LOS ANGELES – Actor Peter Krause calls his “9-1-1” boss Tim Minear the “Irwin Allen of television.”
Willing to take on any disaster (not unlike Allen in the 1970s), Minear has tackled earthquakes, tidal waves and, in the upcoming season, a capsized ship. “We’re doing ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ and we’re making no mystery of it,” Minear says.
The stuffed episode will also mark the drama’s jump from Fox to ABC.
“It feels like the first year of the show in a lot of ways,” the creator and executive producer says. “The enthusiasm at the network is through the roof.”
And for the actors? “It feels a lot the same so far,” says star Angela Bassett. “We’re just a month in and we’re still in the same walls, the same set, the same lot. A lot of it feels familiar and that part is good. But season seven? That’s quite a journey, so to have this new infusion; it does feel brand new.”
For those who discover the series after it makes the switch, “9-1-1” often gets its inspiration from viral videos. “That was always my aesthetic with ‘9-1-1’: make it feel like you were going down a YouTube rabbit hole of viral videos,” Minear says.
For those looking for a bit drama, there are plenty of relationships to ponder. While much of the action takes place during emergency calls in Los Angeles, the series also looks at those first responders. Bassett and Krause, for example, play a couple on the police force. Jennifer Love Hewitt plays a 911 operator; Oliver Stark plays her brother, a firefighter; Kenneth Choi plays a paramedic and Hewitt’s fiancé.
In the seventh season premiere of "9-1-1" a fighter jet traps a civilian and Bobby and Athena set off on their honeymoon cruise.
Combine the concepts and, says Minear, “the canvas on this show is absolutely unlimited. It can be a rom-com, it can be a soap, it can be satire, it can be a heartbreaking melodrama.”
For Krause and Bassett, the series is a well of surprises. “This is a family of people who work together and love each other through thick and through thin,” says Krause. “It’s a fascinating thing to see the things that happen over time. You get to know each other and we go through hard things just like people on the show.”
“It’s surprising how some of it mimics your life,” Bassett adds. “You listen to where the stories are going and you say, ‘My gosh, Tim, do you have a bug in my house?’”
Peter Krause gets a break from work in the season opener of "9-1-1."
During the hiatus, Bassett was given an honorary Oscar from the Motion Picture Academy. When she came back to the set, life hadn’t changed. “Not one damn bit,” she says with a laugh. “Lunch is still what lunch is. We’re a family. Someone might say, ‘Oh, congratulations,’ and then we get back to work because it’s a long day and a lot of work.”
While Bassett continues to make films during the off-season, she was thrilled to headline the series and was a bit surprised when Executive Producer Ryan Murphy pitched the show because “America wants to see Angela Bassett in a police uniform.”
Because Murphy has bench strength when it comes to casting, “9-1-1” was able to get other boldface names to join the series. “People will say yes before they know anything,” Minear says.
That meant he could write scenes that intrigued folks like Krause and Hewitt and make them want to be on the show.
“I want them to be excited,” Minear says. “I want them to be like, ‘Oh, that’ll be a fun scene to do.’”
Angela Bassett gets to go on a honeymoon cruise on the season premiere of "9-1-1."
The “Poseidon Adventure” episode tests the boundaries of what a series like “9-1-1” can do and gets others to hop on board. “We’re bringing back a couple that you’ll recognize from a previous episode,” Minear says. “We like to go back to the fridge and see what the leftovers are and what we can make.
“It’s a complicated show," he adds. "We took out the Santa Monica pier with a tsunami, for instance. And we wanted to show up at ABC and put our worst food forward and do a big disaster.”
And for those who want something a little less traumatic? Hewitt says her character is getting married this year. “Maddie and Chimney deserve it,” she says. “They’ve been through too much.”
“They deserve happiness,” says Choi.
“9-1-1” airs on ABC beginning March 14.
