Previously Unpublished: A Chat with Deion Sanders and Tracey Edmonds
I know what you’re thinking: what in the hell is Will doing interviewing a football legend? And it’s a fair question, because the fact that I know Deion Sanders played football is probably more than most of you thought I knew about him. Well, as you read this interview, which took place during the 2014 Television Critics Association press tour, you’ll notice a very important aspect, which is that the only times the word “football” comes up is during this intro.
That’s right: we talked about the reality show that he and Tracey Edmonds were doing for OWN at the time, I asked him about hosting Saturday Night Live and appearing on The League and Walker: Texas Ranger, and I asked Tracey about switching from working behind the scenes on College Hill to appearing in an on-camera capacity with Deion, and I also asked her about being a music supervisor for Josie and the Pussycats.
Forget football. This was all about pop culture.
Well, I guess the first question is an obvious one: how did this series come about? Did OWN pitch it to you, or did you go out looking for a network to do a series with you?
Deion: [Grinning and gesturing to Tracey Edmonds.] This is the executive producer.
Tracey: [Laughs.] Well, Deion and I met a couple of years ago, and he was really looking to do a family reality show about his life, and after we first met, his life continued to evolve. So he now is raising eight kids in his household as a single-parent dad, which is a dynamic I don't think we've ever seen before on TV: he's a dad not only to his own children, but he's a surrogate dad to his sister's children, to the foster children that his mother took in, to a lot of the kids and students at Prime Prep Academy, his charter school. So we're really seeing a single-parent dad step up and really hands-on raise quite a few kids and be a positive influence in their lives.
So how are you enjoying the experience so far?
Deion: I love it. I don't feel like it's an experience. I feel like it's life. I mean, it's my life, and you're allowing someone to capture it. I mentor and I'm speaking to the lives of many athletes and many kids around the country as well as in my own school. And just to be able to show people your lifestyle, your do's, your don'ts, your hits, your misses, your peaks and valleys... It's wonderful to me, being able to have that platform to do it. When I was a child, I emulated what I saw, not what I heard. So it's very, very appropriate for me to display what I'm trying to get out there to the public.
Tracey: And also, too, we're entertaining people at the same time. You know, this is real-life stuff. This is a non-scripted show. But I'm sure you know Deion's personality, so Deion is raising and mentoring kids as only Deion can do, with his own flavor and sense of humor and dynamics. It's quite unique.
Tracey, you've had experience on the other side of the camera, executive-producing College Hill. What's it like being in front of the camera for a reality series?
Tracey: You know what? It's challenging a little bit. You know, because I'm wearing both hats, so this is my first time in front of the camera. As Deion knows, and as you'll see on the show, there are things that happened in real life that we were capturing, and I'm on camera, and there's certain dynamics going on that I wasn't expecting! [Laughs.] You'll see an incident with my mother, who came in for a visit, so she kind of stirred things up quite a bit. So now I'm on camera, and I'm dealing with some crazy family dynamics with a camera in my face. So that was definitely different for me, really exposing my life, because historically I've tried to be a lot more private.
But the beautiful thing about our show is that everything you're going to see is real. There's nothing that's produced, no scenarios that are produced, nothing is scripted. So everything unfolded as it really happened. So for me, it was quite different, because now it's my life unfolding in front of the cameras. [Laughs.] And I'm not unfolding someone else's life. This is me now! So, yeah, it definitely took some getting used to, and we'll see how it goes once people see all of this. But I think there's a lot of really interesting dynamics, a lot of drama and emotion that goes on, but a lot of things that people can relate to.
I wanted to ask you about some of your TV experiences prior to this. How did you enjoy the opportunity to host Saturday Night Live?
Deion: Man, it's so ironic you ask that. We were talking about that last night over dinner. It was unbelievable! You know, at the time... When you're in your twenties, you're not thinking of the magnitude of Saturday Night Live until you escape it. Now you say, "Oh, my God: I can't believe I hosted Saturday Night Live!" I wish I had known then what I know now! It was unbelievable. She's trying to track down a DVD of it...
Tracey: I want to see it!
Deion: ...so she can see how ignorant I was back then. [Laughs.] But it was unbelievable. It really was.
Do any particular sketches that you did stand out for you?
Deion: Yeah! You know, I was trying to think of all the people that I worked with. I remember doing one sketch with the late Chris Farley, and he was emulating... I guess it was the Babe Ruth thing, where the kid asks him to hit a home run for him. But he was, like, "If you score, will you do a dance for me?" And he just kept adding on and adding on, and...it was hilarious. So that stood out to me.
You've also done a couple of appearances as yourself, most recently on The League.
Deion: Yes! Man, that show is unbelievable. And I didn't know the enormity of that show until I shot it and started watching it. You know, they give you a season's worth of episodes, and I watched them on planes traveling back and forth, and that show is hilarious. It really is hilarious. They do a great job of it.
What are the challenges of playing yourself?
Deion: None. [Laughs.] It's just like this show: you don't have to act if you're being yourself!
Tracey: [Pointing at Deion.] This is the most uninhibited person I've ever met, so he was born for this!
Tracey, you were actually a music supervisor on one of my favorite guilty-pleasure movies: Josie and the Pussycats.
Tracey: Oh, really? Yeah!
What's the experience like of being a music supervisor on a film?
Tracey: Actually, that's what really segued me into film, because I came from a music background. I was a publisher and had a record label for awhile, so the first venture into the film side of things was me music-supervising a short film, and then I started doing soundtracks. I love music, I always have. I get excited every time a favorite song comes on the radio. So music really drives me and inspires me, so it was a lot of fun working on Josie and the Pussycats. I'm surprised you liked it, because it was more of a female flick!
But it's also a very nice pop culture parody.
Tracey: Yeah, exactly! Not enough people grew up with the cartoon...
I did.
Tracey: Yeah, I did, too! So it was a lot of fun, and I got to work with Rosario Dawson, who I was managing at the time, and Tara Reid and some other fun people.
As far as music goes, Deion, you had a brief foray into a rap career.
Deion: I love the word "foray." [Laughs.] I'm gonna use that. "Will told me I had a foray." I like that!
Oh, I'm always telling people they had forays. So what was that experience like, going from athleticism to the music business?
Deion: It was fun. You gotta understand, every athlete's private desire is to entertain...and probably a lot of entertainers have a private desire to be an athlete in some form or fashion! And I got to enact mine, and I was elated, excited, happy... I just felt great about it. I was really excited to do it.
Whose idea was it to do the remix album a few years later?
Deion: I'm sure the record label's. [Laughs.]
Tracey: You know what? I didn't even realize you had a remix album!
Deion: Yeah, I didn't, either, until I saw it!
You also got to do a song with M.C. Hammer for the Street Fighter soundtrack.
Deion: Yep! Well, you gotta understand: doing those things at the height of your career was fascinating. Most people have a Tuesday off in the NFL, and to be shooting videos on your Tuesdays in L.A. was quite challenging. [Laughs.] But it was very rewarding. It really was.
I'm not going to go through all of your other TV appearances, but I at least have to ask about the couple of times you popped up on Walker: Texas Ranger.
Deion: Well, first of all, they shot it in Dallas, so that made it very easy to shoot. And I was already a fan of the show. They were some good people. I can remember that there were some really good people there. They took good care of me when I went on set.
Are there any other TV appearances you've made that you have particularly fond memories of doing?
Deion: I think... Moesha. I had a good time with that one. I don't even recall too many more. But Moesha, I had fun with that one. And I popped up in some movie way, way back.
Celtic Pride?
Deion: Celtic Pride. [Laughs.] That was funny, too.
The only other TV appearance I thought you might bring up, just because it's sports-related, was Arli$$.
Deion: You know what? I forgot all about Arli$$.
To be fair, many people have forgotten about Arli$$.
Deion: That was a good show, though, man!
It flew under the radar, I think. It was before HBO was really known as a destination for comedy.
Deion: Yeah, and they got everybody to appear on that show! It was good.
Well, to bring it back to the new series to wrap up, what are your hopes and expectations for Deion's Family Playbook, as far as the reception? Obviously, there are a zillion shows out there. What's the best way to pitch it to people who might be curious?
Deion: Well, we want to entertain while we're informing, inspiring, encouraging and motivating. That's really what we want to do. We want you to be entertained, but like those family sitcoms in the '70s and '80s, there was always a message that went along with the entertainment. That's what we want: we want to entertain, but we want you to get the message at the conclusion of the episode. Because I think we always end each episode on positivity.
So which of the sitcom parents are you most like?
Tracey: I'm probably a little like...
Deion: Claire Huxtable.
Tracey: Yeah. [Laughs.] I was gonna say that.
Deion: She's a little different, though. She's Claire, but with a 21st century appeal.
Tracey: Yeah, I have a crazy lifestyle. I'm actually probably less structured than Deion. Deion is more traditional, where he likes to eat breakfast at the breakfast table and doesn't like the kids talking on cell phones and stuff. I'm the more modern-day mom, where we're grabbing food and bringing it up to the bedroom and stuff. So I'm less structured, I think.
Deion: I'm a little bit of Cliff Huxtable, but with Fred Sanford, James Evans, George Jefferson, and Archie Bunker all tied up in one. [Laughs.] In some form or fashion.
I remembered that you were citing sitcom points of reference during the panel, and you didn't mention Sanford and Son, but it crossed my mind.
Deion: Oh, yeah, that escaped me when I was naming 'em, but it was in my mind somewhere, because that's one of my favorites of all time!
So of the kids, is there a Lamont to your Fred Sanford?
Deion: Yep. That's Shilo. [Laughs.] Shilo is definitely my Lamont!