- Jackie Earle Halley, Mark Valley, Chi McBride walk - Justin Stephens/FOX
That was the joke in the Human Target pressroom at San Diego Comic Con in July 2010 because in the second season, they are bringing a female boss into the bastion of male buddies. Playing along as to which Angel he’d be, Chi McBride [Boston Public, Pushing Daisies] chose Cheryl Ladd, because he was “the most petite.” When a reporter suggested he might be more like Jaclyn Smith, he declined with, “I’m much more Cheryl Ladd. I’m much more petite. You don’t notice me. You don’t see me, but then you go, wow, he’s really beautiful and petite.” That both press and fans were going to be treated to Chi’s non-stop delightful sense of humor was apparent early on when he quipped that they refused to wear “red bathing suits and blond wigs.”
On the other hand, Mark Valley [Boston Legal, Keen Eddy] said, “I want to be Farrah Fawcett Majors because that’s just the way it is.” But he changed his mind when Chi started teasing him about his choice being “a blond thing.”
Human Target is based on the DC Comics character created by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino. The character later got its own comic book series and graphic novel, then a short-lived ABC TV series in the 90s starring Rick Springfield in the title role. The Human Target is a personal security expert who assumes identities to protect people in imminent danger. In the originals, he assumed the physical appearance of his clients through cosmetic transformation, but the impersonation aspect has been dropped in the new series. “That doesn’t really serve well for the medium of television,” Chi explained. “Mission Impossible did it well. Quantum Leap did it well. But it’s a different thing now, and we wanted to create a hero that people could identify with, could see every week and get used to every week. Not see a different actor every week and not know who it is.”
Studios are always surprised when their buddy shows designed for the male demographic attract a fair number of females who enjoy male buddy banter and male buddy shows. TV shows are always surprised to learn that if their talent and writing staff get invited to conventions other than Comic Con, the audience is heavily female. Hence, adding female characters to the male buddy bastion to draw a female audience under the supposition that what women want are hints of romance seems a bit of a risk for losing the audience they already have.
Matt Miller Talks Female Boss
Not surprising then that showrunner and talent concentrated on how bringing a female boss into the mix will be a positive force impacting the men used to running the ops by themselves. The ‘Charlie’ in question is named Ilsa and according to new showrunner, Matt Miller (Chuck), “she was married to a billionaire, like a Paul Allen - Bill Gates type, who was not only rich but philanthropic. A benefactor and a wonderful guy. And he was killed under mysterious circumstances. And now she feels she’s in danger, so she comes back into the show and hires Chance to protect her in the sort of standard setup we usually have in the series. What happens by the end of the first episode is that she decides this company could be of value to the world. So she ends up becoming the owner of the company. They were having financial problems and a lot of stuff, so she comes and takes over. What that does is it creates—it helps us in a lot of ways. The first thing it does is give a boss to these guys. And how is Chance gonna respond to this woman who is now his boss. And watching that romantic tension play out throughout the course of the season. Similarly, if this woman’s a billionaire, well now they have access to her money and her toys.”
Chi described her entrance with his own unique charm. “I think the biggest change is going to be ensemble cohesion and bringing in new characters – we’ve got some great females… Indira Varma playing a recently widowed billionaire, how convenient. ‘Here honey, have some tea. And then go to sleep… FOREVER.’ But she’s going to be playing a character who goes from being a client to becoming a partner.” He revealed that as she will be signing the checks, she’ll make them jump. “You know how guys love that,” Chi said, then grit his teeth in demonstration as he continued, “A woman comes in and tells you what to do. You’ve been doing it yourself, but she can say, ‘Yeah, but you don’t got no money.’”
Indira Varma Mixes It Up With the Boys
Of the actress, Indira Varma (Rome, Torchwood), Matt said they “wanted someone who has real command and real presence. She’s not the one who meets Chance and gets weak in the knees, but someone Chance meets and is not impressed by him. So the season is about him having her thaw out towards him. And she’s a wonderful actress.”
Nevertheless, beyond the action, suspense and special effects, the appeal of the series is in the characters and their tight-knit, ‘got your back’ relationships. Matt Miller assured that they are going to take what worked well in season 1-- the incredible characters, the incredible cast, the great interaction between them – and “maybe enhance them a little bit, give them more pop, maybe flesh out the characters or learn more about our characters. Taking the same fabulous characters that are already there and the relationships that we love and just dig a little bit deeper.”
In part 2, the actors share how they see their characters and relationships.
Season 2 premieres Friday, Oct. 1 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
Crystal Taylor - I'm a writer of TV one-hour scripts, screenplays, novels, short stories, articles, and poetry. I'm most proud of a story (episode outline) ...
