Post by arne on Feb 3, 2006 8:15:13 GMT -5
I hope I didn't step on E's toes by posting this without asking... but I noticed the most recent Season 5 weblog was still missing from this board, and IMO, it's a pretty cool read.
Now, I'll let David "Billings" Marciano do the talking:
Episode 504"Tapa Boca"
POSTED BY: David Marciano
JANUARY 31, 2006
*The comments and opinions expressed below are solely those of their respective writers, and not those of FX Networks, LLC, Twentieth Century Fox, or their related and affiliated entities.*
THE SHIELD
Episode 504 – "Tapa Boca"
By David Marciano
Captain Steve Billings, formerly Detective Steve Billings. What a promotion! I got the news when I was in Disneyworld on vacation with my family.
Chronologically it went down like this… At the wrap party of season four Glen Mazzara thanked me for a job well done, asked if I was still having fun and would I like to come back for season five. With a big smile, I said, "Sure." That was in May. By mid August I still hadn't heard from Glen or the Network (FX) as to whether or not I was coming back. I knew the show was starting up again in September, so my doubts began to set in. I've been in the business for over twenty years and I've been promised many a job that never panned out, so I thought onward and upwards…my feelings weren't that hurt.
Now, we always go to Florida to visit my mom during the last two weeks in August. We've been doing it ever since my eldest was three. I know its hurricane season, but it's a tradition and the hotel rates at Disneyworld are at their lowest. So it was about five thirty p.m. eastern time when me and the girls were passing the Cinderella fountain. I said, "Did you know that this is a magic fountain. That if you drink from this well all your dreams will come true." My six year old hurriedly asked me for a coin, took a sip from the wishing well and made her wish. My eleven year old just smirked and uttered, "Yeah, right." as she moved on. Now, me always trying to be the optimist and never one to give up on a dream took sip from the magic waters. I closed my eyes. I wished I was back on television on a weekly basis again making decent money. I reached into my pocket…pulled out a coin, and tossed it in Cinderella's wake. At about ten thirty that night I was standing in line waiting for food with my six year old when my cell phone rang. It was my agent. "Are you sitting down?" He says. Why, what's going on? "I just got off the phone with the folks at The Shield. The good news is they want you to be the next captain." What's the bad news, I say. "There's no money." Wow, I'm going to be the new captain on The Shield? "Congratulations." Congratulations? I'm following Glenn Close. The press is going to rip me to shreds. We laughed. "Who cares?" he said. "You're going to be the next captain on The Shield."
Episode 504…this is where Billings gets his captain's legs. Up to now he had been portrayed as a spineless jelly fish, the one who always ended up with egg on his face or vomit on his shoulder…so to speak. Not that that's not going to continue in some fashion, but everyone felt after viewing the first three episodes that Billings was coming off as a buffoon, as if he didn't know how to be a cop, and that's just not the case. He's been on the force for over fifteen years, a decent detective who cut his teeth on the streets of Farmington. We didn't want him to be just comic fodder. Yes, he's a bureaucratic puppet. Yes, he's a ‘yes man' for Vic, but you don't stay a cop for fifteen years without knowing something, without learning the job. The powers-that-be put Billings in place because they knew he would give Vic the freedom to rule the roost, the leeway to careen out of control and hopefully just enough rope to hang himself. I remember after reading 504 I had a conversation with Glen, he said, I said something to the effect that I felt this was a departure from the way you guys originally portrayed Billings. It seems like he's growing, he's starting to get his legs, he's figuring out what a captain is and how he's supposed to act. Glen concurred. He said, I said, this is where Billings takes charge. He addresses the media. He asks Claudette if she wants him to take a swing at interrogating the baby killer. A captain is a leader and whether he's good at it or not, he had better start acting like a captain or he's going to have a mutiny on his hands. We both hung up the phone feeling we were now on the right track with this guy.
All in all this is an important episode for the show, this is where everything kicks into gear, everything that was set up in the first three episodes is now being paid off and Billings is catching his stride…for now. After all this is The Shield and what is will be what is not and what is not will eventually resurface and when it does, it'll probably bite you. (Play Shield theme song here).
Now, I'll let David "Billings" Marciano do the talking:
Episode 504"Tapa Boca"
POSTED BY: David Marciano
JANUARY 31, 2006
*The comments and opinions expressed below are solely those of their respective writers, and not those of FX Networks, LLC, Twentieth Century Fox, or their related and affiliated entities.*
THE SHIELD
Episode 504 – "Tapa Boca"
By David Marciano
Captain Steve Billings, formerly Detective Steve Billings. What a promotion! I got the news when I was in Disneyworld on vacation with my family.
Chronologically it went down like this… At the wrap party of season four Glen Mazzara thanked me for a job well done, asked if I was still having fun and would I like to come back for season five. With a big smile, I said, "Sure." That was in May. By mid August I still hadn't heard from Glen or the Network (FX) as to whether or not I was coming back. I knew the show was starting up again in September, so my doubts began to set in. I've been in the business for over twenty years and I've been promised many a job that never panned out, so I thought onward and upwards…my feelings weren't that hurt.
Now, we always go to Florida to visit my mom during the last two weeks in August. We've been doing it ever since my eldest was three. I know its hurricane season, but it's a tradition and the hotel rates at Disneyworld are at their lowest. So it was about five thirty p.m. eastern time when me and the girls were passing the Cinderella fountain. I said, "Did you know that this is a magic fountain. That if you drink from this well all your dreams will come true." My six year old hurriedly asked me for a coin, took a sip from the wishing well and made her wish. My eleven year old just smirked and uttered, "Yeah, right." as she moved on. Now, me always trying to be the optimist and never one to give up on a dream took sip from the magic waters. I closed my eyes. I wished I was back on television on a weekly basis again making decent money. I reached into my pocket…pulled out a coin, and tossed it in Cinderella's wake. At about ten thirty that night I was standing in line waiting for food with my six year old when my cell phone rang. It was my agent. "Are you sitting down?" He says. Why, what's going on? "I just got off the phone with the folks at The Shield. The good news is they want you to be the next captain." What's the bad news, I say. "There's no money." Wow, I'm going to be the new captain on The Shield? "Congratulations." Congratulations? I'm following Glenn Close. The press is going to rip me to shreds. We laughed. "Who cares?" he said. "You're going to be the next captain on The Shield."
Episode 504…this is where Billings gets his captain's legs. Up to now he had been portrayed as a spineless jelly fish, the one who always ended up with egg on his face or vomit on his shoulder…so to speak. Not that that's not going to continue in some fashion, but everyone felt after viewing the first three episodes that Billings was coming off as a buffoon, as if he didn't know how to be a cop, and that's just not the case. He's been on the force for over fifteen years, a decent detective who cut his teeth on the streets of Farmington. We didn't want him to be just comic fodder. Yes, he's a bureaucratic puppet. Yes, he's a ‘yes man' for Vic, but you don't stay a cop for fifteen years without knowing something, without learning the job. The powers-that-be put Billings in place because they knew he would give Vic the freedom to rule the roost, the leeway to careen out of control and hopefully just enough rope to hang himself. I remember after reading 504 I had a conversation with Glen, he said, I said something to the effect that I felt this was a departure from the way you guys originally portrayed Billings. It seems like he's growing, he's starting to get his legs, he's figuring out what a captain is and how he's supposed to act. Glen concurred. He said, I said, this is where Billings takes charge. He addresses the media. He asks Claudette if she wants him to take a swing at interrogating the baby killer. A captain is a leader and whether he's good at it or not, he had better start acting like a captain or he's going to have a mutiny on his hands. We both hung up the phone feeling we were now on the right track with this guy.
All in all this is an important episode for the show, this is where everything kicks into gear, everything that was set up in the first three episodes is now being paid off and Billings is catching his stride…for now. After all this is The Shield and what is will be what is not and what is not will eventually resurface and when it does, it'll probably bite you. (Play Shield theme song here).