It is a sad state of affairs here at the Bergl Vancouver household. It's 3 am, and I would describe my living room as a crack den, but it's in such disarray that I would probably offend the crack addicts who read this blog. I think the Super Bowl really took away all my spirit for a while. At first the game was really looking good for me. Not only did Devin Hester do his thing and score a touchdown in the first 30 seconds, but I was also surrounded by various cast and crew of Men in Trees at the White Spot, which is a traditional Vancouver burger joint. Before I watched the Super Bowl with other TV actors, I had never seen anyone eat grilled chicken and steamed vegetables on game day. I won't tell you who the offending parties were, but I suppose we can forgive them for doing something so un-American on such a sacred day, considering we were technically watching the game out of the country. I think you all know the outcome for my beloved Chicago Bears, and the disappointment was fel...
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I think I've used up all of my good karma for a long while, what with Men in Trees getting picked up and moved to after Grey's Anatomy, and the swift and crushing Bears victory on Sunday. To be honest, I'm not a huge football aficionado in general, but I am from Chicago, so I really have no choice but to be a rabid and unquestioning Bears fan. Our producer, Rick Wallace, also hails from the Windy City, so we've been spending a lot of Sundays at the local Vancouver sports bar, along with John Amos, who plays Buzz. Here's some Men in Trees trivia for you: John Amos used to play football for the Kansas City Chiefs!You don't have to wait until the Super Bowl to see some Bears action, because we have a very special appearance by a bear on tonight's episode of Men in Trees, "Bed, Bat and Beyond." From the title you may be able to guess that a certain winged creature will also be making an appearance. I know I've been talking about how much we all love each other up here on the show, but t...
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Excuse me if this blog is a little bleary-eyed, but I'm on an early-morning plane back to Vancouver after attending the ABC All-Star Party last night. It sounds like a sporting event, but it's really just a gathering in a hotel ballroom where actors mingle with TV critics, get photographed in pretty clothes, and eat free sushi. I must say, I did feel like I was "on the TV" when I stood on the red carpet in a borrowed dress, watching the flashbulbs pop. A few minutes later, I had to go back and do a live interview at the beginning of the whole press line, which involved sneaking past the back of the red carpet, my cream high-heeled boots sinking into the dirt of the flower beds. The universe always has a way of keeping me humble.This week's episode of Men in Trees [Thursdays at 10 pm/ET] is "History Lessons," or as we called it, the never-ending rummage sale. What will be about 15 minutes on screen took us days to shoot. Luckily the rummage sale was hosted by Mai (Lauren Tom), so we ...
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I am currently blogging to you from a hotel room in the Middle East, listening to all the songs on my iPod that begin with "H," and enjoying a tarte tatin I just transported from Paris. This is the glamorous half of my winter vacation — the second half will be spent sleeping on an air mattress in an Ohio basement with my boyfriend and his two brothers. But for now I'm in a city called Dubai, which is located in the United Arab Emirates, next to Saudi Arabia and just across the Gulf from Iran. It is also the current residence of my grandmother, and my parents and I have traveled here for some much-needed grandma face time. As to why my grandmother is in the Middle East, I don't think I can really explain the whole story of my crazy family without going all the way back to the Russian Revolution, and part of that explanation could lead to the indictment of certain family members, so I'll leave that one for my memoir. Right now I'm sitting in a Marriott in the middle of the desert...
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Welcome to another Men in Trees blog by your friendly host, Bergl. I've just returned from a promotional shoot for the UK launch of Men in Trees, which is very exciting for me because I'm originally from England (my dad is British and my mom is Irish). Did you know that Jason O'Mara, who plays the charming publisher Stuart Maxson, is Irish? He has the most amazing American accent, which you will be hearing again in subsequent episodes. (Ladies, don't you love how they keep adding even more handsome men to the show? James Tupper can't be expected to shoulder all the burden on his fisherman sweater-clad shoulders, which, yes, do look as good in real life.)Jason O'Mara is from Sandycove, which is right around the corner from the town of Dalkey, where my mother grew up. Now our Irish relatives can watch us on Men in Trees. Up until now, my appearances on UK TV were mostly limited to The Rage: Carrie 2 and an episode of CSI: Miami, and in both of these I kill people — most notably...
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Greetings, virtual community, it's good to be back! I just got back from the movie theater with Justine Bateman, where we saw this slasher movie called Fur. OK, it's not really a slasher movie, it's a movie about photographer Diane Arbus, but the one thing that did get slashed was my part. Between that and the Bears losing, it could've been quite the downward spiral today, but I count it as a step on the way to becoming a real actor. In my book, you're not a real actor until your part hits the cutting-room floor, you get a bad review, and you've been fired. So I am two-thirds of the way there — I just hope the firing doesn't happen on Men in Trees, because I love seeing these people at work every day. And Justine Bateman may or may not be one of those people (whom, as I see at work, no one can resist loving). I can't reveal any more except that she may or may not have one of the greatest lead-ins and entrances on a television show I've ever seen. A literal and metaphorical stor...
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Wow! I was just about to turn in this week's blog, procrastinating as usual and pushing it down to the wire, when I got a call from James Tupper that we are picked up [for the full season]! It was extremely bizarre because I had just finished typing his name moments before. I never thought the words, "I was just blogging about you" would come out of my mouth. Anyway, I promised that you would all know the moment I knew, so here it is. And if that wasn't enough good news, they're moving us to the slot after Grey's Anatomy beginning Nov. 30! Exclamation points are actually warranted here! I know some of you were enjoying having something good to watch on Friday nights, but it looks like you're going to have to go out to dinner instead. So here's this week's blog — and I guess there will be more of them to come! A new episode of Men in Trees premieres tonight [at 9 pm/ET, on ABC], and so the Bergl blog is back. I'm sorry I didn't post a little warning that there wouldn't be a new...
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Greetings, all! I'm back from the wilderness of Men in Trees [Fridays at 9 pm/ET, on ABC]. Actually, I am back from being trapped in the wilderness, literally! It's as if I was living this week's episode of Men in Trees, "The Buddy System," which also involves a couple of characters getting trapped in the wilderness. It's a real cliff-hanger.Yesterday I went on a hike with Adrian McMorran, who plays Carl on Men in Trees. He's the rather morose drunk who's always at the bar next to Jerome (the hilarious Timothy Webber, whom I also worked with on a Spielberg miniseries called Taken.) Well, it turned out this hike Adrian and I went on was a 10-mile, 1,700-meter climb up to the top of West Lion Mountain. We were a little ambitious, and by the time the sun had set, we were way up on the side of this mountain, in the middle of the forest, where large bears and cougars reside. Even outside of Alaska, bears seem to be a recurrent theme in my life. It took us three hours to find the trail in...
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I have to begin by giving a major shout out to Marsha Smith, the publicist from ABC who hooked me up with this whole TVGuide.com blog thing. And also to Sara Glasser Havens, [executive producer] Jenny Bicks' assistant, who always catches the typos and makes everything sound better, as well as makes sure everything goes through the proper channels (so you're not exposed to the initial dirty versions I put out.) Basically, I've been procrastinating more and more, turning the blogs in later and later, and these ladies have made sure that they get out there. Props!This week's episode of Men in Trees [Fridays at 9 pm/ET, on ABC], "The Caribou in the Room," made me very happy, because our writer, Tim Davis, put Annie in bed for a good portion of the show. This meant that I could shoot almost all of my scenes in one day, which meant I could go back to L.A. and get in bed with Tyler! So I have very fond memories of this episode. I also remember getting a frantic call one day from Cynthia St...
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... Also known as the continuing true-life adventures of Bergl's search for the real Alaska.I write this blog from yet another airplane (I think that the last three blogs have been at least partially written from the air) after a delightful seven-hour delay at O'Hare airport. What should have been a five-hour flight from New York to Vancouver has turned into 19. Of course, I have waited until the 16th hour of that journey to begin this blog, upholding a well preserved Bergl tradition of procrastination. And there's a whole lot of turbulence and lightning going on right now. If the character of Annie mysteriously disappears on Men in Trees, you'll know why. Tell Tyler I love him! All right, sorry for the drama, but I am an actor after all....I have to apologize first off for the fact that last week's blog was billed as "the dirtiest blog to date." I know that Coley Laffoon, Anne Heche's handsome husband, was one of the many disappointed. It seems as if it was a little too dirty for s...
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