Jack Rowand /The CW"Reaper is actually way better than Chuck."
These were the highly controversial words that a certain TV actor (not on either show) uttered to me at an event last week, followed by this plea: "You have to try to save it."
Clearly, them's fighting words! (And you fans can feel free to duke it out in the comments section below.) But in my Chuck-and-Reaper-adoring estimation, one thing is certain: Reaper is truly awesome. And it's getting even better with every passing episode.
Case in point: Last week's episode—in which resident reaper Sam started to learn that his girlfriend Cady was a wee bit cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs (she's actually the devil's spawn) and Bert "Sock'" Wysocki had a meltdown over his mother's surprise marriage to an Asian cowboy—was so funny and surprising and well written, it was one of the best episodes of any series all season long. Sock in particular had me laughing so hard I actually fell off the couch.
So I rang up Mr. Sockalicious Socky Pants himself, Tyler Labine, to chat about what's next and how he's feeling about the chances of a season two. Read on for the scoop...
Hi, you kill me. That last episode with you being distraught over your mom getting married was fantastic. Well done.
Oh, thank you. I loved that. I really wanted them to have my mom come back more, because it’s just nice to see how a person like Sock becomes Sock. It had to start somewhere. So it makes sense that it would start with a crazy-ass mom like that.
How are you feeling about the show? You're back shooting now, correct?
Yeah, we’re back in Vancouver. We’ve been back for, like, four days. It feels good.
It was not cool. It would’ve been nice if it was a planned hiatus that we had and that everything was honky-dory. But it was scary because of the strike. We didn’t know if we were coming back. And we really started to hit our stride with the show, you know, by the 13th episode and to take a break in the middle of that is like—it was a bit of a monkey wrench.
You've had some fierce competition, up against American Idol and now Lost. Has that been frustrating?
Yes. But now, we’re going back to Tuesday night at 9. We're going to air two more episodes on Thursdays at 9, and then we’re going back to Tuesday night at 9 [on April 22], which is good, but then we’re back against American Idol again during the finales. But we have been reassured that our ratings for the rest of the year are not going to be a determining factor in whether we come back or not. They just want to see if they like the way we’re finishing up the season and what we’re doing.
That's good to hear.
Yes. I mean, I'm sure the ratings count, they always do, but our fate is not totally hinging on whether or not we get the numbers. They are going to understand if we don’t do well against the final American Idol episodes. You know, One Tree Hill is in that time slot right now and they are getting killed. They know that nobody can really compete there.
So what's next for Sock?
Well, last week I got kicked out of the house, and this week you find out that me and the boys, we get ourselves some fancy new digs, and we have some new neighbors. I don’t want to tell you too much, but there’s something pretty f--king off about our neighbors that we have to deal with. But it's pretty awesome. We have our little bachelor reaper lair.
You might see a little rekindling between me and Josie. And what you’ll find out in this episode is that Josie likes to “date down.” That’s the reason they’re together. Because I know on blogs or message boards, people are always like, “Why would she ever date that guy? Why would she ever go out with that guy?” [Laughs.] Yeah, people are not nice to me on the Internet! But I'm a professional. I can take it.
How about we reverse that trend? Sock fans, holler in the comments below! And don’t forget to watch Reaper tonight at 9 on the See-Dub.