Dylan McDermott Talks Bad Jobs, SpongeBob and 'Dark Blue'

Known best for his Emmy-nominated, Golden Globe-winning seven-year run as Bobby Donnell on 'The Practice,' Dylan McDermott is finally returning to TV ... and to his dramatic roots.

In TNT's 'Dark Blue' (premieres Wed., July 15, 10PM ET), McDermott's character, Carter Shaw, is the leader of a group of extremely undercover cops. Carter proves that not all TV cops are donut-eaters or off-the-grid renegade law enforcers ... some are just really brooding, intense and great at getting the job done.

McDermottt opened up to us about his action-packed (and, apparently, very sexy) new show, how he ended up on cable and why you'll catch him spending time with 'SpongeBob' and the Jonas Brothers. -- By Maggie Furlong



Your 'Dark Blue' character, Carter Shaw, is quite the badass ...
Aw, thanks -- I worked hard on my badassness! [Laughs] I saw it in the character -- I saw how cool this character could be and how I could play him. I saw the whole thing. You know, sometimes when you take a role, you don't always feel it ... there's only been a few times in my life where I've felt like I could really do something great with a character, and 'Dark Blue' certainly is that for me. It's a gut instinct.

So do you think you're a lot like Carter?
I don't know if I'm that much of a badass ... certainly not in Brentwood. [Laughs] But I think that I identify with him in many different ways, yes.

Is it less pressure for you to be part of an ensemble cast, rather than having it be 'The Dylan Show'?
You want that on television -- you want ensemble. You don't want it to just be about me, because that rarely works. You want to have great characters, which we do -- the actors we have on this show and the characters they play are fascinating and intriguing all the way. People who are not into me, they can be into Omari [Hardwick] or Logan [Marshall-Green] or Nicki [Aycox]. I don't want the show to be all about me, because that gets kind of boring after a while.



What are you excited for people to see on this show?
I just hope that the audience is completely satisfied with what we're doing. I think you're gonna get great stories, you're gonna get great characters, they're gonna be contained episodes, and I just think it's intriguing television. This is what television is all about -- you're gonna be on the seat of your pants the entire run, you're gonna see us in jeopardy every week, you're gonna see great bad guys. If you get all that, that's a great hour! And you're definitely gonna see some romance on the show -- there's one episode where I think the entire cast has sex. [Laughs] Not together!

With so much serious drama to shoot, are you all having fun between takes? Maybe pulling some pranks, putting Vaseline on door handles ...
We're always laughing on the show -- that's probably the only way to get through it, because there is some heavy content on the show. We have to make each other laugh to get through it sometimes. I have put Vaseline ... not on door handles, but ... no, I'm kidding. [Laughs]

How much are fans going to learn about Carter's past this season?
You know, it all depends on the run of the show. If the show comes out and it's gangbusters, I think that we're gonna have many years where we can unveil a lot about the character. If it's just this one season, then we kind of have to wrap it up pretty quickly. It all depends on the success of the show, you know?

Don't jinx it!
[Laughs] No, no, no -- I'm not jinxing it. I'm just real about the nuts and bolts of this business. You just never know. I'm gonna be pumping this show and being out there as much as I can because I know it's a good show, and I want people to watch. But it really comes down to the viewers.

But your last TV job was not a success -- did you think 'Big Shots' was gonna be a hit?
No. [Laughs] I knew from the second script ... actually the first script after the pilot ... I knew that it was doomed. But for me, that was a fun kind of exercise. I'm always thought of as kind of serious, so I wanted to do something lighter in tone. But I knew when I saw that first script that it was in deep trouble.

Your fellow 'Big Shots' co-star Michael Vartan is also on TNT now ...
That's right! I've actually seen him a couple of times -- at the Upfronts and for a party, so I definitely see him.

So was it him, or someone else, telling you to come work on cable TV?
I had done a miniseries for TNT a couple years back called 'The Grid,' and that was my first foray into TNT. It's a great place to be. And Holly Hunter actually called me when she was doing 'Saving Grace' to talk about what that was like, to do a TV show, so I definitely had a connection with TNT over the years. My publicist kept saying to me, "You should be on TNT!" over and over again. It's really kind of miraculous that I ended up there after all these years.

So when you're not busy working, what do you watch on TV?
Well, you know I have two little girls, so most of the time I'm watching TV with them to spend time with them, so I watch a lot of 'SpongeBob,' a lot of 'Charlie & Lola,' the Jonas Brothers ... you see all the shows I have to watch? [Laughs] Personally I watch 'Locked Up Abroad,' which I think is an amazing show.

A lot of actors have admitted to watching reality shows like 'I'm a Celebrity ...' lately ...
Oh really? No, that's not me. [Laughs] Definitely not. I have a fear of ending up on that show -- get me out of here!