mark valley

Mark Valley takes control on his hit Fox show, 'Human Target,' literally.This James Bond of prime time handles his villains in the most exciting (and vicious) of ways, including tossing them from planes, trains and automobiles. We had a chance to talk to Mark about his time on 'Human Target,' working with amazing talent, and what type of automotive assaults we can expect during the rest of the season.

(S01E09) 'Human Target' jumped back to case-of-the-week mode after last week's back story-heavy hour, but I'm not complaining. Like 'Fringe,' this is one of those shows that constantly delivers solid stand-alone episodes.

This week, Chance entered an underground martial arts tournament to get a fighter off the hook with a dangerous gangster. I was hoping this ep would exploit the 'Enter the Dragon' fighting competition gimmick a little more. I was expecting brutal hand-to-hand combat scenes, tense build-ups to each fight, and opponents that got bigger and scarier as the episode went along.

Instead, the fights kinda seemed to happen in the background. Chance fought a few guys who pretty much looked the same and seemed to go down a little too easily. The real intrigue sprang from all the high-stakes gambling and backdoor deals surrounding the fights.

James Bond's got nothin' on Christopher Chance on 'Human Target' (8PM ET on Fox). Dumped into a swimming pool? No problem. Shoot somebody from under the water? Piece of cake. All with grace and charm.

In fact, the next time they're looking for a new 007, we nominate Mark Valley. But only if they shoot between seasons. We need our 'Target' fix.

Nice to see TV veteran Peter Wingfield as the bad guy, too.

Watch the video after the jump.

Mark Valley, star of Fox's 'Human Target,' stopped by 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' (weeknights, 12:37AM EST on NBC) to give the host a few tips on how to be a hero.

The duo threw some fake punches with surprisingly comical results. Apparently, when you take a sucker punch to the jaw the right way, you get music.

While Fallon may have mastered the heroic punch, let's leave the trash talking action roles to Valley. We all remember 'Taxi,' Fallon's cop comedy with Queen Latifah.

Catch the video after the jump.

(S01E08) I take back what I wrote last week. Kim Coates' Bertram is no longer the best and most memorable villain on 'Human Target'. That title now belongs to Baptiste, played by the awesome Lennie James.

The guy was brilliant as Chance's sadistic and stealthy nemesis. I would've been happy to watch Baptiste sit and trade barbs with Chance on that bench for the entire hour. But this episode had a lot more to offer, including some juicy intel about Chance's past, and the welcome return of Emma Barnes (Emmanuelle Vaugier) and computer geek Layla (Autumn Reeser).

Spoilers after the jump.

The downside of training someone with your awesome assassin skills is that you never know when you might have to face off against them. Christopher Chance learned that the hard way when he and Baptiste had it out on 'Human Target' (Wed., 8PM ET on Fox).

But they must be evenly matched because both were standing after the fight, and Baptiste even managed to blow up a building in the process. Everyone made it out, though. Bollocks!

Watch the video after the jump.

(S01E07) 'Human Target' returned to the tube with a fun episode packed with big explosions, clever gags, an exotic locale, and some femme fatale hotness. The hotness came courtesy of guest star Leonor Varela, the latest in a string of babes we've seen pair up with Chance during the show's freshman season (according to star Mark Valley, she definitely won't be the last).

Varela did a fine job playing Maria, one of Chance's old flames – an old flame who could've turned out to be "the one" for Chance, if only he would've stuck around to find out. But, as our boy explained midway through this ep, he left her because everyone he's ever gotten close to "has been taken away."

Was Chance making a reference to Katherine Walters here, the woman we found out about a few episodes ago? The woman he was in love with? The woman whose death he might be responsible for?

Say you have to get on a plane, but the plane can't land because the Army has seized the airfield (don't ask questions; just go with us here).

Sure, it's an impossible task, unless you're Christopher Chance on 'Human Target' (Wed., 8PM ET on Fox).

The solution involves a very long rope, a sturdy net, and a pretty girl to kiss for encouragement. See? That wasn't so hard, was it?

Watch the video after the jump.

(S01E06) It's always a pleasure to watch nerd for hire Kevin Weisman stammer his way through a guest spot on a great show. I loved him as Marshall on 'Alias', enjoyed his stints on 'Moonlight' and 'Roswell', and who could forget his brief appearance as 'Hobbit Lover' in Kevin Smith's 'Clerks II'?

Weisman literally played a nerd for hire in this episode. His character, Martin Gleason, was a brilliant weapons engineer in need of a little rescuing. The twist, of course, was that his own company was holding him prisoner. I guess that's what happens when you're in possession of damning intel that can bring a powerful weapons developer down for good.

'Lockdown' was another fast and fun hour of 'Human Target', a show that literally orders viewers to turn off their brain, sit back and enjoy the implausible ride.

'Human Target' (Wed., 8PM ET on FOX) is crazy-fun for lots of reasons, not the least of which is outstanding guest stars.

In tonight's episode, we had Kevin Weisman, whose vast TV credits include 'Alias' (he's cornered the market on computer geeks), as well as Mitch Pileggi (Walter Skinner on 'The X-Files,' among dozens of other roles).

Between those two and star Mark Valley -- and let's not forget Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley -- that covers just about every show in the past 20 years, doesn't it?

Watch the video after the jump.

One of the most fun things of any press tour is getting to sit down with Chi McBride and just talk, about anything. Politics, baseball, cigars... when you're talking to Chi, the conversation can go just about anywhere.

The drawback to seeing McBride on so many tours is that he's always there with a new show to promote. Because he's able to handle drama and comedy with equal ease, he's cast in a lot of pilots. The problem is, most of the resulting shows rarely last more than a couple of years. In the last six years, since his four-season run on 'Boston Public' ended, we've seen McBride in 'Killer Instinct,' 'The Nine' and 'Pushing Daisies.' Now he's co-starring with Mark Valley and Jackie Earle Haley in the FOX popcorn-action series 'Human Target.'

I sat with McBride as he held court at FOX's all-star party in Pasadena last month. As he puffed away on an Opus X -- he offered me one and I very reluctantly declined -- we talked about which of his roles he misses the most, and how he does his running scenes on 'Target.' Let's just say he doesn't waste too much film on those.

(S01E05) High-speed car chases! Police baton beat downs! Seat belt strangulations!

The 14-year-old kid in me loves this show.

So does the currently overworked and underpaid adult version of me. Like a lot of folks these days, I'm just looking to wash away the week's stresses with some fun, old-fashioned hump day entertainment. Thankfully, 'Human Target' is happy to oblige.

This week's energetic hour offered more kicks and wittier one-liners than last week's mountaintop tussle. "Run" was a confident episode. It felt strong and sturdy, not unlike the series' awesome third outing ("Embassy Row").

Talk about awkward. On 'Human Target' (Wed., 8PM ET on FOX), Christopher Chance finds himself in a moving car with the very people trying to kill his client - who's sitting right next to him.

Of course, he does what we'd expect him to do. Take out the bad guys and get control of the car. This show delivers a Bruce Willis movie every single week!

Watch the video after the jump.

(S01E04) Just like Chuck Bartowski, Christopher Chance seems able to access any type of fighting skill, foreign language, or Bible verse necessary to nudge his way out of a tight spot. But unlike Chuck, or Echo from 'Dollhouse', his super skills don't come courtesy of some dubious sci-fi technology. So where did Chance get his awesome abilities? Who knows? We'll probably never learn the answer to that question. Despite the show's small attempts to get a larger arc moving, 'Human Target' is more concerned with delivering fun, action-packed self-contained episodes than with building a rich mythology.

Surprisingly, 'Sanctuary' offered some valuable intel about Chance's past, courtesy of Guerrero's latest "side job." We learned that he's wracked with guilt over his involvement in a woman's death -- a woman he was probably in love with. The same woman might've been the reason he turned things around and started working for the good guys, mirroring this week's client, John Gray ('Fanboys' star Sam Huntington). I'm looking forward to seeing these plot elements finally pay off somewhere down the line, but I don't expect the payoff to be huge.

(S01E03) "Did the hooker just punch you in the face?" – Winston

No runaway trains or upside down planes this week. Instead, Chance crashed the Russian Embassy and teamed up with a sexy FBI agent to catch his friend's killer.

This was a great episode. It had all the elements of a taut big screen thriller, plus some excellent action and a few welcome quirky character moments. I've only seen three episodes, but I'm already hooked on Human Target. I'm ready to follow Chance to the end of the season and beyond. Here's hoping that Fox (killer of all things that make me happy) has similar plans.

It looks like Human Target is set on delivering plenty of stand-alone episodes with only hints at a greater story arc. I'm a big fan of shows that offer complicated arcs that stretch out over several seasons, but that's clearly not what's happening here.