TVSquad

I'll have a longer post about the Sci Fi / Entertainment Weekly party early next week, but I wanted to post a couple of short interviews I was able to grab at the party first. I actually wasn't intending to interview anyone at this party, but since Rich had his handy recorder with him, I made a few choice picks from the red carpet while I had the chance.

First up: Tricia Helfer. With Battlestar Galactica finished filming, she's been busy in a guest-starring role on Burn Notice. Hell, this woman's on two shows I love and, come on, it's Tricia Helfer. I was the last person in line on the carpet, so I kept it short. She was extremely nice and open to talk to.

Keith McDuffee: So I wanted to ask you about Burn Notice. Were you a fan of the show before? Did you follow the way the show was moving before you came on?

Tricia Helfer: I can't say I was always a fan before because I had never seen it. But it was on my list of shows I had marked as 'get the DVD box set'. I do a lot of traveling and don't really watch TV when it airs. And so you TiVo things and then you're gone so long that it starts deleting, so it was 'DVD box set'. But they beat me to the punch, since the DVD box set hadn't actually come out for the first season yet. So I got offered the job and they sent me the DVDs, and from the first episode I was hooked, because it's a fantastic show.

KM: Without giving anything away, how long are you in this season?

TH: I'm in for, I think, seven episodes this season. I was in the first two, and then I'm kinda in the middle there, and I think toward the end.

KM: OK so you appear, leave for a bit, come back ...

TH: Right, because Michael is trying to find information about Carla, and just like the audience, I don't really know much about Carla myself. So I'm kinda waiting for every episode, for every script that I'm in, to try and find more information about my character. But yeah, I knew in the beginning that I was in the first two episodes, and then I'm not in for like five episodes, and I'm in the ninth one.

KM: Is that plot driven or is it to give you a break for other projects?

TH: No I think it was like that all along. That's how that character was originally. She wasn't going to be a series regular and be in every episode, it was going to be a recurring guest star. I sat down with Matt Nix prior to starting and he was like, "I can't tell you much because we haven't written it yet, but there's going to be this kind of a story arc and you're kinda going to have to go away so they can gather intel on you." So even though I'm not in it physically, they may be talking about Carla.

KM: So you're not going to become a permanent cast member then?

TH: No, I'm just a guest star this season.

KM: Is there a chance at all that Carla would be a love interest of Michael's at some point?

TH: You know, I wouldn't expect it. I wouldn't really expect Michael and Carla to start a love affair just because ... she's not really on his "good" list. She's kind of manipulating him and blackmailing him. So you never know -- I never say never, but at this point I don't really expect it.

KM: I have to ask: you must be happy you're not having to do so many changes with your hair so often, and that sort of thing, now that Battlestar's over? All of that bleaching? You weren't still doing that were you?

TH: Yeah I did that for the mini-series, the first season and for half of the second season. When we started the second season, every episode my hair gets thinner and thinner and thinner, and shorter and shorter and shorter, and then finally it started falling out in chunks and they had to give me a wig.

KM: Yikes! Well it's been great to see you in your real hair color and thankfully you're not losing it anymore. Thanks so much for talking with me and good luck with the rest of Burn Notice. I've caught the first two episodes of the new season so far, so ...

TH: Yeah, we just shot the mid-season finale and then we're about to shoot the mid-season premiere. It's a great script and I'm looking forward to doing it.