'Sheriff Country' Boss Teases Sparks Flying Between Mickey & Travis Because of Skye Trouble
It’s impossible for Mickey (Morena Baccarin) to not make it personal when it’s her daughter, Skye (Amanda Arcuri), mixed up in the middle of a murder investigation on Sheriff Country
The premiere ended with Skye telling her mom and grandfather, Wes (W. Earl Brown), that she found her boyfriend, Brandon, dead. Brandon’s mother and brothers zero in on Skye being brought in. She’s a
Below, showrunner Matt Lopez breaks down the episode, teases the reveal of Mickey’s romance, and more.
When Mickey, Wes, and Skye get home, Mickey sees that car parked down the street.
Matt Lopez: One of the things we love about Sheriff Country — and Fire Country for that matter — is, unlike so many other shows on television, it’s set in this small town, a town where everyone knows everyone, so everyone knows Skye, but everyone knew Brandon, too. And we will lean into that idea that there are members of the town who very much feel like justice needs to be done for Brandon, and is the sheriff compromised? Is she up to the job? Does she have a blind spot when it comes to her own daughter? And so all of that delicious kind of suspense and danger comes into play really in Episode 3; that really sort of moves from the back burner to the front burner.
Marni Grossman /CBS
Speaking of that, because things aren’t looking great when it comes to the case, but Travis did call in that lawyer after Mickey agreed to let him. What is next with the case, and how are both Travis and Mickey handling that?
Yeah, it’s a great storyline. Travis and Mickey grew up together. In subsequent episodes, we’ll find out, they have a very long history that precedes their marriage. They essentially were from the same town, and Travis is from a very well-to-do family, and Mickey is from a very different kind of family. And so one of the things we’ll play around with and explore is, they divorced several years ago, but now suddenly Skye, their only child, is, as you say, at least a person of interest, she’s implicated in her boyfriend’s murder. And that will throw Travis and Mickey back to each other’s orbits in a way that they have not been since they were married. And when that happens, sparks can fly. And by the way, all kinds of sparks like, “Oh, I just remembered why I hate you and why I left,” but also maybe, “Oh, this is what was so great about you,” and we have a lot of fun playing that.
And then this is complicated by the addition of Cassidy (Michele Weaver) because we know what that relationship is now, but then it’s like what Cassidy and Mickey mean to each other and the way they’re going about figuring out this whole new dynamic with the three of them.
Very much so. The Cassidy and Mickey relationship is a very special one. As we’re told in the pilot, Cassidy’s entire origin story as a sheriff’s deputy is very tied up with Mickey, and we will explore that in subsequent episodes. And so you’re absolutely right, Mickey — and at the end of Episode 1, Mickey and Cassidy are kind of like, “OK, we are going to do this. We’re going to be adults about it. And you’re in a relationship with my ex-husband, and I can’t stop you, but we’re going to be adults about it.” And as we know, there’s one thing to say it, there’s another thing to… the proof is in the pudding, as they say. And so that’ll be an ongoing source of drama for sure.
I love the way that Sharon makes her entrance, but was it wrong of Wes to call Sharon as she’s dealing with her own pain, her grief? Or was it what everyone involved, including Sharon, needed?
I think very much the latter. And in fact, Sharon’s got that great moment where she tells Mickey, “Honestly, it’s kind of been nice not to deal with my own mess right now.” And what we’ll unpack in subsequent episodes in both shows really is that the Wes and Sharon relationship is a very special one. Mickey’s father married Sharon’s mother, but Mickey and Sharon were teenagers when that happened. They don’t share any blood. It was a second marriage for both of their parents. And in a way that I think often happens in step-families is that Sharon is able to give Wes a bit of grace — and we saw this in
'The Golden Bachelor' bachelorette Cindy Cullers defends Mel Owens
The Golden Bachelor finalist Cindy Angelcyk Cullers has defended Mel Owens and blamed the editing for making it seem like their relationship was shallow.
"Mel just draws you in. He's got laser beams for eyes, and he's so engaging and charming and handsome," Cindy gushed of The Golden Bachelor star during a recent appearance on the "Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour" podcast.
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Mel is widely considered to be an attractive man, but ever since The Golden Bachelor's second season premiered, he's faced criticism for lacking emotional depth and not opening up to his bachelorettes.
It seemed like Mel was hesitant to be vulnerable and share stories about his past, but Cindy apparently managed to peel back Mel's layers and break down his walls.
"I would start a conversation, and within a breath, we'd be covering 10 topics. Our relationship is absolutely effortless," boasted Cindy, a 60-year-old retired biomedical engineer from Austin, TX.
"When he was named the Golden Bachelor, my oldest daughter was the first one to discover it, and she texted me immediately and called me and said, 'Mom, I think they picked him for you.' Mel is uniquely designed to be in a relationship with me."
Cindy said, because of that, she totally leaned into The Golden Bachelor experience.
"Early on, I knew enough about him, but I needed to explore the chemistry -- check, check. Now we're looking at compatibility and it's going very well," Cindy explained.
"But my conversations with him ended up on the editing-room floor. And it's fine. That happens. It's a short show. But there's no question that he and I are aligned and had easy, effortless, deep conversations."
Cindy said, for instance, she and Mel talked about what books they were reading.
"Imagine how much ground you'd have to cover in order to get to, 'What books do you read?' conversation," Cindy pointed out.
Cindy added how Mel was always "super generous" to her "in the subtle things."
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Cindy recalled of Mel, "He's not the type of man... to say, 'I like you better than X, Y, Z.' That's just not who he's ever going to be, and if you ask him to do it, you don't Mel very well if you push him into that."
Cindy insisted she didn't want or need Mel to be that type of man.
"As long as I was there and I was interested, and if he kept me along and was still interested, then we'd take every moment and every sip and make it a gulp on our one-on-one. We took every chance to explore that further," Cindy explained.
She added, "I tell Mel -- and I've only felt this one other time in my life -- that he feels like a combination of home and vacation, all wrapped up in the same skin."
Cindy recalled how she and Mel were "very intentional" with their time together.
Cindy said, at times, she tried to put herself in Mel's shoes and wonder how she'd behave if she had many men throwing themselves at her at once.
"Would you always be your best? I like to say I want to behave in the way my future husband will be proud of me," Cindy shared.
Cindy admitted that after watching Mel have PDA with other bachelorettes -- including Nicolle May, whom he "definitely had chemistry" with -- she decided to give him "grace" and have patience.
"It's a complete out of body experience," Cindy explained of The Golden Bachelor.
During Cindy's one-on-one date with Mel this season, it didn't seem like the pair were reaching a deep level, from a viewer's perspective.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
Cindy opened up to Mel about how she had come from a broken home with an "awful" father, only to then have a "miserable" marriage with a man.
Although Cindy welcomed three children with her now ex-husband -- whom she divorced about seven years ago -- she shared with Mel, "And then I found out that the marriage wasn't what I thought it was."
Mel didn't say much in reply, and the Golden Hour podcast's guest host, Joan Vassos, told Cindy that Mel seemed "so stoic" and guarded during that date.
"For me to be that vulnerable, I expected a little bit more back from him," Cindy confessed.
"And if he doesn't want to share with me perhaps about his history, maybe give me more reassurance as to where I am in his world. And I honestly didn't get either."
Cindy, however, said she tried to give Mel the benefit of the doubt during filming.
"A part of it is, I'm thinking, that he's waiting until we have time together, just the two of us, and that's what I'm reading at the moment," Cindy reasoned.
Cindy got to spend more time with Mel during her hometown date in Austin, where she told her daughters that she was falling in love with Mel.
Mel, on the other hand, seemed uncertain about his feelings and which woman was stealing his heart. The Final 3 women's families asked for reassurance, but Mel couldn't give it to any of them.
After hometowns, Mel gave his Final 2 roses to Cindy and Peg Munson at the Rose Ceremony.
Mel eliminated Debbie Siebers, who left the show feeling devastated.
