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There was one episode where you did have a lot of interaction with her. Married With Fishsticks.

Oh right! Now that I did have a lot of dialogue with her! That was a blast! That was funny. She's an interesting actor I think because...Meighan's very pretty and she's also very funny. It's a strange combination to find in an actor. Usually with actresses if they're not very good looking they'll develop their comic sense. If they're pretty they just don't need to, but she's bothered to develop it, and I think that's really cool. She's also fantastic at improv. She's really fast on her feet. And she served that episode really well. She had a great [laughs] Brooklynese dialect. She was a joy to work with in that. I'm only sorry we didn't get more stuff to do together. She's so talented.

Unfortunately the Married With Fishsticks episode is not very popular with some Xena fans. It's quite a change of pace from most episodes and Xena herself is barely in it. However, it's Meighan's favorite episode. Alexandra Tydings has also said that it's one of her favorites. Do you think that your work, along with Meighan's and Alex's, was underappreciated in that episode?

I don't know about that. It's definitely one of my favorite episodes too. I think it's the one of the most daring ones we did. What makes great TV for some makes terrible TV for others. The same reason people tune into TV on a regular basis is often the same reason people like to read Harlequin Romance books. Because every book that you pick up is essentially the same as the last one with a few variations thrown in. It's safe, and it's easy, and you're not going to be challenged very much. So that's why people tune in, that's why television is the way it is. There's nothing wrong with that, except when you throw in a monkey wrench like that episode. Some people that want to be challenged will say 'wow, this is really cool and bizarre,' and 'what the hell are they doing here?' The people that just want to see Xena kick ass, and Gabrielle and all that kind of stuff are not going to be pleased at all. But on a more offbeat level, I think that episode really worked. And it worked largely because of the peripheral characters, especially Meighan and Alex, doing their kooky stuff. By the way, I've gotten some letters from people that absolutely loved that episode beyond all measure. Other people thought it was just dreadful, but anyway...in a reversal episode like that, usually the characters are the opposite of what they are. Say Xena is suddenly sweet and mellow or Joxer's smart and capable, these kind of things. But this was not an opposite episode. This was just a...different show. [laughs] These characters had nothing whatsoever to do with their counterparts, which I think really threw some people off. But I loved that. I think we all loved it. And frankly I think that Meighan and Alex are the kind of actors who like to mix things up. They're highly intelligent, and it's fun to work with people like that when you never really know what's coming up. Anyway I loved it and I loved watching Meighan in it.

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