jason priestley interviewBelieve it or not, 'Beverly Hills, 90210' character Brandon Walsh actually spends his days as real-life actor Jason Priestley. Now the Canadian-born Priestley, 41, is set to take on a new role as the main character of 'Call Me Fitz,' a Canadian series picked up by DirecTV's 101 Channel. He spoke to PopEater about the new gig.

Tell me about your new show.
'Call Me Fitz' is a half-hour comedy. It's a very dark comedy. It follows the life of Robert Fitzpatrick, played by me. He's a used car salesman and he's a guy who'll do anything, say anything to sell the next car, to bed the next woman, to do whatever he thinks he needs to do to get ahead.

Sounds like a real charmer.
At first blush you can look at a character like him -- and some of the things he does can be construed as unlikeable -- and he could become an unlikeable character. But all the things he does are rooted in things that happened in his childhood and his past. As people watch the show they'll see his father is a horrible father, downright mean, and his mother abandoned the family. Fitz never had a chance, so for me as an actor, all of the things that Fitz does have to be rooted in what happened to him as a child.