Michael Strahan has only been retired from the New York Giants for a year and he’s already got his own TV show. Not just a sports show, Fox’s new sitcom Brothers is entirely based on him. He plays a former football pro who returns home to life with his family (Darryl “Chill” Mitchell, CCH Pounder and Carl Weathers.) That might be a stretch, but as Jon Lovitz’s Master Thespian used to say, “Acting!” 

Crave Online: Why did you choose to do a sitcom, as opposed to going back to Chuck or NFL broadcasts? 

Michael Strahan: I do it because it's fun, man.  You know, the great thing about playing 15 years?  I don't have to work.  That's the greatest thing.  So now if I do FOX NFL Sunday, I'm doing that because I love being around the guys, it keeps me around football, and we have fun.  I never thought I'd look forward to being at work at 5:30 in the morning on a Sunday to look at one guy who's going bald and who they say can't spell “cat” if you spot him the A and the C and the T.  And then you've got another guy whose head is about as big as this table, the two put together and a guy  whose hair doesn't move.  I mean, who in the world would think that you would look forward to seeing those guys every Sunday at 5:30?  And I do, because I love it.  When I got with Chill, and we got on the phone, it just was like I just saw him at the Mets game.  It was like that.  There was no uncomfortable feeling, no "I need to get a chance to learn and feel this guy out."  And when we got together with everybody and we put this together, I'm doing it because it's fun.  It feels right.  I have a great time doing it and this is interesting.  I'm amazed.  What they do is amazing.  It's interesting and I have all the respect in the world for everyone in this profession.  Hopefully, like I said, I can just get better at it as we go.  

Crave Online: With reality TV all the rage, did you ever consider going that route? 

Michael Strahan:  I'm just not a reality show guy.  I don't want a camera following me everywhere.  I don't want to be in the bathroom and have somebody peeking in on me.  That's not interesting.  I wanted to do something that was a challenge, that was different, that was something away from what everyone expects and what I expect of myself.  From the first table read to now with me is totally different.  It takes me a little bit more to learn and to open up.  To do reality, I don't bemoan it at all because, if that's your lane and that's where you want to go, then great.  But it just wasn't for me.  It's not my comfort level.  It's scripted anyway.  Might as well do this.

Crave Online: What was your reaction to the Burress indictment? 

Michael Strahan:  Well, the Plaxico Burress situation, I think it's unfortunate that we see a guy who's very talented kind of inflict something on himself that now he has to pay a big price for, possibly with jail time, possibly with his career, something that could easily have been avoided probably by just making a better decision and being a little smarter about it.  Now, where it goes from here, I have no idea.  I just hope it works out to what's fair.  I think it works out to a situation where he has learned a lesson, can get his life back on track.  

Crave Online: The pilot makes lots of jokes about the gap in your teeth. Did they get that all out of the way? 

Michael Strahan:  Actually, there are still a lot of gap-tooth jokes out there.  I think we're just barely touching it.  

Crave Online: How hard was it to convince the producers of Brothers that you could act?                       

Michael Strahan:  To be honest, that was the easy part.  The easy part was to sit with Chill [Mitchell] and go in and pitch an idea, because our attitude on the show and how we act is the same way we act off the show.  He's truly like my brother and I don't give him an easy time.  He doesn't give me an easy time.  So like the reference to the gap-tooth jokes, I mean, I'm 37.  I've lived with this for a long time.  I mean, there's an inch there, damn near an inch.  I got my kids at home cracking jokes on me about the gap, so it's there.  It is the elephant in the room, but this elephant is going nowhere.  So he knows that.  He gets on me about that, and I'm on him about things.  And so for us to go in and pitch the show, it was fun because for me this is new.  I have an enthusiasm about this, the same enthusiasm I had about strapping on a helmet and playing football.  You always feel like you're learning.  I'm on set with these guys all day, and I never go in my room and sit by myself.  I watch.  I learn, because it is amazing to watch them work, and I don't want to feel like I'm holding them back.  So I have to be better because I know the expectations for everyone sitting here and for a lot of people at home is, "All right, you're a football player," but you can do more than that.  And that's not the case with this show.  So I know I have to work extra hard in order to prove everybody wrong.  

Crave Online: How much improvisation do you do on the show with Chill, CCH Pounder and Carl Weathers? 

Michael Strahan:  You know what's great?  Chill and I actually go in and we sit in with Don and the whole writing team, and you get a chance to throw your bit in there.  And then when you get on set, it's written, but you just have to get your point across the way you would actually say it. I found that a lot of these situations aren't realistic because one of the episodes, there's a young lady that Chill and I used to both date, and we reconnect. She actually likes him better than me. It's not realistic, it's a fact.  [Laughs] I think Don's worked with Chill on The John Larroquette Show.  They've worked together a long time, and that's just because of their relationship.  Once you get to know me better, then maybe you'll realize what reality really is. I wasn't in the room that night when they wrote that one, yeah.