TV.com

Reaper fans had reason to rejoice last week when the CW announced that it was picking up the freshman comedy for a sophomore season. Though it has an initial order of only 13 episodes, it's much better than the zero episodes some had thought it was lined up for.

One person who is definitely happy the show got picked up is its star, Bret Harrison, who plays the bounty hunter for Satan Sam Oliver. Harrison is very likable as the devil's unwitting henchman, combining an "everyman" charm with precise comedic timing and a dash of slapstick.

With Reaper lined up for a second season, we asked Harrison to talk about what's coming up for Sam, how the cast is behind the scenes, and what he likes to do for fun.

TV.com: Do you get frustrated that critics love Reaper? I think it was the top-rated new show of the fall. The fans are diehard, and your show goes down to the wire for a renewal, yet shows like According to Jim are getting early pickups, and reality television is all over the airwaves.

Bret Harrison: Dude, you have no idea! For me, I still would rather be on a show like this where I, as an actor, I'm putting in good work, or I feel that I'm putting in good work and I know the audience that is watching and is responding to it. I'd much rather be on a show that might get canceled but it's good, than something that's been done a thousand times and I can switch throughout all the different networks and see the same show. I want to try to do something different.

TV.com: A man of morals.

Bret Harrison: Well, you never know how long it's going to last. Especially with a TV series, unlike a film. You do a movie, it's a couple of months. If it sucks then, well, try to get the next one. But with a TV series, maybe it does go four or five years--and you certainly want to be on a good one. I think it would suck to go do five years of something you're not really proud of, but you're getting a paycheck. I don't even know how you would do a good job in the first place. I have internal battles as it is even on Reaper just going like, "Wait a second, I've seen this scene before, how can we make it different? Let's constantly be trying to change the attitudes of these characters and make it more interesting to watch."

TV.com: You said you'd rather be on a good show than something that's been done before over and over. What do you think Reaper does differently that other shows don't do? Or what's your favorite part of the show?

Bret Harrison: Well, I just think that we're doing something that I think has been done before but a big thing [we're adding] is humor. I think a lot of these shows that deal with the supernatural themes (not the show [Supernatural]; I've got to point that out because I've gotten in trouble for saying that and Supernatural fans want to stab me to death) or deal with sci-fi aspects for the most part take themselves seriously, and whatever. I think what's so cool about this show is that we're doing stuff like that but we're putting a comedy twist on it, and we're kind of winking at the audience saying, "Ah, this scene we're talking about devils in vessels and demons--this is hilarious s***. Let's kind of make fun of it."

TV.com: What can you tell us about season two? Where does the season one finale leave us?

Bret Harrison: Well, [in the finale], there's a last-ditch effort to basically take down the devil. There's a hook in the end which I think is really cool. [In season two], we'll see Sam's pi***d off a lot of demons, he's pi***d off a lot of people in the underworld, and there are these demons that are going to be coming after him.

Which I think is cool, and you have that kind of Matrix or The Terminator theme going on.

TV.com: What's working with the cast and crew like?

Bret Harrison: Well, just generally, and I've said this before, I think they're the best cast and crew I've ever worked with. Which is very fortunate, because we're shooting out in Vancouver, BC, far away from LA and my home, family, friends, all that. But, I feel like, we hang out probably more than we should!

TV.com: Let's talk about individuals. How's Ray Wise (the devil)?

Bret Harrison: Ray Wise--he's a professional. Sometimes you find [actors working] for a paycheck or this just might be, you know, whatever it is. But Ray is such a professional and he's got these huge monologues he has to spit out every week and he nails it in two takes. He's somebody I really look up to in terms of what I'd like to be in the future and hopefully get to work as long as he does.

TV.com: Cool. What about Tyler Labine (Sock)?

Bret Harrison: Tyler's a crazy person. I love Ty. Tyler is completely on his game. We recently made up this rule for ourselves, where he wants as many possible takes as he possibly can get, and that's why I think he's so funny. I think that's why, when they cut the show together, he stands out, he's brilliant. But we started to say that I will start asking the director for [more takes for] Tyler, "Hey, director, Tyler wants another one." And vice versa for me. So we're going to just start asking for each other. We're like, "Hey man, one more please!"

TV.com: What about Missy Peregrym (Andi)?

Bret Harrison: Missy's great. Missy, she's a local. She's having the best time of her life, because she's from [nearby] Surrey, and she's got the best setup, the best deal ever. I don't know, she'll probably kill me for saying this, but she's living with her family again, working on a TV show. She's like 10 minutes from set, hanging with all her friends that she's grown up with. And she's the best. She's one of the guys, she's great.

TV.com: Some actors love to get props from their shows. Who gets to keep the vessels from Reaper?

Bret Harrison: Well, I haven't stolen any, but who gets to keep them? I don't know. I think the props department does! But no, I keep pitching that the vessels get bigger and bigger. I keep telling them I think it's really cool when the boxes look different. I keep pitching a Lamborghini vessel. I think it'd be cool, and I should put this idea on my Web site, but I think it'd be really interesting for the fans to give their ideas for vessels, because a lot of times I feel even the writers write around the vessel--at least in the beginning. Sometimes the writers would come up with the vessel, [then] come up with how you'd have to kill somebody, and then that's how the vessel basically came to be.

TV.com: Oh, that's cool. This is a personal question for one of our users. You spend a lot of time entertaining people, but what entertains you?

Bret Harrison: What entertains me? Music would probably be the number one thing, outside of acting. I love going and seeing bands. I just went down to downtown Portland, where I'm from. Me and my girlfriend went and saw Rilo Kiley, which was really cool. And it was cool that it was in my hometown. I missed Coachella this year because I was working, which killed me, because I've been four years in a row. But, music I'd have to say.

TV.com: I asked Ray Wise this, so I'm going to ask you the same thing as our final question. What would you sell your soul to the devil for?

Bret Harrison: What would I sell my soul to the devil for? I don't know man! Eternal happiness. I don't know.

TV.com: Eternal happiness, a safe, safe answer. Thanks for talking to us.

Bret Harrison: All right man, thank you so much.