TV Tattler: Celebrity Interviews

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What was your favorite moment from last season?
James Pickens Jr.: That would have to be the bomb episode. It was, without fear of sounding biased, probably one of the best nights of TV I’ve seen in a long time. It had everything. I was proud to be on it.

What do you think makes the show so popular?
Ellen Pompeo: I think there are a few reasons. I think the writing is fantastic. I think the actors are all fantastic and everyone has a good time doing the show. I think our chemistry is something that adds a tremendous amount to the show. We all get along and we’re having fun and I think people feel that.
Justin Chambers: I think a lot of interesting things make this show work such as diversity in the cast. It’s a "dramedy" -- there’s a lot of fun and a lot of sadness when you have life and death like it is in a hospital. You do have a lot of room for great drama. And the style that [show creator] Shonda Rhimes has brought to the show and the actors are just wonderful. It’s just a good hour of television. The audience showed up, the critics responded and we’ll just keep doing it. We let people forget their problems for an hour and they can just watch our problems.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: I just think the writing is so good. The writers have created characters that are very real to all of us. I was a big fan of the show before I was even on it and I thought then the characters all have great stories. It’s real people. It’s not a procedural show, you actually get to know these people and invest feelings in them. So I think that’s what makes things stand out.

What are you looking forward to in season three?
Chandra Wilson: I guess the way that we work ourselves out of the mess that we left in the most human and humane way possible. And it’s going to show great things about everyone and it’s going to show really messed up things about everyone.
James Pickens Jr.: I think more of the same. Hopefully, if they stay on the same path they have for the last two seasons -- great writing, making it sexy, making it provocative and making it most of all entertaining. Keeping that same voice that audiences have been listening to and responding with and the same faces that they connect with, I think we’ll be fine.

How is your character different from you personally?
Justin Chambers: I’m a guy who probably doesn’t need to finish first. I need to finish, but I don’t need to finish first. I’m going to get there late. I’m more secure with myself in different ways. I’m definitely a little more laid back than Alex is. He’s smarter, even though he doesn’t act it. I’m wiser, but he’s more academic.

What do you hope happens to your character by the series finale years from now?
Chandra Wilson: Wow! That she would have taken over. She’ll be paid! Everyone else would be under her and she won’t give up that position.

How do you prepare for the role?
Kate Burton: I don’t actually. I really try to just stay in the moment. I try not to over prepare or over think it. One of the worst things about being in the theater is we have a tendency to want to figure it all out and I can’t do that with this part. Shonda’s written it so brilliantly that I just have to take it one-step at a time.

Do you prefer television or the theater?
Kate Burton: I love both. I love in the theater that there’s this total cooperation with the audience, but so is television I’m discovering. Especially this show. I’ve done a lot of shows. I’ve done 'The Practice,' 'Law & Order,' a lot of lawyers, but just in the last five years I’ve started to play truly interesting characters on TV and there’s something that is communicated with that. People are coming up to me saying, 'Oh my God, it’s our family.' You can’t put a price on how important that is to connect with people.