If you want to find a link to just about every show on USA, you don’t have to look any further than Tim Matheson. The actor / director has appeared on both “White Collar” and “Burn Notice”, and he was also behind the camera for episodes of these shows along with “Psych” and “Covert Affairs” (in which he directed the pilot episode).
Last week I had to chance to talk to Matheson — who had a role in the classic “National Lampoon’s Animal House” — about how he approaches directing, and his plans for this weekend’s Comic-Com in San Diego.
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Matt: in finding out that you’ve done all of these USA Network shows, do you approach directing each episode differently, like say, the ‘Covert Affairs’ premiere versus what we saw in ‘White Collar’?
Tim: With ‘Covert Affairs’, there’s two separate things. When you come into a show like ‘White Collar’ or ‘Burn Notice’, you are coming in as a guest in their house and you really just want to give them an episode that’s been established by their pilot director and in the mold of the shows that they have already established, and that was the case with ‘White Collar’ and with ‘Burn Notice’ and ‘Psych’, the shows that I’ve done prior.
And then ‘Covert Affairs’ was the first time I’d ever done a pilot, and because I sort of had a good rapport and understanding with USA about the kinds of shows they do and the tone of the shows, they offered me the opportunity to direct that pilot, and it was thrilling and exciting for me to get to set the look and the tone of the show, and with such a wonderful cast. I was very pleased with how it all turned out, and I must say, just the opportunity to work with Doug Limon, David Bartis and the guys over there at their company. It was a tremendous opportunity and it was a great script and I just had a ball creating the world that they all operated in and it was a real treat.
Moving on to Comic-Con, I have to ask, have you ever been to Comic-Con before? If not, what are your expectations, or if you’ve been, what kind of memories do you have?
I’ve never been. You know, I’m a big comic book fan. As a kid I used to collect them until there was a horrible mudslide in Hollywood and I lost my collection, but I was also at an early age the voice of Jonny Quest; it was a cartoon; so I am kind of a latent fan boy. So I’ve always followed it, but never been there and I’m just very excited to get down there.
I don’t know what to expect. I think I’m as much of a fan as a lot of the attendees, so I’ve scheduled some time for myself just to wander around and sit in on some things, and I know that—I think that Simon Pegg is going to be there and the guys with ‘Scott Pilgrim’ are going to be there, and I’m excited to see anything and everything about that. But I just want to hang around the place and see what’s happening.
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New episodes of “White Collar” and “Covert Affairs” are set to air Tuesday night on USA. Feel free to share your thoughts and check back soon for more of the latest news!
More “Covert Affairs” news, recaps, and interviews
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