The TV interviews for the RTÉ Guide and TEN continued yesterday with a trip to the set of ‘Criminal Minds’ at Quixote Studios where the cast are under a cloud.
Since AJ Cook was sacked and left after filming just two episodes of the current season, and Paget Brewster has had her involvement curtailed, there are fears for the future of the show.
"To tell you the truth, this particular season, the sixth season, contracts are up and things have happened," says Shemar Moore, who plays the show's sexy alpha male Derek Morgan.
"We lost AJ Cook... we don't know what the future holds for the Prentiss character... we didn't know this was going to happen. There's been a lot of politics."
Paget Brewster, who plays Prentiss, accepts that her future on the show is unsure and doesn't mince her words. "We've kind of got shafted," she feels. "It was a business decision that was made that is effecting us in a negative way."
It wasn't all doom and gloom, though, and we also met the new cast member of ‘Criminal Minds’. She's Rachel Nichols (Alias) - more about her when she appears later in the current season as new agent Ashley Seaver.
After ‘Criminal Minds’ we departed for Disney Studios in Burbank, to visit the set of ‘No Ordinary Family’, a new family drama that's currently on satellite channel Watch and due soon on RTÉ.
It stars Michael Chiklis (‘The Shield’) and Julie Benz (‘Dexter’, ‘Desperate Housewives’) as parents of a family that gains superpowers after their plane crashes in the Brazilian jungle.
It's quite a departure for Chiklis, as ‘The Shield’ was a very dark and adult show, while ‘No Ordinary Family’ is a much more mainstream project that he feels has enormous appeal.
"As an actor you want to mix it up and do different things," insists the 47-year-old. "And this was just fun. Some things are meant to be an entertainment, and this is that."
After seven years playing Detective Vic Mackey, he's now in a show his 11-year-old son can enjoy. "It's nice to be able to sit down with the entire family and watch something," says Chiklis.
Once the interviews were completed, we were brought on a tour of the show's impressive set, which includes part of previous shows such as ‘FlashForward’ and ‘Eli Stone’.
After that it was across the road to another part of the massive Disney lot to catch up with Nathan Fillion, who was in great form on arrival from the set of ‘Castle’ after completing the day's shoot.
When asked what he likes most about his character, crime writer Rick Castle, he said: "I enjoy the part of Castle that he doesn't really register failure. And when he's down he doesn't really register it. He still thinks he's cool."
Full interviews with the casts of ‘Criminal Minds’, ‘No Ordinary Family’ and ‘Castle's’ Nathan Fillion will appear in future editions of the RTÉ Guide and here at TEN.
Next up during this tour of Hollywood is ‘Grey's Anatomy’ and Forest Whitaker, star of the upcoming Criminal Minds' spin-off, ‘Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior’.
John Byrne
