Rick Bentley
Mike Vogel has a long list of television and film credits that include Grounded for Life, Pan Am, Miami Medical and Bates Motel. But no project he has worked on has touched the Pennsylvania native as deeply as his new series, The Brave. Getting to play the leader of an elite military group is a thrill for him because it’s giving him the opportunity to pay homage to some people who are very close to him. Vogel explains that some of his ‘‘nearest and dearest friends’’ come out of this community and his driving concern is to make sure that he and the show do them justice.
‘‘There’s a great quote. It’s debatable whether it was George Orwell or Rudyard Kipling that said, ‘People sleep well in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf’. And I’d like to add to that. I think we understand it in America, having the freedom of opinion and thought and speech, and to come from many different viewpoints, that’s the beauty that makes up our country,’’ Vogel says. ‘‘We are afforded that opportunity because rough men and women stand ready to do violence on our behalf and protect that right.
‘‘So, for me, to have the ability to step into that and in some minuscule, tiny way contribute to their real life heroics is an honour, and I’m humbled by it.’’
How he and the rest of The Brave cast will pay tribute is through the series that follows Captain Adam Dalton (Vogel) and his special ops squad of undercover specialists who carry out each mission on the ground in countries around the world. His team includes sniper Sgt Jasmine ‘‘Jaz’’ Khan (Natacha Karam), CPO Ezekiel ‘‘Preach’’ Carter (Demetrius Grosse), combat medic Sgt Joseph ‘‘McG’’ McGuire (Noah Mills) and intelligence officer Agent Amir Al-Raisani (Hadi Tabbal). The team works closely with D.I.A. Deputy Director Patricia Campbell (Anne Heche) and her team of analysts.
The Brave is one of several series which have debuted in the past year in the US dealing with the military; others include Valor and Seal Team. The approach Vogel talks about is one of the reasons the cast and crew feel like they will be able to distinguish their series from all the rest.
Grosse stresses The Brave is not a typical military show.
‘‘While we highlight a very specific group of people who have tactical and military experience, and, yes, we interact with the Department of Defense, and things of that nature, we deal more in terms of the espionage and intelligence levels in the military, the things that we don’t normally see that go into avoiding actual firefights and military conflict,’’ Grosse says. ‘‘So the thing that makes the show unique and special is that you see the behindthe-scenes things that you normally wouldn’t associate with military: espionage, code switching, deep cover kind of stuff.’’
Executive producer Dean Georgaris piggybacks Grosse’s comments by pointing out that the inspiration for The Brave is closer to ER because that medical drama pulled back the curtain to reveal more about the people than the procedures. Just like ER, The Brave also deals with a lot of complicated issues and tosses around a lot of lingo, but Georgaris expects that just like ER, that will
Anne Heche and her co-stars tell they’re so fascinated with their new show.
all feel more natural to the viewers with each episode.
It’s interesting Georgaris would use ER as an example because when that medical drama debut in 1994, there was a very similar medical drama, Chicago Hope, that debuted on a rival network at the same time. Everyone wondered how so many medical shows could exist; it was ER that became the long-running winner.
The Brave is designed to focus on two different teams who at times will be 5000 miles apart and TVNZ1.