Sci Fi Wire: Roswell Pickup Shocked Sadler

Thanks to Ron, Seth, jp121500, Yoss, leep, Ampris and anyone else who may send this in :)

Roswell Pickup Shocked Sadler

William Sadler told SCI FI Wire that he thought Roswell was dead, dead, dead
and was shocked when UPN picked up the series. “I was talking to my agents
and managers, saying, ‘Let’s look for the next gig, boys, because this is
it,'” he recalled in an interview. “I couldn’t imagine how we’d pull this out
of the fire.”

Sadler co-stars as Sheriff Jim Valenti, who transformed from threat to ally
during the first two seasons. “The WB didn’t want us,” he said. “The numbers
weren’t fabulous. But UPN bought 22 episodes. That’s indicative [of UPN’s
faith in the series]. They could have bought six or nine.”
Year three will kick off on Oct. 9. When last seen, the aliens (Jason Behr,
Brendan Fehr and Katherine Heigl) watched as the murderous and pregnant Tess
(Emilie DeRavin) rocketed towards her home planet. Meanwhile, Valenti was
without a job, having sacrificed everything to protect the aliens he once
pursued. What will unfold remains to be seen–cast and crew only returned to
the set in late July–but Sadler believes the leap from The WB to UPN will
have a major effect on Roswell.
“The two things I’ve heard [producer] Jason Katims talk about is that, one,
the episodes will be more self-contained,” Sadler said. “You can tune in
anytime and don’t have to have watched the previous episodes to understand
this one. The other thing is that they’ll be character-driven. They’ll be
about the people and not so much about evil FBI special units, big threats
from the outside and having to deal with them. Those episodes were fun to
shoot, but I don’t think they served us well, and I’m not sure that’s what we
do best. The shows that worked the best were the ones that tug at your heart
a bit. They’re human stories everybody can relate to. It doesn’t have to be
schmaltzy high-school romance. The episode in which we lost Alex–‘Cry My
Name’–was an example of that.”