The Point Radio: Julie Benz Has Our Attention

From BUFFY and ANGEL to DEXTER and then DEFIANCE, Julle Benz is an actress that has had our undivided attention. With DEFIANCE about to return for season three, we catch up with Julie about where we last saw her character, what’s ahead and how far she’ll go to research a role. Then, with civil unrest and police mistrust at the top of the news cycle, CBS Legal Analyst Rikki Klieman tackles it all from a new angle this weekend (Sunday at 9pm ET) on Investigation Discovery.

Transcript

The Point Radio. Hey, it's Mike Rodd, great polar, successful summertime hit comedy. Welcome to Sweden. Back again for a new run of episodes on NBC, and he's here to tell us what we can expect. Plus remember little Vicky on a love boat?

We'll find out what's up with actress Jill Whelan. Let's get to The Point. This is The Point, The Point Radio. Get The Point Radio. Last year's summertime hit comedy, Welcome to Sweden, created by Greg Bolar, along with

his sister Amy, is headed back to NBC for a new run of episodes in just a few weeks. I talked to Greg about what would be the approach to this season. I would say it's the same approach. I mean, I think we have a lot of, a lot more exciting guest stars coming for season two. Jason Krieseli and Nev Campbell.

Actually, Nev Campbell's playing, has a recurring role in five episodes, season two. And Jack Black and Amy and Aubrey are back, and Paul Simon, actually. This season's team seven. Greg reminded me that the show, of course, is based on a major part of his own real life. Yeah, I mean, the story is the story of my life in the sense that I am an American that

moved to Sweden for love. And I mean, I've been here about nine years now, but really the first season of the show tries to capture the first few months of my or anyone's journey when they move abroad. And so it's really, entirely the first season is about really what happens when you give up everything for someone.

And is love enough? And the culture clashes that inevitably arise when you move to Sweden or to any country. Also part of the cast celebrated actress, Ileana Douglas, who talked to me about how she got involved. Well, as I tell everyone, I answer the phone and I say yes.

I said, yes. They said Stockholm. I said, oh, okay. My journey was that I had done a web series for IKEA for about five years called Easy to Assemble.

So I was immersed in Swedish culture, but had never gone to Sweden. And part of our working on the show was we needed Swedish actors living in California. And so I was connected with a Swedish agent and I said, hey, you know, if anything ever comes up, I would love to work in Sweden. And sure enough, this thing came up and Greg and I just talked on the phone and if I may,

I feel as if we hit it off. I think we had the same sensibility. I was born in Massachusetts. We have a kind of a East Coast sense of humor, but we just hit it off. And the thought of working in another country just seems so appealing to me, especially

a country I always wanted to visit. And then when I went there and worked on the show, my goodness, it was just incredible. I just loved the whole cultural experience was really fantastic. And I think that that's what comes across on the show is this really kind of, it looks like we're having fun in this familial sense and all the different exchange of actors and

acting and acting techniques. You know, getting to work with Patrick Duffy, of course, getting to work with Greg. It's been an amazing experience. Just like last year, episodes will run both in the US and in Sweden simultaneously. Any difference in those episodes?

Yeah, it's pretty much the same. I think that, I mean, the biggest difference is when it comes to audiences is that, you know, the show is a mix of two languages, Swedish and English. And the Swedish audiences are so used to watching shows with subtitles that it's second nature to them.

But I think for Americans, it was, for some, it was quite startling. We're making America read. Coming from a huge showbiz family, Ileana literally grew up in the industry. So I ask your opinion on the landscape of show business today with streaming and online. How does that affect choices?

Well, I think it's fantastic because, of course, it gives actors an opportunity to work and to self-create, which, you know, I'm very much interested in. And even though my grandfather was part of the MGM studio system for many years, he also was a producer. He got out of the army and he produced Call Me Mr.

and was involved in a lot of behind the scenes script writing, you know, a very famous movie did called Mr. Blanding's Builds a Stream House. You know, people forget, they think of the golden age of Hollywood, but he was behind the scenes helping write, working with the producer. So I think that people are always looking for opportunities to, you know, to branch out

their careers. And that was one of the reasons that I went to the web. I was wanting to do more, you know, writing and directing. And so I had this fantastic opportunity for Mikea. And like I said, they gave me an amazing opportunity for five years to write, you know, a very

autobiographical show. And it was a great experience for me. And I'm, you know, I'm producing another web series now for Jill Soloway's company, WifiTV, called The Skinny. So I'm going to start shooting that.

So I mean, I think it's, you know, we're being given opportunities that maybe we're not going to get on network television. And I think, again, Welcome to Sweden represents this, you know, this branching out of show business. Here is a show that we're shooting in Sweden, but is airing on NBC because it's cost effective

for NBC. But the audiences love it. And we'll also, again, be able to watch it, you know, download it, et cetera. And that's the people are accepting that that's a way to watch, you know, entertainment. And as long as the audience sees it, I mean, for me personally, the audience is the most

important thing. And if you have the audience to watch your what, you know, your art, then then it's all, you know, then it's all worth it. And I think anybody would take a pay cut, you know, doing web series in order to feel that in that they're that they're doing that they're making their mark artistically.

You can catch the entire first season, all 10 episodes of Welcome to Sweden and a two disc DVD set available right now on Amazon. And season two debuts on NBC on July 19th. Once again, TV at the top of the list and the latest in pop culture. More pluses and minuses for the new TV season.

Undateable will be back for an all live 13 episode third season on the network. Unprecedented for a live program on NBC. Same network that also though pulled the plug on things like About a Boy, Marry Me, One Big Happy and State of Affairs as well. Constantine finally got the ax officially, although as you would guess, there's a ton

of different resurrection rumors circulating. Nothing official so far from any network. Meanwhile over on Fox, Bones will be back for a season 11. However, Backstrom will not be back for a second season. And as we told you last week, the following also canceled by Fox.

Our very next January where the following usually would will be the X-Files. The premiere will actually be right after the post NFC championship game in January. And then the series will debut in its regular slots, Mondays and 8pm on the network. And finally, completing the rest of the TV puzzle is CBS, who's renewed CSI Cyber, the odd couple in CIS and CIS Los Angeles.

Y-5-0, Criminal Minds Elementary, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods and Persons of Interest as well. At last, it's the show though only getting a 13 episode order from CBS when it premieres in the fall. Last December, Archie announced that there was going to be a reboot of the Riverdale

crowd with Mark Wade at the head of it. Now we're getting closer to the debut of that and some more information on new titles as well. First of all, the Mark Wade Fiona Staples Archie number one will hit comic stores in July and there'll also be two other titles as well planned one including a revamped Jug

Head and a Betty and Veronica title drawn and written by artist Adam Hughes. The new Jug Head number one is set for September Betty and Veronica debut in December. She was one of the most recognizable TV faces of the 70s and 80s. Jill Whelan you knew her as little Vicky Steubing on the Love Boat. Over the years she's grown up and stayed connected to show business working in cabarets

having a successful podcast and staying involved with the cruise industry. I have been a cruise fan since I first stepped foot on a princess cruise and so my family and I have had many celebrations on cruises. I got married on a princess cruise. My parents renewed their vows on a princess cruise.

My son we celebrated his graduation. We celebrated the birthday. You know any kind of milestone. It's the thing that we do. So this relationship now that I have with princess which is I'm their celebrations ambassador

is really it came out of my own personal experiences and the way that I like to vacation. So what does her job entail as being celebrations ambassador as a celebrations ambassador for princess. I'm basically going to be highlighting the many different packages that princess has for celebrations aboard a princess cruise.

I will be doing trade shows with them. I'll be doing celebration videos things like that things like this talking on the radio getting the message out there. It's something that is so organic to me and something that I love talking about that it's just it's easy because I do love it.

It's so exciting and there's so much to do now. Cruising today is nothing like it was 20 years ago. For example right now we have one of the biggest prolific legends on Broadway Stephen Schwartz who's creating four original shows just for princess cruises. It's going to be Broadway caliber shows.

Stephen Schwartz did Wicked Pippin Godspell tons of other musicals as well but he's bringing in all his musical people. It's going to be a spectacular couple of shows. So things like that the restaurants everything it's a completely different industry. I know she started out early but how did Jill really get into acting in the first place?

When I was very very little my mother was a nursery school teacher and according to her she needed to find someplace to put me during the summertime because I would try to hijack her nursery school classes and teach them and it was very distracting. So the only thing that was happening local locally near where she worked was a production of The King and I and she thought that could be good.

It's a bunch of kids it'll be like camp I'll have her audition for that and put her in there and then my problems will all be solved. And what happened was that a lot of those kids this is in Northern California were all working in commercials and I thought that sounded like a lot of fun. So I sent my picture into an agent in San Francisco to the Breitner agency way back

when and that was that was it I just started working right away. I asked Jill to reflect back a little bit on some of her great love boat moments. Oh gosh there are so many incredible moments. We didn't work with just actors we worked with legends from Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, Lillian Gish, Olivia de Havilland who played Melanie in Gone with the Wind, Terry Grant,

Andy Warhol, Van Johnson, the list goes cap Callaway, the list goes on and on with the amount of actors that we were and performers that we were able to work with. I tell a story which is that after Andy Warhol had done the show which was such a coup because he wasn't an actor and he ended up winding up on a sitcom with us which was just such an amazing opportunity.

I was in New York shopping and some gal tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was Jill Whelan and I said yes she said well I work for Andy Warhol if he knew you were in town he would want me to invite you down to the factory would you come? And of course I said yes and then there we went down to New York to the factory and Andy met me at the door and took me around and gave me a tour of the factory for a couple

of hours and signed posters. So that was a pretty incredible experience. Since the love vote Jill's made her mark in Jill business in a couple of different ways including a pretty successful podcast that well I kind of miss. My partner and I Brian Phelps from Famous Mark and Brian fame we did a podcast for two

years he and I have been really dear friends for about 18 years and that was really a black class. It's just that his projects and my other projects sort of kind of have taken over I just did an episode of Real Husband's Hollywood with Kevin Hart and I see a bold and the beautiful I just finished a movie I've got a big show coming out on ABC in the beginning of the

summer so it's just I have a cabaret show that I've been traveling around with so it's just everything else kind of took over. You can catch up more with Jill right now and her job as celebrations ambassador for Princess Cruises just head to the main website princess.com. That's it for the podcast but when we're back let's take a look at the black list season

two ending where does it all stop and where does it pick up again next year. Actors Megan Boone fills in the spaces on that and more on websites by ComicMix.com michael davisworld.com, give the point to radio.com and the iTunes podcast directory as well. Follow us on social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under the point radio too and

we'll see you right back here. Get the point radio.com.