I noticed that you’re somewhat of a math genius and I think that part of figuring out equations is being a sleuth.  Did you use your math skills at all when you were developing this character for Inspector Mom?

I would say not so much as when I was developing the character as when I was developing the plot at least for this one.  The first Inspector Mom was already done.  This was kind of like problem solving.  Who are the suspects?  What are the clues?  When should drop this clue, when should you drop that clue?  Who are the red herrings and how do you make that interesting.  It’s very much a puzzle to put together.  So in that way, the logical problem solving that goes on in mathematics, it absolutely applicable to writing.  Actually writing is something that I consider to be the best use of both sides of the brain because not only do you have the logical problem solving to actually create plot structures, but you need your emotional side, you intuitive, holistic side to understand on some other level, what the emotional arcs are and why the audience will or won’t care about the characters you’re creating and their stories.  You could have the most interesting, intellectual exercise in terms of a mystery but if people don’t care about the characters, really care about them and are truly interested in them on an emotional level to see what happens to them, then it doesn’t matter.


Can you give us a little information on what it’s like working for Lifetime Movie Network as opposed to FOX, NBC, ABC or major networks?  Are there any differences that you find in production; in the on-set atmosphere?

Doing Inspector Mom, we shot in Dallas so Lifetime Movie Network was around but they were sort of like a presence on the telephone.  They weren’t hands on very much in terms of actually being on set.  The biggest difference for me, I would say, when you’re shooting a primetime network channel TV show, they’re always around.  The network is present.  If and when I do a Lifetime Movie project in Los Angeles, I’ll be able to make a better comparison.  For now I’d say, wow, we have so much creative freedom, that’s my gut instinct.  They trusted us.  We’d talk on the phone and discuss ideas about characters and things but by and large we had a lot of freedom.


It sounds like you’re incredibly excited about the show, about the premier. Was that the general feeling of the cast, that everyone was really excited to get this out there?

Oh yeah.  This is like a labor of love in a lot of way because we shot two TV movies and 10 episodes basically back to back and all in Dallas.  Dallas was great to shoot in but it was hot in the summer and cold in the winter and things that I’m sure all New Yorkers are totally used to but being from Los Angeles, I wasn’t.  So it was a lot of, “Okay, we’re now going to roll up our sleeves and do this part of the movie.”  When it was freezing out I would always call coffee trucks in for the cast and crew and it was just a really great camaraderie.  And when it was hot I used to order and Ice Cream Truck. 


I have one more question going back to The Wonder Years.  There’s been a rumor that The Wonder Years is coming out on DVD, can you tell us anything about that?

I haven’t heard that rumor.  What I do hear all the time is, “Why isn’t it on DVD?”  That’s a good question and I think the answer is about the music licensing rights.  Because The Wonder Years had several great oldies songs on every single episode, so I guess it’s really expensive.  And if that wasn’t negotiated at the time, which it doesn’t sound like it was for VHS or DVD release, that’s got to be a painstaking process, going through the 115 episodes.  They’ve each got to have at least five or six songs, probably more.  It would be really expensive to acquire the rights for the DVD to be released.  So they’re probably negotiating.  Because everyone knows that it would probably be a really popular product and it is being sold bootleg online.  I can only imagine that the copy isn’t that good, there’s probably bad sound and probably fuzzy but people are dying for it, they really want to see it released.  So hopefully someday they’ll get all those negotiations worked out and it will be released.


I hope so too!  So where will you be on March 8th”?  Who will you be watching Inspector Mom with?

I’ll be watching it with my boyfriend and probably my mom too!



-Cameron Curtis, BuddyTV Staff Writer