FBI Franchise at TCA: Live-Blog - Give Me My Remote : Give Me My Remote

FBI Franchise at TCA: Live-Blog

September 9, 2021 by  

FBI Franchise at TCA

The CBS Television Network announced today the renewals of the CBS original series FBI and FBI: MOST WANTED for the 2021-2022 broadcast season and has given a series order to FBI: INTERNATIONAL, the third iteration of the successful “FBI” brand from Emmy Award-winning executive producer Dick Wolf. FBI: INTERNATIONAL is scheduled to debut in a crossover episode of FBI and FBI: MOST WANTED next season. Photo: CBS 2021 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

With the FBI universe getting a full Tuesday block on CBS, the network is paneling the trio at its virtual Television Critics Association.

Follow along for a live-blog of the session (starting at 11:30 AM PT), which will include FBI stars Missy Peregrym and Zeeko Zaki, FBI: MOST WANTED’s Julian McMahon, FBI: INTERNATIONAL’s Luke Kleintank, Heida Reed, Carter Redwood, Vinessa Vidotto, and Christiane Paul, as well as executive producer Dick Wolf…

11:30 AM: We’re kicking off with a promo for the incredible three-hour event, which serves as the season premiere for FBI and FBI: MOST WANTED as well as the series premiere of FBI: INTERNATIONAL.

11:31 AM: “I’ve now seen the crossover that kicks off all three shows…and it’s really, really good television, which is our main mandate as a company now—make the shows at the same level,” Wolf says. The EP credits the FBI casts for being so supportive of each other and calls it satisfying to have a family feeling.

11:35 AM: “I think it’s really exciting,” Peregrym says of the interconnected world. “Dick talked to us about this at the beginning, and I’m really blown away it’s happened this quickly.” Zaki credits the growing world with making it feel real and successful for him: “We really built something, and it’s really exciting to see it grow.”

11:36 AM: “Going into season 4, we have so much fun,” Peregrym says of the supportive set environment. She cites that as why the on-screen partnership with Maggie and OA works, because they have so much trust. Zaki says it’s similar to a sports team, because they rely on each other to get through the long shoots. Peregrym jokes she’s faster and stronger than Zaki, though.

11:38 AM: McMahon has so much love for his colleagues, calling Wolf “the king of television.” He notes that Jess’ role of being a single dad was a big element that made him want to do the show. “He had lost his wife, he was parenting his daughter on his own, and the kinds of trials and tribulations that entails…I think we really kind of delved into that in season 1…she’s grown up, a lot of what the character Jess learns, he learns through his daughter. It’s a great dynamic. I try and incorporate the process of being a parent into the [case each] episode.”

11:41 AM: “It adds an element of the unknown, element of the exciting,” McMahon says of MOST WANTED’s new addition, Alexa Davalos as Special Agent Kristin Gaines. “Jess looks at it that way and so do I….She’s a field agent out of Miami, she comes on to the show in a pretty kind of ballsy manner. We get to meet her in that Dick Wolf kind of heroic thing. And as we progress—we’re shooting episode 4 now—we obviously get to learn more about her, how she fits into the team and the family. And Alexa is a wonderful actress. I was a big fan of her show MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE.”

11:45 AM: “This is the most fun a guy my age can have,” Wolf says. “When you see this stuff generate, gestate, and grow, you become really excited.”

11:48 AM: Moving on to INTERNATIONAL, Wolf praises what they’re able to do in Budapest.

11:49 AM: “All three of the show have different identities that are quite different,” Wolf points out. FBI is set at the office, calling it a “classic two-hander cop show.” MOST WANTED “goes wherever they have to in the United States,” and obviously INTERNATIONAL is “set overseas, it doesn’t have them as the FBI, they’re visitors in foreign cities and cooperating with different storytelling dynamics.”

11:51 AM: “There is another group of three shows, on another network, that is proof of life,” Wolf says of the FBI block working. (AKA the CHICAGO block.) “After 40 years of doing this, if you set the table correctly, they will stay.”

11:53 AM: Kleintank says it was a conscious choice to look different here versus his other roles. He also jokes he got tired of his hair during COVID, and he booked the job with this look, so it worked.

11:54 AM: While INTERNATIONAL series will be traveling around the world, they won’t be digging deep into the differences with each country’s different legal systems—their main goal is to catch the bad guy.

11:57 AM: “As you can imagine, it’s a big honor for me to be a part of the franchise,” Paul says, echoing McMahon’s praise that Wolf is the king of TV. “It’s really great that [the cast and I] found each other as a family, as a team, I really appreciate it.”

11:58 AM: “The CIA is not criminal,” Wolf notes, explaining why the FBI works internationally. They handle terrorism, intelligence, etc., but they don’t handle crime.

12:01 PM: “It’s definitely different,” Redwood says of filming internationally. “There’s a lot of languages on set.” Vidotto says Redwood has been learning Hungarian and teaching to the cast. He learned how to say “perfect” and “teamwork,” calling them his favorite words he’s learned there.

Kleintank notes the fact that they had to uproot their real lives to film in Budapest, there is a parallel to how the characters really only know each other.

12:03 PM: “We’re not doing a dog show, but I think the dog is going to become a big fan favorite,” Wolf says. Because the team can’t carry guns, Tank is their weapon.

Watch the spot for the three-hour crossover…

FBI Franchise, Premieres, Tuesday, September 21, 8/7, CBS

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