Every other time travel show takes itself very seriously.
So first, its a comedy.
Then secondly, the biggest thing out there is that tonally its afuncomedy.
And theres like four jokes in the whole thing.
In our show, every twenty seconds there are like five to ten jokes.
Its goofyand I mean that in a good way.
I feel that sometimes people will use the word goofynot as a slurbut in a diminishing way.
But this show is goofy in the most fun way possible.
Its a show thats not trying to step out of the realm in which its been created.
Were here to just make you laugh.
You bring up a good point that there are a bunch of revisionist history shows suddenly popping up.
Right, well all credit goes to the creator, Julius Goldie Sharpe.
Even just the choice to make a duffel bag into a complicated time machine is brilliant.
Everything is so meticulous and well thought out.
Nothings just there for a joke and then moved on from.
Everything here pays off.
He did his research and knew exactly what he wanted here.
He went for it and clearly it worked because now were a TV show.
How close are you to your character, Chris?
Well I know history through the stuff I read, which is mostly science non-fiction.
But anything you do you end up learning something about history.
Thats a fair barometer of history savviness!
Talk a little bit about him and what he brings to the table.
Well initiallyand to give some context hereChris is a history professor at the same college that Dan teaches at.
Dan recruits Chris because he realizes he has enough knowledge of the past to help him out.
Chris is cool, calm, collected.
Hes the rock, if you will…at first.
So thats kind of what Chris does.
He very much becomes a person thats not necessarily using Dan, but isusing Dan.
You know, hes not Batman.
Hes not here for the greater good of humanity.
Sure, thats part of it, but hes also a history professor.
This is his opportunity to do the things that hes always wanted to do.
That always comes with a built-in level of selfishness and manipulation, as well as the excitement.
Tim Robinson as Al Capone is particularly wonderful.
James Earl Jones just playingwho knowsGod?
I know people always say that that should be Morgan Freeman, but Id pick him.
Obviously thats such a big jump though.
Were talking about these different time periods here.
I think its the most exciting time in terms of major motions with the civil rights movement.
The 70s is when you start to really see all of that paying off.
Its absolutely insane to think of New York City during that time.
Does this model stick through the season?
If the time period and the story serves two episodes, then thats exactly what we do.
If it serves one, then thats it.
If its three, then so be it.
There are also a number of episodes that are just us in 2017.
We all still have lives to deal with.
Its a very real complication for them since they do have daily lives.
Thats a really interesting aspect I didnt think about.
Obviously the idea of going into the future must have come up when breaking the season.
Whats the stance on that, and why are you taking so long to pull the trigger there?
So thats the focus of season one.
Theyre still getting their bearings together when it comes to time travel.
If we discovered time travel today, Id be in the camp of absolutely not wanting to use it.
Were not equipped for it!
So I think this first season is more about us learning this skill.
But also how to use it to our advantage.
Also, Debisfrom the past!
So its already a shock to her to be in her future/our present.
If she jumped another 100 years forward from 2017 her head could explode from the shock!
Just wearing the clothes was unreal.
Also things like the way people spoke back then!
All of it just made for such an interesting experience.
1919 Chicago is kind of the culmination of what modern society, post-industrial, all came together and interacted.
Its super interesting to me.
Making Historysfirst season debuts on Sunday, March 5that 8:30 p.m. on FOX.
