No one can say I’m not a woman of my word. I told you I’d get back to you with a more humorous post soon, after the other day’s serious critique of “Necessary Roughness” (and “The Newsroom”) et voila! I’m all ready to dish after having interviewed the bubbly, fun and beautiful Callie Thorne, none other than Dr. Dani herself on the USA Network brilliant drama.
As usual, there is a lot of scoop that awaits you in the coming paragraphs, which means: SPOILERS AHEAD, read at your own risk! If you don’t want to hear about upcoming shrinks (!) who will deal with Dr. D. herself, the whole romantic angle for Dr. D., how the ridiculously handsome and talented Mehcad Brooks (who plays star wide receiver Terrence “TK” King) cracks her up more quickly than anyone else can when they’re filming, and much more, then quit reading at once. Of course you’ll miss out on… well, all of what I just said.
We left Dr. D. and more than her, TK, in an extremely messed-up situation at the end of last night’s episode. Dani has to deal with a possible leak of tapes that contain recordings of all her therapy sessions with her clients (eeek! Just imagine what would happen if a Hollywood shrink’s office was wire-tapped and tapes with all celebrity clients were around? Utter mayhem, and about a zillion P.R. meltdowns!), while TK was last left a few yards short of running over a little girl crossing the street on her bike. Now, we all hope he’ll hit those brakes in time at the beginning of the summer finale next week, right? And, while I can’t give that away for now, I will definitely give away all the scoop that we discussed with the wonderful Ms. Thorne herself! Plus you know, she talks Marc Blucas (who plays the perfect man Matt, or Matty D. as TK calls him), Mehcad Brooks, Scott Cohen (who plays the mysterious Nico)… not a bad pool of men genes to think about there. Ahem.
I want to say first and foremost that I am always pleased to speak with people who have a bubbly personality, but Callie Thorne, she is something else. It was a real pleasure to speak with her, and she had such great insight into her character and the show itself, I think I only prefer Mr. Blucas and Mr. Brooks to her. (Never had the pleasure to speak with Mr. Cohen so can’t express myself there). Sue me: I love gorgeous, smart men. So here comes the scoop, brace yourselves!
Alessandra: “Dr. D (as TK calls her) helps everyone else figure out their lives, including their romantic ones sometimes , but it seems that while she knows what she wants — it’s pretty clear at this point that Matt is what she wants and needs in her life — she won’t admit it to herself and she has a hard time figuring out HOW to get there.
I know there are many complications in upcoming episodes, including Dr. D. going to see a therapist herself to deal with her anger and confusion ( note: we will see that in the first of the upcoming winter episodes). But I also know that at the end of the season there will be one case in particular that will be a wake-up call for her in terms of “stop waiting and putting happiness on hold, life doesn’t last forever and you need to grab it while you can”. Could you tell us a bit more about the path to personal growth that awaits Dani in the upcoming episodes until the end of the season? ”
Callie Thorne: “I think that in regards to her needing help, it’s such a good question… the idea of the fixer needing help to fix herself. In regards to Matt, we’ve seen that relationship come to such a big wall because Matt wants to have kids and Dani doesn’t want to have kids anymore, so she doesn’t want to stop Matt from his own dreams. So this has put everything, and Dani herself, in a sort of limbo. It kind of leaves her feeling vulnerable, in regards to her relationship with Nico as well, and as we’re coming to the summer finale, because we see her in her private life in the most vulnerable position, with her kids as well, everything is turning into a question for her. So it gets to the point when she decides to reach out for help.”
“The actress who plays the therapist is genius, so the scenes have been truly great, and the therapy sessions, they’re really eye-opening for her. This limbo leaves her to wonder whether or not she’s making the wrong decision with Matt and possibly finding herself losing the love of her life” Now hold on a minute here, pep talk needed. Listen, Dr. D., Matt can easily be the love of the life of many of us. Please take one for the team and show us that, at least on TV, we CAN get the perfect man! OK? Good. End of pep talk.
Callie Thorne: “And then because of the worst circumstances (no kidding, and no, I can’t tell y’all what these worst circumstances are), there’s suddenly this possibility with Nico that throws her into MASS confusion. So that makes her go to the place where she knows there are answers. (The new Mrs. Therapist we will see in upcoming winter episodes). At the end of the day, though, Dani is always struggling… thankfully, because it’s very interesting for the audience to watch someone that’s so relatable, going through things that any one of them could.”
“Losing the love of my life is something I don’t know anything about in my real life, so [in order to do my job well as an actress] I have to do my homework, I have to think about situations and think “what would I do in that situation” and be honest about it. It’s putting yourself through that thought process that will hopefully elevate me in my real life as well, and I think no other job would give me this chance, so I feel very grateful.”
Alessandra: “This season has provided great insight into Dani’s relationship with her kids, Ray J in particular. Now, he’s getting into a LOT of trouble in upcoming episodes and it seems like there’s major drama between him and Dani at the end of the season. I know he also serves as a catalyst for the Matt/Dani relationship.. without giving too much away, could you tell us how this will impact the relationship between Dani and Matt in future episodes?”
Callie Thorne: “Yes [it does serve as a catalyst for the Matt/Dani relationship], yes, that comes up in a little bit. It happens because Ray J is becoming a man and he finds himself in a situation where he wants and needs to make these choices that, as a mother, Dani can’t come to grips with. And then again that’s a place where any mother can find herself at some point.. the way the writers created that hurdle, it is a parallel with her own life and with her patients’ life. I think no matter whether she makes mistakes in her own life and her own romantic life, I don’t think this can ever be right or wrong. It’s just about the forks in your life, there’s no right or wrong it’s just the way that you handle yourself and [it’s about] following the truth that you believe in, in life.”
All I can tell you to further explain the above, is Matt is involved in the situation as well and it’s once again a great way the writers picked to develop the relationship between Matt and Dani. Anything else… you’ll see when episodes air after the break. (In the winter). Hey, good things come to those who wait and watch “Necessary Roughness”. What, sayings need adaptations at times.
Now, there’s also a whole lot coming up for the man we all have a soft spot for, our one and only TK. Dani and TK seem to be going ups and downs together this season, and while TK gets in a lot more trouble than Dani does, it seems when TK is happier, Dani is happier too. Ms. Thorne herself brilliantly addressed this point, and most importantly, made this very same analysis, which made me feel so well, as I thought it may have been a bit of a stretch, but no… Not to mention she got talking about how her and the ever adorable Mr. Brooks hit it off really well, starting from the pilot. And how he’s the center of the show. Yes, another thing I said in my story the other day… I mean it, people who are in those award committees better be listening. Mr. Brooks is long overdue for some award love, and so is Necessary Roughness! (Ms. Thorne has had her share last season, so hopefully that’ll keep on going!).
Callie Thorne: “TK is the connection between all of the Necessary Roughness characters. When he struggles, everyone else is left to struggle. From the pilot, TK is the character that really connects everybody. Sometimes they say it’s my character, but more often I still think it’s TK. And because he’s got such an amazing spot in her heart, especially when we get to shoot those scenes, you can really see it.”
“Mehcad and I, we also have a different and special friendship. He and I really got on, and we have the same drive to tell a good story within the show. We laugh and laugh and laugh, we have the same sense of humor. And he can break me in a scene faster than any other people can. Mehcad will come up with the CRAZIEST improvs, and because it’s that chemistry that we have as friends, I think it comes across on camera. And whether it’s a parental connection that Dani has with TK, because he’s never met a woman like Dani, and she’s never met a man like him, I think there is this real sense of trust and, previous to where we are now, there was a place where especially TK let his defenses down. But where we [Dani and TK] find ourselves now it’s that moment in time where things may be going backwards.”
I don’t know about you, but I love it when actors speak so highly of their colleagues, and when you feel there’s a real sense of friendship within a cast. Maybe because tabloids tend to only underline the fights between cast members of the various shows? It’s so refreshing to hear each and every actor (Mr. Blucas also mentioned this to me in previous interviews) and guest star (the super talented and bright Gaius Charles, to name one, and the great Terrell Owens to name another) on “Necessary Roughness” underline how friendly the set is and how well the actors get on with each other. In fact, Ms. Thorne also spends time with her co-stars outside the set.
Callie Thorne: “My free time in Atlanta I spend with the boys, or with the crew, because despite spending 12-13 hours a day together, they are the people you want to be laughing with after work. The people in Atlanta always give us such a warm reception. Wherever I go in Atlanta, someone is yelling out “HEY DOC!”, which just cracks me up…it’s something that really warms my heart. Whether or not people are relating to the character or not, they feel comfortable enough to do that, and it’s really heartwarming!”
I think it’s virtually impossible NOT to be nice to such a group of talented (and handsome!) actors, especially when someone as cool as Ms. Thorne is leading them. But fans can often overdo it a bit, so props to the Atlanta people for being so cool themselves!
And because I’m not about to leave you without one more tidbit of scoop, here goes: the romantic entanglements never end up the way they seem to look in one precise moment on this show. So bear that in mind. And that’s all I can say for now. But, Ms. Thorne had a hilarious take herself on how she took the development of the “triangle” matters, so hear it from her.
Callie Thorne: “Matt is the solid good man, do right, and he’s like a hug. He’s like a delicious, romantic hug. Nico is the bad boy that you can’t figure out and all you want to do is figure him out. I was very excited that the writers leaned a little bit more towards the triangle, because as Callie I wanna know what Dani’s gonna do and how she’s going to do it. Sometimes you wanna know the end result as an actress. I’m split between the two, I’m in a scene with Marc Blucas and I think “Ok that’s it! Come on, she HAS to be with Matt!” and then I’m in a scene with Nico and think “Oh wait she has to figure out the bad boy as well”.
Did that help? No? Well of course she does know how things develop, but she can’t spoil a whole season now, can she? You will all have to watch and see it unfold on screen, after all that’s where the fun lies! That’s all I can give you, for now . Well, unless you pay me in undying love declarations from Mr. Blucas, or Mr. Brooks, or my TV husband Michael Vartan. That may convince me to dish some more scoop.
Meantime, don’t forget to check out the summer finale of “Necessary Roughness”, next Wednesday at 10 p.m. on USA Network! And be sure to tune in when the show returns in the winter! Thanks for your patience, lovelies, until next time!
