The big season two premiere of Reaper is right around the corner, and you know what that means. The PR machine is powering up and there are interviews to be had. Unfortunately, that damn restraining order also applies to electronic communication, so I wasn’t able to speak to Missy Peregrym or Valarie Rae Miller. All was not lost though: Bret Harrison was available and I was able to chat with him for a few minutes about what he thinks of season two, what we can look forward to seeing this season, and his reaction to getting that time slot.
There are some minor spoilers about the show, but I’ve moved them to the end of the post. If you are looking to avoid all spoilers, you can still feel free to click on through. There will be another warning before the spoilers start.
After briefly bonding over the fact that our shared name is an endless source of confusion (really, go to a coffee shop and use Brett as your name and see what they actually yell back), we started talking about season two. The good news, Bret says he likes season two even more than season one. As he puts it, “The characters kind of shine a little more this year.” He chalks a lot of that up to the experience everyone gained in season one, adding, “You learn a lot that first year.”
Without giving anything away, one of the things that helps the characters shine is that, “You get to see the guys on their own. And when they come back together to fight souls it has a much more powerful impact.” Just what they are doing when you see them on their own gets into some spoilers, so we’ll get back to that in a bit.
Before that though, we also talked about ratings and scheduling. I noted the mixed blessing of the show’s circumstances. (Congratulations, you get to make season two. Now go up against Idol) and asked if there was any uneasiness that came with that time slot. Bret said, “I think there should be, but at the same time, I guess I saw it coming, so it wasn’t like a big surprise.” I pointed out that, vs. Idol, 90210 was doing just under the numbers for Reaper last season, and Bret was very candid when talking about the show’s prospects.
“We’re barely hanging on as it is, because we’re just not the kind of show that hits the demographics that CW obviously wants. We are so randomly in that network. The pilots that are coming out next season are The Beautiful Life, Melrose Place, Gossip Girl spin-off. So, we are not an 18-34 year old female demographic. We just aren’t. Even though we technically have gotten better ratings than Gossip Girl, we’re not getting the specific ratings that I think the network really wants. If we come back it’s because there are fans out there that really just, and I think there are, I think there are fans that really love the show.”
I pointed out that Reaper‘s course meshes with the story of his last show, The Loop1, which also spent it’s life on the bubble. “Totally, and that’s why I always say when anyone asks me if I think it will come back, Man, I don’t know. How did The Loop come back for a second season of seven episodes? I don’t even understand what the hell that was.”
I asked if he finds it frustrating, to be working on a show that is constantly in question. Or does he take it as 17 episodes of The Loop and 31 episodes of Reaper is a good bit of work, and then move on? “I truly look at it more as the latter. To be working, especially now, is good. Yeah, I’d love to get on a show that’s a huge hit, and you know. But it’s a little more ballsy and takes a little more guts to go after the shows that aren’t necessarily… I think the good ones you don’t know what you’re getting into. I mean, Mad Men was going around for five years, and then finally sold to AMC of all places, and it’s a damn good show.”
Bret thinks we’ll have to wait until May to find out if there will be a third season of the show, but if it doesn’t happen, he’ll be OK with it. “I’m so happy with this second season. I actually like the second season better than the first. And I’d rather be on a show that goes two years, and have a lot of fun making it, than go five years on a show that isn’t that great to work on.”
Spoilers Follow
Getting to what we can look forward to in season two, I asked what the bigger story is for this year. “The plot that drives this season is that he finds somebody who has gotten out of his deal with the Devil and has all the answers, and so he’s tracking this guy.” That guy is Alan, and will be played by Sean Patrick Thomas (The District). Executive Producer Michele Fazekas has referred to the story as a search for the one-armed man.
Following up on the guys being off on their own, Bret explained, “What sets this season apart from the first season is that it’s about the relationships for all the guys. Sock ends up with a step-sister that he’s kind of falling for, which is pretty funny to watch. Ben, actually, is forced to date this demon, Nina, who was sent after Sam from Gladys. I think that’s one of the coolest characters going, because it’s kind of like she’s in the vein of Encino Man or Splash… these characters that don’t really get what’s going on on Earth. So, Sam offers her a burger and she jumps up on the table and stabs it and shoves the whole thing in her mouth. You get to play that she’s kind of crazy, and I love that.”
Trying to get a better idea of what is in store for the new season, I asked if there was a favorite soul the boys had to battle this year. “We have a soul that’s undressing a woman as he’s walking down the street, in his mind, and he gets hit by a truck and goes to Hell. He comes back, and it’s made known that he’s a virgin, so the guys feel bad for this guy, because the only thing he wants before he goes back to Hell is to get laid. So, we’re trying to get this guy laid before he goes back to hell. It’s awesome. There’s also a boxing episode, which is really cool. It’s our Rocky episode, with these cool training montages. They brought in a boxing coach and choreographer, and we did these huge boxing sequences. Erik Palladino guest stars.”
To me, it sounds like season two is picking up right where season one left off. Reaper premieres Tuesday, March 3, on The CW, and we’ll certainly be talking about it at CliqueClack.
1The Loop is totally underrated. Go watch it.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Feb 27, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
Season two sounds exciting. Thanks for the scoop!
I love Reaper (and I loved The Loop), so I hope The CW shows it some love. If they can have space on the schedule for Smallville and Supernatural, I don’t see why Reaper is such an odd fit for them. It just needs a good companion show.
You make a fair point about Smallville and Supernatural, but I’d argue that those shows are now something of an odd choice for the network as well. Fortunately, for those of us that watch those shows, they are doing well enough in the ratings that the network’s hand has been forced and they need to keep both of them.
Remember, this was supposed to be the last season for Smallville. It’s not coming back next season because the network loves it so much that they just have to get more of Clark’s story. It’s coming back because right now Smallville and Supernatural make up the most successful night of the week for The CW. That’s the same place Reaper finds itself. It has a chance to come back for a third season, but it’s going to have to post the numbers that make that choice more attractive than a new show that fits in with the Gossip Girl/One Tree Hill/90210/Top Model brand the network is now cultivating.
It’s so unfair about the ratings.
Brett, thanks for this great interview; wow, you really got a lot of good info from Bret. He sounds very cool. We’re all spreading the word about this great show, hoping we can help it come back for another season, so come talk at reaperdmv.com if you want!
Cool interview– a good TV-fan interview, since most of the time actors are just plugging their show and don’t take the time to talk about different roles and other shows. (Not that the plugging for Reaper and Loop is unappreciated).