Watch My Show: Revolution's Eric Kripke Answers Our Showrunner Survey

After years of fighting demons on his long-running CW series Supernatural, Eric Kripke is tackling much more human baddies on his freshman NBC drama Revolution. In the post-apocalyptic adventure, villains using nanomachines have eliminated most of the world's electricity, leading to chaos and brutal oligarchies. Revolution has just been renewed for a second season, so Kripke answered our showrunner survey to explain why you should plug in.

TV Guide Magazine: What happens if we don't watch Revolution?
Eric Kripke: I am currently standing outside your window. You have a lovely living room, by the way. If you don't watch, I'm coming in.

TV Guide Magazine: What's the best thing anyone has said or written about your show?
Kripke: That was when we heard from Led Zeppelin that they liked the episode enough to agree to put their music into it. Led Zeppelin knowing that Revolution exists was one of the greatest moments to come out of this show.

TV Guide Magazine: What's the worst thing?
Kripke: It's not one thing; it's the inevitable hundreds of online comments about how I suck. You can pretend that you don't read those things and it doesn't matter to you, but I read them and they do.

TV Guide Magazine:Do you ever respond?
Kripke: I have these fantasies of suddenly appearing on that message thread and saying, "Well, I'm Eric Kripke and screw you!" But my wife, in her wisdom says, "Don't you dare! Let everybody keep talking and please, stay the hell out of their way."

TV Guide Magazine:What's an alternate title for your show?
Kripke: When we were in production, for a long time we weren't able to use Revolution, so we had to come up with a different title. There were some funny ones, everything from Uprising: The Downfall to Downfall: The Uprising. At one point we seriously considered Transponder or Transresister.

TV Guide Magazine: Give us an equation for your show.
Kripke: Revolution = Walking Dead + Falling Skies + Game of Thrones - zombies - aliens - HBO's budget ÷ Lord of the Rings - hobbits.

TV Guide Magazine: Come up with a premise for the spinoff.
Kripke: Multicamera half-hour sitcom called The Nevilles about how Major Neville, Jason and Julia put the psychotic fun into dysfunctional. With a laugh track — and Don Knotts and McLean Stevenson as the neighbors.

TV Guide Magazine:If the power were to go out, what would you miss the most?
Kripke: My computer. The amount of work I get done, Internet I surf, shows I watch, people I communicate with, it's incredible how it all centers around one device. I'd be pretty lost without it.

TV Guide Magazine:What might be the best thing about a global blackout?
Kripke: Connection. Being able to yank people's eyes up and focus on everyone around them, like their family and loved ones, is something we could all use a little more of. It scares me how much technology isolates people.

TV Guide Magazine:What credit of yours would you prefer we forget?
Kripke: Tarzan (2003, The WB). It was a wonderful pilot and we had some incredible cast, but mostly I would like it forgotten because it was my first time producing a show and I had no clue what I was doing. I drove that whole thing into a ditch.

TV Guide Magazine: Tell me one secret about your amazing cast.
Kripke: They're so lovely and enthusiastic, and a pleasure to work with. The only problem is their hardcore meth use.

TV Guide Magazine: If you weren't producing this show, what series would you most like to be an executive producer on?
Kripke: I'm watching Game of Thrones; I'm very impressed with The Walking Dead.

TV Guide Magazine:Finish this sentence: "If you like _______, you'll love our show."
Kripke: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, westerns and cinematic violence.

TV Guide Magazine:What other show would you like to do a crossover episode with — and how would that go?
Kripke: Knight Rider, where our heroes stumble into a corner of a world where they find Michael Knight and K.I.T.T. fighting for justice. Hoff is rocking an amulet driving around with K.I.T.T.

TV Guide Magazine:How will your show change the face of TV as we know it?
Kripke: Really all I'm trying to do is entertain people. If they're able to say that Revolution is a fun, rollicking adventure show and is delivering big exciting action and involving characters, then I'm happy.

Revolution airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.

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