Tuesday , March 19 2024
Whiskey Cavalier

ATX TV Fest: ‘Whiskey Cavalier’ – Making Espionage Fun Again

Whiskey Cavalier, an hour-long dramedy staring Scott Foley (Scandal, Felicity) and Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries), premiered at the ATX Television Festival. The festival, promoted as “TV Camp for Adults”, ran June 7-10 in Austin, Texas. The premier took place before a packed house at Austin’s Paramount Theatre and was followed by an interview with Foley conducted by Variety’s Debra Birnbaum.

Whiskey What?

Whiskey Cavalier gets its name from the code for Foley’s FBI agent character Will Chase. (And if you are a bad guy he will chase you.) Of course, in British English, WC stands for “water closet,” the place where the toilet bowl sits, but maybe that one got by them. Maybe.

The stories involve the world of international intrigue, spying, and inter-spy-agency competition. People get shot, but it’s a funny show. As I watched, I was reminded of the scene from the beginning of Goldfinger wherein James Bond electrocutes a baddie and then comments, “Shocking, positively shocking.”

Whiskey Cavalier
Lauren Cohan and Scott Foley star in ‘Whiskey Cavalier’ (photo by ABC)

Lauren Cohan plays Foley’s foil, CIA agent Francesca “Frankie” Trowbridge (codename: “Fiery Tribune”). In the first episode Trowbridge is seeking to capture the same fugitive, played by Tyler James Williams (Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Everybody Hates Chris), who has stolen information from US government computers. I wonder where they got that plot line?

Will Chase is aided by Analyst Susan Sampson, played by Ana Ortiz (Devious Minds, Ugly Betty). By the end of the episode, the four antagonists have come together, and we realize that they will be working as a team in the future – while still getting on each other’s nerves.

In short, Warner Bros. Television put together an amazingly experienced and talented cast, to create a highly entertaining throwback to 1980s TV. Will this work? Debra Birnbaum asked Scott Foley that after the screening.

Scott Spills the Beans

Foley explained, “I was talking with one of my friends from Scrubs and Cougar Town and we noticed that for some reason network TV wasn’t making fun shows like Moonlighting and Remington Steel anymore. So, we came up with a concept, found a writer, and we did it.”

Whiskey Cavalier
Variety’s Debra Birnbaum interviewed Scott Foley at ATX TV Fest (photo by author)

Birnbaum asked Foley what it was like shooting the series in Prague.

“The day we wrapped Scandal,” Foley recalled, “I flew to Prague. The very next day we started shooting. Moving my entire family to Prague for a year made me nervous. I wasn’t sure what to expect. You may not know this, but Prague has thirteen months of winter per year. I wasn’t prepared in the wardrobe department and spent most of my time running around freezing.”

Birnbaum was curious about how the show would progress.

Foley explained, “Each week there will be a ‘case of the week.’ But there will also be an overarching plot. I think the writers are still working on that.”

Birnbaum asked if Foley did his own stunts.

“I love doing stunts,” he said. “I was lucky to do a show called The Unit and got to do most of my own stunts there. On this show I was able to do quite a few. Not the jump-off-the-bridge scene, though. They wouldn’t let me.”

Whiskey Cavalier will be premiering soon on ABC. To stay up to date on the show you can check its Facebook page or follow it on Twitter. The trailer is linked below.

https://youtu.be/FhYQU5eWdCo

 

 

About Leo Sopicki

Writer, photographer, graphic artist and technologist. I focus my creative efforts on celebrating the American virtues of self-reliance, individual initiative, volunteerism, tolerance and a healthy suspicion of power and authority.

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