You may recognize Grant Bowler from a variety of My Take On TV favorites of the past – UGLY BETTY, LOST; he had a great run on TRUE BLOOD, recently, too.  Now, he’s throwing his hat into the Dallas ring as a businessman trying to seal a major deal (wink, wink) with Cricket Caruth-Reilly (Miriam Shor) on GCB.  To celebrate the penultimate episode of GCB airing Sunday, I had the chance to chat with Grant about his character, his plans for a GCB future, and what he loves about this show.  I also got him to offer up some info on his exciting new Syfy series!

I’m excited to see your episode of GCB.  Such a fun show to start the week with on Sunday nights.
Isn’t it gorgeous?  I love the thing!

What is it about the show that got you involved?  Was it the script, did you know Bobby (Harling)?
I had worked with the Executive Director on the show, Victor Nelli, Jr., he had the same role on UGLY BETTY; he had been Executive Director on that.  He called me up and said, you know, I need some sort of steam rolling bonehead to come on here, and mix it up for a girl, and I thought of you, so that was pretty much that [laughs].  I’d read about the show, and I’d seen the cast, and it’s got such a brilliant comedic cast to it, so it was kind of a no-brainer, really.

We’ve gotten to see you doing both comedy and drama – where would you put this on “up your alley”-wise, is a comedy like this with drama more where you find yourself leaning? 
I’m really grateful, and that’s a really good question.  It’s interesting.  Until I was about 35, no one had ever hired me to do anything funny.  I kind of, a lot of the time, get hired to, I don’t know, play the guy that causes a lot of trouble, and I think it’s been a process of kind of getting older that I’ve gotten invited to do comedy and I love doing it. I probably do more drama than I do comedy, but it’s such a relief.  It’s such a relief at the end of the day when your goal is to entertain people and give them a laugh!  That’s a really nice thing to know you’re doing when you’re spending time at work. And there is plenty of drama around!

What can you tell us about the character, and how he comes to be a part of the show?
The character is Mason Massey.  He comes into the show when Miriam’s character Cricket, she basically has a mare that she needs to breed, and so she’s looking to find a stud for her horse.  Of course, this is all a really broad metaphor that plays through on everything, and that’s how they meet.  He’s got this incredibly expensive stallion that he’s kind of renting out for stud fees, and he’s charging exorbitantly high stud fees for this, so she has a meeting with the guy to try to fight him down.  She’s that very kind of confident powerful Texas businesswoman who gets her own way in everything, including her marriage and other relationships, and this guy wanders in and takes her to the cleaners [laughs].  At the same time, he decides she’s very interesting, so there is something out of left field, a little off the radar for her, catches her a bit unaware.

What I love about the show and I’ve talked about this with people before – it’s funny, and it’s broad and over the top, but there’s such a human element to it.  Cricket, it’s going to be nice, to see her play opposite someone that is a little different for her.
Yeah, I think when comedies work best, and this is very true of GCB, is when you still get that really grounded human story going on that you’re talking about, and the really good ones do.  It is great, I think for Miriam’s character, Cricket to have a storyline that is both funny, but it’s kind of challenging, the foundation, and the basis of her relationships, and the nature of her life, and the choices she makes.  She’s in this white marriage with her husband, and it kind of makes her sit down and explore that for herself, 10, 15, 20 years later.  It is both.  And you’re right, I think it’s really good for that character to  be challenged in that way.  On a really personal, core level.

Is this a character, as the show comes to an end this season, that we could see come back?
<<crickets>> Grant’s phone cut out.  He gets back on the line, laughing –
It’s funny the call dropped out there!  It was like, just I hung up on you.  Am I coming back, and I hang up! [laughs]  I’d love it.  Definitely, the door is left open storyline wise, and very much so with me and the show.  I’d enjoy to see the character come back.  He’s one of those characters that could go onward, and keep causing ripples, upsetting the apple cart, which is a really fun thing to play, and I love it.  Miriam is such a champion; she’s great to work with, and I’d do it in a heartbeat.

I want to switch gears just a bit and ask about DEFIANCE!  What can you tell us about that and the character?
You know what, you were talking about drama and comedy before and which one I like to play more?  This character Nolan, I lept at, and I nearly tripped over it getting that character.  It’s got that.  it’s got that perfect blend for me of getting to be really down and dirty, kind of gnarly, like I’ve done a lot of stuff, and but also, there’s a lot of humor there, and it’s fun, and funny. I’m in heaven character wise.  Storywise, it’s kind of a frontier story, really.  It’s kind of an action show, I don’t know, a cross between post apocalyptic sci-fi and Western, if you’d like. It all comes together in a very seamless way, and just like, TRUE BLOOD, where Alan Ball tends to run social commentary through vampires, and fairies, and werewolves, and such, I think sometimes, when you move away from reality, it’s easier to make direct commentary on certain aspects of life and society that you can’t just stand and deliver naked to an audience.

It’s always nice to see your face popup on our favorite shows!
I love it – I’d love this ugly mug of mine to keep showing up on GCB. It’s an awesome show!

GCB airs Sundays at 9/8c.  Don’t forget to tune in to Sunday’s penultimate episode, and the finale next week! For more info on GCB, head over to ABC!