The Event is an emotional, high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter, “The Class”), an everyman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his would-be fiancée Leila (Sarah Roemer, “Disturbia”), and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history.

The Event is a production of Universal Media Studios and Steve Stark Productions. Evan Katz (“24″) serves as executive producer/showrunner; Steve Stark (“Medium,” “Facing Kate”) serves as executive producer; Jeffrey Reiner (NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” “Trauma”) is director/executive producer; and Nick Wauters (“The 4400,” “Eureka”) is creator/co-executive producer.

The Event – Full Length Trailer
When an average guy stumbles upon a secret so powerful it could change the course of humanity, and a cover-up so big that the President is on a need-to-know basis, answers can only lead to bigger questions.

Begging For More
A wonderful puzzle where each week you’ll find out something new.

The Eve of The Event
This Fall, the world will change forever.

Fan Q&A with Blair & Laura
Blair Underwood and Laura Innes answer fan questions at NBC’s Fall Press Tour.

Fan Q&A with Sarah & Jason
Sarah Roemer and Jason Ritter answer fan questions at NBC’s Fall Press Tour.

Fan Q&A with Scott & Zeljko
Scott Patterson and Zeljko Ivanek answer fan questions at NBC’s Fall Press Tour.

After the head of his order of priests dies, Alex Bernier (Ledger), is sent to Rome to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death. The body bears strange marks on the chest that may be the sign of a Sin Eater, a renegade who offers absolution, last rites and a path to heaven outside the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church. Alex enlists the aid of an old comrade Father Thomas (Mark Addy, The Full Monty) and of a troubled artist (Shannyn Sossamon, Our Family Wedding) for whom he once performed an exorcism, only to find himself plunged into a mystery that brings him to the very brink of hell.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Pop Culture Zoo is giving away three (3) copies of The Order. For your chance of winning your own copy of The Order on Blu-ray, simply email your full mailing address (US and Canada only, no PO Boxes) along with the answer to the following question:

Director Brian Helegland co-wrote which Oscar® Winning movie?

• L.A Confidential
• The Dark Knight
• Gladiator

Tim Omundson must have one of the hardest jobs in television.  When he’s in character, playing hard-assed, gun-obsessed Detective Carlton Lassiter on Psych, he’s not permitted to even crack a smile at Shawn and Gus’ wisecracks, or join in on any of the ad-libbing fun  that happens while the cameras are rolling. It’s probably even harder to refrain from shenanigans because Omundson is a pretty hilarious guy —  something that might be a surprise to anyone who didn’t see his bonding moment with Juliet over Grease in ‘A Very Juliet Episode.’

But don’t feel bad for Omundson. During our interview with him, he talked about all the cool stuff Psych has allowed him to do (two words: face wig), as well as his diverse resume. (Think you recognize him from something other than Psych? Try Xena: Warrior Princess, Judging Amy, Deadwood or Luck of the Irish.)

Panel:  I hear that you’re the first person on set to break character…

Tim: First of all, that’s a ****ing lie. There’s no children in the room, right?

Panel: No, just reporters. Lots of reporters.

Tim: I wish it were true — It is absolutely true. What was the second part of the question?

Panel: Who makes it hardest to keep a straight face?

Tim: James, normally. I mean, Dulé knocks me out, but I just find him so funny and our—we have the same twisted sense of humor, which you wouldn’t necessarily get from last year. But me, he just cracks me up. I just find him hilarious. Dulé, not so much. (I’m kidding.)

No, you see it’s just—and it’s tough, because Lassiter has no sense of humor and never cracks a smile, really. There’s no leeway for Lassiter to at all enjoy what Shawn does, but on the inside—that’s why I always say I’m the best actor on the show, because I’m constantly covering wanting to giggle like a girl.

There are a few moments where Lassiter, or Lassiter’s sense of humor likes to come out. It tends to be tensely inappropriate times, and he’s always pleased as punch with himself. We did something in ‘Scary Sherry’, that never made it to air, that just delighted James to no end, where Lassiter says some quip and then is so pleased, he just gets this big Cheshire Cat grin. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it, and that just—that’s something that James always liked, so I’ll throw this one in.

Panel: I was going to ask if the sense of humor on the set is—like, does the show—is it different on every show or every set?

Tim: Oh, it’s as unique as the individuals that you’re in the room with. We just kind of got lightning in a bottle on this show where it’s like you have this group of actors, all of whom, especially me, are really funny.

And I always say we have very different senses of humor. We find different things funny, but I think we come from the same foundation of funny, if that makes any sense. And we all we all appreciate the same kinds of humor.

I think Maggie would like a little less crass humor. There are a lot of boys on this set. We try and keep it in line and not let it get too blue, but every now and then, we’ll forget Maggie’s there. You’re talking…she’ll just walk up and go, “A lot of boys on this set. A lot of boys,” and then walk away. James will do something that could never possibly make it to air, and she’ll just go, “That’s my boyfriend.”

So yeah, it’s certainly the funniest set I’ve ever been on. But then, when I did Judging Amy, which was not a show full of yucks unless you like child abuse, it got to the point where Tyne Daly and I worked so closely, got to know each other so well. And after, you know, 70 episodes and the subject matter being so deadly serious, we just tried to figure out how to make each other laugh.

Panel: Well, I do have a question about one of your older shows, and this is a two-part, geeky question. Considering you used to play Eli [on Xena: Warrior Princess], and now you’re playing Lassiter, I can’t really remember if there has been an episode where Lassiter has gone and become this uber-peaceful character, but is there a possibility of Lassiter kind of breaking out of the extreme violence.

Tim: I actually—I think I pitched one time that—I don’t know, it’s after a therapy session, Lassiter becomes very Zen. I just think it would funny to seem him play that, where he’s just so, “Everything’s all cool, man.  Everything’s okay,” and then slowly Shawnster’s chipping away at him. By the end of the episode, he’s shot three people in the face. That would be really fun for me to play. I don’t know if they’re going to do that.

Panel: I’d love to see the shot in the face. I don’t think that would go, but—

Tim: No. No, they can’t really do it. But it’s like you—I get to play—this is why this job is so great, because most of the time, you do a TV show and what you do in the pilot is essentially what you’re going to do for however many years and episodes it’s on the air. It’s going to be the same show with different guest stars coming in because, as the mandate goes, “The audience wants to tune in and see the same thing.” To a degree, I understand. But we can get away with so much more on this particular television show where we can do a Yin. You know, we can do Lassiter’s silly tap dancing. We can do, you know, ‘Tuesday the 17^th’ where it was some of the most dramatic stuff I’ve ever gotten to play, period, and it was on Psych. So it’s really—I feel amazingly fortunate, as an actor, that it just constantly is staying fresh and goofy.

Even the way we shoot the show. This episode [‘One, Maybe, Two, Ways Out] right now, [director Mel Damski] is going for a much—the camera work is going to be different.

You’re going to look—if you really are into the show, you kind of look at it and go, “That one’s shot differently,” because we can—we let the script inform what’s going on, where a lot of shows, it’s this way, these are the shots we use, these are the angles we use. You do not deviate.

Panel: All right. And if I could slide in another question, well, I guess I would say, also, just—we’ve seen kind of Lassiter being frustrated in his social life. So I would like to see, maybe, a little bit more of Lassiter possibly dating…

Tim: I would, too. Maggie has pitched, many times, that she signs him up on Match.com, and becomes his sort of—his love guide of trying to get him into that.  I mean, we’ve touched on that a little bit. There hasn’t really been any Lassiter relationship stuff since the break-up of his marriage, which is okay. I mean, Maggie has sort of become his surrogate—well, not social life, but she’s really the only other human being he speaks to, I think. You know, other than the guy who clocks him in at the gun range.

So it—you know, we got to see a little bit of it in—which one? In, I think, ’A Very Juliet Episode’, where he becomes her love counsellor with the—you know, the Grease stuff. And I loved playing that, because then that came out of nowhere for him to be the one that she goes to, and you see this weird sensitive side, just these non-sequiturs like, “Wait, who was that that just—oh, that was Lassiter?”

And then kind of never touched on it again. So we’ll see what happens.

Panel: Now, here’s a different one for you. Luck of the Irish. Are you surprised you still have so many younger fans who [are not] watching Psych. They play it on the Disney Channel all the time, still.

Tim: And I get about 35 cents every time it airs now, so that’s great. I don’t know if you were at Comic-Con, but I got a question about that at Comic-Con.

And what I should have also said is, “You still know who I am, right?” And the great thing about that—those people were, you know, 9, 10, 12, 13, and they’re now 19, 20, 21, 22. It’s like that. My audience has sort of grown with me in a way, which is, I think, really cool that—here’s these kids who were kids when they saw it, and now they’re young adults. Or they’re the parents who—they had little kids at the time, and now they’re watching this, and they’re 30 instead of 20. And, you know, we—apparently, we all grow old, and it’s nice that I sort of have this … when you see shows as a kid, and they get stuck on the back of your hard drive, and you can never get them out, whether you want to or not, and you don’t necessarily realize they’re there until something else sparks it. And so I think a lot of people go, “I know him from somewhere.” Then they go, “It’s Seamus freaking McTiernan.” So that’s really cool.

Panel: I have a question. You mentioned a couple of times about pitching things.  Do you feel like there’s lots of, I guess, input from the actors on the show about the direction of certain episodes?

Tim: More—to a degree, but that degree is more so than any other show I’ve ever been on. I mean, Steve Franks called me after season one. He’s like, “What else do you want to do?” I’m like, “Dude, you’ve already had me on a horse in Civil War.

Panel: I love that episode. The face beard.

Tim: My face wig.

Panel: The face wig was awesome.

Tim: I’m trying to think of some other great things I got to do, especially season one where I kind of—we didn’t know what the show was going to be yet, and so suddenly I’d get an episode where I’m in Civil War regalia…. “You’ve had me on a horse with a sword. You’ve had me in an Old-Western-timey shoot-out. No, there’s nothing else to do. What ever you—I’m good. Whatever else you come up with.

Panel:  Now, what’s your favorite thing you’ve done as Lassiter?

Tim: There’s too many to list. There really are. And, again, because it’s so varied, it’s such a wide spectrum of things I’ve gotten to play. Like, you know, you play this tight-ass cop like, you know, supercop. He’s supercop. Like I said, you don’t think you’re ever going to get to do anything else within that show, but I’ve gotten to do so much other stuff. One episode, it’s pure goofy, silly. One episode, it’s bad-ass action… And another it’s—you know, it’s just drama. You know, I can’t think of any one episode that’s been my favorite because they all sort of become my favorite, and then I read the next one and that becomes my favorite, and I read the next one.

You know, I can’t tell you which is the best—like, there’s no way we can top season two, and then we do season three. Like, there’s—forget it. We’re done.  We’ve jumped the shark. It’s going down.” Holy shit, this is the best season ever.” And it doesn’t normally work that way. It goes the other way. The writing—you know, you tend to shed writers, certainly after, like, five episodes in a season, all the original writers are gone on any other show. Not this. It’s like they’re all sticking around, they’re all still having fun. They’re all still able to really be creative, and the characters are still growing. It just doesn’t normally happen that way. It’s one of the greatest gigs on TV.

Panel: Maggie commented on the relationship between Lassiter and—

Tim: First of all, Maggie’s a liar, whatever she says.

Panel: She said you were awesome. But she made a comment about when she—at the end of last season, when Juliet has her breakdown, that she was really happy that Lassiter was the one that was there for her, and not Shawn.  And the comment I wrote down was that the characters had earned this.

Tim: And we—that’s a phrase we used while shooting that. Like, because [you could have got Shawn]. That would have been really easy. But for—the hard thing is for that asshole from season one, Lassiter, to be the guy who comes in and sort of takes care of her. That was real—that was one of the most satisfying moments to get to play.

Anyway, that was a really—that was a, you know, a beautiful day at work. And the song that played over that montage was a beautiful song [Band of Horses’ "I Go to the Barn Because I Like the"].

And they played that on set while it’s going on, which is—it was just a really lovely, emotional, sweet, sweet day. Yeah. And whoever would have thought if you watch, you know, season one that those two characters would be safe enough with each other to go there. It was great. Plus, it’s like, you know, that’s what happens with cops, and that’s what happens with partners and people, you know, in real life, so I’m glad they addressed that. I wish they’d address it more.

Panel: Now, we’ve seen Juliet go undercover. Are we ever going to see Lassiter go undercover, and as what?

Tim: I think Lassiter should go undercover as a drug lord. You know, I keep saying that, well, I’m raring to go. They—I think they feel that Lassiter—they’ve written in that Lassiter had a few bad experiences undercover. Perhaps he lost his temper and blew his cover. But the second this show is over, I grow a beard. I always do, because I get bored with what I look like. So I’ll grow this massive beard and grow my hair out. My rule is, pretty much, I won’t cut it until someone pays me to cut it. So if—or my wife threatens to take the kids. So depending on how good my hiatus is going, I could have a pretty long beard. And I keep saying, “I will come back for season one with a beard down to here, if you want.” And I always thought it would be a great time to—we’ll just do, like, one scene of him just post—you know, doing a sort of narc. And then we’ll, you know, shave it off.  They haven’t taken me up on it yet.

[Hopefully it goes without saying, but PCZ is grateful for the chance to be part of the set visit. We’re also thankful for the transcribed interviews and photos from the set, as well the opportunity to hang out with other writers from really cool outlets. Thanks for a great day, guys. -RI]

Led by Faceless Hunter, the Starro Invasion comes on full swing. Only Batman and a handful of unlikely heroes remain uninfected to thwart the alien parasites and their mind-controlled hosts before all of Earth is sucked dry.

Batman: The Brave and The Bold © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. “Batman” and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics.

Drake Sinclair springs a trap on General Hume and his minions. But when dealing with something as temperamental as a wild Thunderbird spirit, nothing goes according to plan. Drake, Becky, and Billjohn are caught between their enemies and a primal force of super-nature. Plus, what exactly is Drake’s connection to the undead General and the Six?

A daringly outspoken and highly creative talk show host opened a wisecracked window on the world of late night chatter—and made The Larry Sanders Show must-see TV in television history. Created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein, the award-winning hit series The Larry Sanders Show follows Larry Sanders (Shandling) and the twisted inner workings of his late-night talk show. Larry’s suave persona on-stage and angst-ridden antics off-stage drew millions of viewers, eager for backstage access to a show unlike any other.

Throughout its six-year (1992-1998) run on HBO, the series raised the bar for fearless, acerbic Hollywood satire. The innovative use of both video and film to distinguish on-air events from back stage happenings, displaying the jarring dynamic between Larry’s on-camera poise and backstage neurosis, was brutally fascinating. And in the company of a patronizing, combative staff and a parade of A-list guests — more than game for putting their own celebrity in the crosshairs — you had a backstage pass to a Hollywood that was shockingly raw and hilarious.

Shandling’s mercurial Larry was front and center, bolstered by Artie (Rip Torn, 30 Rock), his caustic, often foul-mouthed producer, and Hank Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development), his affection-hungry sidekick, whose signature “Hey Now” was one of television’s most recognized catch phrases. Larry’s staff was portrayed by a great comedic ensemble including Linda Doucett, Janeane Garofalo (24), Penny Johnson (24), Wallace Langham (CSI), Bob Odenkirk (Mr. Show), Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Mary Lynn Rajskub (24), Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program) and Scott Thompson (Kids In The Hall).

Marking 18 years after The Larry Sanders Show’s initial debut on television in 1992, the entire ground-breaking comedy series will finally be available for the first time on DVD November 2, 2010 from Shout! Factory. Offering the most comprehensive array of both classic and fresh, never-before-seen bonus material, The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series DVD box set boasts all 89 acclaimed episodes and a comprehensive collection of bonus content. Moreover, Shout! Factory invites fans and viewers to further immerse themselves in a special 60-page complete guide on the show. A must-have gift set for the holiday season, this uncompromising 17-DVD box set with a special commemorative guide book are collected in a lavishly packaged box.

The Larry Sanders Show was recognized by TV Guide Magazine’s list of the “50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.” Time Magazine called it “the closest sitcom to ever come to a perfect pitch.” The New York Post labeled the series “one of the greatest achievements in television.”

Over the course of its six-year run on HBO, the series garnered three Emmy Awards (unprecedented 56 Emmy nominations), two Peabody Awards, two TV Critics Awards, five CableACE Awards for Best Comedy Series, and numerous coveted honors and accolades including multiple Golden Globe, Directors Guild and Writers Guild Awards nominations.

Laced with acidic irreverence, the series lampooned the enormous egos and sugar-substitute smiles of late night TV. Shandling’s impeccable portrayal of the host—genial one minute, verging on meltdown the next – mined his own roots in standup comedy, as well as his experiences as guest host on The Tonight Show where he filled in for the iconic Johnny Carson.

Hip and edgy, The Larry Sanders Show’s innovative combination of videotape for the talk show segments and film for off-stage scenes created a fresh, documentary infused style unseen in any other TV series of the era, creating an insider’s sense of raw Hollywood and paving the way for popular series like Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, The Office, Da Ali G Show, Entourage, among others.

A constellation of guest stars consistently graced The Larry Sanders Show – playing exaggerated versions of themselves: Alec Baldwin, Jerry Seinfeld, Tom Petty, Ellen DeGeneres, Sharon Stone, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Howard Stern, Dana Carvey, David Duchovny, Roseanne Barr, Jon Stewart, Jon Lovitz, Rob Reiner, Mimi Rogers and many more. They regularly displayed unexpected and often outrageous angles of some of entertainment’s most famous faces.

THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW: THE COMPLETE SERIES DVD BOX SET EXTENSIVE BONUS CONTENT
• 60-page collector’s book – The Larry Sanders Show The Complete Guide
• Video introduction by Garry Shandling
• All-new deleted scenes
• All-new outtakes
• Garry Shandling lectures at University of Southern California (40 min.)
• Audio commentaries with Garry Shandling, Todd Holland, Judd Apatow and Peter Tolan.
• The Making Of The Larry Sanders Show feature-length documentary
• Garry Shandling and Judd Apatow on “The Writer’s Process”
• Interviews with cast and crew – Garry Shandling, Jeremy Piven, Bob Odenkirk, Linda Doucett, Penny Johnson, Janeane Garofalo, Scott Thompson, Wallace Langham, Sarah Silverman, and Mary Lynn Rajskub.
• Garry Shandling’s personal visits with guest stars: Alec Baldwin, Sharon Stone, David Duchovny, Tom Petty, Jon Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Jerry Seinfeld, Carol Burnett and more.
• Rip and Jeffrey visit with Garry in his living room
• EMMY® print campaign gallery (Season 6)
• The Journey Continues . . .

One (1) Winner will receive:
• $25 Fandango Bucks
• Copy of the book: Guardians of Ga’Hoole: The Capture

Two (2) additional winners will receive:
• Copy of the book: Guardians of Ga’Hoole: The Capture

About the Book – Guardians of Ga’Hoole: The Capture:
When Soren, a young owlet, mysteriously falls from his nest one evening, he’s plucked up and taken to the sinister St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls. Once there, he must use his wits and bravery to escape his captors. If Soren can learn to fly, he might just be able to take refuge with a group of brave owls he’d thought only to be a legend—the Guardians of Ga’Hoole!

About the Author:
Kathryn Lasky is the Newbery Honor author of over one hundred fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. She lives with her husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Kurt Sutter, executive producer and creator of Sons of Anarchy, talks about what’s coming up in the next 13 episodes.

QUESTION: Who or what in is going to be the primary bad guys in season 3?

KURT SUTTER: There’s a couple. We have a couple dual storylines going in Charming and as well as in Belfast, but I guess if you had to pin it down to one specific adversary, I would say that it’s probably the Titus Welliver character, Jimmy O. [Actor Jimmy O'Phelan].

QUESTION: Kurt, you wrote the part of Gemma for your wife Katey and you’ve said before you didn’t really tell her about it until you finished it. So you just kind of popped it on her all of a sudden?

KURT SUTTER: I don’t know if it was all of a sudden. Katey did a couple episodes of The Shield that I had written, and we wanted to do something together and this project came along. I was exploring the world and the dynamic between the members of the clubs and their old ladies and that I was influenced by Katey in terms of her strong maternal instincts, that she’s a fierce mom. I thought what would that characteristic, what would that strength look like in that world. So that’s what I mean by her influencing the role. But I don’t think I necessarily dropped it on her. I think there was an ongoing conversation. She didn’t read anything, obviously, until it was all done.

QUESTION: Because stakes are so high every season, is one of the most challenging aspects of this crafting a season-ender that allows you to make a next season? Or are you going to hit a point where you’re just going to have to discontinue that because you’ve killed off too many characters?

KURT SUTTER: Hopefully, I’ll never get to the point where I run out of characters. I usually have a vague – have a blueprint of ultimately where I’d like the show to land. Usually halfway or three-quarters of the way through, I start to get a sense of perhaps what the next season will be like so I can ultimately maybe lay some track setting that up. And, obviously, between season 2 and season 3, there was a lot at stake, and there’s very little time that lapses between those two seasons. You know, my sense is that will be different between season 3 and if we’re lucky enough to have a season 4.

QUESTION: One of the things that I really admire about the show is that you managed to make heroes out of these characters that are normally villains, people who kill people dealing in weapon and drugs. Talk a little bit about how tough that is, and is there a line you can’t cross in terms of what these characters can do so that you avoid turning the audience off to them?

KURT SUTTER: I don’t necessarily think of these characters as being bad men or bad women, and, of course, you know, it’s a fairly dangerous world. I think their motivations, although the solution and their actions are quite often different than ones we would choose, their motivations are often the same as ours, meaning whether it’s protecting their family or protecting their hometown or keeping out who they perceive to be a bad or worse influence. And then their means to get that done are quite often, as you described, bad.

QUESTION: Kurt, can you say is there an overriding theme to the third season? And what is it? And how far in the season is the Abel (Jax’s son) kidnapping story going to continue?

KURT SUTTER: I don’t know if there’s one specific overriding theme. I think the theme is always about family and Jax sort of defining his role as a father and as a partner and as a son and as a member of this club. The Abel storyline drives us through pretty much the entire season, and I don’t want to give anything away in terms of what that means and where that takes us, but the actual span of time within our seasons is very short. It’s potentially two or three weeks. So there isn’t a lot of time that passes where you can have a lot of things unfold organically. So it is a very concentrated period of time which I think helps feed the sense of urgency for the tasks that they have at hand this season.

QUESTION: It seems the events in the first episode of this season could have repercussions for Chief Unser. Could you talk a little bit about that and where that character may be headed this season?

KURT SUTTER: Again without giving away too much of what goes on this season we’ve defined this relationship between Unser and the club as being — it’s not so much that Unser is in Clay’s pocket — it’s they’ve made this deal a long time ago where they would each do their part to keep Charming safe. What happens is that gets turned on its head a little bit this season and the nature of the violence is perhaps what neither the club or Unser had in mind. So I think that relationship will be tested in a very heated way this season.

QUESTION: Is there anything you could do that you’d like to do if you were on pay cable, where broadcast standards don’t really apply that you can’t do on FX?

KURT SUTTER: I think it’s a couple things. One is on pay cable, I’d probably have about at least 10 to 13 more minutes of story time, which is a big difference. As far as, obviously, language, I’d have a little bit more room. I’d have a little bit more room with violence and — although do you really want more room? — and sexual content. But the interesting thing is after seven seasons on The Shield, I got used to living creatively in those parameters and being challenged by those parameters rather than feeling handcuffed to them. So I learned to have bad guys with bad attitudes and doing bad things and criminals and outlaws living in a world where the word “fuck” doesn’t exist. I therefore take it upon myself to use it as frequently as I possibly can. (Laughing.) But that’s the parameter that I’ve learned to live with, so it doesn’t exist in that world. And I constantly have an ongoing dialogue with our S&P [Standards and Practices] person in terms of what we can do and what we can’t do. But yes, obviously I’d have more freedom to do that. But I don’t think, in any way, that has impacted creatively what I’ve been able to do on this show. So I don’t view that as a handicap, if that makes sense.

The DVD Sons of Anarchy: Season Two was released on August 31, 2010.

The first person to talk to us during Psych-day was Maggie Lawson, who plays Detective Juliet O’Hara. In Season 5, the character has recently taken a slightly darker turn, along with her hair color. (Being abducted and used in Hitchcock-inspired killer’s plans would take their toll on anyone.)

Lawson was very cool during the interview, and answered our questions, from where she’d like to send Juliet undercover, to what it’s like working alongside your significant other, as well as her growing relationship with Lassiter – and why she’s glad he rescued her at the end of Season 4.

Maggie: Yeah. I love that. I think that, at first, Juliet was sort of like—if she doesn’t play by Lassiter’s rules, obviously he’s going to be very upset. He’s not the nicest guy. But I think he’s—the character, I think they’ve done a really good job with writing him as well, because he has sort of let her do her own thing and find her own way. And so, over the seasons, rather than this always—you know him—like, the biting back and forth, it’s become more of a mutual respect, and I think she really does look up to him and how he works. I don’t think it’s the way she’s going to do things ever, but I think that she does respect the way he does it, and I don’t think she would be the cop, the detective that she is without him.

And I think we really got to see that, which was so nice, at the end of last season, in Yin, where, you know, that—just that moment. I mean, as simple as it was, just Juliet having that breakdown. I loved so much that it was Lassiter who was there for her and not Shawn, because I think the characters have just so earned that over the season. So I think that shows a lot about how they feel about each other in all their differences. I don’t know if they—I think if either lost the other, it would be like losing a limb. I think they really are dependent on each other.

Panel:  How would you like to see Juliet and Shawn’s relationship develop?

Maggie: Good question. I think—again, I think we’ve done a good job, over the last few seasons, of really playing out how a relationship like this might go. So many complications are going to come into play when and if these characters get together. So I think that we’ve exhausted a lot of that now. I think some very serious things have been said, and it’s just like—it’s like a little ticking bomb that I feel like is going to—it’s going to happen, somehow, in a big way. It’s either going to be great, or it’s going to be a crazy fall-out. Shawn has a huge secret and if he’s going to have honest relationships, how does all that work? And so, I would like to see—for both of them to be honest about their feelings with each other, however that’s going to play out.

Panel: Does he have to learn to bowl?

Maggie: Yes. I’ll still beat him, though.

Panel: So you already referenced the [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder], so will that come into play later on in the episodes?

Maggie: Well, we’ve already seen it a little this season, just because, you know, she left for as long as she did, and it was sort of that weird line of, “How long are you going to be away?” It’s clearly affected her…

She’s almost a little bit more bitey and a bit more defensive, and I think in this season more than others. So I think there’s a level of that that’s going to hang around for a while, and I like that. I like it. I like that they’re writing toward it, and I like that— I like getting to play that, because sometimes I think things like that happen, and they’re just ignored. So I feel like the longer that my darker hair stays around and stuff like that, and who knows how long that’s going to be? But just for me, I think I like that there’s—it’s still hanging around just a little bit.

But I also think even the Lassiter stuff this year has been a little stronger, it’s been a little deeper. So there’s been a whole fallout from that. I don’t know if we’re seeing Juliet in therapy, but maybe her version of that is—this is how she’s dealing with it.

Panel: Well, anyway, I did like that they were kind of slowly continuing—

Maggie: A little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do, too. I do, too, because it was— that’s a big thing that everybody on the show went through. It feels so serious when I say it. It’s usually a little light, like, goofy. I like it.

Panel: I have a question. You’ve already made James blush at Comic-Con this year when you were asked to compare Shawn to James.

Maggie: I did, and I love doing that.

Panel: So how would you compare you to Juliet?

Maggie: Good question. Let’s see. How would I compare? I would—well, I would like to think that I go at things the way Juliet does, which is— she sort of stops at nothing whether she’s going undercover and whatever. I like to think that I’m that way, though I’m not always.

But, let’s see. I think that Juliet, sometimes, is a little bit clumsy, and I am definitely that. Yeah. I’m trying to think of other things. But I have a lot of [similarity] and I think this sort of helped in dealing with the characters that my character has. I think, like, we’ve said it before. Like, four or five brothers. I think it may have changed over the seasons, how many brothers I have. But I have two brothers in real life, so I think that, naturally, I have tomboyish tendencies which, obviously, Juliet has as well. So just from being around boys.

Panel: Part of the fun of the show is all the guest stars. Are there some that you have bonded with more than others, or that you’ve had a lot of fun with, or that you were really excited to work with?

Maggie: Yeah. We’ve  had so much fun. Like, Franka [Potente] in this one, she’s so great. She’s so much fun. There are some guest star casts that we are a little more social with than others, not based on liking them or not. But, yeah, we’ve been out with Franka a few times this episode, which is fun.

I hope this is because people enjoy being here, but I feel like just about every guest star or guest cast that we have come on, we end up having, like, a real experience with them, almost like a movie shoot with them or something.

But yeah, I’m trying to think of, like a season—well, Nestor Carbonell, this season, he’s been on. He’s been in a couple. So we’ve had a good time with him.  And we have Freddie Prinze Jr., who’s a friend of Dule’s, so we had fun with him.  I don’t know. To say, some over others is kind of hard because what if they read these? You can turn the tape recorders off. Then we’ll talk! We love them all the same.

Panel: Will we ever see an episode like the roller derby episode?

Maggie: Like it?

Panel: Yeah. Well, for Juliet, because I guess that was one of my favorites.

Maggie: You know what? I kind of—I haven’t been undercover in a while. Like, I don’t know if I’ve done anything since then, actually, like the roller derby one, because I have the ‘Scary Sherry’ in first season, and then, the ['American Duos'], which I guess I wasn’t necessarily undercover. I was just the drill sergeant dancer. And then roller derby. Yeah, I think we’re due for another really silly Juliet episode.  Well, I think we are, anyway. I think we’re due. I don’t know if the producers would feel that way.

Panel: We could start a campaign for you.

Maggie: Thank you. Will you? But yeah, I would like to see something. I would like to see something really, really, fun and dark where Juliet’s just scared out of her mind, in some prostitution ring or something. You know, USA’s version of that, not—

Panel: Well, let’s talk a bit more about the serious tone. The show has sort of gone more serious tones for all the characters, but can you just expand on, like, working with, like  Dulé and, you know, the other characters? Like, I love the relationship between you and Dulé, right? I just feel it hasn’t been explored enough yet.

Maggie: Yeah. I agree. There—every now and again, over the seasons, there’s always a moment where we bond over something. You know, last year in that refrigeration truck. You know, ['Shawn Takes A Shot in the Dark']. We go on sort of our own case together. And they’ve bonded over being, like, nerds a little bit.

Panel: Comic-Con?

Maggie: The Comic-Con ['Shawn vs. The Red Phantom'], yeah. So I would like to see that a little more as well.  But it has been a little bit more serious. I feel like the last two—this season and season four sort of have led us into a deeper look at all of their relationships, which I think, naturally, makes it seem a little more dramatic because we’re going to darker—a little, you know, darker places. But in that, I think we’re, obviously, still finding the comedy, but I think it can almost promote more because it’s so it’s kind of uncomfortable to go to some of those darker places sometimes. But this season, definitely. This episode that we’re shooting right now is crazy.

Panel: Well, Gus saved you, right?

Maggie: And Gus saved me, yeah. Totally. Yeah. Yeah, there’s a whole relationship there that’s not—that hasn’t been totally explored yet. But I do think—I know that there are some more Gus/Juliet interactions in the future.

Panel: At Shawn’s expense?

Maggie: Well, yes.

Panel: Can you define “interactions”?

Maggie: It’s not necessarily romantic, but there are some out-of-office things that happen out of work and case scenarios that I know are coming up in some episodes. Yeah. Soon. That—no, not like that. Can you explain “interactions.” I did say that a bit, like, coy, didn’t I, right?

Panel: Speaking of relationships, is it difficult working with someone that you are actually dating?

Maggie: I think that it can be, yeah. But for us, it’s not. We have really— we had Psych before we had our relationship, and I kind of love that we’ve held on to work is work, and when we’re at work, we’re working. And his partner at work is Dulé. My partner at work is Tim. And I feel like it’s been a really healthy, awesome, like, approach. We’ve, I think, done a good job of keeping thatThere were people who, on the crew, that still come up to me and they’re like, “You guys are dating? Like, really?” It’s not like we don’t speak at work. It’s just that we have a definite line of when we’re at work, it’s about work, and we keep i about work. And then we can get all, you know, lovey-dovey after work.

Panel: I know there’s, you know, a lot of people who think, you know, “Will they?  Won’t they?” type thing between Juliet and Shawn. Do you feel, as an actress, that when the couples on the show cross that line, it actually causes the show to suffer? Because a lot of shows like Moonlighting, for example—

Panel: Jumped the shark.

Maggie: Jumped the shark. I have a couple of different takes on that. I think that it’s a—it’s just a fine line. It depends on where the show is. It depends on the characters. I think Moonlighting, it would be—Moonlighting would be if Shawn and Gus got together.

Panel: It would be a completely different show then.

Maggie: Whereas Juliet isn’t his—isn’t the other person.

Panel: You could get a ratings boost from that, though.

Maggie: Crazier things have happened.

Maggie: Yeah. Well, I’m going to mention it. But there are arguments to both sides because—again, I think what is so important about this show and how we’ve developed all or our relationships is kind of what I just said about life, in our real life, too. It’s like it’s Shawn and Gus, and that’s the core of the show. And then there’s Juliet and Lassiter, and there are these—you know, Henry and Shawn. There are all these other, like, peripheral relationships. And I think that—I do think that it can work if the “will they” happens, because I have—I mean, we’ve seen before—like, you know, the Ross and Rachel. The get together episode—season one, and it went back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth, and I don’t think that show really suffered because of that. And the other one is Carrie and Big.

It was sort of like the coming together in the—and without necessarily physically going there. I think we’ve done that a little bit, and I think it’s good. I think it raises the stakes for when that day actually comes, and then what that really means. It’s so big. But even Carrie and Big didn’t officially get together until, you know, the end. So I guess that’s the other side of the argument. Same with Ross and Rachel, right?

Yeah, the felanji. He’s a lobster. Anyway. I’ve never seen that show before in my life.

Panel: Is there a—with the subculture that you found most interesting or had your eyes opened to that you didn’t know existed…?

Maggie: Yeah. I really loved tap dancing. I felt like that was the world. But no. I mean, for me, the undercover stuff. I think I had the most fun with Scary Sherry, sorority, and the axe fight. That was a world that was fun to explore. It was like, the sorority girl outfit with an axe in my hand. But one world more than—I mean, I love—I’ve loved—right now, the Franka episode ['One, Maybe Two, Ways Out'], and this sort of getting into the whole—the secret agent side of things, like the one with my—with my brother last year, with John Cena. I’m always fascinated by those episodes. I always like how they even write them. And I’ve loved the Yin and Yang episodes as well, with the riddles and it’s just good stuff.

[Hopefully it goes without saying, but PCZ is grateful for the chance to be part of the set visit. We’re also thankful for the transcribed interviews and photos from the set, as well the opportunity to hang out and talk to some writers from some really cool outlets. Thanks for a great day, guys. -RI]

Pete and Myka must travel back in time to stop a mysterious killer. David Anders guest-stars.