The hit comedy series Sirens, which comes from Denis Leary and Bob Fisher, returns to USA Network for its second season on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 10 p.m. One of the show’s stars, Michael Mosley, who plays Chicago paramedic Johnny Farrell spoke with TVOvermind about Sirens Season 2, what he’s most excited for fans to see in the new season, and his role in the upcoming film Don’t Mess With Texas, which stars Reese Witherspoon and Modern Family‘s Sofia Vergara.
Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Michael. In the Sirens Season 1 finale, Johnny proposes to Theresa, and even though they don’t end up getting married, they decide to move in together. How will their relationship continue to develop in Season 2?
They do. They end moving in together, and what they find is that they get bored with each other…So they have to find different ways to spice it up. There’s some really funny stuff where she dares him to [sleep with her] outside, but he’s very nervous about it because he had this horrible thing happen in his past where he [did it] outside once, and it went terribly wrong. Fun stuff like that.
What else can we look forward to in Sirens Season 2? Are there any episodes or storylines that you’re excited for fans to see?
The stuff that’s our favorite to do is when we’re in the rig, when we’re driving out around in the ambulance. The three of us are kind of like a band, you know? And last year was our first year together, and this year we’re just tighter. We kind of share one brain, I think. We know how to bounce off each other, and we know each other’s rhythms a lot better.
It’s really crazy–the editing stuff that they’re doing with us in the rig. There’s this one scene where we’re trying to change things about each other, and Brian (Kevin Bigley) doesn’t like the way that Hank (Kevin Daniels) says the word “gauze” because he think it’s too aggressive. So they did this really hysterical editing thing that I can’t wait for people to see where we’re all just saying the word “gauze” over and over and over, trying to get him to say it more relaxed. It’s bizarre and weird and so much fun. I’m really excited to see what people think of these rig scenes.
You’ve been on network comedies like Scrubs and 30 Rock in the past, but Sirens is a cable comedy. How do you think being on cable instead of one of the broadcast network affects the type of show you guys can be?
I’ve done [network] dramas and stuff in the past. When I was on Pan Am, we were airing while we were shooting. By the time we were [filming] Episode 6, we were airing the pilot, so if the numbers weren’t what ABC necessarily wanted, they would come in and start messing with it and fussing with it, changing character arcs and locations and stuff like that.
With [Sirens], USA just completely had their hands off, and it was the same in Season 2. We went out and shot 10 episodes in two months, and I think USA came to visit the set once. And we weren’t airing when we were shooting, so we kind of were able to find the show. By letting us live in that bubble and shoot the whole thing out in 10 episodes, by the end of the season, we had started to figure out what the show was. That was a huge thing for me to learn that and see it happen. I didn’t really anticipate that. And in Season 2, we just picked up where we left off.
You mentioned how you were on Pan Am and you’ve been on other dramas like Castle, Longmire, and Justified, as well as comedies like 30 Rock, Scrubs, and now Sirens. Do you prefer comedy to drama, or vice versa?
I think if I do comedy for too long I start to miss the drama, and I think if I do drama too much I start to miss the comedy. But comedy is so much fun, though. I mean, the idea that we get paid for this is amazing, because all we do is crack each other up. It’s just so much fun.
Sometimes drama can be a little rough if [people] take it too seriously, but it’s definitely rewarding as an actor to immerse yourself in dramatic roles and explore those different things about yourself and within the character in a scene or with another person. But right now, these days, I kind of just want to do comedy. And I got lucky. I got Sirens.
Sirens was USA’s first half-an-hour comedy series. Now the network has also added another half-an-hour comedy series with Benched. Would you like to see USA add more comedies?
Yeah, of course. I think that was kind of the idea when they picked up Modern Family for syndication…I think it’s great when any network tries to re-brand or explore different things. I think comedy should be everywhere.
Tell us about your work in film, especially your two most recent movies, Other People’s Children and Don’t Mess With Texas with Reese Witherspoon and Modern Family‘s Sofia Vergara.
Other People’s Children was an indie I did, starring Diane Marshall-Green, and it was really great. I always love doing smaller movies, but it’s so interesting because [Children] and [Don’t Mess With Texas] are two different things. One is a smaller indie, and the other one is this MGM super movie with Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara. Both they both [require] the same discipline, whether you’re making a little movie with your friends or a huge movie with a bunch of movie stars, it’s really the same thing.
But Don’t Mess With Texas was a blast. We shot down in New Orleans, and New Orleans is one of my favorite places in the world. It might be my favorite place in the world. We were down there for two and half months, and my co-star Matthew Del Negro and I, we got to play these cops who may be good or may be bad, and we chase Reese and Sofia through the roads of Texas. And Reese is so lovey, and Sofia is so lovely. It was a lot of fun. Anne Fletcher directed it, and she put me in my first movie, 27 Dresses, and then she put me in The Proposal. Anne has always been a great friend, and she’s always put me on her roster, which is great. I owe a lot to her.
Is film something you would like to do more of in the future, or do you enjoy the day-in, day-out aspect of television more?
It’s like comedy and drama again. Don’t make me pick, you know? They’re just two different beasts. The thing about movies is that you’re shooting a scene that’s never going to be shot again. You’re playing a character that will never come back. Unless you do a remake of Psycho, which they’ve done before, or something like that. It kind of lives and dies in that moment.
But with TV, it’s such a great time for TV right now, especially because everything’s become a bit more serialized. You get to live with these characters for seven years sometimes if you’re lucky. It’s much more [about] arcs with TV. It’s just a really cool time for TV. There’s so many distribution models, so many channels, so many different ways to get into something, whether it’s Transparent on Amazon–there’s just so much good stuff. Right now, I’m binging on The Walking Dead. I think I’ve watched four seasons in like two weeks. It’s just a good time for TV. It’s exciting.
We really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. Best of luck with Sirens Season 2!
Thanks so much, Chris.
Sirens Season 2 premieres on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 10 p.m. on USA Network.
[Photo credit: Carrie Schaltz]
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