First off, I have to say that "The Medal" and "Walk, Don't Run" are two of
my all-time favorite Early Edition episodes. I have a particular special
place for "The Medal" since it's the first Early Edition episode I ever saw.
I watched that one in the 2nd. season on CBS and was hooked ever since.
--thanks. Lou lGossett was a dream to work with. He came aboard as a favor to the Executive producer of the moment: Dean Hargrove. For "walk" I actually interviewed a couple of great old chicago political journalists. One, Paul Greene, became Molly Greene in the script.
What kinds of inspiration did you draw on to write the episodes you did?
Were the issues they dealt with things you had dealt with personally or just
something you felt strongly about?
--for "medal" as a kid i remember a strong episode of Bonanza where a drunk tries to buy a whiskey with a medal of honor. wrap that up with my own experiences (Army). My first play, Eleven-Zulu, which is published by Samuel French, is a mystery set in Vietnam. For "walk", it just seemed natural to have a political episode, since Chicago is a political town. Researching it, I discovered that there are still precincts that haven't reported in from the 1960 presidential election...
Were there ever any plans to further explain the origin of the paper and the
cat that weren't able to be used in episodes?
--that was hotly debated. None of us wanted specific explanations, but some of us wanted to keep the mystery alive. Others wanted it to just go away.
And finally, if given the chance, would you be up to writing a movie version
of Early Edition? And do you think this might ever happen, with the original
stars?
--I would love to work on a movie version, but I don't think that could ever come about. Like a lot of great television it's made of many disparate parts that come together for that run. Those parts are already scattered far and away...
I was wondering, what ever happened to the actor who played Gary Hobson. I
haven't seen him anywhere since that series ended. It's like he just
disappeared from the face of the earth. I'd like to know what he's doing now
because he seems like he should have went on after that and had many more
roles and a successful film career or something.
--Kyle's a really strong actor and the following season he was the male lead in the Joan Cusack series, a sitcom, it was something like Everybody loves Joan, or all about joan, I'm sure some of the shows fans can tell you. Then he was in the HBO movie And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, in which he was underused, but great in the stuff he did. He was the villian in this last season's Rob Lowe series, The Lyon's Den -- which really should've gotten a better chance. That's work every year since the show ended.
Also, are there any plans at all to get the series back with either re-runs
and/or new episodes? I caught most of the episodes myself, but did not have
the pleasure of watching the entire series unfold in order as it went along.
I felt that as good as the series was it was perhaps cut off in its prime
and I'm sure that there was room for futher expansion on one angle or
another.
--It's re-running on PAX cable channel and on CBS affiliates on some kind of weekend package. It will never come back as a series. It's over.
What kinds of projects are you working on now? Anything similar to Early
Edition?
--I am the Head of the Graduate Screenwriting program at the university of nevada, las vegas. I have written a pilot for a series, but don't hold your breath on ever seeing it. I've also got a couple of small features optioned in small ways, but, again, it's an uphill battle to get these things made, I can only keep writing, honing my craft, and something will break.
Amy will use her discretion as to if the questions are appropriate to forward on to Mr. Clark.