You can listen to Brain’s full interview and answers to questions from callers by listening to the December 10th 2007 ShaunOMac radio show in the archives.
By Kenn Gold & Shaun Daily
Actor Brian Howe, who plays Hugh Skillen on NBC’s Journeyman recently appeared on the ShaunOMac radio show to talk about the season finale, and hopes for a renewal of the show. While the fate of Journeyman is not yet entirely clear, the network did let a deadline pass last week in which the actors contracts would have been picked up. Meanwhile, fans of the show continue to send boxes of Rice-a-Roni, and packages of aspirin to the networks in hopes of showing executives that the show has a loyal fan base, and is worthy of being renewed.
Howe says tonight’s finale episode will answer some burning questions, but will not answer everything. “Kevin (Falls), in his brilliance, didn’t want to do a huge full up end tie up, because why give them a reason not to bring us back. But it does have kind of a really nice soft landing. There is a full circle element to it, and there are questions answered. I don’t mean like X-files where they answer one question and raise 3 others. Elliot Langley is bringing a whole new thing on board. It will be kind of a soft conclusion. I wouldn’t say that it ends, but it wraps a couple of things up and firmly addresses a few things. I don’t want to say so much because the ride is so fun.”
Howe says that in the last days before filming wrapped up, the fan campaigns which were just beginning had been noticed by the shows crew. “The cast and producers and everybody are very aware of how much the fans do and keeping the show talked about and alive. You are the topic of conversations throughout the week, and you are heard, and you do matter,” he said.
Brian attributes the show getting more of a chance than it might have otherwise to the complex nature of the deal between Fox and NBC. “Twentieth Century Fox is a producing partner on the show, so NBC has a bigger stake in deciding what to do with the show than they do with shows like Chuck or Life,” he says. “NBC makes those shows and shows them. One of the things about committing to Journeyman is they really have to commit, because they are in on it with Fox. Who by the way loves the show. Fox has been so great. “
The writers strike didn’t have as much of an impact on Journeyman as it has had on other network shows, according to Howe. “Our wonderful writers managed to get thru all 12 of our order before the strike, literally the weekend before the strike,” he says. “So we had all of the episodes written before it began. So we were one of the only shows in town still going. While a lot of other shows were having to shut down, we were able to still be going to work. So the only thing that made it weird is that episode 12 didn’t make it into the green pages, the orange pages, and all those rainbow of pages you usually get, so we had to go with the production draft. But our writers are so good; we don’t have a whole lot of pages usually.”
Howe was proud of the fact that Journeyman would be able to finish it’s full 12 episode order, and was encouraged by a recent increase in viewers to the show. “I’m damn proud. It’s really great and it’s one instance where the writers strike was initially good to us, and because NBC had nothing else to put in our place, we were able to keep airing new content every single week. So thanks to us, they have at least one new show to keep on,” he says. “We picked up a million viewers in mid-November and held on to them, so they want to see how we do this week and next, even though they aren’t promoting us,” he added.
Along the way, Howe became a fan of the show himself. “We wrapped shooting just a week ago. The new script would be plopped on my door and I’d race for it. I’d have to plunge in and find out what was happening now, almost like an audience member. My girlfriend doesn’t like to know things ahead of time, so it got to a point where I couldn’t even ask her to help me with my lines, because a scene I’d be in would give something away. It just got that exciting. I think 10 thru 12 are right on par with the two parter Aiden Bennett character,” he says.
Brian attributes some of the shows excellent writing to a unique situation in the beginning of production in which actors were introduced to the writers. “They did a smart thing at the top of the season before they started shooting. Kevin and Alex brought each of us in individually to set down for an hour with all of the writers in the writer’s room,” he says. “That way, the writers got a sense of us as actors, and when it came time to start writing for us it was just like a tailor made suit. I felt like Hugh really fit me. Because I can be a wise ass, and I felt like they wrote to that.”
The Journeyman finale airs tonight on NBC in the late primetime slot.
