Brian Austin Green Talks TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, and Why He Passed on ONE TREE HILL

Before we get into discussing tonight’s DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES return, we have to ask you about your time on BEVERLY HILLS 90210 TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. Seeing as though we’re the type of TV viewer who has “issues” when it comes to getting over the cancelation of our favorites [Interjects Brian austin Green, “I get it, I’m the same way!”] we’d love to know if you ever had any conversations with [Executive Producer] Josh Friedman as to what would have happened had the show lived to tell the tale?
Brian Austin Green: Yeah, a lot of the next season was going to take place in the future, it was going to be in the desert and the tunnels in a manner similar to what the latest film was. And since it’s a future where John Connor doesn’t exist, the main thrust of the story would have seen him starting at the bottom and becoming the iconic John Connor that everybody knows. It would have been great, but you know what though, I feel that at least we went out on top and we have two really good seasons on Blu-ray and DVD… and it is the holidays… and people can purchase those now!

Two seasons ago you reportedly turned down an offer to join the cast of ONE TREE HILL. Understandable considering the tonal similarities between the CW series and your most famous role, that of David Silver on the original BEVERLY HILLS 90210. That said, was there any apprehension when it came to joining DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES? A show that while not as youth-oriented, certainly falls into the similar category of nighttime sudser.
No there actually wasn’t. The difference being, on a show like DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, the calibre of writing and acting is so much greater than most of the things that I’ve worked on. Aside from SARAH CONNOR which was really just an amazing experience that way, HOUSEWIVES has Emmy winning actresses that are fantastic at what they do, as well as a show creator and showrunner that’s so unique in his style of writing and style of making a show that for me as an actor, it’s an invaluable set to be on. For me, if I really want to learn everything I can in all aspects and be able to move forward with it, you know, I take away as much from this shows as I did from SARAH CONNOR in completely different ways. I left SARAH CONNOR with a much better understanding within that genre of what works, what doesn’t and what’s exciting for people to see and not. But I’m getting the same thing in the complete opposite spectrum with this show. It’s dramatic, but it’s funny, it can make you laugh and make you cry within the same scene and there aren’t many shows that do that. For me it’s all practice.

That certainly explains your imdb resume which is all over the map!
My resume is completely random and all over the place because I learn from each and every one of those projects. I do short films with friends that end up on funnyordie.com, I do crazy little independent things, I have stuff all over the place, and I try to cover as much ground as I can. I don’t want to just focus on one type of character and stick to that. I did that for 10 years and that’s what I didn’t want to do with ONE TRE HILL. I felt like going to that, that show and its writing style and what it was was so reminiscent of the 90210 that I left that I really didn’t feel that I was going to be on that set gaining much that I hadn’t already gotten. And it defeated the purpose of me leaving a show after 10 years. I should have just stuck with 90210 and made a ridiculous amount of money and rode it out.

While we don’t expect you to reveal who shot Paul Young, we’re curious if you know you did it?
I don’t, and I don’t know if anybody does. What I’ve found thus far about Mr. Cherry this season is that he doesn’t like to give away too much so I will get very vague notes from him, like, “Episode 5, we’ll be seeing a lot of you!” And I’m like, what the hell does that mean Marc? And he’s like, “We’ll just be seeing a lot of you.” And it turns out to be sex scenes for entire episode and me being nude. He meant, literally, seeing a lot of me! So you don’t know, it could go in any direction and it’s fun for me not knowing because then it gives me reason to read the scripts.

Now that GLEE has made the television/musical/comedy hybrid cool again, have you given any thought to joining one of the many music-centric pilots that ABC has in development when your time on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES come to an end?
[Note: Brian Austin Green’s laugh in reaction to this question may-or-may-not have had something to do with the fact that less than 24-hours after we conducted this interview, news broke that he had signed onto TBS “Wedding Band” Pilot alongside LOST’s Harold Perrineau] No. I think GLEE found a certain audience that was looking for a fun show of that calibre and it works. But that’s not a show you can then copy and cover the board with. I think music and television works ever once in a while, but no, I enjoy doing music at home and going to work and acting.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES returns Sunday January 2 at 9PM on ABC (CTV in Canada)