Tim Daly Talks 'Private Practice' and 'Twilight' Fans Gone Wrong

In the upcoming episode, you have a thirteen-year-old girl bitten by a vampire, a la 'Twilight'. Can you tell me about the episode and if you're familiar with 'Twilight'?

"I am familiar with 'Twilight,' and I have to say... I don't want to alienate anybody, but I don't get vampires. I don't get why they're so sexy. They're dead, they never have sex, they're pale... whatever, you know? [Laughs] But I understand from a social point of view that a lot of people, especially women, love vampires. And the little girl on this episode loves one a little too much."

[Laughs] I'm assuming you haven't read the books.

"I have seen the second 'Twilight' movie though. Whatever that was. 'New Moon' or something. It was... well, I probably shouldn't say what my opinion of it was. Let's just say it was amazing."

From watching some of the previews, I noticed that the actress who plays the little girl's mother is in almost every commercial running at the moment.

"I didn't know that! I wish I'd known that. I would have teased her about it in some way. I would have tortured her a little bit. But no, I didn't know that."

How do you think that being a dad has changed your character?

"I think that Pete has changed a lot since the beginning, and he's sort of come to realize that not only is he capable of having a relationship that resembles love, but he sort of desires that. He wants to have a real relationship. Because he didn't love his wife and he's spent the last couple of years kind of sleeping around, and being faced with fatherhood is, I think, a total surprise for him. And something that makes him tremendously happy and fulfilled. And I think that's surprising to him. But he seems to be embracing it wholeheartedly. And I have to say, I think that it's about time that someone on the 'Private Practice' program kind of acknowledged that. Pete has been an awesome guy. He's cut Violet (Amy Brenneman) a tremendous amount of slack. He's taking care of this baby, he's been very, very solid, where most people thought he was just a complete and total flake. Do you think I'm right?"

I do! I like the way his character is developing and he really has stepped up and given Violet a ton of slack. I'm curious about Pete's wife. The information about her and their relationship has come in dribs and drabs... I'm wondering if we're going to get anymore.

"We've gotten quite a lot now. We know that he hated her. And obviously I don't think he would have married her if he didn't think he loved her, but you know, that was a really tremendously furtive time for him, because he not only realized he hated his wife, but he changed his career path totally. He went from being an infectious disease guy, Doctors Without Borders and all this adventurous stuff, and then got into alternative medicine. So that was a seminal moment in his forming of his character. I don't know how much more there is to mine there. That being said, it would be great. I loved that episode. It was very challenging and interesting emotional territory."

The end of last season had a pretty hardcore cliffhanger. I was yelling at the TV. I'm curious how that can be topped. Is there anything you could tease?

"You know, if I could, I wouldn't, but I honestly have no idea. I have no clue, and you know, knowing the way things go on our show, it's a strong possibility that nobody knows how the season is going to end. I mean, maybe Shonda (Rhimes) does, but it's possible that she's the only one, so we'll just have to see."

You were the voice of 'Superman' in the animated series and 2 DVD films. We comic fans are pretty crazy. Do you ever get tired of being asked about it?

"No. Actually, I continue to be surprised by it. I don't know why, but I think that when I started doing 'Superman,' which I loved doing -- it was really fun -- I sort of underestimated people's passion for Superman and the whole comic book world. I'm kind of humbled by the fact that I didn't realize what was going on. I'm so happy to have had a chance to do it. I hope I have a chance to do it some more."

I was actually going to ask you about that. 'Smallville's' Allison Mack played Power Girl in the Superman animated movie you did, 'Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.' I don't know if you know about the whole guest-starring thing. They just had a two hour movie with a bunch of guest stars. I'm wondering if you'd be interested in doing that.

"Of course! It would be fun. It would be a strange thing to do, but yeah. I fully embrace Superman now, and I love him and I'm always glad to be involved in that world."

So how deeply did you get into it? Are you reading comic books?

"Oh no. I wouldn't go that far. [Laughs] I have my own sort of private thoughts about Superman and the fact is, that if I were to delve that deeply into it, I would have to go way back and really get into the whole origin of Superman. I think the comic book has been around for so long that there's room for a lot of people's versions of Superman out there."

There are so many. And everyone has an opinion about which version/storyline is the correct one.

[Laughs] "I don't have time to get into the controversy. "

[Laughs] What other projects do you have coming up?

"I just recently produced a documentary on Showtime called 'PoliWood' that was a very interesting film about the relationship between celebrity, the media and politics. It was directed by Barry Levinson, who of course, is an Academy Award-winning director, and I am about to direct a public service announcement for the Creative Coalition, which is the arts advocacy group that I'm the co-president of with Dana Delany."

I do know about the documentary, actually! And I wanted to ask you, since you are familiar with the subject... all the recent controversy about Sarah Palin possibly running for President and how the media has made her a certain thing, positive or negative and all that. Just wondering about your opinion on it.

"You know, I think that it's... there are two sides to every coin. The good news is that there is so much information available, so immediately, that people can be galvanized into action by Twitter and text messaging. The bad news is that a lot of times people who don't deserve attention can get it. And, I mean, I have my own strong opinions about Ms. Palin, and I just, I worry that the immediacy of things. I already described the good part of it, but the bad part of it is, people become popular for reasons that don't necessarily suit what it is they're supposed to do. I don't know. It's a strange world out there and I'm kind of stumped now, because I really don't want to get into a political discussion, but television, like anything else, can be used for the power of good or the power of evil. And we're kind of left out there as the public trying to figure out what's the truth. And it's harder to find because there is so much information. It's harder to find out what's really going on."

'Private Practice' airs Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.

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