CBS This Morning
05/16/1997
Hosts: Mark McEwen (MM), Jane Robelot (JR)
Guest: Kyle Chandler (KC)
MM: What if you could get tomorrow’s news this morning? How would you handle a 24 hour head start on the world? That’s the predicament facing Kyle Chandler’s character every week on the CBS series, Early Edition.
[show salad dressing clip from "Love is Blind"]
MM: Strychnine in the salad dressing.
KC: Wow.
MM: Kyle Chandler joins us this morning. Hey Kyle, good to see you.
{shake hands}
KC: Good morning. How are you? Thank you very much for having me.
MM: Good show, doing very well, winning its time slot on Saturday nights, umm...
KC: Yes
MM: People around here just said "boy if I could get the news I’d be at the racetrack the next day." It sorta, kinda started that way, but that’s not what its about. What’s it about?
KC: Uh, well I’ve got two characters surrounding me that sort of, uh, even out the balance, uh. We believe the paper comes to Gary Hobson, who’s my character, because he does make the right decisions and he doesn’t use if for what most of us would use it for. But then I’ve got Fisher Stevens on one side who was the epitome of all, uh, of uh, well he’d go to the racetrack and use it for his own, his own benefit.
MM: Right.
KC: And then Shanesia Davis on the other side who’s a blind character, who, uh, sort of has a sixth sense about things and, and really directs me more to the good side. So I’m torn in between the two cause I don’t want the thing at all, and I’d just assume, uh, not have it. Uh...
MM: What’s the paper want for you? From Gary?
KC: I don’t know. {rubs his eyebrows} Uh, ya know the first year of the show we’ve uh, we’ve gone a lot of different places with it. And there’s a lot of unanswered questions, like why does it come with a cat, or, uh...
MM: Yeah, what’s with the cat, too?
KC: It came in the original script and they kept it. {smiling, laughing} That’s the, that’s the best definition I’ve gotten of that whole, uh, situation. But it works out great, a cat, a little bit of mysticism, the idea of a cat, and uh...
[start to show "thank you" scene from end of "Love is Blind" over the talking]
KC: ...and it’s a question left open, which there’s a lot of questions I think left open or I think that benefits because it presents a lot of answers for whoever.
MM: When Touched By An Angel moved to Sunday, you took that slot. Both are uplifting shows and we always go through life with a battle against, between good and evil.
KC: Right
MM: Uh, tell me about that battle. Why do you think people are interested in watching *this* battle.
KC: Well, this one, this one I’m not so sure its a, a good and bad kind of a deal.
MM: It’s doing the right thing, or trying to do the right thing.
KC: No, it definitely is. Its a, its a, it, its a show that has lots of hope and faith to it. It, it does. But one great thing I think about our show, too, that, that I think we’ve got over a lot of the other ones is that, our shows we can have comedy, uh, we can have intense drama, uh, we can we can go the gamut, and I think we’ve done that and so you never know what you’re gonna end up with because of the situation. We’re really not locked into any certain scenario. And I think the ability to travel the different, uh, the different areas is a, its a great benefit. For an actor its fantastic. Cause in the second show of the year, very dramatic show, I thought it was really smartly written. It was a great show. Later on down the line we had some comedies that were just, for me I love doing comedy. And all the shows have obstacles placed in front of the actor which the obstacles make everything that much more, uh, enjoyable to climb so its...
MM: We have about 30 seconds left...
KC: Yeah... {smiling}
MM: every, uh, actor...
KC: ...stop talking.
MM: ...every actor before they hit the big break has to do something. You sold dinosaurs?
KC: {rubbing his right eye}{laughs} Uh, I did. Yeah I sold dinosaurs at the Natural Museum of History when I moved to L.A. I had odd jobs. One of them was, it was a great job, selling, uh, little trinkets to kids in the dinosaur shop before I got a job on, uh, Tour of Duty, which was CBS I believe. Umm, but, uh, yeah, you know it was fun to hand out a free dinosaur. {showing example of how he handed out the dinosaurs} Uh, 5 plus 2 minus 7 times 8. First question - there ya go.
MM: There ya go.
KC: Toss it out. Yeah it was, it was fun.
MM: Kyle Chandler we’re very happy to have you on CBS Saturday’s {shake hands}
KC: Thank you, thank you for having me.
MM: Early Edition.
KC: Yes
MM: Check it out.
KC: You’ll see it again next year.
MM: All right. Jane?
JR: See, Kyle was even ahead of the dinosaur craze.
KC: Oh, yeah.
MM: There ya go.
JR: He knew it ahead of time
KC: {laughs}
MM: Pre-dated Jurassic Park.
The end -- Thank you Sky Dancer!