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One of the links on my sidebar is The Futon Critic, so you know I enjoy and respect the site. Plus, months ago I participated in a focus group asked to dissect a national radio program where one of the hosts presented a segment on this strange phenomenon – fans were talking about Studio 60 on this new-fangled Internet thing even before it premiered. She made a snide reference to the Futon Critic’s coverage, as if it were a guy in his mother’s basement with a following of five obsessive Aaron Sorkin fans. I defended the site’s respectability and otherwise slammed the segment for being cluelessly out of touch with popular culture. The radio program has since been cancelled. I blame myself.

Anyway, all that to prove that I say this from a place of love: this Futon Critic interview with NCIS actor Michael Weatherly is clearly a public service announcement for the importance of editing. Or muzzles for actors. Or for interviewers to feel free to yell “please, God, make it stop!” A taste:

And so the first year we made 23. And that was it, we all flew to New York, walked on the stage. It was Pauley Perrette and David McCallum and myself and Mark. Because we didn’t have Sasha [Alexander] yet [because] Robin Lively had been in the first two episodes as “the girl.” That’s, talk about a perilous position on our show, we’re on our third “girl.” And she’s Israeli, I don’t even know how she sticks around. [Laughs.] If I were her [lowers voice], I’d be really nervous. [Laughs.] I’d be like sweating all the time. I mean if I were her agents, I’d be like “just take the money, no negotiation.” And of course, you know, now I’ve become comfortable with the fact I’m clearly northern Italian, near the Alps, the blonde Italians. And it just kind of continues, I’m just amazed sometimes that there are still stories to tell. But there always is. There’s a lot of jeopardy. We have a lot of female serial killers too.

Don’t let that scare you away from the other interviews on the site, though. Site owner Brian Ford Sullivan has a new-ish On the Futon with … series, mostly with writers and producers of shows like Criminal Minds, The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives, My Name is Earl, etc. Even if I don’t watch or enjoy some of the shows in question, the interviews are usually more informative and interesting than blathering. Check them out.