Interview with Richard Schiff and Bridget Moynahan at the NFTV Festival

During the opening night Red Carpet of the 2024 North Fork TV Festival at The Beech Hotel in Greenport, noted TV stars and actors Richard Schiff and Bridget Moynahan spoke exclusively with Hamptons.com about their careers. Mr. Schiff spoke first. Sheila Kelley, his wife of 28 years (together 36 years), accompanied him.

Richard Schiff displayed his wit and intelligence. He mentioned that after all his years on the hit TV show, “West Wing,” he is often asked to comment about politics and was booked in England as a guest on a BBC show about politics. Yet, he said, “I also played a brain surgeon on ‘The Good Doctor’ for five years, and not once has anyone asked me anything about brain surgery!” Talking about acting on the stage, on TV, or in the movies, he said, “ I believe there is a great experience in theater; there is nothing like it, to go out every night and have that experience with an audience is as special as it gets for me. But there is nothing worse than a bad play. When you are doing a great film (Schiff was in the original Jurassic Park), that too is a great experience; you do a bad film, you do it, and you forget about it.” He said, “TV is the same thing unless you are on the show for a long time. Any of the mediums or media can be exhilarating. It’s just very different. TV and film feel very intimate. You do very subtle and quiet work, whereas in theater, you have to express it large enough for 800 to 1000 to hear and feel it.

Then, talking about appearing with his wife, Sheila Kelley(star of L.A.Law) on a few episodes of “The Good Doctor,” Mr. Schiff said, “Yes, quite a few episodes,” then Ms. Kelley interjected, “Our characters actually started out dating on the show,” Schiff smiles and said, “She started out as my barista and then we started dating until an issue about (Ms. Kelley’s) character on the show would not give up her gun and that was a catalyst for us breaking up.” However, their chemistry on the show was incredible. “The network couldn’t handle our chemistry,” Mr. Schiff said, and as he said that, Sheila Kelley kissed her husband ever so sweetly! Later that evening, Richard Schiff was presented with an award as the 2024 Ambassador For The Arts Honoree by Noah Doyle, the founder of the NFTV Festival.

Bridget Moynahan, a star on CBS’s show, “Blue Bloods,” talked about the importance of being a strong role model of a woman in power. First, stating how proud she was to be affiliated with the show, she said, “The role that I played, Erin Regan, was a woman who was very independent, charismatic, smart, with incredible integrity, as was the entire Regan family.” She believes, “That resonated with a lot of women and younger women. I believe they appreciated seeing that on TV.”

Then she added, “In general, the whole Regan family had those morals and values, integrity, strength, and conviction. Even though the characters’ family members didn’t always agree, they could have differences and still love, respect, and appreciate each other, and those are behaviors that are lost in our society at this time. It’s nice to have them (in display in a TV series.)”

When the subject turned to working with Tom Selleck on Blue Bloods for the last fourteen years, Ms. Moynahan was praised. She said, “Tom Selleck is an incredible gentleman and somebody who took a lot of pride throughout his career. He learned a lot of lessons throughout his career, and he made mental notes to carry on with the ones that were valuable, the ones that were respectful, and the ones that he knew would benefit him professionally. He shared those with all of us (cast of Blue Bloods) over the last fourteen years.”

Noted events of the 2024 North Fork TV Festival included an exclusive breakfast with TV insiders Jessica Daniels and Max Jenkins and screenings of some Indie Pilot Series winners. Next was a discussion with actor John Turturro about the evolution of TV, which Erik Warner and Elisa DiStefano moderated.

The 2024 North Fork TV Festival’s Canopy Award was presented to Oscar-winning actor Marcia Gay Harden at the closing reception at spacious Sound View in Greenport. Noted attendees included John Turturro, Max Jenkins, Chris Brancato, Bridget Moynahan, Richard Schiff, Sheila Kelley, Kelsey Grammer, and Stephen Moyer, among other TV notables.