Dollhouse

US, June 24, 2009 - While roaming around the crowded and flashy showroom floors of E3, occasionally getting mistaken for Matt Casamassina, I ran into Mark Sheppard, who was on hand promoting the new Live Voltage Wii game, The Conduit. We decided to give him a break from pimping his "Best of E3" first-person shooter and ask him some TV questions. You know, since Sheppard regularly makes an appearance on just about every TV show that we care about here at IGN.

Whether it’s Firefly, Leverage, Burn Notice or Battlestar Galactica, Sheppard is our "constant." He’s truly a "genre TV" MVP. With a bunch of his shows getting picked up for a second season, the forecast is for "Sheppard" with "more Sheppard" expected in the near future. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.

IGN TV: So, I understand that Sterling will be back on Leverage. Your character looked like he was in line to take over the Insurance Company on the season finale.

Mark Sheppard: Whether that happens or not, we shall see. Whether I’m still in the insurance business or not. I won’t say either way. I will or will not deny the rumors that Sterling has ever been to Panama. (laughs) But Sterling will be back, for the last part of the Season. Around episode 10.

IGN: I also saw you last Season on Burn Notice. What was that like for you?

Sheppard: That was great. A lot of fun. I think Matt (Nix) and Jeffrey (Donovan) had enough fun that they’re trying to think of a way to bring me back. Because I’m probably one of the only characters that doesn’t know what Michael did to him.

IGN: Yeah, he just tortured you the whole episode.

Sheppard: And I had no idea. So, yeah, it would be great to see it. Say, Michael has to go do something in prison and I’m there and I’m like, "What’s the medic guy doing here?"

IGN: I really like it when the villains of Burn Notice return.

Sheppard: Yeah, I think they’re trying to figure out a way to do it. We just had so much fun. I love Jeffrey. He’s such a fabulous actor to work with. He’s funny as hell. It’s just that he wants it to be as good as it can be and it’s fun to work with someone like that.

IGN: You’re also making an appearance on the new series Warehouse 13, right?

Sheppard: Yes, well I got a call. And Mr. (Mark) Stern and Mr. (Tom) Lieber, who are two of my compatriots over at Universal and SyFy, and they said, "We’ve got nine and half pages of dialogue to do on Monday? Let’s get Mark!" (laughs) It was one of those things. I think they were trying to find something for me to do and wanted to include me in on the love-fest that is Warehouse 13. And Jack Kenny is amazing. I think he’s a great writer and a real boon for that show. He’s just a great guy to work with. I’m there, you know, with Saul Rubinek and CCH Pounder. How much better can my nine and half pages be? It’s something special. I hope people stick around and watch it because there’s some fabulous acting going on. The younger actors are just fantastic. They’ve got this young girl in there, Joanne Kelly, and she’s just amazing. I’m very interested to see where Jack Kenny’s taking the show.

IGN: You usually play antagonistic roles. Would you like to break free of that?

Sheppard: I think I’m actually the good guy in this one. And I’m the good guy in Leverage too, if you really think about it.

IGN: Well, sure. Seeing as how you’re trying to stop people from breaking the law. You also work for a Law Enforcement agency on Dollhouse. You just don’t have that great a personality.

Sheppard: I’m also dressed way too well for an FBI guy. I got to wear some nice clothes there. I’ve gotta be a bad guy. Somehow. I’m way too odd as Agent Tanaka.

IGN: Will your character be returning for Dollhouse’s second season?

Sheppard: You never know. I mean, they still haven’t explained my name. Tanaka. Why would they not bring me back? It’s a fun role. I really like working with Joss. It’s always fun to try to work out what he’s trying to do. I always enjoy the ride with him. It’s always something really interesting. I’m so glad he’s a part of this new change – in the way that we view demographics and figures on television. That’s probably more important than anything else right now. You know, to get a show renewed with numbers that appear to be that low, and interest that appears to be that low, it’s great. We have the resources now to gather and garner numbers from new sources, and it’s a scary thing. You can’t have a multi-billion dollar industry suddenly overnight changing the way they work out how ad revenue is done. It’s not a smart move in anybody’s book to go "this would be more accurate" or "this would be more useful." You’ve gotta be really careful otherwise it could change then entire basis for what we’re doing. I mean it makes sense to me. Knowing what everybody’s watching at all times. But it could be a very scary proposition for some people. I mean you could find out that people aren’t really watching what everyone thinks they’re watching.

IGN: It could be very scary if they find out that the "popular" shows’ numbers don’t really add up in a new system.

Sheppard: I mean, why is it that I can’t walk down the street without someone recognizing me from Battlestar? I mean, if there’s only 1.6 million viewers. Why, if I’m on a show like Leverage, when I go to the airport in Dallas, there’s a guy reading my passport who tells me, "By the way, I love your character Mr. Sterling." He actually called me Mr. Sterling. I had to take another look at my passport to make sure it wasn’t written there. But you know, we have a penetration into markets that we never had before.

And I love the fact that "the powers that be," who are not dumb people – let’s not pretend that my bosses at SyFy and Universal don’t know what they’re doing. Of course they know what they’re doing. They want to be successful. They want to have great shows. And, you know, they’re trying to get the numbers to catch up. And they’re trying to get the number systems to catch up with what they know is good. It’s hard to sell a show that "on paper" can’t make it.

It’s interesting that Joss has taken a show that, as far as FOX’s position in the past, might not have been a show that would have gotten picked up. But they’re with us. They’re so smart and they look at Joss’ DVD sales and the TiVo numbers, which are incredible. The TiVo numbers for Dollhouse are amazing. I remember when people were talking about a 7% bump in TiVo numbers being a big deal. You know a 7% bump in ratings is a big deal. Dollhouse was near the 40% mark. I don’t need to know how it all works, but you can look at it and see that the market’s changing and they’re trying to figure out how to keep these passion projects and these great shows on the air. Nobody truly wants to throw away a television show. There’s too much effort and love gone into it.

IGN: And then the more you throw them away, the less people want to invest themselves in a new show. It’s a vicious cycle.

Sheppard: I agree. I’ve seen a really jaundiced outlook from people, who will only start to watch things based on the performance of the first twelve episodes.