Going Back to Jericho with Alicia Coppola

For years, Alicia Coppola has had one of those recognizable faces that you just know you’ve seen somewhere, even if you can’t quite put your finger on it. It’s probably because she’s guest-starred on literally dozens of television shows from Star Trek: Voyager to Bones and so many in between. Coppola got her big break in 2006 when she was cast as the ‘outsider’, Mimi Clark, on Jericho. The series never turned into a huge hit and it looked like Alicia might have to try again, but, as we all know by now, Jericho fans weren’t going to let their favorite series end. Now, Jericho is back from the dead and, as you might have guessed, struggling in the ratings again. Coppola sat down with us recently to talk about her character, what’s going to happen next on Jericho, and the loyalty of the show’s fan base.

THE DEADBOLT: If Cheyenne is so great, why isn’t everyone pulling up stakes and moving there?

ALICIA COPPOLA: That’s a good question. But then the show would be called Cheyenne (laughing).

THE DEADBOLT: At the end of last week’s episode Mimi is in a really tough spot now.

COPPOLA: I am in a tough spot because I think I’m guilty, I feel guilty, because of Bonnie and the stupid ledger. You know this ledger that had all of the evidence, it had all of the information and the fact that it was left at the home and the fact that both Bonnie and I got in harms way over the ledger. If you think about it, it was over $10,000, which to us may not seem like a lot of money, but for the people in Jericho and Jennings and Rall it’s a huge amount of money.

THE DEADBOLT: Now is Jennings and Rall and Ravenwood meant to be a representation on Blackwater and KBR?

COPPOLA: You know I don’t ever pretend to know what the writers are subliminating, so I don’t know the answer to that. I know that it appears to be similar, but I never like to speak for anyone else, so I don’t know.

Our writers are so…to me the fact that they took this idea of the show in the beginning. So you have episode one and the bomb goes off and in their head somehow they knew where it was going to be at episode four in the second season. And how they’re able to keep all of the clues and the storylines straight and keep the suspense. I mean I’m in the show and when I watch the show I’m at the edge of my seat.. They’re just geniuses, our producers and writers are geniuses.

THE DEADBOLT: I thought the tie-in to Big Brother was pretty cool, did you see that?

COPPOLA: No I didn’t. We were at Wonder-Con and they talked about it. I’m not aware of any other cross-promotions going on, but I thought it was really cool that they did that.

Going Back to Jericho with Alicia Coppola Page 2