'Tis the season of reruns, so LA TV Insider Examiner should have a lot of time on our hands, right? Wrong! 'Tis (also) the season of reminiscing, and that is exactly what we're going to do this week...take you down the short memory lane that was 2011. We will bring you our favorite interviews from the past year, as well as our favorite television shows (new and returning), favorite guilty pleasures, and maybe even a few surprises along the way.
LA TV Insider Examiner’s favorite interviews from 2011 - Look, we’re about to get a little narcissistic here for a minute, but let us indulge, won’t you? This was by far our best year in the television blogging business, and we want to celebrate it because you just never know what 2012 will bring.
Below are excerpts from more than a few of our favorite, fun interviews (mostly Q&As) from the calendar year. Click on the titles for the full page article and check out what you may have missed or just revisit the good ole days from your favorite television stars of 2011. In chronological order:
- “An epic Q&A with Teen Wolf’s equally epic new Stiles, Dylan O’Brien” - Dylan O’Brien is what you would call “new” to this whole entertainment industry thing, but he is without a doubt a star on the rise. Though he has been interested in acting for a long time, and he spent a good chunk of time filming himself in different roles to post on YouTube, not only his big break, but his first real gig in general has been the role of Stiles on MTV’s Teen Wolf reboot. But you’d probably never know it just from watching him. He has a natural ease-- and a seemingly innate knack at picking interesting and quality projects-- that gives off the vibe that he’s an old pro who has been doing this for years...
- “Rookie Blue Q&A with Missy Peregrym: Sam vs Luke dissected!” - Missy Peregrym is as much of a fan of her ABC cop drama, Rookie Blue, as any of you. Actually, maybe more. Of course, she does have more at stake considering she works on the show, but she has such a genuine affection for the material and for her colleagues that she is a little afraid to see the second season premiere, just in case positive reactions aren't as strong for those watching as they were for her filming. After all, a lot is about to go down! ...
- “Get to know Nine Lives of Chloe King's Amy with 9 cool notes about Grace Phipps” - Remember when we reviewed The Nine Lives of Chloe King? We weren’t super sure about the show at the time (though as episodes past the pilot have unfolded, it has certainly grown on us!), but we spotlighted Grace Phipps as one to watch right off the bat. The fresh-faced starlet is certainly proving herself to be quite the comedic force on the show, but she is unveiling a few hidden talents along the way, as well. So we wanted to take a minute to highlight nine things you probably didn’t know but will love to find out about more-than-just-a-sidekick Phipps...
- “Zachary Levi talks all things nerd (but mostly Nerd HQ!)” - “I have identified as being a nerd my whole life,” Chuck star and Nerd Machine co-founder Zachary Levi told LA TV Insider Examiner. “I mean, I grew up with a Nintendo controller in my hand and X-Men comics in my back pocket…and then of course, doing drama, it doesn’t exactly put you in the cool kid crowd. But it’s funny; I’ve always felt really blessed-- really lucky-- that even as a kid, you know, while of course there are always those sort of cliques or things that I wished I could have been a part of, or even tried to be a part of, I was pretty content being who I was. And I knew from an early age that you do what makes you happy, and trying to do what other people makes them happy isn’t going to make you happy. Being into Nintendo or comics or drama, that made me happy, and I was happy to be labeled as whatever came along with being passionate for those things" ...
- “Q&A: Scott Porter talks about his path to Hart of Dixie” - Scott Porter has had quite an impressive career for a guy who claims to have gotten his first real job without taking a single acting lesson, let alone drama in high school. There must truly be something to be said for instincts, then, as that first project he booked was one that changed the course of dramatic storytelling on the small screen. Friday Night Lights was Porter’s acting class, then, and it has kept him in strong dramatic television ever since. Come fall audiences will fall in love with a different southern gentleman side to him than Jason Street when he co-stars in The CW’s Hart of Dixie. Here we discuss why he can't watch the final FNL episodes, what memorabilia he kept from the set, reuniting with Connie Britton and Cress Williams, a potential return to The Good Wife, and of course, why Hart of Dixie was the perfect next project for him...
- “Drake Hogestyn & Deidre Hall tease their triumphant Days of our Lives return” - The television event of the decade is almost upon us. You can accuse us of being a bit melodramatic, but Days of our Lives is a soap opera, so in a way that might go with the territory. But we don’t think it’s an overreaction of any kind; after all, the greatest supercouple in all of daytime will be moving back in. Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn have already begun work on their brand new scenes in NBC’s last standing soap opera in Los Angeles, and last night we got to catch up with both of the powerhouse actors to find out what we can expect when we see them again on our screens...
- “Connie Britton on leaving Tami Taylor behind, embracing American Horror Story” - Connie Britton has spent the last five years playing an extremely strong woman-- a wife, a mother, and an educator in many ways-- on a show that revolved around football. But the thespian claims she didn't know much about football when taking the project the first time (for the film version) and didn't necessarily learn a whole lot of specifics while shooting for so many years on the television show, either. But that doesn't really matter. After all, a truly talented actor can act off of anything-- or nothing at all. In other words, words on a page only go so far; it is the emotions an actor wears on his or her face and carries around that can add the richest layers. And that Britton knows...
- “The rocky (emotional) road of Revenge: What's in store for Emily Thorne?” - Revenge executive producer Mike Kelley doesn't want potential viewers to be put off by the title of his new ABC drama. Though the show's premise is that the main character Emily Thorne (Emily Van Camp) moves back to the Hamptons one summer seemingly to take down all of those who were involved in her own father's demise, what lies underneath that surface is not nearly so simple-- for the show or for Emily herself...
- “Awkward.'s Nikki Deloach sounds off about the party, the guys & season two” - We can’t say enough good things about MTV’s Awkward. At its start we didn’t think it would be for us: who wants to go back to high school, after all, right? But with one episode we realized this wasn’t your typical high school scenario. Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards) doesn’t fit any obvious social cliques or clichés, and she is surrounded by witty fellow students who coin their own catchphrases in every episode. What’s even cooler is her mom: a woman, who when she stands side by side with her teenage daughter, looks the exact same age-- and a woman who tries her best but really doesn’t have much in common with her kid, nor a more mature mentality. Lacey Hamilton (Nikki Deloach) is someone we want to party with! So we set out to get the Awkward. scoop directly from her...
- “Kristoffer Polaha on leaving Baze behind, embracing Ringer” - Kristoffer Polaha’s career may be coming full circle with his new role on Ringer-- one that he was sold on, in great part, because of the comparison his executive producers drew to John F. Kennedy Jr. (more on that in a minute). Polaha played that guy before-- literally, in a made for TV movie called America’s Prince-- but it has been a while since he has tapped into such decadence. Most recently Polaha starred as Baze on The CW’s Life Unexpected, a character who was one of the most beloved guys on television we came across in a long time. In large part that was due to Polaha himself, who just infused so much charm into the guy you couldn’t help but root for him. Henry, his role on Ringer, though, is a married struggling writer who is having an affair with his wife’s best friend. On paper he may not be quite so loveable. And yet you will find yourself drawn to him in many of the same ways as his previous parts. Here Polaha weighs in on what he loves so much about Henry and hopes you will, too...
- "Maggie Q: Owen "does things that Michael never does" for Nikita in "Guardians" - "Nikita and Michael have this very adult problem that I told you guys was coming, and I like the problem! Kudos to Craig and the writers for creating something that wasn't cheesy. It wasn't 'Oh he looked at another woman' or 'Whoops, she slept with someone else,' you know what I mean? Which happens on soaps and on shows like, I don't know Gossip Girl or whatever. It can't happen on our show because the integrity would be lost, so it would have to be something that he couldn't control, that he didn't ask for, that she can't fix, which is maddening for someone who's in control normally. And the adult thing for Nikita is to not deny him," Nikita series star Maggie Q was animated when she spoke of the recent complications for her on-screen romance over lunch in Los Angeles...
What a year 2011 was! Thanks for joining LA TV Insider Examiner this year for television news, reviews, and interviews. We are already planning some big things for 2012, including more advance reviews of the mid-season programs, some exciting interviews and features, and of course, live, breaking TCA coverage. Make sure you're subscribed to this page and following us on Twitter so you stay up-to-date with all of the TV news!
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