KLSX 97.1 FM Interview

Conway & Stecker: CS 1 & 2 
Garett Maggart: GM

CS1: Garett Maggart of The Sentinel. Garett plays Blair Sandburg who's the anthropology grad student dedicated to keeping his thesis subject, Detective Jim Ellison, in one piece by accompanying him as a permanent police department observer. Now this is an action drama on Paramount here in LA on UPN Channel 13.

CS2: Is this the first season? The pilot?

CS1: I think it's been on for a couple years.

CS2: It's been on a couple years? How many years?

CS1: I think three

CS2: Let's read the bio. ~mumble, mumble~ Four years.

CS1: Hey, I was close.

CS2: Hey, it's Garett!

CS1: It's Garett..

GM: It's Garett.

CS2: Come on in, have a seat.

GM: It's the *fourth* season, not the pilot episode. ~mumble, mumble~ (not on a mic yet) ...It's in the publicity package right there.

CS2: Now this is The Sentinel, right?

GM: Right.

CS2: Now you're the star of The Sentinel?

GM: I'm one of the co-stars.

CS2: Well, excellent, good for you.

GM: Thank you.

CS1: There you are, you're right on the cover of this.

CS2: Is it fun being on UPN?

GM: Oh, yeah, it's fun being on any television show.

CS2: Oh, I see you, in the background.

GM: Yeah, the long hair.

CS2: But you haven't shaved for awhile.

GM: No, I've been out of work for the last couple months.

CS2: Well, tell us about The Sentinel. I've not caught this yet. When is it on?

GM: It's on Monday nights at nine on UPN, which is channel 13 locally. It's a cop show. We blow stuff up. {laugher}

CS1: You guys look like you're capable of that.

GM: There's a high body count. It's a good flick.

CS2: Paramount puts a lot into their press packets. Look at this. Very expensive. A slide kit.

GM: It's raised lettering too, I think. Good stuff.

CS2: Now that is channel 13, right?

GM: Yeah.

CS2: It's on Monday nights at 9 p.m.

GM: Monday nights at 9 p.m.

CS2: I wonder why I haven't caught that. Well, I'm working on Monday nights at 9 p.m.

GM: That's a good one. I'll buy that.

CS1: Dan has always wanted to be a sentinel. {laughter}

CS1: We're talking with Garett Maggart. Did I pronounce your last name correctly?

GM: Close enough.

CS1: Or is it Maggart?

GM: Maggart.

CS1: Okay, Garett Maggart who plays Blair Sandburg on the UPN series The Sentinel. As I was saying, Dan's always wanted to be one. He thinks they're like mythical tribal spirits that watch out for the rest of us. Is that right?

GM: Yeah. {laughter}

CS1: You can be one, Dan.

GM: He's mythical and tribal. Look at him.

CS1: He's certainly tribal.

CS2: Actually, he referred to it as The Centennial before, thinking it was a show about 100 years.

GM: I like that. Maybe that'd bump up our ratings.

CS2: Crazy guy. Again, I have not seen this show. But I'm sure it's terrific.

GM: It's wonderful.

CS2: It's action-adventure. You got car crashes, things are blowing up. Now I was working on a show called High Tide. You ever see High Tide?...... {short discussion about this other show which I didn't really think was relevant, except that GM laughed a lot, that cute little laugh Basically getting to the expensiveness of blowing things up which leads to....}

CS2: It's very expensive to do these things.

GM: Yeah, we have a pretty good budget. I don't really know the numbers exactly...

CS2: Anybody going nuts on the set? Anybody going crazy? Anybody get in fights?

GM: A couple times, sure.

CS2: Actors?

GM: No, not actors. Richard Burgi and Bruce Young are the co-stars with me and we pretty much keep everybody in line. I'm not the muscle.

CS1: We're talking with Garett Maggart who plays Blair Sandburg on The Sentinel. Is this shot locally?

GM: Vancouver.

CS1: Oh, it is.

GM: It's here in British Columbia. It's gorgeous up there. Rains a lot, but it's pretty. {Then we diverge into another tangent about the half-sister Fiona Apple...}

CS2: Can we call her?

GM: To tell you the truth, I don't know her number. I don't even know my brother's. I got five sisters and a brother.

CS2: Wait a minute, you've got five sisters? How many numbers do you know?

GM: Off the top of my head? I know my dentist. {...continuing tangent into knowing phone numbers and having address books...more discussion about Fiona who is 21, Garett being 29, Fiona growing up in New York, Garett in Connecticut, spent summers together...}

CS2: I bet she had some cute friends.

GM: Uh...yeah.

CS2: Did you ever hang around with them?

GM: No, they were too young, man. I mean, come on, I'm 8 years older than them. I'm 18, they're 10! Please!

CS1: Garett...

GM: What are you trying to get into here? (sounding semi-amused)

CS2: You don't stop having sex when you're 25, they're 17, 18, you're 26...

CS1: Also, can't girls be sentinels? There aren't any girls in this package.

CS2: Yeah, where are the chicks in this thing.

GM: There is another character that wasn't around at that time when that picture was taken. Her name is Anna Galvin. She plays Inspector Megan Conner. She's the new skirt.

CS2: Okay, so it's on Monday nights, 9 p.m. The ratings doing okay?

GM: We were for awhile. I don't really know what's going on with it now. I don't really follow numbers too much. But when we re-aired at this new time slot, I heard that we did 70% better than they ever had in that time slot.

CS2: Excellent.

CS1: Congratulations.

GM: So that was pretty good.

CS2: And here you come on right after Monday night football.

CS1: Well, on the east coast you're up against it.

GM: Yeah. Exactly. We're up against Ally McBeal everywhere.

CS2: Is that right?

GM: Yeah. So what are you gonna do?

CS2: See, I have no idea what day and what time Ally McBeal is on.

GM: I think that's like a top ten show, so you can't really...

CS2: Working 7-10 on weekdays, we don't get home to see anything other than like the last 10 minutes of 20/20 or ER. So I miss about everything. {...divergent discussion of when MASH is on...}

CS1: The Sentinel maybe needs the dancing baby sentinel.

GM: There you go. I think that might pump it up. {talking about GM's father; lots of Blair laughter, very cute}

CS2: Are you married? Do you have kids?

GM: No.

CS2: Single?

GM: No, I have a girlfriend.

CS2: Oh, you do. Did you meet her...was she one of the extras on the show and you just decided to...?

GM: We hooked up.

CS2: Was she on the show?

GM: Yeah.

CS2: So you met her through the show?

GM: Yeah. {divergent discussion of dating female extras vs. hair and makeup girls and so forth....then going into how actors and basically everyone involved in the entertainment business in a little crazy...}

GM: You sorta have to have a death wish to get involved in this business to begin with.

CS1: Garett Maggart who plays Blair Sandburg on The Sentinel is with us. And he is right. Most of us are a little...but most of us have handled our damage....

GM: Fairly well.

CS1: Fairly well.

GM: We use it to our benefit -- we're making a living off it. {divergent discussion of Riley Westin - the 19-year-old writer who was really 32...more GM laughter...}

CS2: All right, Garett, thanks for coming in.

GM: No problem.

CS2: Monday nights at 9 p.m. for this UPN

CS1: Channel 13 here.

CS2: Channel 13, Paramount network

GM: UPN.

CS2: I hope they get this whole network together, 'cause there's some talented people over there. Including yourself.

GM: Thank you.

CS2: You guys do need some exposure. I don't know what's happening. Don't know why it's taking them a little longer...remember when FOX started? Took about two years and they got recognition.

GM: They had The Simpsons and The X-Files.

CS2: Little slow start. Big finishes. 'Course they got a lot of money behind it. Paramount's behind it. A lot of money behind it, so they're gonna keep it around for awhile.

GM: I hope so.

CS2: I wish you guys luck over there.

GM: Thank you.

CS1: Okay, Garett Maggart from The Centennial...Sentinel. The Sentinel.

{station ID and fade to commercial....the end}

( Thanks to Becky and Cascade Underground for this Transcript )