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TV Junkie: Interview with Tom Everett Scott - 'Southland' Starts on TNT Tonight
Interview with actor Tom Everett Scott for LAist from Thomas Attila Lewis on Vimeo.
One of the other mistakes NBC made last year (they made mistakes?) was canceling "Southland" after it received critical acclaim and solid viewership. But since Leno was going to take over the 10pm slot the show had to go after being labelled "too dark" for 9pm airing. Summarily dumped despite being produced by John Wells Productions, the guys that made at least $1 billion for NBC with such minor works as "E.R." and "The West Wing" among others.
An even greater shame was that 6 episodes of an additional season were completed but never aired by NBC. Thankfully TNT bought the rights to the series so we will have a chance to see these unaired episodes. Starting tonight at 10pm on TNT, the pilot of the series will be shown without commercial interruption and with several additional minutes of footage that were cut from the original airing. After giving us the chance to get reacquainted with the series, the unaired episodes will finally hit the screen in March.
We had the chance to speak with one of the series stars, Tom Everett Scott, who plays the conflicted Detective Russell Clarke who, in the final scene of the final episode of the first season, is dramatically shot at point-blank range in true cliff-hanger fashion. You've seen Scott in the films That Thing You Do!, and Boiler Room, and on TV in "Philly", "Do Over", "Saved", and he currently has a recurring role on "Sons of Anarchy" as the bike club's counsel.
Scott has also written, directed, and produced his own short film, Glock, and told us of his aspirations to work behind the camera. Scott gave us several clues as to what happens to his character Clarke, other developments in the "Southland" storyline, as well as some great insights as to what it's like working on "Sons of Anarchy" and his experiences on the big 4 networks vs. cable.
If there is a good response to the airing of "Southland" on TNT, there is a possibility of the series getting picked up again. It was a favorite of ours last year and it would be great to see this show go back into production. "Southland" airs on Tuesdays at 10pm on TNT.
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Tom Everett Scott at the Four Seasons in Boston
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