Cindy Sampson on Private Eyes West Coast, Jason Priestley & Angie’s Return

[00:00:08] Cindy, thank you for joining me today on Pop Culture Unplugged. Oh, thanks so much for having me. Exciting times. You've been busy, yeah, the last few years. Yeah, yeah, it's good. Busy. Good to be busy as an actor. You know, we have a new show that just recently premiered, Private Eyes West Coast, which we'll jump in that in a few minutes. What's been the fan reaction before we jump into everything else? What's been the fan reaction with this? So shocked. Like, we've been getting so much press. All the fans are thrilled. And like international fans.

[00:00:37] It's really funny because you don't realize that how far the reach it had when it was on air. And people, I guess in the States, people are binging the original off the CW app, which is like amazing. We have all these new fans, too, from the original being released on Netflix. It's just been, it's been amazing, actually. So before we jump into this show, you know, like I was doing some research on you. I want to sketch comedy. That's what you got into in your younger years, huh? Yeah, I loved it Montreal. Just for Laughs Festival was a big deal. I really love comedy.

[00:01:07] I'm not great at it. Like the comedian part, I did a stand up at Yuck Yucks and it was like the biggest thrill ever. But yeah, I always loved that. Like SNL, Mad TV. Like I just loved sketch. I still love sketch comedy. I think it's hilarious. It was such a, it was a great jumping point. But then I just never went into comedy. I never did anything comedic. I was like running from monsters and doing sci-fi things for so many years.

[00:01:32] So it's kind of gone full circle to get back to something that has lighthearted, comedic, comedic timing, all the fun stuff. Have you thought about jumping right back to that? Give it another shot or anything? You know, no. I mean, Private Eyes has occupied the last 10 years of my life, essentially. Like, you know, we ran the first season for 60 episodes, four or five seasons.

[00:01:57] And then as soon as we got canceled, I got pregnant and then had a baby. So it was, and then as soon as this child's like going back to school, Private Eyes comes back. So it's just been like, it was like predestined by the universe. I got some time off to have a kid and now we're back to work. You mentioned before, you know, like you've done a little bit of everything too.

[00:02:20] Like when I was doing research, like I said, you know, you went from like, you've done like horror, the shrine, the supernatural, Sullivan's Crossing, you know, and now you return to Private Eyes. Like, was there a particular genre, a type of character that you haven't tackled yet that's on your goal? No, I don't know. I just keep waiting for the reboot of Golden Girls to really, you know. So you want to get in the sitcom world. That's what you're trying to tell us.

[00:02:50] And I want to be able to just look older and just be older. No, I don't know. I feel like, I mean, I've just, yeah, I just feel like I've gotten all these really interesting little opportunities. I shouldn't say little. That was so condescending. I've had these great opportunities, a very variety of things that I've been able to do in my career so far. So once Private Eyes ends, I'll probably reevaluate and be in a different place in my life. You know what I mean?

[00:03:20] I've just kind of been doing this for so long. I've grown up in this industry and it's been nice to be a part of so many different things. So what was your initial reaction when you heard, you know, you found out the series is going to return, Angie's going to return? What went through your mind? Oh my gosh. I was in shock. First of all, when I got the phone call, I was completely in shock because no one saw this coming. Like we tried to get it. We tried it.

[00:03:46] The original series ended so abruptly and so unexpectedly for everyone, including the producers. So we tried for maybe two years to try to bring it back to life with different networks and different. And it just didn't happen. So I never in my wildest dreams thought that this would be happening. So I was very, very shocked. But also you have to take into consideration how much I didn't think the idea would work of Shade and Angie being together.

[00:04:13] Like in the first, in the original series, the will they or won't they is kind of what we thought kept them afloat. So if they got together, that would be the end of the show. There's just nowhere to go. And yet here we are. And that's the starting place. It's like the jumping place for Private Eyes West Coast. And it's given us all this like relatable material. We have spouses working together and balancing work and parenting, you know.

[00:04:43] And then there's just like living with in-laws, living with family. There's all this relatable content. Sorry, that's my dog. No, it's okay. I don't hear it. Oh, really? Okay. Amazing. It's my guard dog. Shit says sheep-a-doodle. Not a guard dog at all. She's just a big fluffy teddy bear that barks at things sometimes. There's probably a squirrel outside. How did you get Jason on board to come back? Oh, my gosh. How did I get Jason? Come on. I don't get Jason to do anything.

[00:05:15] He, like he found out the same time I did. It was a surprise to him too. We had, we really had such a magical experience the first time around. And if you would ask, I believe a lot of people or a lot of the crew, we just had so much fun. Like we had, we were just so enjoyable going down that set and working. We laughed all day long. We had a great working relationship. Everyone involved was so wonderful. It was just a really great place to go to work.

[00:05:43] So I don't think when either of us needed much convincing to go back to work, we had such a great experience. And again, like such a cliffhanger, such a weird way to end. And it was like during COVID, none of us got to say goodbye to each other. It was just such an odd thing. So this, it feels like a beautiful gift, this little kismet that it's come back to us. How different is this version of Angie compared to the, you know, the person we've met in the first year in the, what would you call it? The first series, I guess.

[00:06:12] Yeah, I guess. I always say the original series. Yeah. And this is the spinoff. You know, it's funny because I just thought Angie was Angie. But then when I watched it, because I hadn't watched it because I wanted to watch it with everyone else. So I've seen the first two episodes, which is kind of ridiculous. I should have watched it all. But I chose to kind of wait and see it. And I feel like Angie's completely different than the original series. Like everything about her, but I mean, sort of the same.

[00:06:41] Different in the sense that in the original series, she was like a lone wolf and kept to herself and seemed kind of tough and maybe closed off. And I just feel like she's so breezy and West Coast and she's so fresh and she's a mom and she's grounded and she's more mature. And yeah, I feel like she just like kind of blossomed into a woman. Also, you know, she has a family now. She's just like the bigger, better version of herself. More open, more receptive.

[00:07:11] And just even her wardrobe. I was like, wow, that's a wholly different person. It's amazing. That's what I was thinking when I watched it. You mentioned the first two episodes because here in the States, that's all we have, too, is the first two episodes. So like when I watched them, do you think Angie ever truly wanted to leave the detective work behind? Or was she just waiting for an excuse to jump back in? Oh, she never wanted to leave it behind. That was like a broken heart. She was broken. Broken without that.

[00:07:39] Yeah, definitely the one that's pulling everyone back into being PIs. I think it's in her DNA. Like her dad was a cop. It's all she's ever known. It's just part of her. How about Angie's brother, Will, you know, ends up becoming Declan's nanny? Which, you know, I thought that was funny. Like, how do you think having her brother around in her life now is going to, is it going to complicate things for you? Angie, you think? Never. No, she loves him too much.

[00:08:06] Oh, I will tell you that like the addition of David Kaye in the cast playing my brother, Will, or half brother, is amazing. He's so funny. He brings so much to the show. We love working with him. We have a lot of laughs. So I don't, I don't know. I don't think it's all, it's the shade. It's shade and Will that are butting heads throughout the whole thing. I can't see Angie and Will having any issues. Earlier, I mentioned Jason. Do you think, has the chemistry changed now that your characters are married?

[00:08:36] No, no. We keep joking. We're like new coast, new cases, same old shade and Angie, which they really are. I think they complement each other better now. Like, I feel like there's like this, it's funny because the show ended. We had five years in between and we came back. And I feel like you can kind of feel that there's like a longevity. Like there does feel like familial. It's like they've grown closer. There's something about that that's there. But no, I think they're exactly the same. I think the dynamic of shade and Angie is the only constant.

[00:09:05] The only thing that's carried through. Do you think, has she changed that? Like, no, let me rephrase this question. Has the character changed at all from the original series? Sure. Like when the writers and the producers came to you for the new season? You know, we have a whole new writing room. We have new showrunners, Jen Kasabian and Sarah Dodd. And they nailed the characters. Like they nailed shade and Angie.

[00:09:35] Like we lived with these characters for five years, but they nailed it. The dialogue, the dynamic, everything about it. So it just, it felt exactly the same, like the snappy banter and all of that. It just felt like riding a bike. Like we were just right back in it. It was like the same, but different. I don't even know. Yeah. It was like no time had passed and like five years had passed. And as soon as we sat in those cast chairs, then when they said action, it was like, we'd just all been doing it forever.

[00:10:04] And like 10 years from the, like so wild. That was 10 years from the original. That is a long time. Would you change anything about Angie if you could? No, not now. No. Before I would have, but now she's become all the things that she wasn't. A mother. A mother. Well, just like a loving participant in life. I feel like she was really guarded and, and shut off and her circle was small.

[00:10:32] And I feel like she's blossomed a lot. Could Sid, do you be friends with Angie? Angie. Oh, hell yeah. For sure. We'd be friends. Would you be friends with Angie? Any advice? Possibly. Would you give, what kind of advice would you give her? I don't know. The brilliant minds that writer, I couldn't possibly compare to that. I mean, we're, we're living the same life. It was bizarre. Like we really, when I got the first script for the pilot episode, I was like,

[00:11:02] this is insane. Like I have a young child, which I also have a young child and like balancing and going back to work as a woman and like crazy hours. We were shoot crazy hours on a show for months at a time to on the other side of the country. I live in Toronto. And I was like here, it was just so bizarre. It was like life imitating art, art imitating life. Exactly in the same place as she is. Physically moving to the West Coast to film this with a young child and trying to balance

[00:11:32] the work and parenting. It was just so, the mirroring, it was just so bizarre to me, but like beautiful. Without giving anything away, is there a particular storyline that you can't wait for the viewers to get their hands on when it comes out? A certain episode? Oh, I haven't seen, it's funny that, I mean, I've done like the voice or the voice, the ADR for most of the episodes. I've seen them, but not like placed all together.

[00:11:58] My favorite episode to shoot is one about surfing at Tofino. And I love that one because we got to go undercover and like Jason, Jason's wig is way more ridiculous than mine, but we just got to be, it was, it's a silly and it's so much fun. I just think it's a great episode. It's got a lot of funny things. And we've really upped the comedy I find in this new iteration of Private Eyes and the Private Eyes West Coast. I feel like we've really leaned into it in like the physical comedy too.

[00:12:27] So, oh, and I have an epic fight scene in that one. That one just had everything. It's like an, it's, it's a movie that episode. You said the fight, do you do your own stunts? Were you able to get your hands dirty on that one? You know what? They usually let me do my own stunts unless, unless it's, there's like a jump that was like a huge in the original series. It was massive. And we weren't allowed to do that. If I'm allowed to do it, I will do it. But not as easy as it used to be 10 years later.

[00:12:57] Jason and I laughed because sometimes we'll insist on doing all the running. And then we're like, the next day we can't walk. And we're like, this, this really was easier 10 years ago. We got to start stretching more. So how many episodes, how many episodes are we expecting this season? In season one? In the new season. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Season one, 10 episodes. We've already been picked up for season two. So we're going back to work in 2027 in March or April. Yeah.

[00:13:27] It's wild. We were picked up before we even aired. So it's, it's like a, it's a nice feeling because you can kind of settle into knowing you're going back to work and everyone seems happy. And that makes us happy. I know like for us in the States, we have to watch and see W, but is there any plans for like any streaming services to release this? Cause I haven't seen it anywhere else. I'm going to get, I mean, I have no idea. So don't quote me on this, but I mean, I guess because Netflix picked up the original series that they'll probably get their hands on the second one.

[00:13:55] I know it is streaming in Canada on staff TV and Hallmark. Okay. Yeah. So what's next for you now? Any other projects you're allowed to tell us about happening? I'm not doing anything else. I'm not doing anything else. I can't. I, uh, yeah, we're doing a bunch of episodes for season two in 2027. And then it's, I, I'm kind of in between that. Want to be around to be a mom. Cause I have a little kid and I don't want to miss out on that. You know what I mean?

[00:14:26] Oh yeah. I'm like, it's a really good balance. Cause I know I have the show. And then the rest of the time I'm literally a stay at home mom, which is the most beautiful thing too. So it's kind of, you know, when she goes back to school, I'll go out and. Right. Do your thing. I'll do all the things again. But until then, I'm just like, it's like the perfect situation. Amazing. Cindy, I want to thank you for giving me from this today. Good luck with the series. I hope we get a few more seasons down the road just for you. Oh, thanks so much. It was great talking to you. You too. So yeah.