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FX's 'Terriers' stars aboard bus heading for Pitt
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Donal Logue as Hank Dolworth in "Terriers" which airs on Wednesday on FX.
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To promote one of the most critically acclaimed fall cable shows not enough people are watching, "Terriers" stars Donal Logue ("Grounded for Life") and Michael Raymond-James ("True Blood") are taking an old-fashioned approach to publicity, barnstorming the country in a bus wrapped in "Terriers" promos and making stops at college campuses.
The "Terriers" express pulls into the University of Pittsburgh Wednesday at 5 p.m. for a screening of an episode and Q&A with the stars in Room 324 of the Cathedral of Learning.
"Terriers," which airs at 10 p.m. Wednesdays, premiered on FX Sept. 8 with overwhelmingly positive reviews, scoring 75 out of 100 in TV critic reviews at Metacritic.com. But viewers failed to show up for the premiere, perhaps due in part to the show's title (is it about dogs?) and an ad campaign that emphasized canines over the show's plot or characters.
"Terriers," executive produced by Shawn Ryan ("The Shield," "The Unit"), follows private investigators Hank Dolworth (Mr. Logue), a former Southern California cop, and Britt Pollack (Mr. Raymond-James), a former crook. Relationship stories weave through the series -- Hank has an ex-wife he still loves, Britt has a girlfriend -- and the show is lighter and more easily accessible than other, darker FX series. But viewers probably don't know that because all they saw were posters of pups.
"It's a little bit of Monday morning quarterbacking," Mr. Logue acknowledged in an interview from the road while in Detroit last week. "Everyone was aware the name was a challenge, but everyone signed off on it, and we just didn't think it would be as much of a problem, but it is.
"I feel to some degree as if Bryan Cranston had been given an opportunity to do 'Breaking Bad' and then they decided to call it 'Chihuahua Man' and have Chihuahuas as the poster, it feels a little like that," he said. "It's a weird thing we've done to ourselves. I do understand the poetry of the scruffy, tenacious underdog, but it is what it is."
Mr. Logue was looking forward to his Pittsburgh visit because he already knows the city from having shot two movies locally: 1991's "Darrow," a TV movie starring Kevin Spacey, and 1996's remake of "Diabolique," starring Sharon Stone. In the latter film, Mr. Logue was paired with J.J. Abrams, who would later create "Alias" and "Lost." They played two videographers.
Mr. Logue and Mr. Abrams just missed a chance at a reunion: Mr. Abrams was shooting "Super 8" in nearby Weirton, W.Va., but wrapped his work before Mr. Logue's visit.
"We became really good friends while we were in Pittsburgh, and we have remained friends," Mr. Logue said. "J.J. sent me a picture of [actor] Bingo O'Malley, who'd also worked on 'Diabolique.' J.J. and I had riffed on his name for years and years afterwards, and he e-mailed me this picture. He was doing local actor hiring and Bingo was the first picture he saw. Bingo was a real sweet guy, and it took me back 15 years to when I was there."
Mr. Logue said he's been enjoying the questions from students and he's eager to answer questions at Pitt and happy about the location for their appearance.
"I remember the first time I saw the Cathedral of Learning. It's a shock to your psyche if you haven't acclimated your mind to having such a structure, something so architecturally wild and massive. It's so impressive," he said. "So we're heading back there and want to get as much support for people to come by and have fun and try to get the word out. And I told Michael I'd take him to Primanti's, and he's psyched about that."
First Published October 19, 2010 12:00 am
