I keep seeing promos for Halle Berry’s new CBS show, Extant, which premieres Wednesday. The executive producer is Steven Spielberg and it looks really good. (The creator and main writer, Mickey Fisher, doesn’t have a lot of credits yet so we’ll have to see how he does.) The premise seems to be that Halle is an astronaut who goes into space and gets knocked up by an alien who takes the form of a hot human. I will definitely watch the first episode, because I’m a TV addict, I enjoy scifi, and it’s a little slow for new content this time of year. (I tried to watch The Leftovers, but it bored me.)

Halle did an interview with US Weekly to promote the show. I really liked her answers here, and this does sound like a smart career move for her. She’s an academy award winning actress, but her film career has taken a dive lately so she moved to a (hopefully) smartly-written TV show where she’s the lead. Her co-star Goran Visnjic is no slouch either. Here’s some of what she told US Magazine:

On being pregnant on the show
I know how to act pregnant, so I thought, I’m going to ace that part of this, for sure. And I love being pregnant – that’s the happiest I’ve been in my life!

Why make the switch to TV?
There was always this stigma with going to television, but I feel the best writing now is on TV. And the studio did me and real solid and did this show in L.A. I really want to be home and be a hands-on mom.

Your character stresses over being a working mom. Sound familiar?
She struggles to find time to do what she loves, but also be a good mother. That’s relatable to me.

Did you prep for space scenes?
Because I had played Storm, I was used to doing wire-work. I also took a zero-gravity flight. An hour and a half of plummeting up and down – I vomited at the end.

What shows do you tune in for?
I make my husband watch Girls. He would never admit that, but you’ve got to do what the wife does sometimes!

[From US Weekly, print edition, July 14, 2014]

It’s true, TV has some of the best writing, but it also has some of the crappiest writing so it can be a toss up.

As far as what she said about being pregnant, one of my friends is like that. She loved being pregnant and says she would do it again. When I was pregnant I threw up a lot in the beginning and had heartburn for the duration, so it wasn’t my favorite experience.

Oh and I’ve looked into those Zero G flights that Halle used to prep for this role. My son was asking about it, but it’s completely out of the question as they cost $5,000. Like Halle, I have a weak stomach (see above) so there’s no way I would do that voluntarily.

Here’s an extended trailer for Extant. It contains mild spoilers if you’d like to avoid them and I’ve written a slight spoiler below.

Ah so her older kid is a robot who may have evil tendencies. I’m so tuning in!

Halle Berry is shown with Olivier Martinez at the Extant premiere on 6-17. She’s also shown with her 9 month-old son, Maceo, at the airport on 7-6-14. Credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet