Posted in: CBS, Fox, Movies, TV | Tagged: American Horror Story, Baywatch, matlock

Matlock Director Tessa Blake Talks Legal Drama, Baywatch Reboot & More

Director Tessa Blake (If I Tell You) spoke with us about her increased role on CBS's Matlock, involvement in FOX's Baywatch reboot, and more.

Director Tessa Blake has accomplished a lot over her 25+ year career since her debut in Five Wives, Three Secretaries and Me in 1998, but it wouldn't be until 2017 that her career really picked up on TV, working on some of the biggest cult favorites and reboots of the time like ABC's Once Upon a Time, CBS's MacGyver and NCIS franchise, the CW's Dynasty, iZombie, Charmed, Veronica Mars, Riverdale, Walker, and The 4400, FX's American Horror Story and American Horror Stories, Fox/ABC's9-1-1franchise, and more. While promoting her indie drama in Suncatcher's If I Tell You, Blake spoke to Bleeding Cool about her latest work on the CBS Matlock reimagining and creator Jennie Snyder Urman, her increased role in season 3, some of her favorite creatives, and her work on FOX's upcoming Baywatch reboot.

Director Tessa Blake Discusses Matlock and Baywatch Reboots

Bleeding Cool: What did you enjoy about working on 'Matlock' and getting a lot more involved in Matty's journey in season 2?

Blake: I love Matlock. It is a great show, and I mean, I show up on any given day, and I get to work with the great Kathy Bates, the extraordinary Skye Marshall, the brilliant Jason Ritter, Leah Lewis, and Beau Bridges. What an incredible group: The writer, showrunner Jennie Urman, the whole writing staff, and the producing staff. It's a great group. It's a great group telling a great story. It's one of the rare shows that I've seen that deeply explores female friendship, and I feel like that's at the heart of it: Friendship as family in many ways, and it's just a brilliant job. It's a lot of fun. I'm going in this season (3) to be the producing director, so I'll be around for the whole season, and I'm a lucky girl.

So many shows that you've been a part of that I didn't realize. Given the talent that you've worked with, do you have any favorite creatives or actors that you like or adore, in general?

I have been lucky to work a lot in the Ryan Murphy world, and while I only know Ryan a little bit, he's such an incredible inventor of worlds. I always admire so much what he does and the boldness with which he does it. I've worked in a lot of the '9-1-1's,' and Tim Minear and Rashad Raisani are brilliant writers that I get to work with. Years ago, I worked with Rob Thomas, who is the creator of 'Veronica Mars' and 'iZombie.' He is such an original voice, such brilliant talent.

I have to land with Jennie Urman, who I get to work with now. We did a pilot together years ago that didn't go, but should have been such a good show. I got to work with her in that context, and then being able to do that again now on 'Matlock.' Watching someone develop these characters over a long-form content of episodic television, short per episode, long per season, long for the full journey. That is a depth and breadth of storytelling that is admirable, and I've had the great good fortune to work with many, many gifted people.

Any favorite actors you had?

Oh, good Lord. They're all great. I just worked on 'Baywatch.' I'm going to feature Baywatch because I just got off it. Stephen Amell is just brilliant in this role of Hobie. He's great, Hassie Harrison, and Shay Mitchell. Shay Mitchell is a goddess. Hassie Harrison is comedically brilliant. They are all so beautiful and talented. I'm going to say the whole 'Baywatch' team is beautiful and talented, and there's a whole young group of actors that I'd never worked with in that crew. It's a fun, happy set, and I am fortunate that Matt Nix and Mike Horowitz gave me the chance to work on that show, too, with all these fun new faces.

If I Tell You, which stars Etienne Kellici, Allison Miller, Bill Heck, Chris Jackson, and Carol Kane, is available in select theaters. Matlock is available to stream on Paramount+.

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