Inside the Trojan horse is a story about a woman finding her place in a mans world.
PARIS BARCLAY:They talked a lot about baseball at TCA.
I got so bored.
Credit: Tommy Garcia / FOX; JB Lacroix/WireImage
[Laughs]
If this is not just a baseball show, what is it?
The whole idea of the show is its set in baseball like any other work place.
You dont have to be interested in working at a superstore to enjoySuperstore.
But its really about a family that is in the baseball business.
Why do you think this is the right time for a show like this?
Were you a fan of baseball before this?
Did you grow up loving baseball?
I didnt really want to play any more.
Then I went to Boston.
Then I lost it because baseball just took too long and my career started to accelerate.
What people are not ready for are those players themselves, whether theyre women or gay.
What were discovering is some of the obstacles are self-imposed.
So its not all going to be just a brick wall.
I know you guys are working with MLB on all of this.
Its a delicate balance, but so far MLB has been pretty good, I must say.
I thought they would be much more difficult than theyve been.
I mean, without it getting totally PC, theyve also kept us from being completely crazy.
What theyve given us is real authenticity and people to talk to that have been major league players.
There is a lot more interesting stuff that we never expected.
Yeah we are, but we also want to tell the kind of show that makes you feel good.
We dont want to tell a show that makes you feel bad.
I watchSurvivor, thats what I watch.
I likeUndercover Boss, so I want to feel something when Im watching television.
Thats the kind of show we want to do.
That happens to be in sync with what Major League Baseball is not all about.
If television could be more like that, Id watch a lot more television.
Thats going to end up being the Dan Fogelman brand, which is its really more uplifting than negative.
Youve directed shows likeGleewith full on musical numbers,Sons of Anarchywith motorcycles…
With full on chaos.
Multiple murders per episode, yeah.
Would you say this is harder or easier to direct given all the baseball choreography?
If its a motorcycle gang shooting 50 Chinese people, it still is choreographed.
If its dancers, its still choreographed.
If its baseball, its still choreographed.
Its more about finding the positive expression of what it is.
The days go by much faster.
You actually have Ginny take the mound in the series premiere.
Will she have a career?
Will she make it?
Will the strenuous nature, the physical nature of baseball be too much for her?
Will she have to find a different way to play?
How will she be embraced or not embraced by her teammates and by the other teams?
How will the front office deal with her fame and popularity?
How will the other players deal with it?
She becomes one of the most popular people on the planet in a very short order.
Theres just so many stories that come out that just getting on the mound is just really the beginning.
The complexities of that are just the beginning of the story.
Most pitchers have some kind of surgery.
Most pitchers do not last very long on the mound.
Its very strenuous, even for the actor.
We have to count every pitch she pitches when were shooting.
We have to count.
The stories are really interesting.
So theres a lot of story to tell.
We can do this for about 10 years.
At what point does she become a one-trick pony?
From your perspective, are you happy not to goup againstScandalin the fall?
We were happy with the idea of being here in the fall.
So thats really been our challenge.
When we had until January, we had this sort of very laid out timetable that was super comfortable.
Thats kind of gone away now.
When directing, are you trying to stick in Easter eggs for baseball fans?
But what were trying to do is make it fun for people.
Were trying not to just make huge announcements that so and sos on the show.
Were not doing a lot of press releases about whos going to appear in it.
We want people to be surprised.
Also, frankly, if you dont know baseball, we want people just to stick with the story.
I think people should just be here for the story.
There should be something that appeals to both of these factors.
Pitchdebuts Thursday at 9 p.m.
