I’ve gotta give the USA Network their props: ever since they picked up that new slogan of theirs – “Characters Welcome” – they’ve really come up with some enjoyable series. “Monk” is great, of course, and “Dead Zone” is about ten times better than you’d ever have thought it’d turn out to be…and while I tend to find “Psych” annoying more often than not (it’s a great premise, but I just think that James Roday plays his character as obnoxious to the Nth degree), I’m really loving the network’s latest original, “Burn Notice.” But, then, what’s not to like about a series which includes Bruce Campbell in its cast, right?
Coming soon to the network is another series which looks like it’s got a lot of potential, possibly because it’s another series than seems to effortlessly blend comedy and action: “In Plain Sight.” Plus, in what’s turning into a very pleasant trend, it’s another series with a strong female lead. P.S. She’s cute, too!
Says Mary McCormack, who plays said heroine, “It’s a great tomboy role and I’ve been looking for it forever and ever and ever, so I’m thrilled with that and I can’t wait to beat a bunch of people up, but she’s not always good at it, which I think is really refreshing. I think she’s not a superhero, which is what I love about David’s writing: that he wrote sort of how an actual person might fight or, you know, an actual person in that job might be called upon to use their physical side, but she’s not always good at it, which I love. It’s sort of how David manages somehow to keep it based on reality, which is so refreshing, I think.”
Creator David Maples clarifies, however, that McCormack’s character isn’t based on any one person from his personal experiences. “She’s an amalgam of a couple of different women that I’ve known in my life who were just kind of fun, challenging, not always appropriate, kind of crusty on the outside, but once you kind of get past all that and they let you into their world, it’s, you know, incredibly rewarding. That was kind of what I started out writing…and then we met Mary, and I think Paul and I both had the same experience the second she walked into the room, or maybe six seconds after she walked in the room, we were both kind of convinced that this is Mary and there were all these weird coincidences that — you know, I didn’t know her before I wrote the script, but there were a lot of strange coincidences.”
Adds Paul Stupin, “It just seems like it’s time for a great, ballsy, kick-ass heroine for television.”
Maples continues, however, by clarifying that it’s not gonna be a procedural show a la “C.S.I.” or something. “It’s not going to be even necessarily solve a crime every week,” he admits. “I look at it as a character-driven show. I mean, and I think I’ve got these phenomenal actors to play these parts, I mean, Fred, Mary, and Lesley aside, Nichole Hiltz, Paul Ben-Victor, Cristian de la Fuente, they are all so, so talented. I think I could have put these characters in a submarine, and it would have been a compelling show.”
The character-driven aspect of it appeals to McCormack…and then some. In fact, she admits that, had it gone down that different road, she probably wouldn’t have even done it. “That’s my favorite thing about it, that they’re all really complex characters. Whenever I wagtch shows – and not to take away from sort of strict procedurals, but I watch them, and I always think I want to be the witness, or I want to be the — I always think those are the roles to play on procedurals, the guest stars. But, to me, on this show, these are the roles to play. I just think these are excellent, complex to the characters. Yeah, sometimes he’s imagined to marry the two. And it’s a different tightrope to walk. I mean, it’s sort of — I think you do it really well, you know. You don’t see it a lot. It seems to be either/or. So it’s a big challenge, but I think that’s what make the show special, different.”
Next up: Sci-Fi’s new interpretation of “Flash Gordon.” Clearly, they’re gonna have to do a lot of work to make people take the show seriously; there’s going to be a tremendous temptation for people to fall back on their feelings about the classic camp of the early ’80s film. Still, the clips we saw looked pretty cool, and although I was too exhausted to stay awake to watch the entire screener for the pilot episode, I’m still looking forward to the series. The mere concept of “Flash Gordon” is a fun one – normal guy fights aliens and tries to save Earth – and I’m sure Sci-Fi won’t waste the opportunity to redefine it. But don’t worry: at least one thing will be held over from the flick.
Yes, they’ll use some of Queen’s score from back in the day.
Don’t, however, go looking for another heaping helping of cheese. The gang associated with this show is certainly aware of the flick, and they have a degree of respect for it, but, believe it, this isn’t the same universe at all. “We wanted to do something that was a little more grounded and a little more contemporary,” says Peter Hume. “I think you can see, even from this, it’s — it’s not quite as campy in a way. We wanted to keep the characters real so — but it does have a real fun spirit. I think it captures what Alex Raymond did in the beginning. It was really important to keep that tone and update it. I mean, we did the [dimensional] rift because you really couldn’t have a rocket ship in your backyard today. But I think — but I think it does keep — it’s very true to the tone. And when you get to the other planet, we’ll meet a lot of those other characters. So it’s not like it’s just — it’s very much ‘Flash Gordon.'”
John Ralston, who plays Ming the Merciless in the new adaptation, isn’t trying to channel Max Von Sydow in his interpretation of the role. “No mustache twirling,” he assures us. “(With Flash Gordon), you’ve got this normal lad sort of thrust into these extraordinary situations, this character with such a lovely sort of almost pure heart. But on the other side of the coin, you’ve got Ming who can be just as pure in his evil. I’m not twisting mustaches and things like that, but he’s on this planet Mongo, and he fancies himself the benevolent father. These disparate tribes or cantans which he has because he controls the water of the planet is able to essentially control this disparate group of tribes. And he rules in many ways with an absolutely iron fist, but it’s quite loathsome.”
And the last panel of the day was for…wait for it…”Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style.” It was an entertaining enough experience – we all got copies of Mr. Gunn’s new book – but I didn’t find it to be an eminently quotable experience. Virtually the entire panel was spent chatting about women and how much they love him…which is all fine and well, of course, but it just doesn’t inspire me to necessarily offer up quotes from it.
So there you go. Another day down. But stay tuned for a brief follow-up about how the evening panned out…
