The TV Chick

Necessary Roughness is back for season two next Wednesday at 10 PM, in what I’m sure is going to be a great summer season on USA Network. What’s to come for TK? What about Dr. Dani and Matt’s new relationship? I recently had the chance to visit the set of the show, where the cast shared some very interesting information about the season to come. Mehcad Brooks (who plays TK) talked candidly about TK’s upcoming struggle with PTSD, joked around with the media on set about TK’s sometimes questionable behavior, and gave us insight into who TK is based on in the actual football world.

We were told you’d have more scenes with TO this year. Does that relationship get ramped up?
You know what, um, it, it sort of gets, it did yes. It gets ramped up a lot and then what happens is, it sort of gets um, rectified all, all in the same swoop. So it’s kind of nice, he becomes likable all of a sudden. I think it’s good for TO. Um, I, I mean that in a, in a actually nice way. Because he’s a nice guy. But his public persona you know, is what it is. But if you know him, if you meet him, he’s actually very misunderstood. I think he’s very shy, and what happens is he comes off in a protective way and it’s, it’s uh, unbefitting of his personality because he’s actually a really nice guy. Believe it or not.

Scott said that the relationship between Nico and TK is going to evolve into something like a father/son relationship.
Yeah I call it Teko. TK and Nico. Like Bradgelina, you know, without the sex. I think it’s cool because it’s like TK finally has a maternal figure in his life in sort of his sisters, well in Dr. Dani. And he’s never had that and he does need a positive male figure in his life. And Nico is the only guy with the patience and probably the training to handle someone’s attitude as large as TK’s. I mean the guy doesn’t listen to anybody but Nico really so. There you go.

Did you do any research into PTSD?
Yes I did. I did a lot actually, I got a couple friends who’ve come back from Afghanistan and Iraq, with some issues. And one guy was actually blown up by a grenade and we knew each other for 16 years, 17 years. And one of my best friends he’s like a brother to me and we work together, I got him a job on My Generation as our military coordinator. And he’s just a great guy, just a fantastic guy. 13 surgeries later, make a long story short, he’s walking, he’s running, he’s back you know, as part of the population physically. And that’s a great phone call. So, so I’ve seen it firsthand. And I’ve been able to talk to him about it and he’s been strong enough to open up to me about it and you know, I want to portray it as serious as possible.

As accurately…
As accurately as possible because it’s a under discussed subject and it’s something that you know, 2 million Americans are going to have to deal with actively themselves not to mention the toll it’s going to take on families and friends and so on and relationships and jobs and so on and so forth. I think no one really wants to see soldiers going through it because we have this sort of war fatigue and we have this insulation, we haven’t even paid for the war you know. Taxes, like we have, we’re completely insulated from it, and um, I think when it’s coming from an athlete or a football player, somebody that we see every day and that we allow into our home every day, it’s different, you know. I have athletes who come up to me and say hey, what you did was real, you know, it was realistic. And I hope that one of these days I’ll have a soldier come up to me and say, you know what, I went through that, my family went through that. And thank you for taking it seriously because it really affected us. So it’s not something that I make light of. Not that part of it.

I love the way it’s being portrayed.
Thank you, thank you, I just got goose bumps, thank you very much. ‘Cause that’s one part of TK that I can’t laugh at. And this one I’ve seen it first hand and I’ve been there for guys who have gone through it and you know I went through it in some ways, in my life. You know, you don’t have to go to war to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I lost a family member, I lost my brother when I was 19 and he was 17. And you react in the way that you do. You just react in the way that you do. And there’s no wrong answer for it, there’s no right answer for it, but there’s ways of healing holistically that I think that we can as a nation, that we can embrace our sons and daughters that way, and have them know that they’re welcome to come back. That’s what they need, they just need love. And understanding and patience. So I hope that we can touch on it a little bit.

Is your character going to face this head on or fight longer with it in the background?
Well in real PTSD, you don’t know you have it. So you deny, you go through, withdrawal of what the situation was, you have nightmares about it, you start to beat yourself up, you become a hermit. There’s all types of different things that happen, this sort of several different stages. And there’s a lot of debate on it clinically what those stages are. But, a lot of it has to do with manic depression, and bipolar and all these things that start to open up in your brain. So yeah, he goes through the same I think stages that most people would if they come to this near death experience and they come to terms with their own mortality. Which we don’t on a day to day basis. Thank God. I mean most of us. You know.

How is it for you to portray such a serious arc, normally playing such an upbeat character from last season?
Challenging. But that’s what I got into this business for is to be challenged. I love this job because it’s varied in that way. You know, and one minute which is great about TK, one minute you can have him in a scene where he’s on the verge of tears and like not knowing what’s going on in his life and then really sort of losing grip of who he is. And then the next moment he’s having a Twitter war. Like he’s a 12 year old. It’s fun to be challenged.

Are we going to see any new love interests?
You know what, to quote Sammy Davis Jr. You must love yourself first. To quote another black Jew.

Will you go into TK’s past and some of his family members while he goes through this?
We do go back to his old neighborhood, you know, he doesn’t really know his family. He was a foster kid at nine years old, mom’s passed on, father he doesn’t know so you see the closest thing to family that he has. I think it’s episode like 203 to 204 or something like that, but it’s great, and he goes back to his old neighborhood and hides out for a couple episodes and gets into some shenanigans, some funny stuff and some not so funny stuff actually. And it’s weird because especially after almost losing his life, he kind of doesn’t know where he belongs, you know, professionally. It’s almost as if, wow, maybe you know I catch a ball for a living. Is that important? I don’t know. He starts to question everything. Maybe I just want to go home and just be around people who love me for being Terry King. Not the King. You know. And so he kind of doesn’t fit into either world. And doesn’t really know where to go. So he goes through that for a little while as well. And so that’s when you kind of meet the people who are in his past.

Are we going to see more fun stuff with Terrance and Dr. Dani’s kids?
Part of Terrence’s parole in episode 203 is he can’t be around kids anymore, I’m kidding. Um, yes, yes. That’s disgusting. Um, yeah. I hope so. I really enjoy working with them, I think they’re so talented. They’re really, really talented, hard working kids and I shouldn’t even call them kids, they’re adults. They’ll hate me for calling them kids. So I have a lot of respect for them.

Do you base the TK antics on anybody in particular?
So it’s actually based on Keyshawn Johnson. Who I don’t know from a can of paint. So, I based it on other guys that I know in the league, TO not being one of them. ‘Cause I didn’t know TO all that well before we started working together. And I based it on my dad who was a wide receiver in the 70’s and 80’s when you know, cocaine was a performance enhancing drug. You know, and it was okay. And those were wild times and different times in the NFL and I got to see some of it first hand as a kid and then also based some of it on myself in my young 20’s. Like you know, but what if I had 85 million dollars and I was that stupid? You know. So it’s kind of, in some ways, it’s like which film did I come into work and just being a dick and getting away with it. ‘Cause I’m actually kind of nice in person I think at least. To myself.

Did your role on True Blood help you get prepared for some of the darker things that TK has to deal with? That was a heavy role.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, it’s, you know what I think that yes. Simply put, but every role is kind of like a training ground and it’s sort of a learning lesson for the next one. There was a lot of moments and situations that are applicable to this one. And also but the preparation, so it’s like, what I learned that I can, I can apply here mostly is, is how do you prep for that. You know, how do you prep to be in that sort of darkness or how do you prep to be in, and not let it affect your personal life. So on and so forth. So and really be true to it. Um, so yeah, there’s, it, every role informs the next one. I would hope.

For TO’s returning role, is he going to act more like a catalyst of change to get TK back on track or just dance on his grave?
That’s a good question. He does a little bit of both actually. I don’t want to get too much into it, but the Twitter war obviously [will] be with the character he plays. And there’s some really awful things, at least in TK’s world said about him. And TK, like a grown man, goes to handle it, and um, and shenanigans ensue.

Have you gotten feedback from NFL players about this?
I have. I have. And not always positive. Some like, man you’re stance is horrible. Like, come on dog. I’m like let see how you can do a monologue fool. I barely understand what you saying right now. Um, and take that HGH out of your mouth. I’ve had a lot of positive feedback and I’ve had some, and I’ve had some really helpful criticism actually too. Like, like there was actually a conversation with a very well known wide receiver in a nightclub. And he was helping me with my stance in the nightclub. And everybody’s dancing around us like we’re in New York and I’m like, alright. He’s like, he’s like, no, he’s like, he said, the problem is your form is down perfect, he’s like, but you look like a pointdexter. So, TK has a new stance.

Be sure to tune in Wednesday at 10 PM to USA for the season two premiere of Necessary Roughness!