Post by leadinvestigator on Jun 15, 2005 14:40:12 GMT -5
Posted on Tue, Jun. 14, 2005
Bad KU student is good for ‘Shield'
AARON BARNHART
The Kansas City Star
If the University of Kansas is looking for a way to honor Jay Karnes of “The Shield,” here's an idea: Give him his degree.
“You are speaking to one of the worst students in the history of KU,” Karnes said by telephone last week from L.A. That, he assured me, had nothing to do with the school's “really fantastic” theater and film department, where he spent most of his 20s.
He arrived in Lawrence from Omaha about the time that Dutch — Reagan, that is, not the detective Karnes plays on “The Shield” — arrived in the White House. When he finally moved on eight years later he was still four credits shy of a degree. (The department gave him an alumni award last summer anyway.)
He met “Shield” creator Shawn Ryan at a playwriting retreat in Virginia. They shared an apartment in L.A. for four years. They were each other's best man (Karnes married actress Julia Campbell).
Ryan got a job writing for “Angel” and took a little money from FX to whip up a script for a cop show.
“I was getting ready to go to New York to be in a play,” Karnes recalled. “But I asked him, ‘Is there anyone (in “The Shield”) that I can play?' And he said, ‘Well, how about Dutch?'
“So he took another pass at it with me in mind. And when I read it I said to him, ‘Exactly what aspects of my personality are in this character?' ”
Dutch, a bright, arrogant, smarmy LAPD underachiever, is a gem of a TV role. And if Karnes isn't exactly flattered playing “The Shield's” designated loser, he makes every scene he's in just as riveting as the ones that Michael Chiklis storms through.
Dutch's way of solving crimes is unique among TV cops; sometimes it seems like the suspects are working him over. When he gets a confession, it has little effect on his co-workers, who razz him mercilessly.
Liz Craft and Sarah Fain, the writing duo profiled on today's FYI cover, called Dutch the toughest character to write because it's so easy to make him a cartoon. That's not likely, though, with a classically trained actor like Karnes and a risk-taking show like “The Shield.”
Karnes and Campbell have twins now, and he prefers to be with them.
“I have deliberately not done much in the off-season,” he said. “It's nice just to live your life and not be worried about work.”
Hey, Jay, I hear they have summer classes at KU.
I'm at (816) 234-4790. Or visit TVBarn.com.
Bad KU student is good for ‘Shield'
AARON BARNHART
The Kansas City Star
If the University of Kansas is looking for a way to honor Jay Karnes of “The Shield,” here's an idea: Give him his degree.
“You are speaking to one of the worst students in the history of KU,” Karnes said by telephone last week from L.A. That, he assured me, had nothing to do with the school's “really fantastic” theater and film department, where he spent most of his 20s.
He arrived in Lawrence from Omaha about the time that Dutch — Reagan, that is, not the detective Karnes plays on “The Shield” — arrived in the White House. When he finally moved on eight years later he was still four credits shy of a degree. (The department gave him an alumni award last summer anyway.)
He met “Shield” creator Shawn Ryan at a playwriting retreat in Virginia. They shared an apartment in L.A. for four years. They were each other's best man (Karnes married actress Julia Campbell).
Ryan got a job writing for “Angel” and took a little money from FX to whip up a script for a cop show.
“I was getting ready to go to New York to be in a play,” Karnes recalled. “But I asked him, ‘Is there anyone (in “The Shield”) that I can play?' And he said, ‘Well, how about Dutch?'
“So he took another pass at it with me in mind. And when I read it I said to him, ‘Exactly what aspects of my personality are in this character?' ”
Dutch, a bright, arrogant, smarmy LAPD underachiever, is a gem of a TV role. And if Karnes isn't exactly flattered playing “The Shield's” designated loser, he makes every scene he's in just as riveting as the ones that Michael Chiklis storms through.
Dutch's way of solving crimes is unique among TV cops; sometimes it seems like the suspects are working him over. When he gets a confession, it has little effect on his co-workers, who razz him mercilessly.
Liz Craft and Sarah Fain, the writing duo profiled on today's FYI cover, called Dutch the toughest character to write because it's so easy to make him a cartoon. That's not likely, though, with a classically trained actor like Karnes and a risk-taking show like “The Shield.”
Karnes and Campbell have twins now, and he prefers to be with them.
“I have deliberately not done much in the off-season,” he said. “It's nice just to live your life and not be worried about work.”
Hey, Jay, I hear they have summer classes at KU.
I'm at (816) 234-4790. Or visit TVBarn.com.