Greg Berlanti and I have been Twitter friends since back in 2012, when I fell for his USA summer miniseries Political Animals. But we’d never actually met until we sat down together at TCA summer tour to do this Daily Beast profile.

One of TV’s most prolific producers — he’s co-showrunner on Arrow and The Flash, a producer on The Mysteries of Laura, has three series (and counting) in development for next season, and is also producing the bigscreen Peter Pan reboot Pan — Berlanti talked about what’s in store for The Flash, his obsession with comics, how he’s succeeded with TV comic adaptations where Marvel has failed and the disadvantage to having so many projects on his plate:

The only slight disadvantage to doing more and more things is you really have to be where the problems are. So you don’t get to be as much where things are going well. And so, if there’s two things that I’m working on that are going well, I’m not in that story room or on that set. I’m wherever we’re having some challenges. Then, by the time we take care of those, I go back to the other ones. So the disadvantage of having multiple things is on a day where everything is going badly on all things. You want to shoot yourself! The advantage is that’s usually not the case. Usually one or two things are going all right, and it buoys your spirits a little bit.

His take on The Flash is broadcast’s best pilot this fall. While almost all new shows take much of the first season to find their way, Flash arrives impressively fully-formed and self-assured. And, oh yeah, it’s a helluva lot of fun.

The TV Superhero Guru Behind ‘The Flash’

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I first met James Wolk at a Fox event held the summer before Lone Star aired its season premiere one Monday, and its series finale the following Monday. (RIP, Lone Star!) From Lone Star to Political Animals, he keeps ending up in these terrific shows that don’t make it to Season 2 (through no fault of his own).

I profiled him for The Daily Beast before the debut of his new CBS advertising agency comedy The Crazy Ones, where even star Robin Williams agrees that Wolk steals the show right out from under him:

“Oh, he can go more than toe-to-toe, he leads the way,” says Williams. “He kicked ass. Literally, I was going, ‘Damn! I’ve got to catch up!’ Which was wonderful, because it was very freeing to know that you’ve got backup. You’ve got a riff, and somebody is just right along there with you.”

In addition to Williams, I also spoke to the show’s creator, David E. Kelley, and director/executive producer Jason Winer about Wolk. And Wolk himself reflects on his strange journey in Hollywood, and bouncing back after Lone Star’s crushing failure.

James Wolk on ‘The Crazy Ones,’ ‘Mad Men,’ ‘Lone Star’ and More

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Well, I’ve never done this before! Today, I did my first quick-turnaround piece for The Daily Beast, as I reacted to today’s Emmy nominations. I focused on the Good (House of Cards, Top of the Lake, Louis CK), the Sad (Tatiana Maslany, The Americans) and the Ugly (The Good Wife). As I wrote about The Good Wife’s snub,

The broadcast networks’ last great hope for Emmy drama recognition fell even further out of favor with voters, as it was unable to claw its way back into the Outstanding Drama category, where it was shut out last year as well. Adding insult to injury, Juilanna Margulies, who won Lead Actress just two years ago, wasn’t nominated either.

I’m glad I had the opportunity to do an Emmy reaction piece, and can only hope that The Americans and Tatiana Maslany make it onto next year’s ballot instead…

Emmy Nomination Surprises and Snubs: House of Cards, Orphan Black and More

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