and now it’s very Sex in the City, her closet.

Q: Annie is a member of the CIA and she can’t tell her friends and family. In that respect you kind of have two roles on the show, the CIA operative and a regular person who has to keep that other side of her secret. Is it fun to play two different personalities on the same show?

P. Perabo: It is. The actress who plays my sister who doesn’t know what I do for a living is Anne Dudek, who is on so many television shows I can’t keep track. But she’s a really great actress and she’s very aware of the kind of balance that I’m trying to strike between my relationship at home with her and then my relationship with work. She and I have worked a lot on that and what our family is like and who our parents were and how we deal with each other, and as the season goes on we spend more and more time together. You get a glimpse of her in the pilot, but you see a lot more of her as the season goes on. She and I have worked a lot on that, about what it’s like at home for the Walker sisters.

Q: This is your first starring role in a TV show. Were you nervous when you started, and did either Chris or Peter or anyone else really give you any advice since they’ve starred on shows before?

P. Perabo: Yes, both of them did, actually. Both of them are so talented and successful and confident with their work on television and they understand the speed of it. You shoot television much faster than you shoot a film, and so you have to have a certain fluid quality to the scenes and be able to change them really fast and be really confident about your choices, because there’s not always time to try it ten different ways. I think our director took a real cue from that in how confidently they approached a scene and they really know how they want to do it. I’m really lucky to have both of them on the show.

Q: You’ve touched a little bit on how physical your role is and we’re wondering, do you have a stunt double or do you do all the stunts yourself?

P. Perabo: No, I have a stunt double. I have different doubles because not everybody can do all the … do it this way and as the season continues Annie is getting wilder and wilder and the stunts are just getting more and more intense. I think each director is trying to top the last one, so we keep having to find some girls who can do things that I … do. So there are definitely multiple pinstripe suits for certain days on set.

Q: How much freedom do you have in regards to adlibbing or giving input?

P. Perabo: I actually have input, although it’s not necessarily always on the day. Because of the action we get our scripts fairly early, and so there is a lot of time to have a dialogue with the writers and the directors while they’re in prep about ideas that come up in scenes and maybe is it possible if we do it this way. We even have a chance as actors to rehearse our scenes on our own before the day, so there is a big dialogue going on about it, but it’s not just me changing it on the day because we have our scripts so much in advance that it’s a dialogue that goes on with the creators and the stunt coordinators and the director and everybody.

Q: In the series beyond the first couple of seasons how will your character adjust to essentially being a much more experienced agent at that point, since a lot of the show seems to be based on your inexperience right now?

P. Perabo: That’s a really interesting question and that’s come up with me and the creators already. It’s funny that you noticed that. Because one of the things that I really like about Annie is how inexperienced she is, and obviously the longer we stay with her, the more she’ll gain.

What’s fun about being an inexperienced CIA agent is that you don’t follow protocol because you don’t know it. So that comes up again and again with Annie, is that it’s not that she’s particularly flouting authority, she just hasn’t had the training to know how she’s supposed to do it. So she has to come up with her own ideas. I hope that Annie will be successful enough that eventually she’ll be allowed to give it a little bit looser range, because the creativity that the writing department continually comes up with as to how Annie solves a problem is really fun to watch her do. So hopefully even with her experience she’ll just get better at creative solutions, but not necessarily become an expert. Do you know what I mean?

Q: How do you feel about it being on the USA Network where most shows do become a big hit? Is there any pressure for you with that?

P. Perabo: It’s a combination. Because they’ve had so many successful shows, they have a great idea about how to create successful shows, because it’s their original programming that’s so successful. So I put a lot of faith in network notes and ideas they have about character and also about how we’re bringing the show out, like doing calls like this and talking to you guys. They have such a great track record with introducing new shows that it makes me really excited, that the show that I think is really good and going really well is going to get out there.

Q: I have a strange question. You work with Chris Gorham on the show who’s playing a blind character. Is it harder as an actress to work against somebody who is normally sighted but has to not make any eye motions and make eye contact with you?

P. Perabo: No, it’s not hard because Chris Gorham is such a good actor and he’s so emotionally available, that it’s really not hard at all, because the character of Auggie is really Annie’s foundation in the CIA, I trust him and I have my most intimate discussions with him. No, it’s actually not difficult at all.

Q: Do you find yourself tempted to try to make him break character because you know he can see what you’re doing?

P. Perabo: I started saying to him that if we are so lucky to get to another season I think that the reveal should be that he’s not blind and we should do a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon moment where I throw something at him and he catches it. But I don’t think anybody’s listening to me.

Matt and Tim recently participated in a Q&A conference call.

Q: How does it sort of feel to be the center of the cable universe these days?

Matt: Well, I don’t perceive myself that way in any light. Thankfully, I’m so busy with work that I don’t have time to process too much of that stuff. But it’s great that people are responding to the show and Jeff’s writing, most importantly, and know we’re hopefully getting the word about our show out there because we work really hard on it, and I speak for myself and Tim and the cast and Jeff when I say that we’re really proud of the stuff we’re working hard to put out there, and thankfully, or hopefully, the word is getting out.

Q: How is your character dealing with all the changes?

Matt: What I think those particular events sort of set in motion this season is that Neal’s big struggle is between doing what’s legally right and what he thinks is just. So his big struggle this season in terms of avenging Kate’s death is whether to do the right thing legally or what he feels is right and just.

Q: Usually it takes a long time usually for there to be payoffs in a series. What do you think about the payoffs and the quick reveals for the audience?

Matt: I love that Jeff Eastin answers the question he asked in the first episode, and I agree with you. There were big payoffs and I think Tim and I were both were looking at each other going, “Where are we going to go from here?” But then we did, and now we’re at the mid season finale this season going, “Oh my God! Where are we going to go from here?” So, fortunately we have a great writer in Jeff Eastin who likes to answer the questions he presents pretty concisely and pretty briefly, so I’m just happy to be along for the ride.

Q: How do you guys see Neal and Peter’s relationship kind of shifting and evolving now, especially with kind of the changing dynamics with Kate, and even with Mozzie having a little bit more of a role now?

Tim: I think it’s like any other relationship that changes and evolves, but at the base of it, I just get the feeling that these two care for each other very much, and with that, they’re going to have a good time together. They’re going to be hurt by each other, and are going to possibly not trust each other to greater degrees than previously or lesser degrees than previously. But I think that’s to Jeff Eastin’s credit, in writing a very complex—you know, people have said, “Oh, this is a buddy-cop relationship that these two have.” I think yes, it is. But, I think it’s much more than that and that’s because Jeff Eastin has said, “No, no, no. I want it to be more than that.” And I think he’s written something more than that.

Matt: I would echo that sentiment and just say yes, it’s about two guys who have a mutual respect for each other, who have a lot of differences but who compensate for each other’s differences in interesting ways, and who always end up, at the end of the day, having a pretty good time together. But the one dynamic that’s always shifting and changing between our relationship and between the series at large is that of trust.

Q: Jeff Eastin teased us that you and your fabulous co-star, Diahann Carroll, would be singing on an episode this season. Has it already been shot and what can you tell us about it?

Matt: He teased me too. I’ve heard rumor. It would be an honor. She’s a legend and it’d be really, really fun to get to do something like that. I have no idea if it’s actually going to come to fruition. We still have eight episodes to find out or seven episodes to find out. So I guess as soon as I know, I’ll let you know.

Q: With a lot of these plot twists that come up this season, do you guys always know they’re coming ahead of time so you can play that, or are you guys kind of in the dark too as well as the upcoming plot lines?

Tim: Jeff Eastin is good in that he’ll tell me a plot twist that’s coming up if he thinks it would be something Peter would know ahead of time, and if it’s something that would be a surprise to Peter, I’ll tell Jeff, “Oh, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” And then it’s exciting to read it and exciting to play it. This one kind of came up on me, the one for the mid season, only because I think we’ve been so entrenched in shooting these first eight episodes, that when I got the next episode—Oh wow! Oh right, this is the mid season, and then it was a page turner, I have to say.

Matt: I like not to know unless it’s something that I need to know specifically for how I color a performance, but at the beginning of the year, basically I just talk with Jeff and say, “What’s the overall motivation for Neal for this season?” And then we go from there, and I get pleasantly surprised when I get the script, five minutes before we shoot it.

Q: Matt, the show’s definitely put you out there and everybody kind of knows who you are now. Have you adjusted to the kind of scrutiny on you and your personal life through all this?

Matt: To be honest with you, I don’t really pay any attention to it. My personal life is a source of incredible happiness for me, but it’s just that; it’s personal and I would never—it’s not for me to hock, or shop around to the highest bidder, and plus, it could never live up to the amazing mythology that everyone online has created for me. So, I’ll keep mum about it.

Q: The two of you have this great onscreen chemistry, and I was wondering, what is your relationship like in real life and do you spend time together outside of the show?

Matt: I don’t let Tim look at me, unless we’re shooting.

Tim: Yes, it’s just better for me, that way I know the rule. Matt will have other production assistants come up to me and remind me, “Mr. Bomer does not want you to make eye contact with him.”

Matt: Until they call action.

Tim: Until they—

Matt: No, Tim is actually my life coach. He doesn’t know it, but he is.

Tim: Oh, likewise.

Matt: I rely on him for advice and information on life on a seven day a week basis basically.

Tim: We have a good time.

Matt: We do.

Tim: Yes, we have a very good time.

Matt: There aren’t many days when we’re not laughing pretty hard, so how could we complain?

Tim: There aren’t. Matt Bomer’s the funniest man—

Q: So let’s just say that you guys were put on the stand and asked to be a character witness for each other’s characters. What would you say about them?

Tim: It’s going to seem odd, but this is my first instinct and I think I have to go with it. One is smartest individual I’ve met. And two, one of the most devoted. Yes, he’s one of the—oh my gosh! I think because of this question, I’ve hit something here that I think that Peter sees in Neal; that he respects and adores, for lack of a better word.

Matt: Oh, s…. We’ve got to do these blogger calls on a more regular basis.

Tim: Yes. He sees a strong devotion in Neal. And it makes sense. Look how devoted he was to Kate. Look how strong he stayed with Kate and was devoted to her. And if he can do that for her, he can do that for the bureau, and certainly for his friends

Q: . And what about the other way around? What does Neal think?

Tim: Peter the player.

Matt: He’s a player.

Tim: He’s slept with every single woman in the bureau.

Matt: One lady to the next, Peter. I would say that Peter is incredibly intelligent, dedicated, devoted, a family man. I mean, he has the white picket existence that I completely admire and respect and wish that I could have, but don’t really ultimately believe that I can.

Tim: And Peter’s funny.

Matt: And he’s funny!

Tim: And he wears really good ties.

Matt: And he puts up with my bull….

Q: What it’s like having Willie and Mozzie in more scenes and working with Peter?

Matt: He’s a real pain in the ….

Tim: Yes, he is. It’s great because—I just love the relationship of Peter and Mozzie. He’s this nuisance, but we need him every so often, and he’s good to go to. And he’s also one of these guys who does some—he goes above and beyond every so often, and Peter hates to say it, but he says thank you to him.

And here’s the other thing about the world of White Collar is that even though Mozzie is a conspiracy theorist and there is a combative element between Mozzie and Peter, never, never, never would Peter ever not trust him with—no, let me rephrase this. There isn’t that element of violence, and because that element is not there between certainly Neal and Mozzie and Peter, it gives it great flexibility. It gives that relationship a great flexibility. Peter’s never worrying, “Oh, Mozzie might draw a gun on somebody.” That’s just not there. And because of that, you’ve got much more leeway in the relationship.

Matt: I think Willie is great and fun and he always brings something extra to the role, and it’s been fun for Neal to get to bridge two worlds that were very different for him in the first season, and to see people who he respects and admires and likes working with in two very different ways, come together and sort of being the intermediary in their dynamic at times, and also watching them get along famously at other times.

Q: The followup: Tim, when are we going to see you in a wet t-shirt ….

Tim: I don’t know what you’ll—if this weather keeps up, you will see Tim in a wet suit because I will just sweat through everything and you’ll see Peter dripping as he does a walk and talk with Neal.

Actor Willie Garson recently took part in a Q&A call.

Q: What can you tell us about where Mozzie is going in Season Two, what happens with his character, moving forward?

Willie: One of the biggest challenges that the show had was – we saw the … in Season One – how much the FBI was allowed to be aware of Mozzie and what Mozzie, and the way he operates, within and about the law, is available for use by the FBI. They solved that early on that this is Peter’s party, and he can run it as he likes. What we find at the beginning of Season Two is that now Peter can actually use Mozzie in moderation, more at his discretion as to how much he can get away with using him. So, we’ll be playing a lot more with that and how much I can be involved actually with the FBI.

Q: What, as an actor, excites you the most about playing the character like Mozzie? How does he differentiate from some of the characters you’ve played in the past?

Willie: I love that he gets to play act all the time. So, Mozzie gets to play around as being different people, different characters, which is awesome. Probably, with his— I don’t want to say “intelligence,” because that sounds egotistical, but I mean, he definitely has a lot of my cynicism. He’s very well read, which I like to do. He definitely has his strong opinions, which is probably one of the closest roles to myself that I’ve played.

Q: How did you actually get involved with this particular show and playing this character?

Willie Actually, it’s very bizarre. Fox Studios, which produces the show, asked me to do an episode of a show they were shooting in Bogotá, Colombia, called, Mental. I read it. I enjoyed it. I went down. I thought, “When am I going to get down to Bogotá, Colombia, ever?” So, I went down there. I shot it. I got back. They had called me and said, “You were great. We loved working with you. Would you like a … series?” I said, “Of course. I’m looking for a new series. I love to be on television.” I love doing weekly television more so than movies actually. I read the script. Then, the process started … for it. Never an easy process at all. Then, I fought for it and worked hard and tried to get it. It took about a month or two to get the part. That was it.

Q: Mozzie’s look is just fantastic on the show obviously. Do you have any input, any say into how the character is done on the show?

Willie: We definitely talk about wardrobe a lot. Stephanie’s amazing. She got what we were going for. She had her ideas; I had my ideas. We did have to fight the issue that it is me playing it. And me playing it is loaded with some baggage. So, people do expect me to be dressed. That’s a thing that just— Whatever. I have some kind of fashion, iconography – so, I can’t be just some shlumpy guy. So, while Mozzie is definitely interesting and studied and can never look homeless, we call it homeless chic. His stuff— He could have found it in a dumpster or he could have bought it—for $5000 shirt. So, we do work very carefully and closely to the other. She picks out items. I generally know what looks best on me. We do it together, but she’s wonderful. She’s … done a great job. So, I’m always amazed that another shirt, she comes up with. Then, for her, sadly, because she then has to take everything that Mozzie wears and then has to be washed about 700 hundred times to get it look like that homeless chic look that we’re going for.

Q: Will we see more of Neal and Mozzie’s past in Season Two?

Willie: Our show doesn’t do a lot of flashback situations, but we definitely, in these scripts that we’re shooting now, are getting more information about past things in their lives and individually also: where they come from, how they got to be this way, and also, very deeply, what’s important to them, which is a great thing. So, it’s not that this show is especially about that. It is truly the glory of a show having some level of success. It just gets to go on longer. As time goes on, it’s like peeling the levels of an onion. You’re just getting more and more information as you get to know these characters for a longer amount of time. So, we got lucky. So now, we get to see more.

Q: What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned about conmen or criminals?

Willie: It’s interesting. I can’t say for all criminals, but for these criminals, what is interesting to me is how much they do it for the act of doing it rather than, “Oh, I love her new car,” or “Boy, I wish I had some more jewels lying around.” It doesn’t really matter. I mean, we’ve addressed that a couple of times on the show that it doesn’t matter what the crime is. It’s actually the act of doing it is what’s exciting to them. That is interesting. I guess it makes sense. I guess you could say that about captains of industry and whatever. It’s an ongoing discussion I have with my brother. If I had $10 million in the bank, good luck remaking the second $10 million because … people that – just like, “Oh, that’s what turns them on, is just doing it.” So, that’s what I’m learning about these kind of criminals.

Q: If you could appear on any television series, past or present, what would you choose?

Willie: I would have to go with Playhouse 90 – all those shows from the 50’s with live theatre and the impact that those shows would have. Cricket was the new medium. There were three channels. Literally, every single person in the country was watching it. It was a collective consciousness about, “Oh, did you see blah, blah, blah, last night?” That would have been unbelievable. Those guys were kings. I would have loved that.

Q: Is there any character that you’ve ever played, even if it’s just one shot or a guest spot, that you would want to revisit?

Willie: Gosh, they’re all so great. I had a lot of fun, actually on a weird show called Quantum Leap. I used to have a lot of fun on that show. I did one that was just great. X-Files wrote me a great one where I was the luckiest man alive. That was just a—You could have made a whole series about that guy. I’ve been very fortunate. I have a lot of repeat customers, characters that I’ve played. Then, I get a call a couple years later to come back anyway. So, I try to make each one interesting for me to be there. Basically, I’m just entertaining myself. So, that’s what I try to do with every role is just to have a ball being there by myself.

Q: Now, how do you feel Mozzie will develop as the series continues? Will he be even more involved this season?

Willie: So far, he certainly is in what we’ve shot so far. We’ll see. We get the scripts, not very long in advance of shooting them. So, I always feel like, whatever they write, there’s a reason. We’re all working for the common good. So, it’s never about, “Oh, you have more this episode. You don’t have anything this episode.” It’s never about that, but Mozzie is now able to work a little closer with the FBI. So, yes, we’ll be seeing him working more intrinsically with the cases. We also have all the stuff with Kate to deal with – how we ended last season. So, there’ll be plenty of Mozzie this year.

Q: What do you like the most about White Collar and working with Jeff Eastin?

Willie: I have to say, one of my favorite things about the show is that it doesn’t assume that the audience is stupid. While that sounds like a big statement, it does make a difference. The show really is as smart as the audience is. That’s a great thing. I don’t like to knock other things on television, but it’s a rarer thing on television than it used to be. So, for that, I am forever grateful for Jeff, for just not assuming that the audience is stupid.

Q: Now that Mozzie and Elizabeth know each other and seem to click, will they be spending more time together this season?

Willie: Well, we’re dating. No. Yes, there’s actually some stuff in the script that we’re doing right now where Mozzie and Elizabeth work quite closely together. So yes, there is some stuff. It’s great. I’ve been friends with Tiffani for a long time. So, this is fun that we get to do this together. So yes, absolutely.

Q: Matt and Tim have such great chemistry. We’re wondering what it’s like working in a scene with them.
Willie: With Tim, it’s terrible. They’re hammy; they’re horrible people; no, it’s always great. I have become very close, obviously, to Matt. We do most of our stuff together. I’ve been friends with Tim for 20 years, so we have an awful lot of fun on this show. We’re very musical. A lot of singing on this show, which I’m sure people would be shocked. We’re doing a crime version of Glee, but you’re not going to see all that on screen.

Q: In your mind, does Mozzie still understand Neal’s desire to walk that line between black and white, or is he more wanting to see him keep him away from that life of crime?

Willie: I don’t think it matters. It’s more about he doesn’t want him to have to go away. So, he would love for us to continue to work together. So, whatever that takes. It doesn’t matter to Mozzie if we’re doing good or evil. All that matters to Mozzie is that we get to keep doing capers.

So, that would have to be up to the interpreter. I mean, if doing good means that we’re going to get to do more, then yes. If we can do better capers and not get caught and still continue, then that would also be great. So, it’s a double answer.

Q: Jeff Eastin mentioned, last year, that he might be writing more this season about the characters Mozzie is connected to in his other life, off screen. Are we going to get to see more of that this year?

Willie: We are. We’re slowly seeing every episode, a little bit more of what Mozzie’s about, what makes him tick, how he got this way. We’re going to see where he even stays in this episode that we’re shooting right now, which is very intriguing, so yes.

Q: Mozzie and Neal have such a different kind of relationship. They’re such different people. I was wondering, what’s the glue in their friendship? Why do you think it works so well?

Willie: There is that thing about how opposites attract. Both of the characters give each other street cred in a way. Obviously, socially, Neal gives Mozzie a lot of street …. He’s not really a people person. Mozzie has a very, very good, criminal mind. He is an amazing technician in terms of getting things done. Neal really appreciates that about him. So, it ends up being a perfect partnership. There’s definitely certain dirty work that Mozzie takes care of that Neal would not even go near. So, that’s important to his character. So, it ends up being a nearly perfect arrangement between the two of them.

Q: Has there been a favorite episode that you’ve had so far, either favorite to view or favorite in filming, and why?

Willie: They all have been great. We just got an e-mail this morning from USA. They just watched another … watched Episode 5 or something from this …. They just got the cut. They wrote to us this morning, “Well, that’s five for five so far.” That’s how I feel. Each one has certain, great things to recommend.

In the first season, I would say, it was probably that first meeting with Neal and Peter and I when we were drunk in Neal’s apartment. I just thought a lot of information came out. It was, “This is who we are. We’re going to be honest with each other and say why we’re all here.” I just thought that was a great scene. So, there’s always great scenes, there’s great scenes in every episode. So, it’s hard for me to say.

Q: I’ve heard that Diane Farr is going to be guest-starring as a romantic interest for Mozzie. What was that like? Have you done it yet? Is it just for the one episode?

Willie: Well, it was only one episode so far, which is odd because her name is Diane Farr, but we’ve shot already. I don’t know if there will be more, but it was great. I’ve known her for a while. We did a pilot together many years ago. So, we are friends. It was great. We had a great time. She was fabulous in it; she is a great actress. So, it was lovely to have her.

Q: You’ve mentioned before that you’d like to try to directing. Is that something you’ll do for White Collar?

Willie: It is something I would like to do. We’ll see. There’s nothing contract things. We don’t have it in the contract yet, but maybe in the next one, we will. We’ll see how things progress. They are aware that it is something I’m interested in. So, we’ll see how it goes.

It’s a hard thing because you decide, “Is that really something that I am dying to do as opposed to acting?” It is not. So, I have to figure it out. I have a good take on the show. I would like to explore maybe getting behind the camera for one.

Q: Since you’ve been in the business for so long, I’m sure you’ve met many of your different fans, but do you have a crazy story or something where you’re like, “I can’t believe this just happened”?

Willie: Things happen all the time. So, that’s a hard thing. There’s nothing ever that’s really crazy when it comes to someone who likes what we do. It’s a great … that affects what you do. I have to say, certainly, from my other show, we got a lot of— You’ll be walking down the street. You see someone coming towards you. Certainly after 9/11, you could see it coming. You see a woman coming towards you, or a guy coming, mostly women, towards you, saying, “Every Sunday night, we watch Sex and the City, and I lost my husband in the towers.” You can see it, 50 feet away. You know the look on their face that they‘re coming up and what they’re going to say to you. That was very silver in terms of— It’s nice that what we do can have meaning other than just filling the time between dinner and bedtime. So, that’s really important to me.

Q: So, you were just talking about Sex and the City. I wanted to know how your experience on that show compares to working on White Collar.

Willie: Oh, it’s apples and oranges. I mean, very different, but on the other hand, it’s also similar in that the city is such a strong character and that we get to shoot in these amazing locations. New Yorkers are New Yorkers. So, that’s exciting, but 180 degree difference. Our show is not strictly a comedy whereas Sex and the City, at its heart, let’s not forget, was an absolute comedy. So, this is just a whole different ballgame, which is great. To be honest, I would have it no other way. It’s exactly how I like things to always be completely different.

Q: You mentioned that there’s a lot of yourself in Mozzie. Is he also based on anyone else, or primarily yourself?

Willie: He’s definitely not based on anyone else. I would say I am a lame enough actor that I generally work from the outside in. My initial thoughts about Mozzie was those guys like playing chess in Tompkins Square Park. They look like they’re homeless, but they’re obviously not homeless. They’re obviously wildly intelligent because chess is a difficult game. They must live somewhere. They must have some source of income. So, that’s how I started the character. Then, I fill it in myself on the inside.

Q: Would you like to see Mozzie have some more serious moments, or do you prefer the fact that he is just this light character?

Willie: Well, the thing is, I love both. In your saying that, you just have paid me a wonderful compliment because there are very serious moments in Season One. What’s great is that we get the chance to bop back and forth seamlessly. The whole point is that Mozzie does have a lust for life. He’s a fun guy.

However, he can very easily be serious when things need to be serious. So, he’s not an idiot. That is important to the scripts and how they’re structured. So, I like to be both. Luckily, I guess I am somewhat of a funny guy, so it comes easy, but comedy can be hard. Drama, for me, comes actually easier. So, I love what I felt about the show is that it can switch gears. Obviously, we don’t shoot the show in order, but we shoot the locations in order. So, we can be doing a very funny scene, completely written around a joke. Then, the next scene, we shoot five minutes later is a very serious scene. We get to shift gears all the time. That’s glorious. That’s what I love doing. So, this show gives us that opportunity.

Q: How does your son feel about having such a famous dad?

Willie: Nathan really likes it. He’s into it. He plays with it. He loves to see when people are recognizing me on the street and all of that. It’s exciting. Look, if someone’s a great plumber, it’s rare that people are pointing at them on the street and talking about them. So, it is a real benefit of the job that what we do for work makes people happy. That’s a great thing. Hopefully. Hopefully what we do makes them happy.

Q: Has any of this given him the idea to become an actor one day, a performer?

Willie: I don’t think Nathan wants to become an actor. He wants to work, right now, as an eight-year-old who would like to work in law enforcement. But, we’ll see. The hardest thing to teach a kid in this situation is not to have a sense of entitlement that, just because people like us and are so nice to us out in the world, doesn’t mean that we’re entitled to the best seats or the best back door entrances and all of that. So, a level of normalcy is very important. That’s the hardest thing to keep telling him when people are so nice to us all the time.

Q: My son is a big fan of Imagination Movers. I was wondering how you went about getting to play Pants Armstrong on that show.

Willie: I’m very close to the Disney organization. My business partner’s wife is a network executive for the Disney Channel. So, I do a lot of the Disney shows. I love them. It’s really fun. I’ll give you the even cheesier answer: I like to have fans of all ages. For a character actor, certainly, that’s what gives you a long career. Basically, if you get them early, you have them for the rest of your life.

When I was growing up, the actors that we know and knew our whole lives and now know everything they’ve ever done were, of course, Dick Van Dyke and Gene Wilder. There are reasons for that. They knew what they were doing. So, I like to do things that are not just for one kind of demographic. I also am just a big kids’ guy. I love kids. So, that show was real fun. Those guys are awesome. I loved going down to New Orleans and doing it with them. I would do it again, anytime.

Creator Peter Tolan and star Callie Thorne recently participated in a Q&A conference call.

Q: Is there any hope of Tommy finding redemption or, actually I should say, is there any chance of redemption finding him since he doesn’t really seem to be looking for it?

P. Tolan: No, he doesn’t seem to be looking. I don’t think you want to do a television series for this many years and not leave an audience that’s been along for the journey with some sort of positive message. So, this year, definitely, definitely, and quite soon, Tommy will find his way back and find his way into figuring out what his priorities are in life and what’s important to him.

It starts off, obviously, with a glimpse into what’s waiting for him after death, or what he thinks is waiting for him after death. But that’s, ultimately, is not the thing that turns him around. In the fifth episode of the sixth season, he really does finally hit rock bottom with the drinking and his other behaviors, and it directly affects another member of his family. That’s the thing that finally turns him around. We will get to see him slowly scrape his way back out of this enormous abyss he’s put himself in.

With him, it’s always a struggle I’m sure on some level. I know, probably in those first episodes, when he’s trying to change or making his usual, feeble attempt, it’s more likely that he’s going to blame everybody else for not recognizing the fact that he’s trying to change and not getting with the program. So, yes, it’s going to be a struggle. But then you’re looking at the fifth episode of the sixth season, so that’s right halfway through. Then there are really only five more and then nine more. There are really 14 more episodes to pull it all together, so I don’t think he can slowly scrape. He’s got to make some big choices in those last 14 episodes. I think it does accelerate a little bit more.

C. Thorne: It certainly accelerates once he sees that everybody else is changing regardless if they’re noticing what he’s trying to do, he’s noticing that everybody around him are making different choices that are affecting him very differently and living in a certain way with or without him.

Q: How do you keep Sheila grounded while everything else flutters?

C. Thorne: I think, in a way, it’s that part is almost the easier part of Shelia to recognize in terms of this fierce loyalty and love that she has for her son, and based on her experience, she doesn’t want to lose her son the same way she lost her husband. I think that that also fuels the way she leads her life. Everything else that she thinks she wants, all the other things she does to manipulate what she thinks she wants from love, lust, and friends, and all of that. That stuff does fall by the wayside when it comes to her relationship with Damien, and because that is the thing that I can understand the most, in terms of that kind of family love and connection for me, because I feel that way about my own family members. I don’t have a son, but I have people that I love desperately. So that sometimes is the easier thing to connect with.

Q: Do you find that having that end date now you’re writing the show any differently or you’re being careful as to introducing new story lines since you know you’re going to have only two seasons to set them up?

P. Tolan: First of all, we’re actually done. The show is done. We’ve actually finished production about three weeks ago. So, I think, it was actually very liberating to have an end date because it was just easier. First of all, you’re much more careful because you’re like, this is it. There’s not going to be anything after this, so this better be … great. You have a responsibility to your characters and all that. That’s a big part of it.

Also, we had made a decision last year, last season, when we were doing all those episodes of what the final episode was going to be. So, we knew what we were writing to. And that has happened very rarely. I think, on this show, in the first season, we knew what we were writing to. We knew what the last scene of the last episode of that group was. So, that was sort of liberating in a way, too. It really helps you to have an end. The combination of being more protective of the show since it’s the last few episodes and knowing exactly what you’re writing to—some people might find that constricting, but it was really, actually, very good for us, and I think the show is much more focused than it sometimes has been in the past.

Q: Was it bitter-sweet when you wrapped production?

P. Tolan: No. I hate everybody involved except for Callie Thorne who is actually on the phone with me.

C. Thorne: He’s telling the truth. He couldn’t wait to run off the set on our last day. Everyone was like crying and hugging. Everyone was like, “Wait, where’d Peter go?”

P. Tolan: Of course it was bitter-sweet. … what was the saddest part of it, because Callie was actually there. When we sort of wrapped everybody, we were doing a big scene with a lot of the characters in one place, and, normally, you have like a series wrap as sort of one person at a time. This is pretty much everybody. So the saddest part was the girls, the daughters, the Gavin girls, because when they started the show they were 7 and 14, and now they’re 14 and 21. They just sort of grew up with us, and I think that was more of a difficult thing.

C. Thorne: I think you’re right. I agree with you. I was already crying the day before. I think that when I first started to first cry was when they said that this was a series wrap on Lenny Clarke. I just realized what was happening, and that we were all doing the last parts of everything. But, you’re right, I agree with you about the two girls, because as much as they grew up with us, I sort of feel like I grew up with them as well. We’ve all been together for a really long block of time than on any other job I’ve not experienced. It was very sad.

Q: The city is such an important character in Rescue Me. Talk about how it impacts the filming process and what you think New York adds to the overall tone and character of the series.

P. Tolan: Well, way back at the beginning we were asked if we would shoot the show in Toronto. We said no.

C. Thorne: I didn’t know that.

P. Tolan: Yeah. That was the only thing, really, that the Network was saying to us was would we do that. We said no, because we recognized even before we started that we wanted the city to be that other bigger character. So, I mean, there’s so much you get from it. There are problems, but they are sort of minor in terms of dealing with the city and whatever else. But, it’s so authentic.

If you’re doing a show that supposedly about real people and real emotion, problems, and family and all that, you can’t put it on a fake stage. You can’t pretend you’re someplace else. There’s an authenticity to actually shooting in the city that can’t be replicated. That’s always helped us. It’s always been a big part of the show. So, that has always been important.

I don’t know about the challenges of it. The challenges are that we’re not in Miami Beach saying it’s New York, so that in the middle of January, you’re not freezing your … off. I’ve never been hotter, and I’ve never been colder in my life than I have been making this show. Never, never, never. And I lived in Minnesota for four years. I actually visited the sun one week on a vacation. I have never been hotter in all my life. That’s a little bit of a challenge. Other than that, it was fine.

Q: If you could sum up your journey working on the series, how would you describe your experience?

P. Tolan: Don’t start with I was touched inappropriately.

C. Thorne: The journey certainly is different from everything else I worked on because, in terms of having this amount of time to explore and sort of live through a real lifetime of a character is daunting, it’s awesome, and it’s fun, but you do a play or you do a guest spot on another show, or sometimes even when you do a movie, you’re doing kind of like a glimpse of a day in the life of somebody. So, being able to really live a lot of Shelia is something that I’m never going to forget, and the fact that Peter, Denis, and Evan, as they did the whole case, they really treated us like peers instead of employees.

They were very much interested when we had ideas about our characters or when we felt something felt a little hanky or we felt something might make more sense if Shelia behaved this way. They were always listening. They were always ready to try something new, so that is actually another thing I’m very grateful for in terms of having spent all this time with these people because, again, that’s really rare. It’s not often that you’re asked your opinion. And not only are you asked your opinion, but it can show through in the scene work. So, I attribute all my favorite things about Shelia in all these years to really how Denis, Peter, and Evan led us through the story telling.

P. Tolan: Is this the longest, because I’ll be ignorant, that you’ve ever done one character of time?

C. Thorne: Yeah. Because the other regular TV shows, like series, regulars and Homicide and that was two years. And, then anything else I’ve done have been like great arcs or get The Wire. I did six years of the show, but I would go on there and do like two episodes a season or something. I certainly wasn’t like bringing a character to life. I was really sort of brought to The Wire to propel Dominic West’s character. That’s why I was around is to remind the audience that he was a drunk and didn’t take care of his kids. So, yes, this was very, very singular for me.

Q: Peter, I’m curious sort of how you’re treating the final episodes? Is it kind of one long arc, or is it two kind of discreet seasons? How did you approach it?

P. Tolan: It feels like one long arc because we shot them all together. So, we were much more into the idea of connecting them and, again, working towards a final episode. So, that was important. However, there is a very big story point that happens. Because, you know, the idea was we said this long journey, let’s have a positive outcome, because you don’t want to have ….
The question of a series is can a guy who goes through a life change in an awful event come through to the other side with an appreciation for life and living and what’s important. Or is it going to consume him? Obviously, you want the positive response to that. Otherwise an audience will say, “Why did I hang around for seven years?”

So, we wrote towards that. We wrote towards a positive expectation at the end. We knew the choice that we had to make, and then we had to complicate it, so that it wouldn’t just here’s what I’m going to do, and it’s going to be easy, and I’m going to make these changes in my life, and my life’s going to be better.

C. Thorne: Not telling anything up and above.

P. Tolan: Right. Exactly. So, a person can make that choice, but then it’s up to fate to decide whether or not it’s going to be easy for them or difficult for them. So that at the end of the sixth season, there is a large event that happens that complicates that choice, and, in fact, forces Tommy— I think Tommy’s choice is to be with his family and to raise his family, recommit to them, and at the end of the sixth season, something happens that forces him away from that choice and actually into Shelia’s life. There’s the bump that ends the sixth season, but we were thinking of it as an arc of the two seasons.

Q: Callie, I’m curious, too, when you’re playing it, and you sort of know that the end is coming, does that enter your mind in terms of how you approach the role at all?

C. Thorne: It probably would in another situation, but they were pretty smart with me because no matter how many times I asked how we were going to say goodbye to Shelia, they either A) never gave me a straight answer or gave me like five different ways that it could happen and that they were still thinking about it. Or they just said that she was going to die, and I had to figure it out. Because, thankfully, I didn’t know how we were going to leave her, then I didn’t have the opportunity to be that much in my head ever to say well, actually, since I know that such and such is going to happen, I should make sure that I don’t hint it here because that’s what I would do because I’m not that smart. So, luckily, I was able to just be in the present and be as is and do as if.

So, of course, when we all started getting the final scripts and finding out how we were saying goodbye to everybody, which it is for Rescue Me on a positive note, but it certainly does give our audience an enormous amount of freedom to think for themselves about how they want to say goodbye. That’s definitely true with Shelia. There isn’t a big event that says goodbye to Shelia. She’s sort of part of the bigger picture, and I really, really liked the way that it ended.

Q: I was wondering if you could just reflect a little bit about how the two of you first met each other, Callie how you got involved in this show. Peter, how you first decided that Callie was going to be Shelia, that sort of thing.

P. Tolan: We actually met awhile ago because Callie was very, almost could have been in Denis and my other show, The Job. Wasn’t that the case, Callie?

C. Thorne: It was Diane and I were casting against each other, yeah.

P. Tolan: The part was a woman who was a cop. And ultimately, this is certainly nothing against Diane, we felt like Callie was too pretty to be a cop, and we needed somebody, not with a rougher edge, but you know what I mean.

C. Thorne: Yeah. I know what you mean.

P. Tolan: But she came very close, and Denis and I loved her based on that initial contact and never forgot her. When the second show happened, we went right to her.

C. Thorne: The way I remember it is that when I really, really wanted the role on The Job because I really wanted to work with this particular group of people, so I went in like gangbusters. They actually did something that doesn’t happen that often anymore which is they did a real film test. Because when you test for a television show, whether you’re going in for studio or network, it’s usually just a giant room filled with lots of suits and lots of people that are going to critique you when you leave, and this was actually done very sort of old-school. We did hair and make-up. There was a film camera, and there was a little crew, and they did casts on you. I was so fired up and in a race to get this job that I’m pretty sure that I might have actually even scared Denis because I remember when we were doing the scene on a little set in front of the camera, there a couple of times when I looked at him, and he actually looked like he was scared of me. I think that was because ….

P. Tolan: You were committing.

C. Thorne: I was committing, but it really did serve me well for later because though I cried when I didn’t get the job on the job, when the Rescue Me auditions were coming out, and I actually remember that I forced my way in for an audition for Andrea Roth’s role, and I knew I was completely dead wrong, and I couldn’t have been less of the description of the wife, but I wanted in on the show so badly that I was going in and doing whatever I could. And, thankfully, after the show got picked up, and they started to write the first season is when they came up with the idea of Shelia.

P. Tolan: Obviously, when somebody comes in and you just go ooh, boy, they’re good, then we always realize … because you never know how long a character is going to stay.

C. Thorne: That’s right. When I auditioned for Shelia, it was definitely two episodes with a possibility for a third.

P. Tolan: That is shocking to me.

C. Thorne: Isn’t that funny?

Q: Can you remember when you were first putting this all together, what your expectations for the show were?

P. Tolan: Well. I have no idea. I mean, you just don’t have any idea. I don’t normally think like that. I don’t think, gee, I wonder what’s going to happen. I think you just go in— hey this would be interesting. 9/11 happened while we were shooting The Job, while we actually making an episode of The Job. I said to Denis, boy, this would be an interesting idea for a show because we knew these firefighters, and we thought that would be interesting. But, you know, you don’t think I wonder how long it’s going to last or whatever. We just knew here’s the beginning, here’s the characters, and here’s the last episode of these 13 episodes.

Beyond that, we had done The Job, and it had been extremely well received, like the reviews for The Job were fantastic. So we knew that we could work well together, and the work would be a certain quality. But beyond that, we don’t know. Nobody knows. That’s the thing.

In show business, nobody knows. You don’t even think about it. You say this interests me. I know where I’m coming from with these characters. You got no idea if people are going to like it or if it’s actually going to resonate, but you just do the best you can and hope for the best. Somebody said to me a couple of years ago, so when you’re shooting the show are you actually also shooting the extras for the DVD? I said are you a lunatic? I’m trying to make a … show. That’s enough work. And that’s really what it is. It’s so much work to do the show that you almost have no time to think I wonder what will happen to this. So it’s always a mystery to me when people come up to me and go we’ve watched every episode. I’m like, really, you’ve done something that even I have not done. What are you talking about?

C. Thorne: Oh my … I completely agree with you, and I think that for me, myself, in the beginning, whatever it was seven or eight years ago, that I was just saying previously to this, Shelia, when I auditioned for her, was originally just two episodes with a possibility of a third. And so when I joined them to come in when they were shooting their second episode, all I was thinking about was whether or not I was going to get a third episode. So, I was like in that moment of being so thankful for my two episodes and wondering with what I was doing versus what they were thinking when they were writing going to be something that would be interesting enough to bother bringing me back for a third episode. So then, all these years later, it’s more than I could have ever dreamt of.

Q: Do you have any anxiety about how the final episodes will be received by the fans that have followed it through the years?

P. Tolan: No. I’m happy with them. I can’t worry about that. I hope the fans like them. Obviously, the reason that you work and work to have what you feel is a positive end so that they haven’t wasted their time sticking with the characters all this time. So, I care on that level. But I can’t dictate what’s going to be – look – the great thing about the internet is, if you want to, you can come into contact with everybody who watches the show. You can go on a million websites and see a million different opinions, so you quickly realize that you can’t please everybody. And somebody’s going to go well that was stupid. Or that was too dramatic. Or that was too funny. Or that wasn’t what I expected. So, you just say I’m just going to do this for me, you know. It’s going to be the best thing that is for me and leave it at that.

Q: Throughout the show’s history, it feels like every character is involved in some way, but in Shelia’s case, it almost seems like a demolition of her character and her psyche and the way she acts. One, do you agree? And, two, do you like who the character has become?

C. Thorne: Let’s see. I agree to a certain extent that, while other people may have been evolving and moving forward on the show, Shelia was falling backwards, but I don’t know if she ever thought that. Do you know what I mean? Like, I think that each year, each season that we’ve found Shelia in the middle of all this chaos that she has created for herself, it’s always because she thinks, in her sort of selfish little way, that it’s better for her and better for the people around her if things go the way she said and the strings that she pulls and all that stuff. So, I think that it’s not something that she was aware of in terms of that she wasn’t growing. But she’s in such a state of, still these years later, mourning the death of her husband and not knowing what life was supposed to be after something like that happens to you.

I definitely think that where we start in the sixth season and where we end at the end of the seventh season, Shelia does start doing something the audience has never seen before, in terms of how she’s handling life, and what we can probably safely assume she never did before we ever saw her on the show. She’s learning how to be a different person and how to— I don’t know how to say it without giving too much away. But, I do think that it is whole other level of people that are fans of Shelia’s that are going to see something develop that they’ve not thought of before, I think. I don’t know. Peter, what do you think of that?

P. Tolan: I think, definitely, that Shelia has evolved. I tend to remember that she was a white hot mess back soon after the death of her husband, which I don’t blame her. And then I remember taking the character through some situations that even, as a writer or creator of the show – like are we really doing to do this like the lesbian thing, you know the whole lesbian thing – which in the end turned out to be really interesting. But, even then, I was like really? I mean I understand that she’s sort of searching and whatever, but it seems that Shelia had much more focus, purpose, and wasn’t as buffeted around by faith as she had been early on. So, I think in the last couple of seasons, she’s much more centered.

They recently participated in a Q&A conference call.

Q: What about the show continues to challenge you?

Eddie McClintock: The hours.

Joanne Kelly: Yeah, the physicality and the hours I think.

Eddie McClintock: Well, you know, for me the challenge is to keep it fresh, you know, not try – we try and make sure that we don’t hit the same beats again and again in episode after episode. So Joanne and I try and communicate to one another if we feel like maybe a beat is stale or we’ve used it before and so, you know, just keeping the show fresh and new is a bit of a challenge for me.

Joanne Kelly: Yeah and – yeah, I think that, you know, as mentioned before with the hours, people get really tired and to keep the work – the focus on the work and to make sure that it’s continuously good despite the hours. It doesn’t matter if it’s 4:00 in the morning, it’s still important to make the scene as good as it can be and that sometimes is a challenge but one of the more interesting ones that we – I think we manage to pull it off most of the time.

Eddie McClintock: You know, people come over and they’re like oh I feel so bad, you have worked so long and so many hours and I’ve just been saying to them, I go ditch digger, coal miner, oil rig worker, you know. I mean, those people have hard jobs, not me. So it kind of keeps me – when I hear myself say that it keeps me grounded and keeps me from ragging too much about the hours.

Q: What has been your favorite scene you’ve filmed so far this season?

Eddie McClintock: I’ll start I guess. I – there is an episode called Around the Bend where an artifact has affected Pete to the point where he begins to lose his sanity. And I have a really good scene with Mark Sheppard that was really a challenge.

And then I have a – I had another scene with Myka and Claudia and Artie that, you know, it’s always nice when we have scenes with all of us together because, you know, I really feel like we work pretty well together. So when you get everybody in there firing at the – firing on the same wavelength, it really seems to be a great experience.

Joanne Kelly: My favorite episode this year which I think – I always pick the one that was most challenging to me as an actor was probably an episode that involved an artifact that was a gryphon. I have no – I’m terrified to see that episode so that’s why (unintelligible).

Q: Can you both tell me a little bit about your on-screen chemistry?

Eddie McClintock: Well Joanne and I figured we’d just get it over with the first week so we got together a couple of times and she – unfortunately she kind of fell for me and I had to tell her to back off. So since then she’s kind of, you know, she’s not quite as hands-on let’s say as she used to be.

Joanne Kelly: Shut up. You see how long I let that go for? Are you impressed?

Eddie McClintock: You know, the other – this is kind of mine and Joanne’s relationship in a nutshell. She and I were being pulled by a car – a camera truck and we were – I was supposed to be driving, she’s sitting next to me, it’s a beautiful day, and we’re being driven. And I just looked at her and I said do you ever get tired of the fact that I can never take anything serious? And she goes sometimes I want to stab you in the eye with a pencil. And she goes but if you were any other way, you know, it just – it wouldn’t be the same.

And so, you know, I mean, look, I have a personality that, you know, it works for me sometimes and maybe not all the time but, you know, Joanne is a good sport and she puts up with my Tom Foolery let’s say. And, you know, we truly are like a brother and sister. Like we don’t always like each other.

I mean, you know, we spend 15 hours a day 5 days a week. I mean, most families don’t spend that amount of time with each other so – and we’re in a very stressful situation. You know, it’s like there’s always someone standing there with their watch pointing at their watch going let’s go, let’s go, let’s go, you know, why did you mess up that line, why don’t you know your lines, we’ve got to move, why do you – haven’t you slept?

I mean, so there’s a lot of opportunity for us to just not really care to like one another but, you know, we love each other and I have a great deal of respect for Joanne and her work and I think that it reflects in the work that we have on screen. I think that’s maybe why it works so well.

Joanne Kelly: Yeah, you know, I think that a lot of actors can be very competitive with each other on screen and Eddie and I never competed and I think that’s one of the reasons what people call chemistry is that we actually trust and like one another.

We never compete in things, we let each other do their own thing and that – I think we’ve – it’s just our – the fact that we’re just so different, I think our personalities allow that to happen and, you know, again he puts up with me because I’m not the, you know, the light of…

Eddie McClintock: The what?

Joanne Kelly: Why, are you curious?

Eddie McClintock: Yeah a little.

Joanne Kelly: You know, I’m not the happiest chick in the world. Sometimes at 4:30 in the morning I can get a little testy and Eddie is the one, you know, tells me – he makes me laugh. So that’s all I was going to say — or not.

Eddie McClintock: I always love when I look over to Joanne and she has that look on her face like do not look at me, do not touch me. So it causes me to like jump around – like it makes me want to jump around even more even if I’m kind of tired I’m like ooh, all right, this is a good opportunity for me to poke sticks at Joanne. So it’s good man, it seems to work so far.

Q: Does it make a difference to either one of you, if they stay just partners or if they get together and have a relationship?

Eddie McClintock: Well I’ve been saying that in Season 15 Pete and Myka start bumping their wheelchairs into one another in kind of a mating ritual but that won’t be for a long time.

I mean, I like the fact that they have enough respect for the boundaries of their job and enough respect for one another not to cross the line. I think it makes Pete a more honorable guy. I think it makes – it lets Pete earn his other, you know, little idiosyncrasies and I think that it gives the character depth, you know. I mean, look, they’re two relatively attractive people that by all rights should want each other but again I think they have a respect and a love for each other that they don’t really go there.

Joanne Kelly: I think any human relationship, any interesting human relationship between two people is complex and it truly takes time to develop, anything that’s worth its salt. And for us to explore the romantic part of it without first exploring the complexities that – of these two people, you know, the partnership that they’re creating and the friendship that they’re creating I think would just short change everyone.

Q: How did you get cast on Warehouse 13 and what drew you to the characters?

Eddie McClintock: Do you want to go first this time Jo?

Joanne Kelly: Sure.

Eddie McClintock: Okay.

Joanne Kelly: No you go first.

Eddie McClintock: Okay. Talk just while I chew now.

Joanne Kelly: Okay. Well how we were cast, basically it was a tough situation. Just like any network there were about ten Petes and ten Mykas. You know, you go in, you audition, and then they whittle it down and whittle it down and then there’s about ten of each characters. The network mixes and matches the characters in the room and, you know, there’s quite a story about the way that we got put together and I’ll let Eddie take over from here.

Eddie McClintock: Well, you know, usually by the time you get to the test they have whittled it down to maybe two Petes and two Mykas. And in this case we walked in and there were like – yeah like seven or eight of each.

Joanne Kelly: All in suits all looking exactly.

Eddie McClintock: Everybody looking exactly the same. And I just thought oh great, I’m not going to get this job either. This was shortly after the birth of my second son and I kind of had a thin year the year before.
Joanne Kelly: He was very sweaty.

Eddie McClintock: I was very sweaty inside and out and I just, you know, an actor’s greatest fear is to make a mistake during the test, at least that’s my greatest fear. You know, you generally only get one chance in front of the network so you better not screw it up. And they had been mixing and matching us all day and I hadn’t gotten placed with Joanne so I was like oh she must suck.

Joanne Kelly: He thought I sucked.

Eddie McClintock: So they finally said okay you two go in and we were in there together and we had been talking.

Joanne Kelly: We hadn’t been talking. Eddie you had your freak out session before we were in there together.

Eddie McClintock: Oh that’s right.

Joanne Kelly: So he comes out of the room and he’s like sweating and he likes takes off his tie and starts pacing. He starts talking about his baby’s birth and I’m like what is this dude talking about?

Eddie McClintock: Yeah we didn’t know each other at all.

Joanne Kelly: No and I’m pretty Zen at tests. Like I just – which is not how I am in real life at all.

Eddie McClintock: Yeah she actually was sitting like in a Lotus position.

Joanne Kelly: Not in a Lotus position but I’m very Zen.

Eddie McClintock: She had a (Bendy) on. So well what happened was the director put his arm around one of the other actors and I was like that’s it, I’m not getting this job.

I took off my tie, I took off my jacket, and I said you know what, I got these – my sons, they’re like two little birds in the nest and their necks are stretching right and they’re stretched and their mouths are open, they’re waiting for their mom to sweep in and drop in the chewed up, regurgitated worm and I’ve got no fucking worm. And I was a little flipped out. And then literally Joanne was like dude.

Joanne Kelly: I sat him down and I basically just talked him off the ledge. Tests are painful enough without some dude having a nervous breakdown.

Eddie McClintock: Hence her calling me dude.

Joanne Kelly: And they called us in the room the next – and we went in.

Eddie McClintock: And Joanne’s line – she was supposed to call me a showboat and she was like listen you showbot. And so I just started going Showbot, Showbot, Showbot, and doing a robot and then I did like a Michael Jackson kick with a hee hee verse.

Joanne Kelly: Yeah and I started getting mad at him and tried to get him back on track and everyone…

Eddie McClintock: And she punched me and told me to shut up. And so when we walked out apparently Mark Stern looked at everybody and goes there it is, that’s the show right there. And so ironically enough we kind of got our jobs through a mistake so it was pretty cool.

Eddie McClintock: She had a (Bendy) on. So well what happened was the director put his arm around one of the other actors and I was like that’s it, I’m not getting this job.

I took off my tie, I took off my jacket, and I said you know what, I got these – my sons, they’re like two little birds in the nest and their necks are stretching right and they’re stretched and their mouths are open, they’re waiting for their mom to sweep in and drop in the chewed up, regurgitated worm and I’ve got no fucking worm. And I was a little flipped out. And then literally Joanne was like dude.

Joanne Kelly: I sat him down and I basically just talked him off the ledge. Tests are painful enough without some dude having a nervous breakdown.

Eddie McClintock: Hence her calling me dude.

Joanne Kelly: And they called us in the room the next – and we went in.

Eddie McClintock: And Joanne’s line – she was supposed to call me a showboat and she was like listen you showbot. And so I just started going Showbot, Showbot, Showbot, and doing a robot and then I did like a Michael Jackson kick with a hee hee verse.

Joanne Kelly: Yeah and I started getting mad at him and tried to get him back on track and everyone…

Eddie McClintock: And she punched me and told me to shut up. And so when we walked out apparently Mark Stern looked at everybody and goes there it is, that’s the show right there. And so ironically enough we kind of got our jobs through a mistake so it was pretty cool.

And I just said yeah, you know, if you – I said Mr. Shatner, if you’re not too busy maybe you would come and do an episode of the show. And he just looked at me and he goes, “Call me Bill, please” almost in the voice of George Takei. And so that kind of to me was like – okay, never mind. He didn’t come out and just say no I’m not going to do that but he kind of didn’t need to. I don’t think he’ll be doing it, I mean, he’s got three shows, he’s got two talk shows and another show.

Joanne Kelly: He has a talk show?

Eddie McClintock: Yeah, the man is…

Joanne Kelly: What does he talk about?

Eddie McClintock: Himself. And he’s incredibly busy.

Joanne Kelly: I think he’s definitely going to come on the show after he hears that you said that.

Eddie McClintock: But I must say that I sat next to Michael Dorn and he was really interested in coming and doing an episode of the show. What a great guy, really smart and nice guy, Michael Dorn who played Worf.

Q: Were you worried how the show would do?

Joanne Kelly: Well, you know, you make these things in a bubble, right? The show, you have no idea how anyone is going to respond to it. I mean, you don’t even know what it’s going to be until you see it.

Joanne Kelly: Until the episodes had actually starting airing, right? I mean, I saw a few episodes but I had no – you can’t really get – I can never get a sense of it so it’s kind of like you go in there blind. And when people respond to it of course I think there is an element of surprise, you know what I mean? Because you have no idea. I mean, it really is such a subjective thing as well, you know?

Eddie McClintock: For me this is my fifth series, my tenth pilot, so, you know, to have somebody actually, you know, I’m so wanting for the show to be a success especially because, you know, I really like the show and to have somebody go, I mean, when the reviews started coming in and like there were eight good reviews to every bad review, I was just shocked. And then the numbers in and I still didn’t believe, you know, because I’ve been on a show before that I thought was a hit and then we got cancelled.

Joanne Kelly: Did you buy a car when you thought it was a hit?

Eddie McClintock: Well yeah, I was on a show in ’99 with Tony Shaloub and Neil Patrick Harris called Stark Raving Mad and we won the People’s Choice award so, you know, I bought a Porsche and not a boxer.

Joanne Kelly: Why would you buy a Porsche?

Eddie McClintock: It was like a 911.

Joanne Kelly: He’s very impractical this one.

Eddie McClintock: Because I have a very small penis. I’m Irish and it’s cold there.

Joanne Kelly: It’s cold here, cold all the time, cold all the time.

Eddie McClintock: So, you know, to have people say nice things about something that we work so hard to make good is…

Joanne Kelly: To make good?

Eddie McClintock: Yeah, to make good.

Q: Are you surprised by some of the things that you do or each time you get a new episode?

Joanne Kelly: Yeah, every time I get a script it scares the living daylights out of me with what they have planned sometimes. There is never a dull moment Earl, never a dull moment.

Eddie McClintock: To me it’s like Christmas, you know, it’s like opening a present before, you know, sneaking and opening a present because I’m like oh what do I get to play – I get to do that? I get to break a door because I love breaking doors.

Joanne Kelly: What is it with doors today?

Eddie McClintock: And, you know, it’s really a lot of fun, man, you know, because we get to do so many different things on the show.

Joanne Kelly: Yeah and this season, the second season, is even…

Eddie McClintock: Even more so.

Joanne Kelly: Even more so like I’m even more scared to pick up my scripts this year than I was last year so they have a lot planned.

Eddie McClintock: The show has gotten bigger, better, faster, and funnier I think.

Joanne Kelly: Bigger, better, faster, stronger.

Earl Dittman: And that’s interesting because everyone – the buzz is that everyone knows to watch the show. It’s become this phenomenon, you know.

Joanne Kelly: Well I think, you know, we’ve been really, really lucky too, I mean, the network really pushed us last year and Syfy has been really great about promoting the show and I think they really put it out there.

Eddie McClintock: Yeah we’re on billboards this year. Our faces are on billboards.

Joanne Kelly: And I think…

Eddie McClintock: Which is very exciting for me.

Joanne Kelly: Very exciting for Eddie. But I think that, you know, the audience response has been so good and I think that, you know, they have just continued to push it and everybody is real proud and I think the show this year, everyone has really done their darnedest to deliver. Because the audience – for the audience, you know.

Eddie McClintock: I think the writers, you know, because last year when we did the pilot, you know, the pilot is much thinner on the comedy than subsequent episodes because I think when we did the pilot at that point we were still going is this a funny show, is it supposed to be funny?

And then when they used that line about I made cookies and then when Pete goes ooh and then that kind of became the tag for the show, I think it let everybody know including the network and the writers and everyone that, you know, we were really going to – we were also going to have a good time and not take ourselves too seriously and I think that’s what…

Joanne Kelly: You think that came from the cookie line?

Eddie McClintock: I mean, that’s just, I mean, for me it’s just…

Joanne Kelly: I’m just kidding.

Eddie McClintock: It became kind of a metaphor for the evolution of the show.

Joanne Kelly: I think that is a good metaphor for the evolution of the show.

Eddie McClintock: Yeah. And so, you know, I think that the writers really have found an amazing line to walk in regards to being able to have a very well written, well done, dramatic moment and then in the same scene there is a big comedy beat. And then in the next beat we’re on a chase. And so I think it keeps the viewer off balance, it kind of keeps me as an actor off balance, and I think it helps keep the show fresh.

Q: Do you see a point where you’d like to see Warehouse 13 get to, what season, before the show starts to go stale?

Eddie McClintock: You know, I mean, if you see the shots of the warehouse, the warehouse is massive. I mean, it goes on for…

Eddie McClintock: For miles.

Joanne Kelly: It’s infinite.

Eddie McClintock: And so, you know, I mean, as far as where the story can go, as long as they don’t, you know, put me on water skis in an Evel Knievel outfit and have me jump a shark, you know, I’m still there, I’m still ready to go. I remember watching that episode and even I at that age was like what? What are we doing here?

So yeah, I mean, I think as long as you continue to enjoy what we’re doing and enjoy each other, I’m in, you know. I would like the show to get moved back to LA, I’m not thrilled that we’re in Toronto just because my family is in LA, you know.

Q: Are you guys surprised that it’s such a hit with such a variety of ages?

Eddie McClintock: Am I surprised? Well like we said earlier, I’m always surprised when something is a hit. I mean, the fact that viewers have 400 channels to look at and they need to have – the show needs to be an immediate success or the networks, you know, they kill the show. So I’m surprised that it’s a big hit.

Am I surprised that it’s a hit with such a wide audience? No I think that was kind of our – certainly it was my hopes that, you know, the show could be a show that would bring a family together, you know, like something that everybody could like say okay, you make the popcorn, I’ll get the blankets, you turn the lights down, I’ll get, you know, and everybody sits and watches it and the next day at the breakfast table they could talk about the show.

Or, you know, I mean, I know it’s kind of an old – it may be like I don’t even know if people – families sit down for breakfast anymore but, you know, it’s kind of an old fashioned notion. But it just seems like maybe it would be nice to get back to that.

You know, I know there were shows like that in the past and we used to do that when I was a kid. We’d watch the Night Stalker, you know, Cold Shack and everybody would get a little creeped out and I used to have such a – it’s just such a great memory for me as a kid.

And if I can create those kind of memories for some other kid that has an overactive imagination like I seemed to have when I was a kid then that would be amazing. That’s kind of the dream come true for me.

Q: Considering all the past warehouse operatives have essentially left the job due to being killed, is that something that’s in the back of the minds of Pete and Myka and does that affect them at all going into Season 2?

Eddie McClintock: You know, I think that Pete never really allows himself to go there. Again I think part of his defense mechanism in regards to having those kind of thoughts are – his defense mechanism is his arrested development, the state of arrested development that he tends to live in. But, you know, put him in a serious situation and you would want no one else, you know, backing you up.

But, you know, from the time that his father died at a young age Pete has used his sense of humor as a way to escape and I think that’s what he does in regards to any kind of thoughts of being killed. And, you know, he’s a brave guy at heart and I don’t think that he’s all that concerned about that as long as he can die nobly and help the world and help his friends.

Joanne Kelly: I think Myka is – it’s quite the opposite for her. I mean, in Season 1 we see her having already lost a partner which I think comes from a lot of the mask that we see in Season 1, the kind of obsessive personality, the need for control, the need for structure.

I think that death is something that her partner’s death and her lover’s death was something that affected her and I think that’s why she holds onto everything so tightly and why she’s so regimented and has such structure in her life is because that’s something that she lives with every day and the fear of that happening again is a driving force behind her character. And I think that’s very much where her seriousness comes from.

Q: Last season we got to meet Myka’s parents to get more of an insight into her background. Do we get to get any more on Pete’s background this year?

Eddie McClintock: In regards to his parents, no. You know, I think we kind of – we touch on Pete’s alcoholism and we touch on, you know, his military history, he’s a former Marine. And, you know, that was a thing that I kind of – that I really wanted. I wanted him to be an ex former Marine. I thought that it kind of – it lent more credibility to – it gave Pete some gravitas.

And it was a good opportunity for me to kind of give a shout out to all the people in the armed forces who are – who have lived and died and continue to fight for our country. That’s just the way I kind of grew up so that was important for me. And so yeah, I think we continue to find out more and more about all the characters throughout the show.

Q: How much input do you guys actually have in regards to the characterization?

Eddie McClintock: Yeah absolutely, I mean, I think the writers – no one really truly knows the characters better than we do I guess at the end of the day even though they write the words for us. And if there is a – if we have a problem basically we’ll ask, you know, what do you think about this and then generally what happens is they will say well just try it as written and then we’ll do it your way too so we’ll have both. So that way everybody kind of is satisfied in that regard.

Joanne Kelly: Yeah and, I mean, at the beginning of each season, you know, because we are in Toronto we actually go and have a sit down with the writers, all of us, and they tell us what they’re planning for the season and we all talk about it. Not a lot of shows do that.

And they’ve been – the writers room is so great because they’re so open to suggestion and they’re so open to any ideas that either Eddie, I, Saul, Allison, anyone really has. And they really – I think it’s part of what makes the show so great is that kind of openness towards any ideas, our ideas or, you know, anyone else’s.

Here’s a sneak peek of Warehouse 13

Saffron recently participated in a Q&A conference call.

Q: What originally made you want to be a part of this show?

S. Burrows First of all, Jeff Goldblum comes to mind because we’d already made a movie together and I think he’s first of all, a wonderful actor and very, very witty intelligent man. I knew that if you’re going to be working on a show like this where you work really long hours and long days, then he’d be a great comrade to deal with. And then, of course, Dick Wolf, everything that Dick Wolf created has a great deal of integrity to it and a huge fan base of people who become, I guess, involved in his writing because it’s so smart and gritty and truthful. So I also embraced … Manhattan, so the combination of those elements was really attractive to me.

Q: You have a lovely English accent. How difficult is it for you to play an American?

S. Burrows Well, I’ve done it a bunch of times in films, so I felt it’s not something new to me. But it gets hard around one or two in the morning. If you’re doing a little bit of a night shoot and you get relaxed and sleepy, then it’s a bit more challenging. But most of the time it’s okay because I’ve had experience before. Also being around Americans helped, I guess if they were English people in the cast with me, then their accents might rub off of me, but luckily there aren’t. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is actually from Chicago, which is where my character is from. So I’m not intending to do a Chicago accent at all. But occasionally if there’s a specific little detail about that city, she’s helpful with that.

Q: What’s been your most memorable moment so far from filming this season?

S. Burrows I think just the exuberance of the cast and crew because this is its ninth year. There’s a lot of new faces, but apparently there’s people who have been on the show for a long time. There’s a lovely team spirit to the thing. And so I think just the overall feeling. I’ve made friends on the crew, which is always nice, the feeling of camaraderie that builds up over working together. On films or movies, you shoot together for a while and then you all say good-bye. On this show, it’s seven or eight months filming, so you have time to build up a rapport and get into a rhythm with people in the way that you would more in a regular job.
So that’s been fund for me. Both Jeff and I said we’ve always done theatre and I think the longest I’ve done in the theatre is six months. So for both Jeff and I, this is our longest ever job we’ve done we both realized where you’re actually with the same people for that length of time. So I like that a lot.

Q: You’ve had an entire season now of getting into this character and had time to become more comfortable with her. Do you think you’re starting to do anything differently with her now that you’ve had this time with her than you did at the beginning of the season?

S. Burrows I think I found out more about her because I think the writers, they know some things from the outset and then some things they develop as we go along. So I particularly enjoyed the episode called “The Disciple,” where Stevens has a history from Chicago, her mentor and whole story of the death row case, which may or may not have been wrongfully convicted.

That was really interesting for me because I got to find out all these things about Stevens. And then I enjoyed also the thing of developing a partnership on screen. We have a lot of ex-cops on our show who are security and driving and in all sorts of areas of the crew, actually. They all tell me that being partners on the beat in the NYPD for years, it’s a lot like a marriage.

So the partnership that grows between Nichols and Stevens, I think, only time will provide the sort of accumulative effect of, I guess, investigating of bunch of cases together. It makes us as actors very relaxed with each other to spend that much time together and hopefully as characters, that’s reflect on screen as well.

Q: Along those lines and also you mentioned before that you get along well with the crew. But when you first joined the show that had been on for so long, did you feel welcome instantly? Was there a sense of chemistry among all of you or did you have to work on that?

S. Burrows I have to say they’re very welcoming, really. They’re really great. I think American crews in general are very friendly. There’s a lot of people there who are there just to make you feel comfortable, a really great costume department and hair and make-up. So all of the stuff as an actor that you spend time with, those departments that you at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m., you’re with all those people before you’re even on set, there’s a lot of back time that obviously remains behind the camera where you’re just being taken care of by people who are really good at their jobs.

So I guess I felt assured that Dick Wolf’s company had hired the best people in New York. And they’re there to put you at ease and make you feel good and make you as relaxed as possible. So that when you’re playing the scenes, that’s all you’re thinking about is the actual scenes themselves. So I must say they’re very, very good at making you comfortable and welcoming you to New York and finding you a really nice place to live, all of the stuff that makes you feel good when you’re stepping into a new job.

Q: You have fantastic on screen chemistry with Jeff. So what is it like working with him?

S. Burrows It’s so much fun. I don’t know if you’ve already spoken to him, but he’s a very funny man. In fact, I’m going to see him on stage. I’m in London and he’s doing a play here, so I’m going to see him on Monday doing his play. He’s incredibly bright and funny. And I guess he’s probably wittier than most people would ever know and so that’s really nice to be around, the combination of intelligence and irreverence. He takes care of me. He’s a gentleman. He’s very caring and loving and it’s great. It’s really fun. He’s very easy to work with. He’s incredibly respectful of everybody and treats people really well, which I like. He has amazing energy. He’s always the one at the end of a long day who has the most energy left when everyone else is flagging. He’s incredible, yes.

Q: What can we expect from the season finale and from Serena?

S. Burrows There’s a very interesting turn of events with Jeff’s character. I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say, but something occurs with Jeff’s background. There’s a case that we deal with in the season finale that’s very, very cool and a shockingly violent case, really and we decide we need help from an unusual direction. So Nichols and I, along with the captain go into a process with somebody where we asked for someone’s help that Nichols knows personally and that person helps us solve the case.

It’s interesting because it’s the home life comes in to help us in our working world. It’s interesting for me because I get to find out a lot more about Nichols. And it’s a case that’s very, it’s disturbing and confusing and very hard to solve. So, yes, it’s very well written, I think based on a true story. I’m being very vague, aren’t I, to keep you guessing?

Q: How does it feel to join a show in its ninth season with the original stars leaving?

S. Burrows Luckily I didn’t allow myself to pay too much attention to that because it’s like joining school when you come a little late to high school and everyone else has been there for a while. I certainly felt shy on my first day. I think the good thing with the show is that they wanted us to be very much, Zach Nichols’ and my character, Serena, to be very much these new individuals who have a big history. And also what I like about the writing for the stars before us and for us is that we’ve already come to it with a lot of life. So all you can do is try and serve the writing that they’ve given you and not pay too much attention to the weight, the reputation of the thing is so enormous that I think it’s best to try to and be present and do a good job. Otherwise, it would be a little too overwhelming.

Q: Do you watch the news differently nowadays? Do you pick out certain cases on TV and go, oh, we’re probably going to be doing that in a couple of weeks?

S. Burrows I read the papers a little differently. I don’t really watch TV news so much because I find it a little too sensationalist for my taste, but I read the New York Times every day. I certainly read crime stories probably with a different eye, yes, I do. And I listen to NPR a lot, though when there’s an in depth story about something, I definitely pay attention in a different way. It’s nice to read about disturbing stories and have an intellectual viewpoint, rather than just one of being a worried member of the general public.

So I guess in a way when I went down to meet the major case squad who are show is based on, they have a very gung ho attitude, of course, towards crime and the satisfaction they have when they solve a case well and do a job well. So, yes, there’s a different relationship that develops certainly, even though we’re just doing it on screen. It probably has changed my way of looking at things.

Q: F. Murray Abraham is going to be in this finale. What was it like working opposite of him?

S. Burrows Oh, he’s wonderful. It was very exciting. We have these arias that the show has every week. We almost have a double aria in this one, but there’s very, very intense sequence of events that takes place with F. Murray at the pinnacle of it at the fulcrum. And then I’m sort of there witnessing what’s happened to my partner and how he’s being affected by that. And it’s incredibly powerful. What a wonderful actor.

In fact, he gave me a gift at the end of one day. He was in a scene, but he didn’t have any text. He was there to add dramatic effect at a certain point. So he spent the day writing, spending afternoon writing out all of Shakespeare’s sonnets that he could remember on a note pad. And then at the end of the day, he gave me all the sonnets, which I love. But he’s terrific. There’s a lot of improvisation that went on, actually, in that episode. It was very alive.

Q: What does your character, Serena Stevens, bring to the show that’s different from her predecessors?

S. Burrows I’m not sure. I guess you’d have to ask the audience. One thing that’s nice is just when you’re—there’s something nice about playing—Jeff and I, funny that we have the same birthday, not exactly the same year, but we have the same birthday. There’s a kind of a nice—I don’t know. I’m enjoying her own particular set of characteristics, Stevens, and the way that I’m allowed to develop a partnership with somebody.

I’ve come from another city. I probably have a tougher background. Nichols’ background is a little bit more gentle and intellectual I think than my own, which is a military one with my father in the military. So I wouldn’t know how to compare and contrast that to previous characters, but I’m enjoying so far having someone unfold in front of my eyes so that I find out things almost as we’re shooting them. So I’m given a new script and discover a little bit more about her.

I like the way they don’t patronize the audience. So when we have a crime to solve, we’re not going into endless melodrama about our private lives. We do give each other little tiny bit of information that become hopefully a gentle reveal over time, which I think is hopefully an attractive way to find out about someone’s life because it’s rather subtly done. So I’m enjoying that a lot.

Q: What direction would you like to see your character take in the next season of the show?

S. Burrows I think I’d just like her to continue on the trajectory. I had this episode, “The Disciple,” with this death row references and the reference to the past and things. I think I’d like to continue on a trajectory where we, obviously the paramount shape of each episode is that there’s a particular case and there’s a particular line of thought where Jeff and I put our heads together, along with our captain and try to figure out what on Earth happened to someone. I think what I like is for us to find out more about Stevens in the process of this occurring. And I’m sure, I like very much in the “The Disciple” where Jeff and I were a little bit butting heads together and sort of enjoying each other at the same time. So I think there’s probably room for more of that where – how would I say it – our own instincts at work sometimes don’t always align, but then we seem to get back on track with each other at some point in solving a case. That was a very verbose answer. I guess I’d like more personal drama and more professional drama to go hand in hand.

Q: Before this you were known primarily as a movie actress. What made you decide to switch over to TV?

S. Burrows Well, I think it’s interesting you said that because I realize that I did a little bit on Boston Legal, like a season on Boston Legal. I realized that one of the things you don’t have with movie acting is the feeling of continuity with people. You build up a nice rapport and a way of working and then that stops and you all say good-bye. I realized on Boston Legal that I rather enjoyed, even though I was just part of the ensemble; I rather enjoyed that feeling of continuum.

So when this option came up would I liked to go and talk to them about it to Dick Wolf’s company, and also Jeff was a big draw because I’d already worked with Jeff and I liked him a lot. I was much more open to it than I would have been if I hadn’t already dipped my toes into television with David Kelly’s show. So I think I was very drawn to that part of it, I must say. But you know actors are such transient beings. We spend a lot of our life in hotel rooms. The idea of being in New York, which I love and working on something I would enjoy with some kind of sense of continuity where I have an apartment and I live there was quite attractive to me.

Watch the premiere episode

Nikki recently answered questions during an Q&A conference call.

Q: How did you find out about this part?

N. Blonsky: Well, I found out about the part of Will through my agent and once I read the character description and I read about who she was and everything about her, I said, “I have to play this girl. I just have to play her.” It was very similar to me wanting and having the need to play Tracy [Turnblad in Hairspray]. I have to play this girl because she has so many things going on that I just adore her.

Q: How much of yourself do you bring to the character?

N. Blonsky: Ironically, I bring a lot of myself to Will because when I was in a Hairspray I was 17, I was young and bubbly and the world was new to me and everything was just so fresh. I wanted to make the world a better place and I still do. I still hold that quality of Tracy in me. But, like Will, I’m not as naive as Tracy and I’ve been around a few years now and I’m a little smarter and I get the game now. That’s where I connect with Will – I get what’s going on in the world. I see through people and I can see through the fakeness as Will does.

Q: You found out that you got the role of Tracy in Hairspray in a pretty dramatic fashion. What about this time around? How did you find out that you were going to be Will and what was the first thing you did?

N. Blonsky Well, it was actually pretty dramatic fashion as well this time around. My Dad just had spine surgery and I was wheeling him out of the hospital when my phone rang. It was my agent and he said, “How’s your Dad?” And I said, “Well, I’m putting him in the car right now.” He said, “How is he feeling?” I said, “Well, he’s in pain but he’ll be okay.” He said, “Well ask him if he’d feel better if he found out that his daughter just landed the lead in the new series.” And I just let out this scream like I did with the Hairspray one and I yelled, “I got the part!” and somebody in the parking lot yelled, “Who got shot?!” They thought somebody got shot and I was like, no, nobody got shot, I’m sorry, I’m an actress. I got a part. I’m sorry and my dad was like, “Congratulations ,Shorty,” because that’s what he calls me. Everybody was just so happy and my family was so elated. My dad was in so much pain but that eased his pain a little bit.

Q: Who would you love to see work on the show either as a guest star or as a director?

N. Blonsky Right now we don’t know who Will’s parents are because Will really hates her parents, because they are fitness gurus. They’re the reason she’s at this camp. They’re very successful fitness gurus who send her to this camp because they don’t approve of what she looks like. So she decides, well you know what, I’m going to go to camp and do it my way. I’m going to gain weight in camp. If we get any guest stars, I hope my parents would be played by someone really fit like John Stamos and maybe Ricki Lake.

Q: Well you’re a role model for the heavier set community. I have to say it was amazing for you to be photographed in a bathing suit for the advertising of this campaign. How did you feel when they were shooting you?

N. Blonsky: Oh, thank you so much. I have to say it was the most freeing experience of my life to be out there with just a bathing suit, you don’t get barer than that unless you’re doing Playboy and that’s not happening anytime soon – not ever. So, I think it was the most freeing experience of my life. Growing up you always have those little things like, “I’m in a bathing suit and I really want to go to the pool, or I want to go to the beach, but I don’t want people to see me.” A lot of kids and adults still deal with that. I dealt with that for a very long time until I got the part of Will and it said, day one, first shot of the day, she’s taking off her clothes, stripping down to her bathing suit, she’s doing a strip tease.

When I saw the posters I was like, “Whoa,” I didn’t know that it was going to be just me in the bathing suit.” So, I’m actually headed back to New York soon and I’m really shocked because there’s a full one in Times Square, so from a New Yorker it’s really, really sweet.

Q: What are your thoughts on these summer weight-loss camps that are like the one featured in Huge. Do you think being shipped off is positive for a kid’s self esteem?

N. Blonsky I think if the kid comes to the parent and says, “You know, I really want to go and lose weight. I’ve heard about this camp and I really want to go and get fit,” then that’s perfectly okay. I think if a parent is sending a child is not as okay, because if a parent is sending a child, it’s sending a message to that child that the child is not good enough the way they are to their parents. There’s no worse fear, I believe, in my heart than not being good enough for my parents.

Q: Do you ever advocate losing weight or is it more about sending out the message of being happy with who you are and things like that?

N. Blonsky Yes. I totally advocate of being who you are, loving who you are and living and let live. Just love what God gave you because He gave it to you for a reason. And you were made this way for a reason. If you were meant to be six foot tall, skinny blonde model, than you would have been. But I’m meant to be a 4’10” plus-size actress and I am perfectly okay and happy with that. I think if we all just accept who we are and love who we are I think we’ll all be okay.

Q: Before you got attached to Huge how familiar were you with Winnie Holzman?

N. Blonsky I was really familiar with her because Paul Dooley, her husband, was Mr. Spritzer on Hairspray. So this is my second time working with Paul, which is so incredibly amazing. He was on my first big project of my life and now he’s on my second big project. So, I was very, very aware of Winnie and Suzanna and I love them. I love My So-Called Life. I’m obsessed with that show. Wilson Cruz is like the coolest thing in the world to me. I adore him.

Q: I think that much like Angela Chase became a role model, that your character, you yourself, but also Willamena, will become a role model for people. So what role models on TV or movies, when you were younger, influenced you?

N. Blonsky I would have to say Camryn Manheim on The Practice. She always influenced me because she was a plus-size woman and always just did her thing, didn’t really care what people thought. I loved her on that show and she was an extreme role model to me.

Ricky Lake was a role model to me, ironically, since I played the same character as her in Hairspray. I watch her talk show every single day and I love Ricky and now that we’re friends it’s just so funny because I look at her and I’m like, I spent so much of my childhood watching you on Hairspray and your talk show. And also, Whoopi Goldberg was a huge, huge, huge idol for me in my career, as was Rosie O’Donnell because they are strong willed women who just are who they are.

Q: In the scene from the first episode, Will asked why she should have to change. Can you talk about that thought process on how you approached the character?

N. Blonsky Well, I think, Will doesn’t want to change. Will is fine with who she is. She just wants to be left alone and listen to her music and drown herself in her rock-n-roll and her food and just be let be. It’s true when she says, “Everyone wants us to hate our bodies.” It’s true because the media makes it seem as though you have to be a size two if you want to be an actress or that that’s the normal size.

Kids read that and I’ve experienced meeting fans and family members, my cousins who are younger than me, who are like 10 and say, “Oh I have to go on a diet.” I’m like, what? And they say, “Well, everybody in this magazine looks like this.” I try and explain to them that what’s in the magazines is not, sometimes, what’s in real life.

Q: What kinds of barriers do you hope that Huge breaks from a superficial perspective when compared to other teen-geared shows like 90210 or Gossip Girl?

N. Blonsky I hope that there are a lot more plus-size characters as love interests, as everything, as all the different roles. I hope it just breaks all the boundaries in Hollywood. I think this is the first time we’ve ever had a plus-size cast in a TV show. So, I couldn’t be more honored than to be part of this one.

Q: Do you see any stand out celebrities now a days, now that you’re an adult, who you think are making a positive impact on kids today growing up?

N. Blonsky I really have to say, and I don’t mean this in a funny way or anything, but I think one of my best friends is such a good role model for kids because he stayed true to himself. I’m talking about Zac [Efron]. I think he’s a really good role model and I think there area lot of great role models out there for kids right now, between Zac for guys. James Martin I think is a phenomenal role model; Michael Urie is an amazing role model. There are a lot of really great role models out there.

Q: Are there any positive female actresses in your position that you think are giving girls a positive image in the media?

N. Blonsky Yes. I would hope that I am. I would hope I’m doing an okay job. I think Angelina Jolie because she doesn’t care what anybody says and that’s my type of person. I’ve had the honor and the pleasure of meeting her and she is just absolutely the most humble, wonderful woman. She’s so inspiring to me because the roles she plays are varied, and she’s incredible. She’s adopting children, and people are calling her crazy, and I commend her because this is what she really wants in her heart so she does it. That’s my main thing: follow your heart.

Q: I know Huge is all about being comfortable in your own skin and I was wondering at what age did that happen for you and what was the process of getting to that point like?

N. Blonsky Well, I have to tell you, I totally give all of that credit to my parents. They raised me with the knowledge of ever since I was a little girl, growing up, you’re our beautiful little girl. They would call me that every single day. I would have to say growing up with that knowledge, it really helped. I’m going to be 22-years-old, I’m 21 right now and they still tell me every day, “You’re our beautiful little girl.” I never saw my weight as an issue until I got to school and kids started picking on me and I was like, why are kids picking on me? I didn’t understand it because I was told that I was beautiful at home.

My grandmother, God rest her soul, she said to me, and this is something that I’ll take with me forever. She said, “Nikki, kids make fun of you because they’re insecure with themselves.” I decided I came up with the notion, well, if it makes those kids feel better about themselves by making fun of me and I’m totally comfortable with myself than that’s my gift to them.

Q: How did you stay motivated to really make it in Hollywood and be successful when you knew that Hollywood is full of size two actresses?

N. Blonsky Because, I think, at the end of the day talent will always prevail. I think most people will be remembered for what roles they played and how they played them and what personalities they had and what they were like, not what they looked like. And so I think that’s the mark you leave on Hollywood.

People have told me if you want to get a job you need to lose weight and I said, “Okay, really, than you’re not the person to be around me because I am who I am and I am this way for a reason.” I just say live life. If I wake up tomorrow morning and feel like losing five pounds than maybe I will. If I don’t, I won’t. But I just live life on my standards, on what I believe in and how I feel about my body and I feel great about my body. I’m very secure in it. I have no problem doing anything, going to the beach, going to the pool. It’s my body, it’s mine. It’s the only thing I can call mine at the end of the day.

Q: Do you have any observations about how male actors who happen to be plus-sized, for example, people like Jonah Hill or Seth Rogen, don’t seem to have the availability of roles limited to them? , Do you recognize any kind of difference for females who happens to be plus-size in terms of that?

N. Blonsky Yes. I think there’s way more roles for plus-size guys than plus-size females right now in Hollywood which kind of stinks for us girls. But I definitely, I do agree with you and thank you for bringing that up. I do believe that there’s way more roles for plus-size men than plus-size females because they’re looking for the punch line, their looking for the joke and their looking for the funny guys. Whereas the girls, you know, it’s a different story.

Q: I wanted to know you talked a little bit about the cut throat industry of Hollywood. Have you, yourself, ever had any weight discrimination against you or have you heard any stories or anything like that or run into anything like that?

N. Blonsky Yes, I had an agent look me in the eye and tell me well if you want to get roles in this town you need to drop at least 100 pounds and I said, oh really? She said, yes, I looked at her and I said well you’re not my agent and I walked away from her because if you don’t get me then you don’t get why I’m the way I am than you can’t be part of my life. It’s like, I am who I am and I’m proud of who I am and that’s just how it is and this was when I was, I didn’t have an agent when I got Hairspray so this is when I was, I don’t want to say auditioning for agents, but seeing different agents.

During the previous three seasons, Michael hasn’t been one for introspection. But that changed at the end of last week’s season four premiere, as Michael sat with his mother. “Simon said I’d end up just like him,” Michael worried. Madeleine poo-poos the thought, of course, but Michael clearly isn’t reassured. Making matters worse, in his first assignment for his new handler, Michael inadvertently burns a covert operative—an act that cuts a bit close to home.

The premiere suggests that questions of right and wrong may not be so clear cut this season—and that just might make an already strong show even better. Last week, creator and executive producer Matt Nix sat down for a Q&A session. Below is a slightly edited transcript.

Q How did you come up with the idea for Burn Notice?
A Well, I had been friends with a guy who’s a consulting producer on the show now, named Michael Wilson, for some time. He had worked in the private intelligence industry. I’d sort of been kicking around ideas for something that took place in that world for some time. One of the things that stood out for me in my conversations with Michael Wilson was that he was always giving me advice about what to do if I ever found myself in a situation where I needed to use hollow point rounds and armor piercing rounds, that it was always a good idea to put a tracer round in there as well so that you knew when you were about to run out of ammunition, things like that. He always gave me advice as if I was going to be in that situation sometime soon. I thought that was funny. So, as I was thinking about ideas for a television series to pitch, I started out thinking about a much more serious, traditional, spy-themed show, but it ended up evolving into something that owed a lot more to my conversations with Michael Wilson and frankly a lot more of my own sensibilities, something that was less, more serial comic and that involved this advice-from-a-spy aspect and evolved from there.

Q: Thank you. My follow-up question is, “Tell us about the casting process for Jeffrey Donovan. How did you guys know that he was the right one for your series?”
A: Well, it was just an audition. Jeffrey came in and was just super confident and comfortable with the material from the get-go. For me, a big thing in casting is just seeing whether someone – it comes down to the actor’s improvs a lot of times. Like, what are the little things that they do, verbal or non-verbal, that indicate that they understand the character on a deeper level than just the word? Jeffrey just clearly had a real connection to the character. He improvised some stuff, a lot of which is in the pilot. He came to that first episode and was just there with it. Then, we just went through the casting process. I don’t know. He just knew. He just acted like it was his from the get-go, and not in an arrogant way, just in an I-know-exactly-what-I-want-to-do-with-this. I remember going to the test where the final decision and the executive who is sitting next to me, after he came in, said, “That was the most confident audition I have ever seen in my life.” This woman had seen a lot of auditions. So, that was that.

Q: Obviously, the Burn Notice onion, if you will, continues to be peeled. A pretty interesting season ahead. What can you tell us about this particular layer?
A: Well, this represents a new relationship for Michael with the people that burned him. We learn a lot more about who they are and what they do. Michael discovers that they’re not just an anonymous organization dedicated to doing abstract evil. They’re people with agendas and budgets and specific pressures and that kind of thing. So, he finds himself in a new relationship with them. The character that we meet early in the season and do runs throughout the season, this character of Vaughn, played by Robert Wisdom who is on The Wire — just terrific – is a more reasonable face than we’ve seen before where Carla or Victor were very much in Michael’s face with guns and that kind of thing, and management is nobody’s version of a friendly old man. Vaughn is a reasonable guy who presents Michael with a reasonable proposition. Now, of course, he is – he’s not a good guy, but he is a smooth talker and hard to argue with. So, that launches the season. Michael’s interactions with him, over the course of the season, and unraveling of his agenda is what the season’s about.

Q: Right. Obviously, the show is very hot and very popular. It’s very successful for the network, but when you look at shows like Lost and 24, do you start thinking about how the story might conclude, or when it might conclude, or how much longer you think you want to continue telling this story, with these characters?
A: It’s a good question. One of the things, when you look at Lost or 24, those are more heavily serialized. So, we do have a serial element. We have ideas for the serialized element and where to go with that, that can evolve for some time. One question, for me, is – I’m as interested in the case-of-the-week as I am in the serialized …. People tend to gravitate to the serialized storyline when they think about questions like, “When would we end the series?” But to me, it’s just as much a question of when do we run out of interesting cases of the week, interesting approaches, new things to do, so that we’re always pushing the envelope there. We’ve got some great new approaches there. Part of it is characters and their approach to things. It’s not all about spy technique, but that’s a major factor. I don’t ever want to come to the point where we’re just rehashing technique, or we’re just shooting at people, or we’re just blowing things up. I want it to be about something that feels meaty and real and interesting.

Q: We’ve been hearing since the end of Season Three about the new character of Jesse. It was interesting to me how, in the Premiere, a lot of shows would have pushed for introducing the character and getting you to know him, but we didn’t even get to see him. We just got that one reference to it. So, my question would be, “Why did you want to bring in a new character, and why introduce him that way?”
A: That’s a good question. One of the things that we had to grapple with is, bringing in a new character who’s going to participate in cases of the week, we felt it was important not to step over the fact that this is a guy who is going to be putting himself in harm’s way on a weekly basis, trusting people with his life, going to extremes in the way that Michael and Fiona and Sam do. Michael and Fiona and Sam have a history together. Certainly, like Fiona and Sam started the series not liking each other. Their relationship has evolved over time so that, now, Sam would obviously put himself in danger for Fiona and vice versa and that kind of thing, but the nature of that relationship is important. So, starting off the season with, “Why do these guys care so much about Jesse? What is their feeling about him?” Well, they ruined his life. They really feel they owe him something. That’s a big deal to them. It’s a particularly big deal to Michael. Then, when Jesse comes in, why is he interested in doing this? That has to do with his particular back story and also the way that he interacts with them. The second episode, when they have their first time together — Jesse in the second episode is essentially the client. He needs to see these people are worth working with. These people saved my life. These people are something special.
I thought it was important to not just say, “Here’s a new guy. He’s willing to run around the streets of Miami with a machine gun and have explosions go off around him for the sake of people that he just met.” That’s a pretty specific thing and takes a pretty specific kind of person. So, easing him in and showing why he’s that guy – and also, in a lot of ways, the serialized story this year is, in a way, less about Michael’s relationship with the people that burned him – although there is that – and more about Michael’s relationship with Jesse. He’s working with a guy whose life he ruined who, at the same time, is becoming a good friend and colleague and a teammate and someone who trusts them and that they trust. So, that’s a lot of what this season is about, is that relationship.

Q: The follow-up I wanted to ask you, too, is about that last scene [in the Season 4 premiere] between Michael and his mother where he recounts the events of the last season finale. That was a well done scene. Can you talk about the decision to include that, a little bit about that scene?
A: It’s funny. You come up to the end of a season and do the finale. There’s this big run to the finale. Then, it’s a fun thing actually in the first episode of the season to think, “Well, what do we owe now? What did we just do?” One of the things you realize is Madeline has really been – when I think back to the beginning of the series where Madeline was basically, “What do you do? I have no idea.” Now, she knows what her son does. She now knows what he was accused of. She knows a lot of things that he actually did. She’s confronting those issues. Also, there’s always this tension from Michael where he doesn’t just run around, shooting at bad guys and being a good guy. Most of the time, he finds himself in a position where he’s got to work with bad guys; he’s got to work with bad guys to fight other bad guys; he’s got to pretend to be a bad guy to gain a bad guy’s trust. One of the things we were interested in exploring this season is the toll that takes on Michael. It’s not something that he gets to say to a client, “I really feel bad about doing this,” or “This is taking a toll on my psychologically,” but that’s interesting territory. So, one of Michael’s concerns in life is, “If I keep dancing with the devil, do I eventually turn into the devil? I may be doing dark deeds for a noble purpose, but at what point am I just a guy who does dark deeds?” Maintaining that clarity of moral vision in a very murky world is difficult for him. So, we wanted to showcase that vulnerability of Michael’s. He’s a pretty confident guy, but that’s the thing that haunts him.
In the second episode, actually, that’s something that we explore with Sam, that same dynamic of, “Well, wait a second. What do you owe to these people that you’re dealing with, morally? What are the lines you can cross, and what are the lines that you can’t cross?” That’s another thing that we explore this season.

Q: I actually watched the pilot for Good Guys last night. Since you’ve created that show, and it’s on the air, how is that going to affect how you run Burn Notice and your involvement in that show?
A: We’ve got two offices right next to each other. I’m probably on the set less. I’ve been out there less, just because, but I’d say, last year, I spent probably ten more days on the set in the first half of the season than I have this year. So, there’s that. Fortunately, I have a good team. It’s to the point now where I know where my input is most useful; but, I will say, I know, for some people who have two shows, it’s like leaving the other show. Then, it just runs itself. Then, they go and do the new show and check back in sometimes, or they take a very hands-off management style, but I’m still in the room all the time on Burn Notice. I’m back and forth between those offices a million times a day. So, it’s just a matter of me sleeping less and working on weekends, but it’s pretty much the same kind and level of involvement as it’s always been. I’d say with the caveat that, in the first year – I mean, just to be honest – it was all consuming. When I was still finding the show on Burn Notice, and I’d never run a show before, and I never worked in television before, that was really all consuming, but I’d say, after the first year, I got a sense for “I can delegate this; I can’t delegate that; I need to be involved in this,” and that kind of thing. So, it hasn’t been terribly different than last year.

Q: I’ve heard some critics, and I myself, sometimes describe the show as a modern day MacGyver. How do you feel about that term being used?
A: The fact that we improvise devices is an inevitable comparison. I have to say that I’m very conscious in working on Burn Notice of the fact that we’re doing a kind of television that hasn’t been done for a while. It’s sort of unapologetic television. Shows like MacGyver, I’d say, it’s not MacGyver. I mean, we also owe something to Magnum, P.I.; we owe something to Rockford Files; we owe something to a whole host of shows that did the kind of hero-driven television that we’re doing. So, I certainly don’t mind the comparison. The one thing I’d say is that we are – I don’t know that everybody notices this or cares. We do spend a lot of time doing research and paying attention to actual technique and that kind of thing. So, there are certain things that MacGyver would do that we would never do, and certain things that we would do that MacGyver would never do. I’d say we’re trying to integrate – I don’t think on MacGyver they were spending a lot of time thinking about Mossad infiltration techniques and how they might be used on this show, or things like that, which is not a criticism of MacGyver. It’s just this is a different thing. So, yes, we’re using modern storytelling tools and a contemporary approach to do something that is classic television. That’s something I’m proud of.

Q: Last season’s cliffhanger, leading into this season, was quite possibly the strangest cliffhanger I have ever seen on a TV show that does cliffhangers. Where did that come from? How did you develop it so that it would work the way it does into the new season?
A: One of the things that we wanted to do at the end of this season was send the message that Michael’s in a new place. He’s doing a new thing. Things will change. This is not going to be just like, “Then, Michael’s back in the game in a slightly new way,” or that kind of thing. So, by ending the show in a new place, with real questions that needed to be answered, that was a way of doing that. We went back and forth on how mysterious should we be at the end of the season. There were versions of that final script that contained a little bit of dialogue in that room. Then, we realized, “If we’re going to step to that bell, we might as well ring it.” There’s no – why say, “It’s a mystery, but not a total mystery”? Why not just go for it. Then, we’ll do the dialogue in that room at the beginning of the next season.
So, that was what went into it. I confess, in talking to some people, I was a little surprised that some people were speculating that he was on the moon or something like that. I found myself saying to some people, “Well, you did see him get walked into a prison.” I mean, he was walked into a prison, and then, he was walked down a hallway. Then, he was put in this room. So, that’s a room in the prison. That’s not on the moon; it’s some sort of secret, prison facility somewhere. I thought, given that was the longest, single scene we have ever done without dialogue or voiceover, I thought people would notice. Some people did; some people didn’t. It’s addressed very quickly in the beginning of the season. So, I don’t think it’s a problem, but yes, that was how we arrived at it.

Q: Cool. I have to say I’m really enjoying Vaughn. Robert Wisdom reminds me of a British actor named Colin Salmon. He’s got a facility for projecting menace underneath total affability. How did he come to be playing Vaughn?
A: It’s funny. There’s a game I like to play called, “What’s the show runner watching?” If you look at different shows, you can tell what a particular – I think I can tell. I’ve only verified it a couple of times, but you can go, “Okay.” So, this set of writers or this show runner watches this other show. That’s why they keep cherry picking actors from that show. So, I’m a fan of The Wire although my wife doesn’t – she doesn’t hate it. She doesn’t let me watch it all the time. So, I’ve actually never been able to watch the entire series. It’s something that I want to do; and something that I end up doing in Miami when my wife is at home with the kids. We have some diehard fans of The Wire on the show. So, when we think about casting, we go, “Oh, this guy was great on The Wire. Maybe we can get him?” Actually, this season, you’ll see some other Wire folks, but basically, we know we want that guy who can deliver quiet menace. I don’t know if you’re a fan of The Wire, but there was a particular scene that he did where he’s delivering this incredibly understated threat to some of the other characters on The Wire. We watched that reel; we’re like, “Okay, that’s the guy.” So, that’s how we landed on it, but if you poke around, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out that a lot of fans of The Shield on Burn Notice, a lot of fans of Lost, things like that.

Q: My first question would be, “What has been one of your biggest challenges, working on Burn Notice? How did you overcome?”
A: Interesting. I don’t know if this is exactly what you’re looking for, and may be a little bit of inside baseball, but when you sit down to write a show, you’re downloading the contents of your head. I found, in working on the first season, that I was drawing very heavily on my own background, books I liked, the characters that I liked, spy stuff that I liked. I’d always been a reader of spy fiction and spy technique and always been interested in that from the time I was a little kid. It’s less about the actual – what I found was I had a way of approaching stories and thinking about stories that was very intuitive to me, but it’s just in my head. So, in that first season, especially because I hadn’t worked in television before, it was a lot of, “No, like this;” “But no, I can’t explain it.” So, fortunately, that first season was only 11 episodes long. We had a few episodes written before. So, we were able to get through it, but at the beginning of the second season, I talked to Alfredo Barrios who is now an EP on the show and, at the time, was the first writer I hired. He said, “So, beginning of Season Two, you’re just going to come to the room. You’re just going to stop. All of your thinking must be done out loud. You have to talk through everything that you’re thinking and how you’re arriving at those conclusions and how you’re thinking of the story because everybody needs to learn how you’re doing it and how you’re thinking about these stories.” It’s not that people were useless in the first season. It was just a lot more muddled and a lot harder to get – people just didn’t know what I was thinking as well. So, in that second season, that was when we really started defining the terms of Burn Notice, understanding how episodes get broken. You can see the difference in how the episodes go. I felt like they got more consistent, more specific. We were able to do a wider range of techniques. So, yes, it was really figuring out how to download the contents of my head to the writers and directors and producers on the show.

Q: You mentioned about the cases-of-the-week. I was curious, where you pull the inspiration from for those? Is there anyone in particular you’re excited about this season?
A: Yes. I’m excited about a lot of them actually. I’d say they come from a variety of places. Sometimes, there’s a cool technique that we will usually draw from the world of actual spycraft. So, there was one episode in Season Three that was based on a real technique that was – the shorthand is reverse interrogation. In the spy world, people will arrange for people to get interrogated so that they can learn from the questions that the people are being asked. So, we used to send volunteers into the Russian Embassy, pretending to be spies. They would do the same thing to us. Then, based on what questions they were asked, they would know something more about what the Russians knew or what the Russians were interested in – that kind of thing. So, that sounded like a cool technique. So, we spun that into an episode about a kidnapper who is hiding a kidnapped child. So, using the questions that he’s asking to find out – so, that was one kind of thing.
Then, another thing we do is we’ll look at a movie or a classic action, dramatic situation and think about, “What is Michael’s way of dealing with this? What is his approach in this situation?” So, in the second season, we did what some people call the Die Hard episode, which is Michael in the hostage-taking in the bank. So, one of the things we wanted to do there was, “What would you expect Michael to do? You’d expect him to run around with a gun, shooting people and saving the day.” So, the challenge for us became, “What would a spy do there?” Right? Okay, let’s have him save the day without ever shooting a gun. Let’s have him save the day without the bad guys ever even knowing that anyone’s opposing them in any way. So, that was partially based on sabotage techniques that we’d read about. So, that another approach.
This season, there are a number of techniques that we’re excited about. There’s an episode coming up that we call, “The Dog Day Afternoon” episode, but what if Michael was in a hostage situation, only he found himself as the hostage taker? What would he do? How can you get out of that situation?
We have some exciting interrogation stuff coming up this year we’ve never done before. What if Michael’s in a situation where he is interrogating a friend in front of an enemy, and he needs to somehow telegraph to the person that he’s questioning what answers he’s supposed to give, but he can’t let anyone know that he’s doing that. That was a really interesting challenge to come up. So, that was another thing.
We’re doing our first episode that is a whodunit, like we don’t meet the bad guy. That’s coming up this year. We don’t meet the bad guy until the end.
Actually, another interesting one was, this year, we wanted to take a look at what if there was a situation where Michael could save the day, but where saving the day wasn’t necessarily the best thing, our “Teach a Man to Fish” episode. What if the best thing for everyone concerned is that Michael doesn’t save the day, but the client saves the day? That was an interesting thing for us to do. So, we’ve been all over the place, doing a lot of interesting things. Yes, the inspiration comes from all over.

Q: Now that you’re a veteran show runner with three-and-a-bit years under your belt, are you still excited about going to the Burn Notice set and going into that room, or does monotony threaten at times?
A: I will never get over Art – well, maybe I will, but I certainly have never come close to getting over Art Department. The thing about it is there’s no getting around, for me, the magic of writing something and then – oftentimes, it might be eight days later. Suddenly, it exists. It is as close to magic as you can get, as far as I’m concerned. I mean, I’ll never forget, in the first season, writing “Interior boat day” and showing up on the stage. They had built the interior of a boat. It’s remarkable. So, yes, that’s part of the reason that we’re – I was talking with Jeffrey Donovan the other day. We were talking about the fact that we’ve been renewed through Season Six, which is great. I was complimenting him on some work that he’d done in an episode. I said, “One of the things that’s really important to me is that both of us are still as scared in Season Five as we were in Season One.”
When I talk about these things we’re doing, it’s not like I sit down and I know how Michael’s going to communicate with someone he’s interrogating without letting anyone who’s watching know he’s going to – I don’t know how to do that. Right? We have to figure it out. We have to figure it out on a really tight clock. It’s scary, but it’s really exciting. When we write, “Exterior helipad day: the helicopter explodes, raining burning helicopter parts down all around,” we don’t know if we can do that. So, that challenge is always fresh. So, for me, a lot of it is just about – I’m sure it would get monotonous if we just did the same things all the same all the time, but we really strive to not do the same things all the tine. So, the first episode: “Where can we put the motorcycle gang?” Obviously, that wasn’t a real motorcycle gang, but working with all those motorcycles, that’s tough. I don’t know how to do that, but damn, it’s fun when you write it, and you’ve got 40 motorcycle riders actually partying in front of a bar in Fort Lauderdale. When two of them start fighting in-between takes, they’re really fighting. It’s exciting. It is never predictable.

Q: In describing Michael and Sam earlier, you seem to suggest that Season Four is taking a bit of a darker tone. Talk more about that.
A: I’d say we’re, I wouldn’t say, a darker tone. I’d say we’re – people know the characters now. We know the characters pretty well now. So, there’s no particular need to be coy about it. Sam is on a job. They’re helping somebody out. Through a series of events, Sam’s the bad guy ends up knowing about Sam’s real life. That was always a bright line for Sam. So, if he’s talking to a bad guy, and he’s pretending to be a new version of Chuck Findley with a bad guy, he’s creating a fiction. The way that he keeps his self separate from that is by always being Chuck Findley and always being a new guy with a new history, etc. When the details of his actual life end up straying into that, well, it is distressing to Sam.
Now, I will say, “God Bless Bruce Campbell.” When Sam gets distressed, it’s not dire. It’s funny. He’s distressed like Sam gets distressed. He’s still the same, ol’ Sam. It’s fun to see him freak out about that. He’s bummed that this bad guy has suddenly decided he’s his best friend. It’s a hilarious situation that Sam finds himself in, but what generates that is a real issue in Sam’s psyche. So, I don’t think that it’s necessarily incompatible to say that you can maintain a light tone while exploring more personal themes and indeed some darker themes, but it’s not like – I mean, the whole issue of having betrayed Jesse. That’s a big deal. In a sense, it’s a dark deal, but the fact is Toby’s really funny. The actor playing Jesse is really funny and really fun. The way that he fits into the team and his version of Burn Notice banter is really fun to watch. So, yes, it’s not a radical tonal shift for the show, but in maturing as a show, we’re able to explore some of those more serious themes without losing a light tone.

Q: Burn Notice has featured some fantastic character actors, like Richard Schiff and Tim Matheson, John Mahoney, Robert Wisdom. When you add characters to the … mythology, do you write with particular characters in mind?
A: We have learned to. Yes. One of the things we actually discovered was that, when we write with a particular actor in mind, it makes the character more specific and interesting, regardless of what actor we end up getting. Actually, in the premiere of this year, we had actually used the actor, Matt Winston, in Episode 2 of Season Three, but everybody knew Matt Winston. So, when we were breaking the episode, I was saying, “So, there’s this guy. He’s like Matt Winston. So, we’ll call him Winston.” We just wrote it with – I mean, that was a case where we couldn’t cast that actor because we’d already used someone. So, when we found Rich Summer who was his own, terrific version of that character, writing to the rhythms of a particular actor just makes it a lot more specific and interesting. I can think of several times several classic characters on the show that people really like that were written with other actors in mind who turned out not to be available or not interested or whatever. Then, I sometimes find that, when you don’t get the actor you were thinking about, you’re sometimes better off because then you get this interesting combination of a new interpretation on – you thought you knew what you were going to get. When you get a different actor in there than you were picturing, sometimes you get an interesting twist on something very specific that you were writing.

Q: Awesome. Then, my follow-up is, as a senior executive producer, the series definitely has a very singular voice. How does the writing … their stories into what, at this point, is your vision?
A: It’s an ongoing process, but part of it is that I’m very proud of the fact that I have a diverse staff of people from different backgrounds and ethnic origins and all of that kind of thing, but I will say, this staff is not at all diverse when it comes to the question of how interested they are in spycraft and stuff that I like. So, I’m hiring for, “This is somebody that I want to talk about this stuff with all day.” So, when the Burn Notice writers go out to lunch, they go out to lunch with each other. They talk about Burn Notice. Then, they come back. They talk about Burn Notice some more. They call each other on the weekends, and they talk about Burn Notice. They go out to Miami. They hang out in restaurants. They talk about Burn Notice. It’s fun in that it’s a culture. Certainly, I am the kind of guiding vision in that, but to give everybody their proper due, it really is, at this point, a collaboration. One of the things that I am excited about is when they come in and tell me something that I didn’t know or have a great idea for an episode that I hadn’t thought of. That episode that I mentioned, that “Dog Day Afternoon” episode, that was Ben Watkins just coming out with – he said, “I’ve got an idea for an episode.” I walked into his office. He had the whole thing written up on the board. It was, “Boom! There it is.”
Then, in that particular episode, my role was shaping how the characters approach things and tweaking it and making sure that we were all exactly on the same page, but I find that’s really exciting when the writers who have now been with the show for a while and really have their heads around it are bringing me something. We together can come up with something that reflects my vision and the stuff that they’re bringing to it that I didn’t think of.

Q: One question I had, you’re talking a lot about casting right now. I have to ask, with Bruce Campbell – you talk about what Bruce brings to the role. Was that how you had envisioned Sam or did that morph as you got Bruce in that role?
A: This may be unsatisfying. The answer is, “Both.” I mean, I wrote Sam. My priorities when we were casting Sam – I mean, the thing that I kept saying over and over is, in the pilot, he has to take a punch and enjoy it. That is a specific kind of actor. You think of a lot of actors who can take a punch and then throw a punch. Think of a lot of actors who can’t take a punch. You would worry about them if they were taking a punch. If you actually think through, if you just do the thought experiment, think of five actors. Think, “Is that guy going to take a punch, and you believe he’s not going to throw a punch back,” or “He’s not going to get angry,” or “Is that guy going to take a punch, and you’re going to believe that he’s going to be down for the count.” So, it actually turned out to be a real challenge to find someone who could do that.
Then, Bruce Campbell came about when we were having a really hard time casting the role. Then, my network executive, this guy named, Alex Sepiol, who was instrumental in bringing the project to the senior executives, to Jeff Whitel and Bonnie Hammer and the folks that bought the show, said, “Well, what about Bruce Campbell?” I said, “Well, of course, I’d want Bruce Campbell. Bruce Campbell would never do this.” Like obviously! Right? We’ve got to cast this, man. Why are you wasting my time? Alex and I are good friends, but I was like, “Dude, c’mon! You just want me to be disappointed and miserable? Fine. Okay, let’s offer it to Bruce Campbell so that we can actually cast the role.” Right? Then, we offered it to Bruce Campbell. Then, I get a call that he’s actually interested. I think they’re joking. Then, it turns out that he’s actually available. I have to get on the phone with him so that he makes sure that I’m not crazy or a jerk or anything, so I’m trying to frantically read his book before I get on the phone with him. I’m totally nervous. That was one of the most nervous times at the beginning of the show, talking to Bruce Campbell, trying to think about, “How can I be the sort of person that Bruce Campbell wants to work with? I’ve never met the man.”
Anyway, he’s just very easygoing. He’s very nice and liked the script. So, we cast him, but then, from that point on – this is true of all of the characters, certainly true of Sam though – then, you see him do it. Then, you realize, “Oh, look at that awesome thing he did! Okay, now, Sam does that all the time.” So, actually, the character Sam has been a really great thing for writers on this show because everybody says, “Sam’s voice is the first voice you hear in your head.” So, getting your head around Sam – he’s people’s entry point a lot of the time when they’re writing the show. I don’t know what it is. It’s a combination of character and Bruce. So yes, it was absolutely a back and forth between the two.

Q: Now, when we spoke with Jeffrey and Gabrielle, I actually asked how they’d feel about Burn Notice action figures. Now that we have you on the line, let’s talk cross merchandising in general. Is there any chance for action figures, or comic books, or even a video game? You had Sam Fisher on the premiere of Season Four.
A: Honestly, I would be interested in all of those things. It’s funny though. Going in, I don’t think anybody realized how many – just to take action figures as an example, I can’t tell you how many times people have told me they watched this show with their families. Now, it’s shown late in the evening. It’s also shown on Sunday mornings, but the first episode is shown late in the evening. I don’t really put together — when you actually compare it to a lot of the other things on television, it is a show that, if you sit down with your kids to watch it, like the good guys win. There may be challenges along the way, but it is basically a story that you can watch with your family without feeling like despairing.
So yes, if you’d asked me in the first year, “Action figures?” I would have said, “Well, it’s not really that kind of show,” but now, I’m like, “Yes, let’s break out some action figures. Love that.”
We’ve actually batted around a video game and stuff. I think it’d be really fun. One thing though, in looking at all of those kinds of things that I think about a lot is it’s easy to reduce – people are sometimes tempted to reduce the characters to people with guns or people with bombs. The challenge in thinking about a video game – because it’s something we’ve kicked around, or a comic book or whatever – is that the stories may seem simple, but everything is built around a deception. Everything is built around an espionage construct. So, reproducing that in other media is important.
So, the short answer is, “Yes, I’d love to do that,” but a slightly longer answer is, “I’d love to do that in a way that preserves something that feels like Burn Notice so that Michael just doesn’t turn into a guy running around with a machine gun,” but he can certainly be an action figure who has a machine gun.

Q: Now, over the season, you have put Michael and his team in so many different situations. Have there been any works on paper that, when you brought them to life, they didn’t go as expected?
A: Well, by that, do you mean that didn’t work, or what kind of thing are you thinking about?

Q: Pretty much anything, or maybe stunts that went bad.
A: Well, the answer is, “No,” officially. Actually, yes, I’d say a lot of those things are not in episodes. Do you know what I mean? Like, when something really doesn’t work, we don’t put it in. There may be things that we wished worked better or stuff like that. Occasionally, one thing would be – you don’t get to blowup Madeline’s house twice. There’s not a practice explosion, and then, a real one. So, you don’t know exactly how big that explosion is going to be until you do it. So, that was an example where it was a cool explosion, but when the effect, as designed – this is at the end of Season Two – was not as large an explosion as we ended up getting. So, once that explosion happened, we realized, “Oh, we just blew the hell out of that house. I guess we need to service that at the beginning of next season.” So, what might have been a next season that began with Madeline replacing windows turned into Sam living at Madeline’s house and repairing her sunroom which he blew to hell. So, that would be an example of something that was a happy accident ultimately, but we did have to deal with it.
I’d say one of the things, actually, that in a funny kind of way works out nicely for us is the stunts. Since we’re not really doing – I mean, occasionally, we’ll throw some CGI in. There are not a lot of unmanned drones available for rent in the Miami area that shoot missiles. So, that would be a computer effect, but unless it’s truly something that we can’t get, we’re usually doing it live. We’re usually doing the actual stunt or the actual effect with actual stuff. It’s funny. In the finale of Season Three, when Michael and Simon are driving along, there’s a waterfront road. That was an episode that I directed. A truck overturns. Then, a car crashes into the truck. That car was supposed to do something different. That car was supposed to hit the truck and then roll. We had all the cameras set up for it, but it didn’t. It went up on its side and then crashed down on its side. Initially, I was disappointed because I had this roll in my head, but I realized later, one of the things that I actually like about those things on Burn Notice is that’s what sells that the effect actually happened. If everything happened perfectly, then you wouldn’t get all of the random DAC that makes it clear to the audience. “No, they really just dumped a car over on its side, and it smashed up.” That’s all about rear view mirrors rolling toward the screen or glass bouncing in directions that you didn’t expect glass to bounce in. So, that’s fun.
Then, I’d say, certainly, a lot of times we will discover in writing a technique that something – there are a fair number of times when we have had to say, “That, we will save for Burn Notice, the movie. This is not a technique that can be effectively serviced in a 42-minute episode of television. So, we end up having to simplify it or alter it somewhat in order to make it work. So, that has happened on any number of episodes.
Then, I will say there are certain things that we learn. To take an example from the premiere, one of the things we learned is it’s pretty hard to crash a motorcycle effectively. So, we did it, but you can’t – it’s quite complicated and difficult because obviously you don’t have a guy strapped into a stunt car with a reinforced steel frame. You’ve got a guy with pads under his clothing and a real motorcycle that you have to lay down on the asphalt. It scrapes the heck out of the motorcycle. You have to pay for the motorcycle which you’ve now ruined. So, that would be an example of something we were able to do, but when I was writing that episode, I had no idea how difficult and expensive that kind of thing it would be. So, it wasn’t a disaster or anything, but it was just a, “Yikes, that was pricey and difficult and time consuming.” So, does that answer your question?

Q: Yes. … Now, can you talk about some of the guest stars that we will see this season?
A: Sure. Let’s see. In the third episode, the episode that Jeffrey Donovan, his directing debut, we have Max Perlich is playing the client, and Nestor Serrano is our bad guy. We have Navi Rawat coming in for a serialized arc. Frank Whaley plays a client, does a great job. Who else? Benito Martinez from The Shield is in our fifth episode, along with Rhys Coiro, who was on Entourage, best known for Entourage. Let’s see. There’s been a lot of press about Burt Reynolds coming in. He does a great job and is really fun, playing an older, burned out spy. Richard Kind is also in that episode. He was one of those that people are calling me from the set saying, “We must write Richard Kind into more episodes; he’s so fantastic.” So, he’s pretty great. Steven Culp. Yes, we got a lot of fun people coming up. Actually, I should say, just for Wire fans, John Doman is also coming up as well.

There you go.

Jason recently took a few moments to do a Q&A conference call.

Q: What is it about this show and the character that appealed to you and made you want to be part of it?

Jason Lee: Well you know on the surface it was clear that it was very different than anything I’ve ever done. And you know so that was a big part of it and then the fun of getting to play a detective and certainly the fun of getting to play a detective who also performs the music of Elvis on stage.

The whole package was unique and once I came to found the character and the material and the scenarios and his relationships and he’s such a great guy and is so mulit-layered and cares such a great deal for his city and his family and the people that he’s protecting.

You know, it made this guy a man and I really responded to that.

Q: What do you think of the city? Have you spent much time exploring it?

Jason Lee: A little bit, yes. You know, the South in general for me especially places that are heavy in music and food and culture they’re – the sense of overwhelming pride is so infectious. It’s so great and there is such a communal sense within places like Memphis and you know we’re doing a lot of our filming down in New Orleans.

Same thing with New Orleans and it’s just different. You know and then you add the heat and the humidity to each day and it really – it gives us a lot to work with. You know it helps, it adds to the show. Very much it feels right you know versus filming this thing you know somewhere else. The South is just its own special place.

Q: You mentioned a little bit about the Elvis connection and music is a huge part of this show. Tell me just a little bit about your performances on there and the practice that went into it?

Jason Lee: Well there was a lot of practice with you know – I’ve performed a few times now because we’re five episodes into the first season. You know it’s a side of Dwight that is as important to him as his detective work and the burden of protecting his city and those around him and his family, his mother. He’s very much a mama’s boy and he’s vulnerable and I think that’s why we like him so much.

And it allows him to really respect Elvis and the people that came before Dwight. And he takes the music very seriously. And so the performances are very fun, of course, but it means the world to Dwight that he has this outlet and this ability to escape the work and kind of go into another world you know.

And so it makes – it certainly makes me like Dwight very much that he has that kind of depth and care for what he’s doing. And you know I – a lot of the music that I’m performing is amazing. You know and it’s just fun to kind of just stop and think wow who knew after Earl got cancelled that I would end up being – I’d go from that to playing a detective and singing Elvis songs on a stage in Memphis, Tennessee.

That’s the beauty of acting you never know what’s going to come next.

Q: : I wanted to ask you know about the singing. Was that a big challenge for you?

Jason Lee: Well I hate to burst your bubble but my voice didn’t quite cut it. When we first started recording and so somebody else had to step in but I’m sure glad it looks right.

Q: How did you feel about that?

Jason Lee: You know it’s the show working or not is what’s important. And the singer does a fantastic job and you know if it looks and feels right then that’s absolutely what matters most. But I mean certainly would I like to be doing singing myself? Absolutely, it would be fun but at least I get to do half of it.

I get to play a guitar on stage and I get to you know at least look like I sing. And you know I – it’s my job to make it feel right. You know and if I can accomplish that then that’s a good thing.

Q: : I’m kind of wondering you know about your personal connection to Elvis. I know your character loves Elvis more than anything. So have you been listening a lot to the Kind lately to get into character or anything like that?

Jason Lee: Oh, yes I’ve got hundreds of his songs.

And you know my appreciation went up for him after this, of course. One of those things that I think unless you’re maybe of a certain age or unless you really understand Elvis he may be one of those figures that can be taken for granted.

Or you know you know of them, you’ve heard of them since you were a kid but until you really look into it you may not know the magnitude of the talent, you know and the voice and the, you know, it’s really special. I mean how that guy sounded and how hard he worked and what he put into music. I mean incredible.

Q: The show when you started with it was Delta Blues. Do you have a strong feeling about one way or the other about the title that you have now and the title that you don’t have?

Jason Lee: Well I really liked Delta Blues. You know Memphis Beat grew on me and we’re kind of in our own way making somewhat of an old school cop show and so I think Memphis Beat sort of feels like it could have been a cop show from the 70s which is cool and I like.

And also too it’s got the – it lets you know that it’s a cop show pretty clearly whereas Delta Blues you may not know straightaway. So I think it turned out to be a good thing why they changed it.

Q: I heard you say that you did a lot of the recording in New Orleans. How much of the filming is done in Memphis?

Jason Lee: A little bit you know we’re going to Memphis you know every couple of weeks to get some key stuff that we need to get up there. But most of it’s done here in New Orleans.

We’re actually shooting right now at the famous (Tipatina’s) in New Orleans. Shooting up on that stage which is you know really exciting. And that’s actually where we shot the pilot, the performance that I do in the pilot, we shot that right here at (Tipatina’s) in New Orleans.

Q: Do you have a favorite TV detective show or a favorite TV detective that you grew up loving?

Jason Lee: I love you know Rockford Files and Hill Street Blues and the Streets of San Francisco. You know that’s definitely a great thing and in our own way like I said we’re kind of trying to do our own sort of similar version to that.

Where you just like the people involved you know and the bad assedness of it is authentic.

Q: You have done some straight dramatic roles before like in Vanilla Sky. But do you prefer doing something with a little humor? Is that more natural for you?

Jason Lee: I mean yes, I mean I kind of prefer it all. I just think the course of things has been the course of things. But I prefer it all. You know I mean this is great because it’s very multi-layered and it gets quite deep at times.

But it’s got that edge that comedy edge which I think is just life in general. It’s – that’s just the way it is so we’re trying to maintain as real a balance as possible between the seriousness and then the relationship with Dwight’s partner and his friends down at the station.

And we’re just trying to you know it’s good that it’s a little bit offbeat because life is a little bit offbeat. But certainly it’s been a while since I’ve done anything contemplative on this level. And so it’s nice to be doing this after doing Earl and getting my – sinking my teeth into something different.

I think it is good to have it be a little bit offbeat because that just allows everybody to breathe a little bit and identify with these people. If it’s just straight serious all the time you don’t know – it doesn’t – I don’t know that you feel like you really know the character and can identify and so that’s sort of where we are with this psychologically.

Q: I know you don’t have as simplistic a belief system as Earl Hickey had but did some of the lessons about karma in this show have a lasting effect on you as a person?

Jason Lee: Absolutely, man. I mean that’s the beauty of that show is that it was a silly sitcom but it had such a genuine heart to it. You couldn’t help but really feel that and at times think about stuff yourself and ultimately what it means, how important it is at the end of the day to just kind of try to do the right thing and love your fellow man kind of thing.

You know, it was a great experience.

It was really devastating but you know they pulled the rug out from under us. And there was not much we could do about it and the fans were quite upset about that. And so were we.

Q: Just a simple question about your look here. Were you glad to lose the mustache?

Jason Lee: Yes, you know, I’m very happy to have lost the mustache. You know, it was one of the best choices I’ve ever made as an actor was deciding to that have thing because I knew that it would just make that character and it absolutely did but with the death of Earl came the death of the stache.

Q: Are you still skateboarding?

Jason Lee: Yes, my son of 6-1/2 he skates all the time and we go skating together. : So that’s always been a dream of mine to be able to go skating with my son and now we’re doing that.

The first competition series from HISTORY premieres Sunday, June 6 at 10pm ET.

Sixteen of the nation’s most skilled marksmen have been carefully selected to compete in the new 10-episode series. Some have professional shooting experience, some are amateurs –all will showcase breathtaking timing, speed and accuracy in their quest to win the $100,000 prize package and title of “Top Shot.” The winner will ultimately have to be skilled in everything from muzzle-loading muskets and modern pistols to slingshots and throwing knives.

The series is hosted by actor, adventurer and athlete Colby Donaldson, a born competitor whose experience as a contestant on Survivor brings a unique perspective to HISTORY’s first elimination series.

Watch a sneak peek

Enter our contest

Colby recently answered some questions during a Q&A conference call.

Q: I wanted to know is what’s the main difference between being a reality show competitor and the host of the show?

Colby: Well based on my experience, the food and lodging is much better when you’re the host. I never knew or I had no idea that having competed three times now on Survivor but also just being a devout fan of the game for as long as I have – for ten years now – I had no idea it would come into play so much as the host. That’s what Top Shot is. It’s specifically a competition show, and it’s very similar in some ways to Survivor. There were a lot of times when the producers and I would come upon situations where it was familiar territory to me, whether it was dealing with a tie break situation or potentially thinking about merging the two teams. This was all ground that I had covered several times just through my tenure as a competitor.

Q: As somebody who sat through tribal council and had to deal with Jeff Probst’s questions, has that made you a little bit more sympathetic to the contestants on this show?

Colby: Well, maybe not sympathetic but certainly empathetic. I do know what these shooters are going through just in terms of trying to maintain focus for this long of a period of time. It’s not about competing one day or two days or three days. These guys are all thrown together in a house. You’re forced to get along with people that you don’t necessarily want to get along with, and even more so on Top Shot because we’ve got both teams living in one house. That’s what’s going to make for some interesting social situations around the ranch house with these guys. But in terms of Probst, man, I have a whole new appreciation for how good he really is at his job and as host of Survivor. He’s truly unbelievable, and so I’ve got a whole new appreciation for him and his efforts at that. But also, I never knew until now how much I was sponging off of him and just learning not only as a competitor on the show but just as a friend of his. Always admired his work and now it’s paying off a little bit because I’ve certainly learned a few things from him over the years.

Q: . What would be the main piece of advice you would give to those contestants on Top Shot?

Colby: The key to succeeding at Top Shot is definitely going to be adaptability. We’re got professionals that in some situations, these guys shoot 2000-3000 rounds a week. Three thousand bullets a week they’re firing, but they’re only using one weapon. That’s how they became professionals is by being absolutely proficient with one weapon. Now we’re asking these guys and female to step up using any type of weapon. So, even though they’re intimately familiar with a semi-automatic pistol, when’s the last time these guys picked up a black powder Kentucky long rifle and tried to hit a moving target? That’s what’s going to make this so interesting. So, to answer your question: Adaptability will be the key to succeeding in this game.

Q: Part of the fun of watching these reality competition shows, whether it’s Survivor or Top Shot, is getting to know the contestants through the course of the show. Is that something that’s an element of this show, that we’re going to get personal stuff with these people?

Colby: Well, no question. That’s what drives the show. We knew just because of the nature of having guns, blowing stuff up, that we knew that stuff was going to be cool. There’s no way you’re just not going to enjoy watching that. But what you’ve got to have – what is integral to any good well-done competition show – it starts in the casting and you’ve really got to put together a dynamic group of individuals. So in casting Top Shot, there were actually a couple of top-ranked national shooters that didn’t make the cut, that didn’t make the show, not because they weren’t good enough with the gun but because they didn’t bring enough to the table in terms – and I don’t mean just drama and conflict; it’s not all about the friction – but we need dynamic personalities. We need people that are going to bring something to the competition and to the entire experience of Top Shot beyond their shooting ability, and I think we got that. So to answer your question: Absolutely. That’s what having now seen the second and third episodes starting to come together, you really do start getting invested in the players. As a fan and a viewer, you start picking sides. You start getting those that you want to support and you want to get behind and you start rooting for and you’re hoping they’re doing well, and of course, we’ve got a couple of villains speckled in there, too. So yes, it’s going to make for a good season, no question.

Q: There was only one woman selected for this competition?

Colby: What it comes down to is just I don’t think there were enough that applied. That’s what obviously moves it forward. If it does well – we’re all hoping it does and we get a season two – we would love to stack the deck more evenly in terms of male versus female. But it came down to who applied for the competition, for the show. It’s not just about applications. Then they have to qualify. We took all these shooters out to the range, and we tested them with various weapons at various distances. So it’s not about – unlike Survivor and some of the other competition reality shows where it’s all about your interview and the psych exam and all that – this show is very different and Top Shot is very different. You must be good enough to make the cut and that’s what’s going to keep the quality, the standard, very high on this show. So in terms of females, we would love to have seen more. The one we got is unbelievable. She’s an ex-Chicago SWAT team. She was Top Shot, top gun, of her graduating class, so she certainly earned her way in. She is by no means the token female on a male-dominant shooting show. That’s not the case at all.

Q: How do you think it’s going to be for her in terms of competition with all these guys? Obviously because she has a police background, she’s used to being around guys. I think she’s going to give as good as she gets.

Colby: Right. Right. Well, the thing is, I don’t think the men are going to take it easy on her. She’s certainly going to have to earn her spot on the team and in the house. That being said, I don’t think Tara would have it any other way. She doesn’t want any sort of preferential treatment. And you’re exactly right. She’s been on the force for a lot of years. She’s very used to a male-dominant environment, and it’s something we get into with her on the show. What is it like? What is it like bunking up with all these guys? That’s another thing. We’re talking about a big group of adults, and we’re sticking them all in a big house. It is a big house. At least they’re not having to make their own shelter like I’ve done, but it is one roof that they’re all having to live under. So, how is that going to play out when all these adults left their lives back at home and their families and everything else to commit to this? So it ought to make for an interesting season.

Q: Being from Texas and an outdoors kind of guy, how well do you think you would have done as competitor on the show?

Colby: Well, I guess when I first got hired on as the host, I kind of envisioned myself as one of the competitors and thought I would do pretty impressively. Well, then the game started and I started to see how good these shooters are. So I don’t know. The thing is the difference – and I think this is another interesting point – when you have a competition like this where you invite shooters from all disciplines and backgrounds, whereas your military guys and your recreational shooters, those guys are used to picking up any weapon with any sort of sight or optic on it and hitting the target. And that’s the way I grew up. I’ve been shooting since I was six years old, and growing up hunting, I never had time to adjust the scope or the sights according to wind and all the elements. I had to adjust on the fly. We call it Kentucky windage, and that’s how you move the gun to hit the target. Well, professional shooters aren’t like that. A lot of the professional guys are very accustomed to making adjustments on their weapons and taking time. Well, they aren’t going to have that luxury because we’re throwing them into challenges that require quick and immediate responses, and that’ where you get the intensity and that’s why it’s so fun as a viewer to watch this whole thing play out. So to answer your question: I don’t know. I’d like to think I’d hold in there and do pretty good but it would be tough. I don’t know. I don’t know that I’m going to answer that question.

Q: What was the best part of the show for you as the host? Since you were shooting since you were six, what interesting things did you learn?

Colby: Well, one of the greatest just bonuses for me was every time we introduced a new weapon. In every episode, sometimes twice an episode, we bring an expert on board to give our shooters a little background on the weapon, a little history on the weapon, and also help them prepare for the challenges. So, here I get to benefit from all that. I get to be the sponge and learn from some of the best in the country with these weapons, a crossbow for instance. A crossbow is something I’ve never fired and so what a treat for me to get to have one of the best – not only crossbow shooters in the country but he also owns one of the largest manufacturing companies of crossbows. So, as an enthusiast, I’m learning – the whole time I’m there to do my job, I’m also a little kid in a candy store just getting to learn about all the various weapons we use, which again is such a neat aspect of the competition, is we don’t stick with one weapon. As soon as the marksmen, the competitors, get familiar with a weapon, we’re switching. We’re moving on. In one week, we may be using pistols and the next it’s rifles then all of a sudden we’re going to throw a longbow in their arms. So, it really keeps them guessing but it also stays entertaining for the viewer.

Q: In terms of this show, going in, how big of a history buff were you and are there any other shows on the History Channel that you’re just huge fans of?

Colby: Pawn Stars and American Pickers. I’ve got the TiVo set on season pass to both of those shows. It was truly a perfect fit for me in terms of the firearms and the gun side of this show in this competition. If I wasn’t the host, I would have sent in an application. No question. But it’s not just about shooting to me. I am a little bit of a historical firearms buff, and I’ve been studying and collecting for a lot of years. So, yes, it was a pretty natural fit for me.

Q: What are your thoughts on History Channel hosting its first-ever competition series?

Colby: I love it. I love it. It’s a big bold move. I know just from being on the production side out here for a number of years now. I’ve had competition show ideas that I’ve tried to pitch to different cable networks, and it’s not something that a lot of them want to take a bite of. So the fact that History is bold enough to make this move to see how it’s going to work, I’m a huge fan of that and obviously it’s meant a job for me, so that’s a good thing. But also, I’ve been hosting for a number of years now, and I’ve obviously been on TV for almost a decade. I’m so proud to be a part of this particular show not only now being in the family at History Channel, which I’m incredibly proud of, but just this show and the production quality. It was so well done from the time I came on board in the first preproduction meeting we had until the winner was announced and the competition was over. I could not have been more thrilled about just the quality of TV that we were making, and that’s something I’m very proud of. I can’t wait for the viewers to get a look at it because it’s their first competition reality show, but it certainly won’t look like it. It will look like they’ve been doing it for two decades.

Q: Which of your past television appearances best represents the Colby we can expect to see as a host?

Colby: Well, obviously, it’s a completely different role but I’ve got to defer to Survivor only because of when you think of competition shows, Survivor’s the benchmark. And I’ve got to tell you, that’s what we were gunning for out there. We want to put together a show that will be revered much the way Survivor is and so they’ve set the bar. Survivor’s set the bar and we’re out there trying to match it or exceed it. So, clearly, it’s hard to compare the two because my roles are so different on Survivor versus Top Shot, but it certainly one helps the other. That’s it, although I’m very proud of my Kirby Enthusiasm.

Q: . Speaking of Survivor also, did you talk to your buddy Jeff Probst before you took the job? Did he give you any advice?

Colby: You know what? Not before but we bumped into each other at lunch a couple of weeks ago, and he had heard that we had just finished filming it and certainly gave me his well wishes. Again, like I said, I did have a conversation with him before the Survivor finale, and I was just telling him – I called him up on the phone and we chatted for a bit – and I was just telling him how much of a new-found appreciation – and Probst knows, Probst knows how much I’ve always respected the work he does. I truly believe he’s absolutely one of the best hosts on television but now my appreciation runs so much deeper and for so many different reasons because I’ve got to tell you, we were filming for thirty days straight out there. No days off. No breaks. Granted, it’s not as rough as competing on Survivor. A guy like Probst, there’s a lot required of you, and he shows up every time and delivers it every time. I obviously appreciate it because I was there watching the guy work. He is a one-take wonder. So what you see on TV is literally him getting it right the first time. So yes, I’d like to think he’s happy for me.

Q: Can you give us information on the format of the show?

Colby: Yes, well, thanks for asking that. So, basically, we’re going to pit two teams against each other in these historical-based challenges. They’re elimination challenges. So, if the team wins that first challenge, they’re safe from elimination. The losing team then has to nominate two of its competitors to go head-to-head in an elimination challenge. So, there’s going to be two challenges per episode, okay? There’s a team challenge and then an individual challenge. So, the two players that are nominated will have a practice session, and then they’ll go head-to-head in an elimination challenge. You lost that challenge, you’re going home. So, this is a way that Top Shot differs completely from a show like Survivor. In Top Shot, you have your fate in your hands at all times, and if you show up and deliver, if you shoot well, you’re not going home. So, you’re not getting voted off, you’re getting nominated, and that’s what makes it very interesting. So, you may potentially have a player that if the teammates don’t like him, for whatever reason – whether it’s personality conflict or they don’t think they’re competent enough to be on the team – and they continually nominate him. But as long as they show up to that elimination challenge and shoot well and outperform the competitor they’re going up again, they’re still in the house. So, that’s a really – having played a game like Survivor three times and your fate is in the hands of everyone else, I can certainly appreciate a competition like Top Shot, where you have your fate in your own hands.

So, this was a really cool aspect that I wasn’t aware of until the game got under way and here we are standing there. Just, it turned out to be unbelievable. So, losing team has to decide who they’re going to nominate. Then they are sent to a nomination range, a gun range, and they each have a target with their name on it. And so we’re going to have a discussion about how the challenge went and how they all feel and maybe who should be nominated. Then I’m going to call the shooters up one at a time. They’re going to shoot the target of the person they want to nominate. So here again, very different from most competition shows. You cannot hide your vote. When you put a bullet in someone’s target, they know exactly that you voted for him, and so that potentially plays into someone’s strategy because you can’t conceal your vote. And then at the end of that session, the two shooters that have the most hits in their target, the most bullet holes in their target, are going to go head-to-head in the elimination challenge. Well, what you hope is the person you nominate, yes, doesn’t win that challenge because then they’re back in the house knowing that you voted for them, which again, it’s kind of brilliant by design because it does allow for things to play out back at the ranch house.

Q: What is the part of the show are you most looking forward to people seeing?

Colby: Our visuals are unbelievable. We had access to some cameras, some super slow-motion cameras and to be able to slow a bullet down not only as it exits the barrel of a sniper rifle but as it enters an exploding target. Visually, especially in high definition, it looks like nothing I’ve ever seen, and I had high expectations going into this because it was History Channel. They’ve far exceeded my expectations of what visually is possible on television these days. But then also just the competition that came out. Again, we knew the marksmen were good. We knew they were good shooters, but in terms of strategy, you never know how cut-throat it’s going to get. And these players are there to win. Make no mistake. Yes, they’ve developed friendships. Some of the guys know each other from previous competition around the country, some of the professional shooters, but when it came down to this, it was the gloves are off. We’re going toe-to-toe and may the best man or woman win. That was fun to see as host because every time I’m coming together with these guys, the intensity level just continued to ratchet up.

Q: Can you talk about the difference between throwing knives and sling shots compared to the rifles and handguns, visually?

Colby: Okay. Well, the cool thing – yes, the throwing knives, sling shot – they really look killer but the advantage we have with the types of cameras we were able to use – the challenge is we can slow anything down. I’ve got to tell you probably the most visually striking weapon we used was the old black powder Kentucky long rifle because those old muskets, the flint lock. When they fire, there’s all these sparks and then this smoke. It’s an explosion, and it happens to close to the shooter’s face, you’re looking at it going “How does that not burn them around the eye when they’re looking down the barrel?” And so visually, that just looked unbelievable and also it’s a huge steel ball coming out of the barrel, so you can track it well with the camera. So, I’ve got to tell you, we got so many great photographers, shooters, camera guys, our sound, our entire team was so unbelievable to work with. On the days when we used those big high-performance, slow-motion cameras, we all turned into a bunch of kids because we were having as much fun as the competitors on those days because we’re getting to play back some of the footage. Of course, none of the competitors have seen any of this, so they don’t know. They have no idea how it’s going to look on television and rightfully so. We need their heads to be in the game. It was all of us behind the cameras that were having so much fun with the visuals of it.

Q: In addition to the visuals, did you get a chance to pick up all the weapons and try them yourself?

Colby: You know what? I’m not sure how much I should talk about all that? I had a chance to play. There was a time or two when – I mean come on – we’ve got some challenges that are so unbelievable. Anybody would want to jump on a zip line while you’re flying through the air, over a hundred feet in the air, shooting at targets while you’re on the move. So, yes, I was a kid in a candy store to say the least.

And also, I’ve got to tell you, and this kind of relates to why I think I’m a pretty good fit as host of this show. In our first episode, our second challenge, we use a Remington 700 sniper rifle. Well, that’s actually one of the guns that I have, so I’m intimately familiar with that. And that’s when I knew I was home. That’s when I knew I was in the right place. When several times throughout the competition, our experts come in to introduce a new weapon and it’s something I’ve got in the gun safe at home. That’s always a good thing.

“Satiristas” will be released by Harper Collins in May 2010.
The Green Room premieres June 10, 2010 on Showtime.