Lone Star: What James Wolk Learned from the Cancelled Series

As you probably remember, FOX’s Lone Star was the first TV show of the 2010-11 season to be cancelled. Despite being one of the most-anticipated series, the show tanked in the ratings right from the start. When the numbers didn’t improve for episode two, FOX pulled it and shut down production. Four episodes have never aired.

Lead actor James Wolk guests on Happy Endings tonight and recalled the FOX series. He told THR, “The Lone Star experience was tough at the time,” he says, “but it really allowed me to look at things from a 3,000-foot high view. You can think something is the greatest thing in the world, but, as we know, anything can happen. It really taught me that I always want to make choices that I believe in artistically. No one can take that away from you.”

Wolk’s been busy since Lone Star went off the air, including filming an indie comedy — For a Good Time, Call… — that premiered at Sundance, acting in a production of Next Fall in Los Angeles, and recurring on Showtime’s Shameless.

Happy Endings is Wolk’s first foray into sitcoms. He began acting for the theatre and noted, “I would liken sitcom work more to theatre work than I would, perhaps, to dramatic television. It’s so quick. It kind of feels like the pace of a play. It’s just been refreshing.”

What do you think? Do you like Wolk’s work? Would you like to see him star in another TV series?