The fire/police drama “911” has jumped ship in more ways than one. After six seasons on FOX, the series has moved to ABC where season seven will debut at 8 p.m. March 14.
Tim Minear – one of the members of the creative team behind the series that spotlights first responders – describes the network switch as being a very positive move.
“I think it’s better. FOX was great for us for many years. The thing that’s exciting about ABC is it feels like the first year of the show in a lot of ways. Like the enthusiasm at the network is, you know, through the roof,” Minear says. “The promotions are fantastic. The artwork is great, and they’re just really engaged.
“They already love the show. So, I just think it’s a shot in the arm for all of us.”
The network will be different, but the series will remain the same. “9-1-1” explores the high-pressure experiences of police officers, firefighters and dispatchers thrust into the most frightening, shocking and heart-stopping situations. These emergency responders must try to balance saving those who are at their most vulnerable with solving the problems in their own lives.
ABC’s commitment to the series can be seen in the first two episodes of the new season. Angela Bassett – who plays Athena Grant – and her husband Bobby (Peter Krause) take a break from saving the world by going on an ocean cruise. In what the producers describe as a direct homage to the disaster feature film “The Poseidon Adventure,” the ship will become an upside-down floating disaster.
Flipping a ship would be a radical move for other television shows but the trademark for “9-1-1” has been major calamities. In one episode they dealt with a hotel that had been split in half while in another a massive wave created major damage.
Minear says, “It is a complicated show to make. We took out the Santa Monica Pier with a tsunami. We just wanted to show up at ABC and put our worst foot forward and do a big disaster.
“We have been doing this for seven years though. So, we do know what we’re doing.”
Part of knowing what they were doing was casting Bassett. It was series creator Ryan Murphy who decided one day that America wanted to see Bassett in a police uniform. After casting her, Bassett picked up her second Oscar nomination for her work in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Bassett jokes the nomination got her a few congratulations and hugs. After those expressions of happiness for her, the cast and crew went back to work.
The cast of “9-1-1” also includes: Jennifer Love Hewitt as Maddie Buckley; Oliver Stark as Evan “Buck” Buckley; Kenneth Choi as Howie “Chimney” Han; Aisha Hinds as Henrietta “Hen” Wilson; Ryan Guzman as Eddie Diaz; and Gavin McHugh as Christopher Diaz.
Getting Krause to be part of the show only took a phone call from Murphy, but Stark was ready to give up on Hollywood and return to England just before auditioning for the show.
Minear says, “He came, and he read for us. I’m like it’s that guy, that guy is interesting, and we should cast that guy. Of course, Jennifer Love Hewitt is Jennifer Love Hewitt. Kenny Choi was not who I had in mind for this role.
“We wrote a completely different kind of guy, and Ryan had just worked with Kenny in ‘O.J.’ And he’s like ‘Kenny Choi is a really interesting actor.’ So, suddenly, Kenny Choi comes in, and then Chimney is born and becomes a flesh and blood character in a way.”
Choi has noticed that his character has been put through more physical and emotional challenges than any other cast member. Whether it was being abandoned by the mother of his child or having a metal rid lodged in his head, the team has helped him get through all of the tough moments.
Krause talks about how family – whether it be those who are related or connected by the job – has been the key to what has made the series work.
“I think that the show in general is about a family of people who work together and love each other through thick and through thin and because this is a comic book about first responders come to life, it’s mostly thick,” Krause says. “It’s a fascinating thing to see not only in the characters’ lives but in our personal lives, which I won’t talk about, but the things that happen over time.
“You get to know each other and, yeah, this is a family, and we go through hard things just like the people on the show.”
Each cast member agrees that stories of their own lives often find their way into the scripts. To date, no cast member has had to survive an upside-down ocean liner.
