Email
Last time we saw Marshall Mann, he was crying as his partner, Mary, was rushed to the hospital in the season-ending cliffhanger of “In Plain Sight.”
Not breathing, with a bullet in her belly, U.S. Marshal Mary Shannon had been beaten by the bad guys and bopped on the brain in a local barrio.
Then, nothing. The season ended, leaving us all to wonder what would happen to Mary in the TV series that’s filmed in Albuquerque. Would Mary wake up? What were Jinx and Brandi going to do? Would Mann ever stop blubbering?
“In Plain Sight” is now shooting its third season at the Philips Plant studio in Albuquerque. Fred Weller, who plays Marshall Mann (yes, U.S. Marshal Marshall Mann) said that the cliffhanger — titled, by the way, “Don’t Cry For Me, Albuquerque” — will be wrapped up quickly.
The show, about a pair of U.S. marshals who work for the Witness Protection Program, airs on the USA Network, Comcast Channel 41, usually on Sunday nights.
The network has ordered 16 episodes of the show, a huge order that will keep the cast and crew working on the show for months.
During the break in shooting, the show got a shot of new talent behind the camera, who, Weller said, are already making an impact on the next season.
A new director, Charlie Haid, and a new showrunner or daily manager, John McNamara, have taken the reigns and, Weller said, have big plans.
“We have our first director Charlie Haid, who’s directed a lot of TV, and who was an actor on ‘Hill Street Blues.’ He’s talking about giving the show a more consistent, more intense, more cinematic look this year, and we’re switching to high definition instead of film. He’s setting a look for the whole season, and it’s going to be a lot tighter and little more intimate and intensify the drama element,” Weller said.
McNamara (“Jericho,” “The Fugitive”) is also taking charge.
“I can tell from the first script that he gets the script and the tone of the show,” Weller said. “He’s very good at coming in a taking over the roll.”
Albuquerque has been known to double for many places, from Philadelphia to L.A., on film, but “In Plain Sight” not only shoots here, it’s set here and many of the locations are local. The U.S. Marshals Office, for example, is the Sunshine Building Downtown.
“It lends authenticity. It’s a convenience,” Weller said. “You can go anywhere it looks like what it’s supposed to look like.”
Well, mostly.
In several scenes, the two marshals will drive up and down what locals will recognize as the same street, only to have it turn into another part of town.
“I’m from New Orleans,” Weller said. “There’s a Clint Eastwood movie called ‘Tightrope’ that was made there. He jumps over a wall, and he’s in a cemetery that’s 10 miles away. We were really resentful. That’s not right! Then, he jumps over another wall, and it’s a Mardi Gras parade. It’s always Mardi Gras. A person has to take liberties. Who was it that said, ‘Verisimilitude is not truth’ ? “
Regardless, the series does show the good and bad of Albuquerque, and that’s fine with Weller, who lives here half the year.
“Once my wife and daughter get here, I’ll be seeing a lot of the zoo, which is great,” he said. “I still haven’t done the list. The tram I still haven’t done.”
Weller lives in the Country Club neighborhood, he said, where he has quick access to the local bike paths and the restaurants in the neighborhood, like his favorites Artichoke Cafe and the Downtown watering hole, Anodyne.
We’ll have to wait a while to see the next season of “In Plain Sight” air, though the network is making the wait easier by planning a Season 2 marathon in March.
