By Shaun Daily

Familiar to television audiences from her role as Original Cindy in Dark Angel, Valerie Rae Miller stars in Reaper as Josie, Sock's (Tyler Labine) ex-girlfriend who works for the district attorney, a job that enables her to help Sam (Bret Harrison) locate escaped souls. Raised in Dallas, Texas, Miller became interested in acting when she was young. She attended a high school for performing arts and landed a number of commercials while still in college. On summer vacation in Los Angeles, she took a course in stand-up comedy and went on to perform at such well-known clubs as The Improv and The Comedy Store. Despite offers to go on tour with her stand-up routine, Miller decided to move to Los Angeles and pursue acting. She quickly landed a hosting job on Channel One then was hired to host the pre-game sports show In the Zone" which she anchored for four seasons.  In addition to her role on Dark Angel, Miller was also a regular on Hollywood Confidential and had recurring roles on Smith,  In the House and Malcolm and Eddie. On the big screen, Miller starred opposite Ice Cube in All About the Benjamins, with Harrison Ford and Josh Harnett in Hollywood Homicide and in the crime thriller Crank.

Valerie recently stopped by TV Talk With ShaunOMac to talk about the series and her character.  The interview was conducted just days before CW announced that the series would return for a second season.

Shaun> Thank you for being on with us.  We love Reaper, and we’re doing everything we can to save the show.  We’re going to send socks to the CW, and we’re doing everything we can to heed the call.

Valerie> I love it.  And can I suggest, I really like the idea of dirty socks.  I know it says dirty or clean, but there’s just something a little more powerful in funky socks.

Shaun> You’re going to get in trouble with the network!

Valerie> Can you just imagine the execs in their office?  Even if they don’t see them, they’ll smell our presence, don’t you think?

Shaun> I don’t know if you know, but I’m the guy that started the nuts drive for Jericho last season.

Valerie> I heard, I heard about the nuts before I heard about you.  That’s awesome. 

Shaun> Dirty socks to the CW, oh brother.

Valerie> I didn’t say only dirty, but if they happen to be, that’s ok too. 

Shaun> If anybody is a baseball player, send those in.  Those are really bad. Everybody loves the show.  They can’t believe it’s on the bubble.  It has a little bit of comedy, but the drama is pretty good too, what do you think?

Valerie> Thank you guys so much.  I think it’s a fun show.  I like the tone of it.  It’s kind of unusual, and I like the sense of humor.  It’s not like anything else that’s on TV.  I think sometimes things take a little bit longer depending on what’s put in the advertising for it to really catch on.  It’s just been a weird season for everybody.  So I think everybody is just trying to get it back together after….I don’t want to say the word out loud, because it makes people nervous, but the S-T-R-I-K-E. 

Shaun> Yes, everybody says the network will be (using the Galactica word), Frakked up if they cancel Reaper.   How about that?

Valerie> I appreciate that for sure.  Did you guys see our video?

Shaun> Yes, I’ll put it in the chatroom as we’re going along.  It’s hysterical. 

Valerie> Thank you, I think it was fun.

Shaun> You put it together didn’t you?

Valerie> Yeah, it was a dare.  Did you get the story about that?

Shaun> I didn’t hear all of it, you can tell me.

Valerie> Ok, the short version of it is a couple of my friends have another website, called IbeatYou.com.  And it’s owned by Cash Warren, who is one of my good girlfriends, Jessica Alba’s fiancée or soon to be baby daddy.  We were at dinner, and Cash was talking a lot of trash, and showed me the video they made for their website.  And I had to get in on it, so I said I thought it would be fun if I did one.  So he said, “Why don’t you try to get one with people from work?”  I said, “Ok, I’m going to do it.”  I was trying to come up with a song that had the devil, because you’ve got to work the fact that you have the devil as a main character on your show, into the video.  I think that’s really important.  So that was kind of the trick to come up with a song.  Then Flavor Flav was actually in town doing a music video so I got on this mission to try to get Flavor Flav to do a cameo.  And that didn’t really work out, so we chose a Public Enemy song which was ‘Can’t Trust It’, which I think goes very well with the devil theme.  So we made a video, there you go.

Shaun> It’s great.  I’ll put it on my host page.

Valerie> I’m going to go ahead and post it on YouTube, because I think it’s easier to find. 

Shaun> Now what did you think when you first got the script for Josie.  I mean the devil’s a main character, what is this?  What did you think?

Valerie> Ok, the way casting goes it sometimes moves really fast.  And I got the script like at 11 o’clock the night before my audition.  I breezed through it because I had two other things, and I actually tested for a couple of things at the same time.  So I didn’t even get a chance to fully digest it.  But when I read it, it reminded me of this movie that I had just seen the week before, Shaun of the Dead.  Have you ever seen that movie?

Shaun> Yes.

Valerie> I loved that movie, so I automatically in my head, whether it’s the right tone or not for some show, I make up my own idea of what I believe it’s going to be.  And I go for it.  So it made perfect sense to me that he devil was in it, and I thought the devil was great.  Originally, they had like a couple of demons that now they’ve worked in and come up with other demons.  But they had a demon that they had throughout the script as well. And it just read as so funny to me.  I thought it was a really great concept.  When I went in and read for it, it turns out that my guess was actually pretty close to right as to what the show was supposed to be.  I was elated, and then when I got there and got to see all the actors and everybody’s takes and their personalities, I couldn’t think of a better cast.  Then the whole idea of having the devil be Ray Wise was just absolute genius.  I can’t think of who would have made a better devil now. 

Shaun> Anybody who does a movie or series with the devil now will be matched against his portrayel on Reaper. 

Valerie> That’s a good way to do it, don’t you think?  You throw the bar up really high when you do something like that.  Do you like his suits?  I think the suits are great.

Shaun> Who is his tailor? Armani?

Valerie> I think so.

Shaun> My sister loves the wardrobe you wear on Reaper as well.

Valerie> Thank you.  That’s been an interesting thing too.  When I’m at work, they try to get me all buttoned up in these really conservative clothes.  But it’s been fun to try to push it a little bit, and see how much I can get away with.  So thank you!

Shaun> So what do you think of Josie Miller?  Do you like her?  What do you think about your character? 

Valerie> I like Josie.  What I hope to see, and maybe this will happen if the series gets to go a little bit, I think she has a few more quirks then I think are actually getting to show up on camera just yet.  She is the most serious one of all the characters, and she’s supposed to be the smartest and the most accomplished.  She’s the one with the real job out of the group, and she tries to be like the mom.  So in a weird way, I definitely relate to her because I’m more responsible I guess.  Cause I always have my eye on some specific goal.  But I think I would like to see her play a little bit more.  Me and Tyler together, we have so much fun.  I wish I could pick a little bit more of that up. 

Shaun> A lot of people have been asking, on your apartment, how come your door opens out?

Valerie> Probably because the people who built the set made the door so that it would do that? You’re one of those guys, huh?  I see!  You’re one of those!

Shaun> That’s one of the listeners who asked me. 

Valerie> Screen doors open out.  Usually interior doors open in.  But it’s just a different housing build.  How’s that?

Shaun> You had the fire, then you got together with Sock.  I think she thinks something is going on.  I don’t know if she’s strictly working as a DA.  I think Josie is suspecting there’s more going on than meets the eye.  What do you think?

Valerie> I think you’re very right.  We’ve had many conversations about this.  I think you’re on to something.  I’m curious to see how they play it out, but they actually dropped a lot of hints right before we broke for the holidays, and they just haven’t picked all of those loose ends up yet.  But that’s definitely something…There is a lot of stuff about to go down that I can’t really divulge yet, because if I told you, I’d have to kill you! But you’re definitely on to something.  You’re pointing in the right direction, how’s that?

Shaun> I don’t know if the cast is on the websties and all the fansites.  What do you think about the cult following the show has?  They love you.  They love everybody who is on the show.

Valerie> It’s so different too, because we shoot in Vancouver.  I think when you’re in LA, you get to see a little bit more of it.  I got to come back to LA a few days early.  It’s really different, almost like we’re separated from everything that happens here.  I got to go to this party on Thursday night that TV guide had, and it was the first time I’d gotten to see fans from the show.  It was the cutest thing ever.  It was so great!  These people are really good.

Shaun> The hours are long.  You go through long days don’t you?

Valerie> A lot of long days.  A lot of unusual days.  A lot of weird days.  It’s been really weird in Vancouver, because the weather there’s been really odd lately.  So the day we shot the scene you were talking about when my apartment door opens out, which is the same one where lovely Tyler has to wear my bathrobe, which was oh so fetching.  I had to take a picture with my camera phone.  It was hailing outside.  It was cold and rainy when we first started the shot, and then when we went on to the next scene, it started hailing.  And so Ted walks up to do his scene and is in the door when Tyler is opening it, they had to hold the scene because it started hailing.  Then it stopped and was sunny and kind of warm, then it got cold again.  All of that in a six hour time span.  We’re shooting in all of those elements, so it’s kind of weird.  It’s much different than shooting in LA. 

 Shaun> I’ve talked to people from the Galactica cast and they say the same thing.  One minute it’s balmy, and the next we are freezing.

Valerie> Exactly, it’s so different.  And you wouldn’t think so because it’s so close.  But it’s completely different.  But it adds to the experience.  

Shaun> You’ve been on Reaper, but you’ve been on other things like Dark Angel.  What first got you into acting? 

Valerie> It’s funny.  I don’t think I really decided right away.  When I started in high school, I started booking commercials.  And I started, which is really unusual, I started doing standup.  And I started booking that right out of high school.  So I was doing that stuff and then I just wound up booking acting stuff simultaneously.  So it just all kind of blended together.  I think the first thing I ever did was a commercial for Radio Shack computers.  I had to put a laptop into a book bag and it was horrible.  I couldn’t get it to go into book bag properly, and that was all I had to do.  It was kind of pathetic, but it was fun.

Shaun> Thank goodness you got the series then, and you don’t have do those commercials anymore, right?

Valerie> Well, it depends.  I hear they pay big money in Asia.

Shaun> Which series of the ones you’ve been on do wish had gone on for a few more seasons, like Dark Angel?  Do you wish that one had gone on, or Smith?  Which of your former series did you like the best?

Valerie> They’re all good.  It’s like when you ask a parent which of their kids they like better, and they’re kind of funny about it.  I had a lot of fun on Dark Angel, but it’s hours…We have crazy hours on Reaper, but Dark Angel definitely had Reaper beat.  Some of our crew from Reaper actually worked on Dark Angel as well, and it was notorious for having the most heinous work hours of all time.  We did one episode when James Cameron directed towards the end, and I want to say we had a couple of 23 hour, and one 27 hour days where we didn’t leave and were on camera most of the time.  And we were outside a lot in really skimpy clothes battling the elements.  But I got to do a lot of really cool stuff on that show, and I really liked the cast.  Then on Reaper, it’s completely different.   Smith, I think was an awesome show, but it was more cable than CBS.  I think that should have definitely gone on a little bit longer.  They should have done it like a mini-series or something.  The episodes that didn’t get aired were awesome.  They just got better as they went on.

Shaun> How do you feel about these TV shows that are different?  Is there room on the air for shows like Reaper?  Or do they need to go to cable.

Valerie> You know how this happens, people copy.  If this show finds the right audience you’ll have 20 knockoffs the next season.  You know how many knockoffs came out after Dark Angel?  There were so many shows that were almost Dark Angel.  That’s what happens.  CW is still small enough where it can experiment a little.  I think it could be really good for them to try something.  There’s also room with this show for them to have a wider demographic then they’re getting with their other shows.  If they just go ahead and play through the strengths, which it seems they are trying to do as the show’s gone on.  They’re kind of going back in the direction of the pilot, where everybody saw the possibilities of where to go.  If they go that way and can capture a larger audience, it could be a huge show for them, and could bring in an audience they’ve never had before.  Like when you guys did the stuff with the peanuts.  That made such a tremendous impact and I don’t even follow TV that much.  It’s really making your voice heard.  If they get the sense that people like it and that it is resonating with somebody, they listen to that just as much as they listen to any numbers on a piece of paper. 

Shaun> That’s true.  CW’s been great.  Someone in the chat is asking why your character and Sock hooked up?  It seems like a mismatch, but gives the rest of us overweight guys hope. 

Valerie> You know what’s really funny, and they kind of hint at it?  You wind up having these discussions with the writers and they’re still trying to work out some other stuff and I’ll think you’ll see more of it.  I personally, and I’m physically Josie, I’d totally go with Sock.  I think he’s adorable.  He’s so funny.  When I’m not working, I take a lot of different dance classes, and classes with other women, and you have no idea how many women think he’s attractive.  He’s hot!  There’s something about him.  Women are kind of different, and a lot of times we look past the surface.  Guys are like, “Ooh, it’s shiny, it’s pretty!” And women will be like, “Oh, he’s kind of hot.”  You know, balding guys, guys that are traditionally the leading man look, a lot of times do get play like that.  And Sock is so charming, and doesn’t care what other people think.  Especially in Josie’s world, they’re talking about possibly doing some stuff with that in the future.  Josie’s world is so straight laced and a guy like Sock would definitely stand out to her.  He’s not so concerned about anything or what anybody else says, and it’s really attractive. 

Shaun>  I just think there’s more to this.  I think she’s trying to figure out exactly what’s going on.  I think that’s part of it. 

Valerie> You think she’s spying on him?

Shaun> I think she’s the smartest one on the show.  All of the rest of them get in trouble, and I think she knows something’s going on.

Valerie> Right, I agree. 

Shaun> Any projects you are working on in the hiatus from Reaper?

Valerie> It’s kind of tricky this year.  And here we go back with the S word.  Everybody’s a little nervous that there’s going to be another strike.  We don’t know yet, because there might be a sag strike.  Everybody’s hoping that there won’t be.  So a lot film project if you didn’t already book them before now, there’s no auditions for stuff  like that at all.  I’m actually producing a couple of little short things.  I’m putting together a thing with another girlfriend that does a lot of comedy.  One of the girls from that show Brothers & Sisters.  I’m putting together a little series of shorts with her and another girlfriend.  We’re doing that kind of stuff.  But I’m traveling, and hopefully we’ll be back to work in July. 

Shaun> Is the season going to end on a cliffhanger?

Valerie> I can tell you this, there’s an inherent cliff hanger!  We don’t know if the show’s coming back. Watch and find out if it looks like it might.  Isn’t that one?  I can’t tell you.  Yes, every episode is a cliffhanger in itself, don’t you think?  You need to find out if Josie finds out what’s going on, and all that that goes into it.

Shaun> That’s a very good answer.  It sounds like a district attorney answer.  The last five or six have built to something, and it feels like something is coming on the finale.  One’s building on top of the other, and it seems like Josie is going to uncover what’s going to happen.