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Tavis: Chandra Wilson stars in one of TV's most watched programs, 'Grey's Anatomy.' Regular viewers like yours truly know, of course, her as Dr. Bailey on the popular ABC drama. The show kicked off its third season a couple of weeks ago with record ratings. This year it airs Thursday nights at 9:00 PM. Here now, a scene from 'Grey's Anatomy.'

Tavis: Now, you know I'm cracking up.

Chandra Wilson: Uh oh.

Tavis: 'Cause unless in season number three you are going soft, I know they didn't send me that clip. (Laugh) You up in people's face, cussing them out, calling them names, talking about their mama.

Wilson: And somewhere in there was soft, huh? (Laugh)

Tavis: I'm like, I'm leaning into the camera, looking at the monitor, thinking I know that's not Chandra. (Laugh) You always (unintelligible), and in person you ain't but two foot two.

Wilson: That's it. (Laugh)

Tavis: Always up in somebody's face on the show. And they sent me a nice, nice clip. (Laugh) So are you going soft in season three?

Wilson: Oh, for what? Nobody wants to see Dr. Bailey soft. (Laugh) That was a phase.

Tavis: Yeah, like that ain't the Dr. Bailey, yeah, for those who are not regular watchers, that was a misleading clip. Now what do they call that, truth in advertising? (Laugh) That is not truth in marketing and promotion.

Wilson: Just 'cause if we were to continue the next part of it, that she snaps it on back and said look.

Tavis: You like playing this character?

Wilson: I enjoy her.

Tavis: In people's faces? Yeah.

Wilson: Oh my goodness. 'Cause I can get away with it, and it's written, so nobody can say look, you need to back up. (Laugh) I couldn't stand there, as much as I wanted to.

Tavis: You need anger management classes.

Wilson: Exactly. (Laugh)

Tavis: How did you come to be a part of this show? And I ask that because Shonda Rhimes, the producer, has been on this show, Isaiah Washington's been on this show. So we're 'Grey's Anatomy' fans around here. But everybody who's on the show, even Shonda's story of how she got connected to the project, is a fascinating story, particularly where people of color are concerned, and getting a chance to be seen. So how did you end up on this show?

Wilson: This was a regular old New York audition for me. The role was written for a short, White, blonde female named The Nazi. So I wasn't going to be seen for it. Unfortunately, the casting director at ABC casting said, you know what? Let's have Chandra come on in. Rosalie Joseph, my agent, was saying you know you'll like to hire her for a non-traditional kind of thing.

So I went on in, and I had nothing to lose. Just go for it. And from that audition tape, I came out to L.A. to do the studio and the network audition.

Tavis: So what's your take, I'm fascinated to hear your response. Isaiah answered this in his own way, as did Shonda. But what's your take on what it means, or what it meant, for you to have gone in to read for a role that was written for a short, White woman, and you end up a short Black woman getting the role. Does that speak to new possibilities for people of color in this business, or you just were in the right place at the right time, and that good?

Wilson: I think - oh, listen to you. A lot of the right place at the right time kind of thing, for whatever reason. What I had to offer was something that they were interested in for this character, and something that they wanted to write for. I didn't have any idea the large implications that this show was gonna make. I didn't even know the diversity of the casting.

Actually, when we went in to do the pilot episode, we did that pilot, we went away for six months, we came back to work without knowing what our air date was going to be, and it wasn't until I actually sat down and started looking at the finished episodes that I said, oh my goodness, this thing has the potential to be fantastic. Predominately because I'm looking at me, not Chandra, but me, somebody that looks like me, on network television.

And that's gonna mean a lot to somebody, and I'm not pointing fingers at it, I'm not saying this is the Black show, I'm not saying that, I'm not putting any labels on it. I'm just saying this is the show, and it, for whatever reason, it touches familiar places in people. When people come up to me and talk to me about why they watch the show, all ethnicities, all ages, men and women.

It used to be that men would say my wife watches, but now they're telling me what the show is about. That there's somebody in there that they can put their hands on, and they appreciate that.

Tavis: I was about to ask whether or not you think that, in fact, that it is universal, has universal themes in it that run through it. Whether or not you think that's what makes the show work. And if you think that is what makes the show work, and maybe you don't, I don't know. But if you think that's what makes the show work, then it would seem to me that other folk in this business would get that a show that does present itself as universal, a show that shows everybody, would work.

And that we ought to be getting more of that. But I'm looking at the fall season, they have a lot of new shows, but I don't see that theme being replicated. So what am I not getting or what are they not getting?

Wilson: Like I said, a lot of that has to do with, the media really pointed out the diversity in our show, 'cause we never discussed it. It was never an issue. It is exactly what it is. People do watch it for that diversity, but they also watch it for, the themes are common, the music drives the show, it pushes the show. There's your healthy portion of sex. And there's humor.

I'm not talking about comedy, I'm talking about humor, even in the most ridiculous, dire, life-threatening situations, there is a piece of humor there. And that's what life is. It can't all, you just can't take in everything that life has to offer, and then not get out of the bed every day. There's gotta be something in there to laugh at. And I think we're really good about saying there is humor here.

As far as if other networks are gonna look at it and say oh okay, we need to model some things after that, this sells, bottom line is what's gonna sell. Our thing is selling, but I don't know if wow, it is so interesting, because I think when people put diverse casts together, they think that they need to speak to the diversity. And so they need to write Black for Black actors, and Spanish for Spanish, as opposed to just writing. So maybe that's where the hesitation is.

Tavis: To your point, were you ever concerned - it's a great cast to be a part of, to the point you've made now. But were you ever concerned that your playing this particular character would too closely align itself to the stereotype that does, in fact, exist of sisters like you? Always up in somebody's face. So that if a White woman had gotten this part, nobody would say that she was playing a stereotypical role. Or as a person, as a human, she might not feel stereotyped in the role. Have you wrestled with that at all, or it didn't concern you?

Wilson: I didn't, because I never saw her as angry. I never saw her as up in people's face. What I saw was okay, her name is The Nazi. That's not gonna change. I'm not gonna go in and have a table discussion with my executive producers (laugh) about well, we need to change this. So what's gonna justify that? And it had to be about demeanor. How she carried herself.

She had to do something in that hospital in order to warrant that kind of name. So it ended up being about how she treated those interns. How she chose to teach. And she's a person who has control of her classroom, and then she can teach after that. It was all about demeanor. So after we had shot a few shows, and we finally started to air, that's when people would say, boy, she's tough. She's hard, she's angry.

And I'm like, I don't remember any anger (laugh) anywhere in the playing of this woman. She knows exactly what she's doing, and everything has a purpose. And if you perceive it that way, that's on you. But are you learning something? And so she used to have a line, and it was cut from one of the initial episodes, but it was about hey, and if people wanna call me the Nazi for that, so be it. But I'm getting done the things that I need to get done. And that's her attitude.

Tavis: So I'm fascinated and curious. What were you getting done before 'Grey's Anatomy?' Like, where'd you come from? (Laugh) I just looked up one day, and there you were on 'Grey's Anatomy.'

Wilson: Like a 20 year overnight success, you know how it works.

Tavis: (Laugh) Exactly. Overnight success. So what were you doing, other than making three babies?

Wilson: I was living and working in New York. When I graduated high school in Houston, I moved to New York for college, went to NYU.

Tavis: I was (unintelligible) Houston.

Wilson: Absolutely, yeah.

Tavis: So you got (unintelligible).

Wilson: (Laugh) (unintelligible) Houston and Black. One of our writers is also from, two of our writers, actually, are also from Houston. So we have a nice little Houston base there. And when I graduated from NYU, I was doing an off-Broadway show at the time, and I said okay, so I'm going to be a working actor. So I'll go from job to job, and predominantly out of New York, because I wanted to do Broadway. So I stayed because that's where my passion was, doing theater, doing musical theater, and then would start to diversify (unintelligible)

Tavis: So you sing, too.

Wilson: Well, it depends on what your ear says. (Laugh) Some people might agree; some may not. But yeah, I do do musicals, so yeah, that was my base in New York.

Tavis: I made a joke earlier about you making babies. You have three kids, and one of your - we can't see 'cause she's off camera. One of your beautiful daughters is sitting over there, so you brought her with you. (Laugh) How do you do this? That's a tough schedule.

Wilson: But every working mother out there has the same balance issue. You've gotta do work, and then you've got to maintain family. And some days, that balance is gonna work great. And some days, you're gonna mess up. But...

Tavis: Do they know that Mommy is Dr. Bailey?

Wilson: Yeah, they get it.

Tavis: Yeah, they get this?

Wilson: I did 17 years in New York, just working actor job to job. So they're used to that, and so this is just a kind of a larger version of what that is. There's more recognizability, (laugh) ooh, that was big.

Tavis: Chandra got big words. (Laugh) Recognizabilty.

Wilson: I was like, those syllables are ending. (Laugh)

Tavis: That's not a 'Sesame Street' word. That's not a PBS 'Sesame Street' word, recognizability.

Wilson: It was just going on and on. It wasn't stopping. So, they get that part, but it all feels so temporary to us. It feels like this will run the course that it will run, and then it'll be on to the next thing.

Tavis: It's off to a great start. All right, so here's my exit question, which I am sure is gonna be wasted on you. But I'm gonna ask it anyway. So, what can you tell me about what lies ahead in season three.

Wilson: (Laugh) I like the way you did that.

Tavis: All right, that's our show for tonight. Thanks for watching. (Laugh) Ya'll know she ain't gonna answer this question anyway. No, tell me what you can tell me. Tell me something.

Wilson: Well, it's kind of where we start; you know we left such a mess at the end of season two.

Tavis: Mm-hmm, a big mess.

Wilson: Just a huge mess. And so we need to clean that stuff up, and it's all full, emotional kind of messes. It's just there's not easy fixes, and I'm so grateful to Shonda and the writing team, that they're letting us take the time to fix those messes. 'Cause that's another thing about life, it takes a minute. It's not a quick fix. So, and then in the course of that, we'll still get all in people's business.

Tavis: You ought to be a diplomat.

Wilson: Oh, wow.

Tavis: Because you answered that so diplomatically. That's what you call an instructive answer, but not an informative answer.

Wilson: (Laugh) Come on, now.

Tavis: It was instructive. There'll be some messes cleaned up.

Wilson: (Laugh) I said it's gonna be (unintelligible)

Tavis: (Laugh) There was no information in there, but it's nice to meet you anyway.

Wilson: Very good. (Laugh)

Tavis: Thanks for wasting my question. (Laugh) That's our show for tonight. Catch, nice to see you, though, and congratulations on season number three.

Wilson: Very good, Tavis. (Laugh)

Tavis: (Laugh) You can catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. Check your local listings. See you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A., thanks for watching. As always, keep the faith.