Accomplished Stage and Screen Actor Jesse L. Martin Co-Stars in the Fall TV Season's Best New Show
It's early into the fall TV season, but on a number of measures The CW's superhero drama The Flash (Tuesday, 8pm) is already the standout show of the season.
First, The Flash is a breakout hit. Nearly 4.8 million people watched its premiere earlier this week, making it The CW's most-watched series premiere in five years, since The Vampire Diaries in 2009. The Flash is also the best rookie show of the fall TV season. (Read TVFirstLook's review.)
But The Flash also stands out for bringing back to television actor Jesse L. Martin. He's most recognizable for portraying Det. Ed Green on NBC's Law & Order for nine seasons.
The Tony Award* winner has starred on Broadway in productions such as Rent and Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. On TV, he has had roles on NBC's short-lived but much-loved Smash and, back in the 1990s, Fox's Ally McBeal. And he's set to star in Julien Temple's long-talked-about Marvin Gaye biopic Sexual Healing.
Jesse spoke with TVFirstLook about The Flash and his role on the show as Det. Joe West -- the Flash's mentor who takes in the young superhero when the Flash's dad is wrongly convicted of murder.
TVFirstLook: OK, let's get this out of the way. In her review, our critic Shari Anne Brill gave The Flash five stars and called it the best new show of the season. She's not the only one. That must feel good.
Jesse L. Martin: Obviously, it feels incredible. It's what you work for. You hope that what you put out there is good and people like it. But you don't know until it actually happens. When it did happen, we were psyched. We are elated.
First, The Flash is a breakout hit. Nearly 4.8 million people watched its premiere earlier this week, making it The CW's most-watched series premiere in five years, since The Vampire Diaries in 2009. The Flash is also the best rookie show of the fall TV season. (Read TVFirstLook's review.)
But The Flash also stands out for bringing back to television actor Jesse L. Martin. He's most recognizable for portraying Det. Ed Green on NBC's Law & Order for nine seasons.
The Tony Award* winner has starred on Broadway in productions such as Rent and Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. On TV, he has had roles on NBC's short-lived but much-loved Smash and, back in the 1990s, Fox's Ally McBeal. And he's set to star in Julien Temple's long-talked-about Marvin Gaye biopic Sexual Healing.
Jesse spoke with TVFirstLook about The Flash and his role on the show as Det. Joe West -- the Flash's mentor who takes in the young superhero when the Flash's dad is wrongly convicted of murder.
TVFirstLook: OK, let's get this out of the way. In her review, our critic Shari Anne Brill gave The Flash five stars and called it the best new show of the season. She's not the only one. That must feel good.
Jesse L. Martin: Obviously, it feels incredible. It's what you work for. You hope that what you put out there is good and people like it. But you don't know until it actually happens. When it did happen, we were psyched. We are elated.
And I don't normally look at [Nielsen] ratings, but it's kind of everywhere. If you search for The Flash, you can't get around those numbers
TVFirstLook: On the show, you play the Flash's father figure Det. Joe West. Who is this guy?
Jesse: He's a detective. He is a regular guy. He's a single dad of a girl who took in a little boy who suffered an unfortunate situation. He raised the boy, who after something incredible happens, becomes someone different. The boy becomes another thing. He's a red blur at this point.
Joe has a hard time with that. He has a hard time figuring out what became of that boy.
TVFirstLook: What becomes of Joe over the course of this season?
Jesse: I don't know what becomes of Joe over the season. I find out these things just a little before everyone else. But, what I can say is that he never gets used to the meta humans he is surrounded by. He's baffled by it and, at times, he is frightened by it.
He's not frightened only for his safety, but also for the safety of his kids. And he's frightened for the citizens in the city. Things have gotten really bad in Central City because of the particle accelerator. The city is going crazy.
TVFirstLook: I'm curious, is the acting process on a TV show different from acting on stage? Do you approach characters differently?
Jesse: On a television show, you don't know very much. On stage, the character will be the same every night. You prepare for that.
It's harder to prepare on a TV show because characters grow. Other characters come and go. And, on The Flash, characters transform into different characters. It's hard to prepare for that. So, you have to relax and accept what comes your way.
TVFirstLook: OK, off topic. What's the status on the Marvin Gaye biopic Sexual Healing?
Jesse: All I can say is that we have finished about half of the film and we are hoping to finish it.
Jesse: He's a detective. He is a regular guy. He's a single dad of a girl who took in a little boy who suffered an unfortunate situation. He raised the boy, who after something incredible happens, becomes someone different. The boy becomes another thing. He's a red blur at this point.
Joe has a hard time with that. He has a hard time figuring out what became of that boy.
TVFirstLook: What becomes of Joe over the course of this season?
Jesse: I don't know what becomes of Joe over the season. I find out these things just a little before everyone else. But, what I can say is that he never gets used to the meta humans he is surrounded by. He's baffled by it and, at times, he is frightened by it.
He's not frightened only for his safety, but also for the safety of his kids. And he's frightened for the citizens in the city. Things have gotten really bad in Central City because of the particle accelerator. The city is going crazy.
TVFirstLook: I'm curious, is the acting process on a TV show different from acting on stage? Do you approach characters differently?
Jesse: On a television show, you don't know very much. On stage, the character will be the same every night. You prepare for that.
It's harder to prepare on a TV show because characters grow. Other characters come and go. And, on The Flash, characters transform into different characters. It's hard to prepare for that. So, you have to relax and accept what comes your way.
TVFirstLook: OK, off topic. What's the status on the Marvin Gaye biopic Sexual Healing?
Jesse: All I can say is that we have finished about half of the film and we are hoping to finish it.
Source: TVFirstLook
*Edit: The article incorrectly states that Martin has not won a Tony Award. He has not one nor has he been nominated for one.
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