Hello…I’m calling for Marc?

It’s me, Billy.

Hey how are you?

It’s so nice to hear your voice, not through the TV screen.

Well thank you.

So what are you doing right now? Where are you?

I’m at home.

Oh okay, well I appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your time. How much do I have?

Oh as much as you want.

Oh you are too kind.

That’s all right.

My son is here, and when we are done he wants to say hi and then we have another fan…

I’ll be happy to.

…She drove to my house just to make sure to say hi to you over the phone.

I’ll be happy to.

Okay, well hey, I have some questions here for you.

Yeah, sure.

Well, they aren’t in any kind of order, so we can just randomly shoot through them.

First of all, I’ve been watching the show since the first episode. I was sitting on the edge of my sofa waiting for that opening night (he laughs) and I was in love with the show instantly. I've been watching it and have every episode on tape. I’ve been part of the message board for years. And just being able to enjoy each episode has been such wonderful filler for my weekly routine. And I’m a TV-holic, I admit it.

Are you? What are your favorite shows?

Once And Again is the #1 one. I was watching things like Ed, ER, The West Wing and do you have a favorite show?

Well, you know, to tell you the truth, I don’t watch television.

Your schedule is too full, isn’t it.

Well, not just that. I’m just not; I’m just not a TV watcher. Some eat apples and some don’t…I have caught bits and pieces of things here and there.

Do you like comedies, or do you like dramas, when you do get to watch?

I’m not all that particular. I know that I’ve seen The West Wing a couple of times. I reeeeeeally think that’s terrific. It would surprise me if there were a better show on television. You know, of course ER is always top notch. Various other [sundry] things…But I really not well versed in TV to tell you the truth. So I can’t really tell you anything more than that. If I were going to take a swing and guess what would be my favorite show if I were watching TV, I’d say The West Wing.

There you go. <g> Okay, well let me ask you this. Out of the three years of the show being on, what was your favorite story line? And it doesn’t have to be your own character; it could also be one of the other ones.

Sure…(thinking)

And while you are mulling that over, maybe you could ask yourself what was your least favorite story line…

I’d say my favorite story line; well this is just the first thing that pops into my head…

Yeah…

Not necessarily my favorite story line, upon further investigation I might come up with something else. The first thing that pops into my head is my daughter’s whole story line with her burgeoning sexuality. I thought that was terrific. It was risky for the show, and risqué you know, in a sense, it was like real. It felt real to me. It was real stuff happening, you know.

I was looking forward to her revealing that to you.

Yeah, I was kinda looking forward to that myself.

Would that have been revealed this season if we’d gone the full 23 episodes?

I imagine it would’ve.

See, we wanted that.

Sure.

How about your least [favorite]? Is there a least favorite story line?

Probably was my whole, the whole thing dealing with Miles Drentel.

Really? You hated that?

Well, I didn‘t…

That was your Emmy caliber work!

Now hold on, I didn’t say hated it. I didn’t say I hated it.

Yeah, okay, sorry.

That’s all right. But I’d have to say it was my least favorite. The whole…the whole notion of bringing over the character from thirtysomething I wasn’t terribly keen on. You know, David Clennon just was great at what he does. And he’s terrific. No problem with him. I just wasn’t crazy with the story line. The fact that bringing this person over, I think they ought to have created someone who is specific to O&A.  Originated someone for the show. (This is the part when you can tell I wasn’t paying very good attention. Oops!)

Yeah, he came from thirtysomething, didn’t he?

Uh-huh.

Yeah. (Idiot!) Then did you like your new boss? I can’t remember his name. He was on Frasier. For the hotels…

Oh, yeah. I mean, I didn’t have much to do with him, you know. I thought he was terrific, he was great. What I really liked was…. It’s hard to comment on those things, because I didn’t for instance have a lot to do with my new boss. But I can comment on… what I’m eager to comment on is my new partner, you know. They gave me Weber, and they make him part of the show, which they never did with Todd. Um, so it gave me some man stuff to do. We could have man conversations.

<LOL> Yes, you had some!

Man things. You know what I mean, as opposed to being surrounded by all these women and being ever sensitive, and ever understanding, and ever-this-that-and-the-other-thing.

<LOL>

It gave me a little bit of a chance to break out that way.

Yeah, but your ever-sensitivity is what made everyone tune in I think.

Well thank you.

They're all looking for your example of how to be a good husband.

I understand that.

Now I saw you in Enough, so I’ve seen the other end of your acting spectrum.

Oh good.

Big difference. Great movie, btw, I really enjoyed it.

Thank you very much.

I’ve read several articles since then. I read some of the reviews --- and I hate reviews.

Yeah.

And so I wrote my own.

Yeah. What did that say?

Well mine said that I enjoyed the story, that it drew me in. It had me on the edge of my seat, and I was wanting J-lo’s character to kick your butt because you deserved it. (Right) But it didn’t feel it was a message to society of what‘s right from wrong, I didn’t feel it was supposed to take a stand like the Alzheimer episodes "Losing You" with Lily’s mother

Yeah.

That one ended with "Here’s the number for the Alzheimer’s foundation." See it was a big difference compared to this. This was entertainment. And for people to say this is promoting more violence in the home and why are they trying to make money off of it - I disagree with those types of commentaries.

I disagree with them as well. It was not meant to be a message - it was meant as entertainment.

I read that you had a real blast making that movie, because you got to be so different.

Oh yeah, I had a great time doing that movie. It was just huge fun for me to do something so completely different from anything I’ve done. To this day, I can’t believe anyone gave me this chance to do [better?].   Note: Sometimes it is hard to make out a word here or there, so I'm guessing the best I can from the poor recording I got.

That first punch just.... I couldn’t believe when you did it.

Yeah, Yeah…

It just came out of nowhere. I was like<gasp> Wow.

Yeah, wasn’t that funny?

Yeah.

I was very happy with it. Very happy about it. (The movie)

My son keeps wanting to know why you didn’t step in the shower with J-lo.

Step in the shower with J-lo?

How did you walk away from that one?! They didn’t pay you enough? <LOL>

I know. Tell him I empathize with him. Because, you know…I was certainly voting for that scene to pan out, but unfortunately it didn’t.

Okay, let’s see. I know you like Rugby.

Um-hmm. I sure do.

And a friend of mine, another fan of the show is in Australia, and she wants to know if you will come to Australia for the World Cup Rugby Competition next year.

If I can make it, I certainly will. I was there for the first one.

Really?

Yep. Is she talking about Rugby Union or Rugby League?

I really don’t know. The sentence says specifically "ask him if he’s coming to Oz, which is Australia, for the Rugby World Cup next year, specifically Melbourne."

Rugby Union, I will. But if it is Rugby League….

I think she wants to meet you there. Okay, I found this interesting little thought: In the second episode of O&A, you bared your butt.

Yep.

In the second to last episode of O&A, you bared your butt. What’s the significance? All the women want to know. :)

I don’t think there is any real significance whatsoever, except I was thin in the first one and fat in the second one.

<LOL> No-one mentioned that.

Not intentional, Um….

How come we never got equal time from Sela Ward?

Well, <he had to catch his breath on that one…grin> it’s a little different for ol’ Sela.

But you see, I was wanting that!

Yeah, well, me too…

Since the first episode!!

I was right there. It was terrific. But you know, It’s a little… I can see how it’s a little different for gals than for guys. I have no problem hanging anything out there. So…they uh… I’m kinda the "go to guy" in situations [like that]

So you’re the one filling that void. <LOL> Well, you know you weren’t the only character. Steven Weber played a nude scene on there.

Did he?

<Laughter>

Let’s see. Did you know that Season 1 of O&A is coming out on DVD this fall?

You’re kidding!

No, November 5 is the release date.

I had no idea!

I’m so excited about that; everyone is.

That’s terrific.

Because Lifetime is not cooperating nicely enough for us.

No.

You know, they had all the rest of Season 3 coming up every week, and all of a sudden, they pulled three week’s worth of episodes for no apparent reason and just put Golden Girls on again.

You’re kidding me.

No, we don’t know what’s going on with them, and they won’t return my calls.

Well, that sucks.

Yeah I know.

Wow, it’s coming out on DVD. That’s terrific.

Yeah! So you’re gonna really be showing your butt.

Yeah, no kidding.

High Definition. <LOL>

Yeah. That’s awesome.

The first season to me was the best season of all. I mean seriously that is the one that just won my heart. The passion you and Sela Ward… was just… I know that it’s acting, but you guys made it look so real. <Yeah> That, you know, I didn’t have to sit there and think, "Oh that guy’s got a tough job." I was thinking, "He is so lucky" because it was like you were really Rick. Now was this method acting for you, or was this.... you had a script, you knew your stuff or…...

It was just kinda doing…it wasn’t really me as much as it is I think the writers and the sensibility of the producers and so forth, I just kinda did what I was told. I have to admit that it was easy to really be excited and really be into it. (Now my dog Jake begins barking the background, to assure me yet another obstacle from hearing during this interview. <sigh>) At that point, I guess there is a certain amount of energy [that comes with that]. But face it, Sela’s no…

Rookie?

She’s no slouch in the attractiveness department.

No, absolutely not.

So, so it was always terribly easy to pretend to be in love with her, because she’s just loveable all the way around.

Yeah. She seems to be… everything I’ve heard - because I know some of the fans went to visit you guys on the set - and they all describe that she’s just as kind and loving in person as the character she portrays. You never hear a single negative thing about her. It is just incredible, that there’re people out there that…. Like the two of you that are so kind, I mean you made this phone call which is extremely generous….

Well no…we are really grateful and kind of honored to have been part of something that has so obviously touched so many people so profoundly.

Well, we wanted you guys to keep going. We felt ABC didn’t know what they were doing. They didn’t realize what they had.

Yeah…

I really don’t believe they realized just what they had.

You know, I don’t think they did either, but then again you can see the network has kind of imploded, so you can see the kind of internal pressures that they’ve been experiencing the past couple of few years. We are sort of a collateral damage.

Yeah, just got sucked into it. See that’s the thing is that…...at this point, because we still keep up with the ratings news, we are always watching them closely, hoping for their demise. <LOL>

Yeah, well I mean the thing is that if we’d been on cable somewhere, something, we’d have been a big hit. If we were on HBO or something like that, AND we wouldn’t have had to sorta soft pedal some of the things that Ed and Marshall have to soft pedal by virtue of being on network television.

For example what?

Well….

Just one topic.

You know there’s a certain kind of way that you have to broach things on network TV.

I mean, you see what NYPD Blue is putting out. That doesn’t seem to be soft-pedaled, and that’s the same hour your show was on.

You know, it is. When you get down to what the police precinct is really like on the inside, and then what NYPD Blue is like…

Yeah, that’s true.

It is probably an extreme form of soft-pedaling.

Yeah, you’re probably right. It just seems like they are so harsh that it’s hard to believe that they would say you need to edge down O&A.

It wouldn’t seem that way, but you know, you take - even on West Wing for instance. It talks about certain things and phrase things a certain way but are they going to turn around and take a bite out of people who’re really sucking everybody dry in this country? I don’t think so. They are [the sponsors?]. You know what I mean? You have to do a bunch of soft pedaling by virtue of the fact that you have advertisers who have sensibilities…that you can not... with noses that you cannot get out of joint.

We really wish there had been more promotion, obviously by ABC, but we kinda wish you guys had done more of the circuit, you know…kinda hitting the shows to…you know during the three years, not in the very end…. It’s a little late then. But there wasn’t enough of it and we kinda feel like the PR dept let you guys down in that aspect.

Yeah, I mean I think the PR dept let us down in a lot of ways. ABC let us down. We had 7 timeslot changes in 3 seasons.

Yeah, I’m well aware of that. <I began to let Billy know who I was here, but we were talking over each other…>

The episode where my little daughter kisses her friend, that resulted in our show being taken off the air in a big viewing market in Virginia. They wouldn’t show it.

Yeah, because of the religious leaders.

Yeah.

Which in a way gave you even more publicity.

Yeah, in a way.

I was just saying that um…I don’t know if you realize who I am, I mean I’m nothing important but I was one of the ones that helped get the billboard up and put those ads together. I’m actually the one that collected the money from the fans.

Wow. We’re certainly appreciative of that.

It was kinda nervous <nerve racking, I meant to say>, you know, signing that twelve thousand dollar contract….

I betcha it was. <LOL>

…because I’m like signing it, [but] that doesn’t mean I have 12 grand, you know?

Sure. Sure. :)

So that last thing I’ve heard, the billboard is still up as of June 14^th. (Actually, as recently as July 27th, it was reported to still be up in W. Hollywood.)

It IS still up?

Well, that was a week ago. I don’t know if anyone’s gone by to swing by and look one more time. Do you think there are any Emmy nominations for O&A that might happen this year?

No, I have no idea.

I’d like to see Karen get one.

I’d love to see her get one.

She really worked hard this year.

I’d love to see her get one. If she gets one, I’m gonna go.

Aww, that’s great. Hey, I read that you went to Six Flags in California…

Yeah, we did.

…as a family! (It was Billy, Susanna, Evan, and Shane)

Yes we did.

<LOL> - I used to go to that Six Flags, years ago. I used to live in L.A., in Northridge. To hear that people were just staring….

It was funny. It was hilarious.

I’d have been following you from ride to ride all day, trying to eek out more comments from you.

Sure.

Poor guy. You’d never get any enjoyment out of that day, with people pestering you…. Did anyone bother you during that day?

No. No one.

Really. So you kinda had your anonymity a little bit.

Well, sort of. Yeah. There was the girls, certainly every once in a while would turn and get an eyeful of Shane, but….

It sounds great! (Fun)

One girl actually came up and was pretending to ask for the time from Shane. He gave it to her. And then she went off, and uh, I think she threw up in a bush.

Oh!

She got so nervous.

That’s horrible. Poor thing.  Hey. One person asked "Do you consider yourself spiritual; do you have a spirituality that you practice?"

I do not have a specific spirituality that I practice.

We read that you married your brother, or something. Is that accurate?

Yes, I did, actually. I didn’t get married TO him.

No!! That would be "Further Tales of the City," right? <LOL>

<LOL> Exactly. I became ordained through Universal Life Church, and so I could marry my brother.

That was very nice of you.

Yeah, it was pretty fun.

Let’s see, what else do I know… Okay, do you have any idea, was there any kind of storyboard for Season 4 that you at least knew what was coming up as..... had ABC said yes?

There wasn’t, that I know of.

Too bad!

I’m sure there probably was, but I wasn’t privy to it.

You see, some of the fans would like to do fan fiction. And what that is is that they write the story as it would have continued….

I know what you are talking about.

But we don’t have a storyboard to go with. It would be nice if we knew some of the things that Ed and Marshall had in mind…?

I couldn’t tell you.

Too bad.

I mean, you know, it would have almost certainly have been the relationship between Susanna and D.B., there would have been I suppose my daughter coming out…

See, I figured that wasn’t going to be a permanent situation honestly…

What’s that?

I felt that she was experiencing - you know this is just my opinion -

Sure.

I felt that she was experiencing this, but I didn’t think this was going to stick. I think she was going to try it -

Ah, who knows?

And you know Katie was signed for seven episodes, you know Misha Barton, which she wasn’t going to be around after that, no matter what next season brought.

Right.

So I kinda felt like this was going to be an experience, and you know she still could choose what she wanted to do. I remember so many people reacted saying "She didn’t like her kiss with Tad…she’s definitely a lesbian."<LOL>

She didn’t like her what?

"She didn’t like the kiss with Tad."

Oh…<LOL>

I was like you know "one kiss"…?!!

But really the kiss with Tad was totally…It was like a boy kiss.

I know!

It was totally insensitive.

No, she couldn’t even stand it.

Of course not. And so, if she had a special guy she loved…it would be totally different. But she’d never had that feeling yet. Because she was young.   Misha kissed her like a girl wants to be kissed.

Right.

So, you know <unintelligible>

So I just don’t know how that would have played out. I was curious how that would happen.

I don’t either. I don’t know either.

Ambiguous?

Yeah, you know how the story ends, and you’re like "huh - I wonder which way that worked out?" For example, Eli’s SAT scores came in, and we never did find out how he did.

Right. Right. Yeah, there were things like that that happened all the time. For instance, I believe it was the first season when Lily slept with Jake.

YEAH!

And they just dropped it. And we had a scene were I was like…said something about it. But then it was like "That’s it. It‘s over."

I was so glad when you brought it up again in Season 3.

Yeah, me too. It might have been worth something.

Oh, we all wanted you to get into that. Yeah, I still rewatch those episodes. And I tell ya, you’re standing there in front of that butcher block [island], and I know you don’t memorize every line from something three years ago -

Right.

But you stood there telling her "I trust you. I love you. I can‘t be angry with you" and she says, "I slept with Jake."

Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. :)

It hit me so hard! I’ve been married a couple of times, so I know what divorce is like….

Right.

And hearing that kind of news is just horrible, and I felt so bad for you - even though it’s just a story.

Yeah.

It was like "ugh." And then watching you at the Christmas tree lot. You know - the whole - we have been dwelling on "The Big Mistake", the TBM

[Billy burst out laughing here]

…story forever. We would never let it go.

Sure.

And I think that maybe some of what you did discuss and handled hit the editing room floor and we never saw it.

You know, I don’t think so. Not that I recall. I don’t think there was a lot that hit the editing room floor that was not shot. [I think he meant the opposite here :) ]

I’m kinda hoping that they might have some extra stuff to show us on the DVD

Right. You know, they may actually.

I hope they do. I really do.

They may go back and look at stuff.

We all loved your breaking the "fourth wall" on the finale.

Yeah

That was a wonderful, wonderful thing to do.

They got all that stuff, and they weren’t sure whether they were going to use it or not. And I thought it would have been the smartest thing to do, and I guess they ended up feeling the same way. Because my theory is that the show is so much about a family and why not have it end in such a way that the viewer realizes what a family it really did come out of. What a family we really were. And so I liked that a lot.

It is so sad to think that 10 million viewers wasn’t enough, or eight million, or whatever it was.

Yeah.

Because you really had - I think forget the network itself, they didn’t have anything to use for the hour before for a lead-in. Nothing matched O&A because it was so different from what we have on the air nowadays. You know; putting a game show first didn’t work. Putting a comedy first didn’t work. The Job - I didn’t feel that it fit it at all, being a cop show. Nothing really worked for it, as it really was a stand-alone show.

[Billy agreed with the above as I droned on and on. Sorry about that!]

One person asked this: Coming from a family of divorce, were there things in the script that were hard for you to deal with or things that you found to be therapeutic?

Mmm. I don’t think so. I mean…. No. Not in the script per se. Because you're not actually going through them.

No, that was too long ago for you, right?

Well, but also, you’re not actually going through them.

Ah, I see what you were saying.

…the show. You are just saying; it’s just words. And you get new words every week. I can understand how it a feature film or something like this or like a play where you have to go there every night - it can be a whole lot more intense. I made the analogy not long ago about doing TV is a lot like being in a sausage factory. And it’s true. It is. It happens very, very quickly. You don’t often get a lot of time to dwell on what you’re doing.

And you don’t shoot it in order. It is all shot out of sequence.

And it’s shot out of order.

So you can’t really feel what we are seeing when we tune in with no idea what the script is….

I understand.

…and it unravels and it is so real. The fans have found the show to be extremely therapeutic.

Well I bet you they have.

Because so many found that they could relate to it.

It is a different situation for them. My point is that I think the show was therapeutic for me in the sense of being on a show for three years., and being in front of a camera every day for three years, and to have some type of work ethic for three years. All of that, in those kind of ways, made the show terribly therapeutic for me. In that it forces you to work in close quarters with other people rather intensely for long periods of time. Absolutely therapeutic.

We really desperately wanted to keep you guys employed for at least another year, if not longer. I really wanted the fourth season, because I’d heard that was the original plan: four seasons. And I figured that would be enough.

Yes, four seasons would have been fine.

<LOL> Well, at least we agree. :)

Let’s see. Oh! I read last summer that you went sailing. Are you going to do that again this year?

I’m going to try, if I can squeak the time out.

Now you get on these big ships, you are like part of a crew, right? It’s not like a small thing.

No, no. It’s a big ship. It’s a square-rigged ship. It’s probably been the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

You head up in the rigging, and let down the sails and all that?

Absolutely. All that stuff. I’m going to go again this season, if I can figure out when.

Do you have anything planned work-wise? Anything on the horizon yet?

I have nothing definite yet. I’m looking for stuff right now.

Maybe you can be in J-lo’s next video. :)

That would work for me. I’d do that. I owe her that much.

The shower scene this time, right? <LOL>

Yeah, exactly.

It’s in the contract! Okay: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Well, let’s see. It really depends the way the world is in 10 years.

Yeah, good point.

It may not be such a great place in 10 years.

That’s true.

But um…

You might be a reporter! :)

Professionally I would like to see myself making films, maybe making film from behind the camera. Who knows? That’s a hard question.

Todd Fields did that movie "In the Bedroom". Do you think he got some of his technique from Ed and Marshall from being in that proximity, or do you think he pretty much did his own thing?

Do you have an idea?

I think he certainly got some baptism by fire by directing an episode of O&A. He certainly got some of his worldliness from having done that. But I don’t know how much he took away from there, or what he copied.

That is one movie I’ve not had a chance to see yet.

Oh, it’s real good.

I haven’t seen Dragonfly yet either. Did you get to see that?

No. I was supposed to go to the premiere, but I didn’t.

Okay, here’s a personal question for you. Would you like to have an official website set up for your fans? I’d offer to do that for you.

Oh, well thank you.

You know Sela Ward has her official website.

No I didn’t know that.

Yeah, SelaWardtv.com has been set up for a while. And Sela stays in contact her occasionally, through email or however it is done, and it lets the fans know when the person will be appearing on TV; anything newsworthy, that kind of thing. And you know, pictures and so forth. And since you don’t seem to have an official one, and I’ve scoured the net, maybe you need one.

Well, I’ll have to give that some thought.