Have you been going through TK withdrawals? Necessary Roughness is back for its winter run and the football season has started. TK returns to the Hawks a changed man, but his struggles are not over. Mehcad Brooks spoke with reporters on a conference call last week about what’s coming up for TK.

Check out five big changes coming up for TK.

Starts to mature

Brooks: [TK] begins to grow up a little bit and I think that starts to become very apparent after his realization that he’s an addict and the drug addiction and going to rehab and so on and so forth. So yes, there is a lot of growth that you do see from TK coming up very soon.

Challenges on the field

Brooks: It’s a tough road to travel for TK when he comes back into something that’s such a high competition level. Not to mention the New York Hawks have hired a star wide receiver in his absence, you know, just in case TK you know can’t pull the cart up the hill.

And this guy’s great. He’s scoring touchdowns left and right, and TK’s like kind of burning inside and wanting to get back to the field but he’s lost a bit of his step. 

Doing, not just trying

Brooks: TK always tries to turn over a new leaf, and that’s the thing about him. It’s like you have to love the guy because he’s always trying, right?

But at the same time, there’s a difference between trying and actually believing and doing. And I think he learns a lesson between you know, trying to do something and actually saying, “You know what? Here are my actual limitations. Here are my actual – here’s the truth, here’s my reality, and this is what I have to deal with. And you know I’m going to do it. I’m going to do this.”

A new relationship

Brooks: [Juliette Pittman] struggles with addiction as well, so they kind of bond a little bit over that, but she’s not taking her recovery as seriously as TK is.

And you know,  they do start hanging out a little bit and one thing leads to another and then there’s an opportunity for TK to cross the line – and I’m not going to say that he does, but you know it’s definitely a good career move for him if he does.

But you know, we start to get a little insight into how much that he’s changed based on this relationship.

A witness to bravery

Brooks: [TK] gets shown an example of bravery by one of his teammates who actually comes out of the closet. And I won’t say who it is. And he basically opens up about who he is as well and the things that he has to work on, and things that he has to fight for in his life as well. He does open up a little bit and starts to become somewhat of a different person

Necessary Roughness returns for its winter premiere on Wednesday, January 23 at 10 pm ET on USA.

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(Image and videos courtesy of USA Network.)

Carla Day

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV

Contributing Editor and Writer for Collider, BuddyTV, TV Fanatic, CliqueClack, and other publications. TV criticism, reviews, interviews with actors and producers, and other related content. Founder of TV Diehard.