Someone asked about RDA's working with Don Davis during MacGyver. Rick talked about meeting him for the very first time during the filming of "The Survivors": specifically, while they were shooting the scene towards the end, when Pete gets shot (only scratched, of course) and falls into the lake.

As RDA recalled, the filming was done in Vancouver, on a part of the bay (Burrard Inlet, I believe) that faces trees instead of cityscape. Don Davis was Dana Elcar's stunt double and stand-in. RDA heard Davis before he saw him -- Davis had just done the fall into the water. The very very cold water. Apparently, Davis did this with uncomplaining good humour and professionalism, and this made a very good first impression.

I had the chance to ask, shortly after that, if Rick had any particular memories about Dana Elcar to share. He didn't tell any specific stories (he rarely did), but he did talk about how much he admired and respected Elcar, and loved working with him. Their professional relationship apparently had a strong mentorship element to it. RDA talked about how Elcar had had an extraordinarily long and varied career in TV, had done countless roles in numerous shows for years, and was wonderful to work with and learn from.

How could Survivors be the first episode they saw or spoke to each other when Don Davis already showed up in Blow Out? Now don't tell me they didn't had a chance to chat during that episode? And what about The Endangered?

Actually that is a good questions, because remember RDA and Don shared a scene in Blow Out where they talked to each other about the bomb.. Maybe RDA didn't know who Don was back then? Or maybe it's just the first time he can remember meeting him.. it's a pretty long time ago.

It was very obvious that RDA's memories don't tend to be clear when it comes to what happened when, and in what sequence. He admitted that readily enough! He's got decades of 18-hour days behind him, and they blur together.

The lead actor in a TV series often doesn't register much of anything that's going on other than the immediate moment. They specialise in razor-precise short-term memory, and tend to forget events very quickly, because they're focusing on the next day's shooting and the next page of script.

As an example, he doesn't remember meeting John de Lancie when they worked together in S1, or meeting Chris Judge on MacGyver. Chris Judge and John de Lancie barely remember it themselves.

As for the order of meeting Don Davis: Rick seemed very certain of that. My guess is that either the episodes were filmed out of order (very probable), or that he didn't actually recall any meeting prior to Don Davis taking a very cold fall.

Blowout was in season 3 while Survivors was season 4? so I don't think the filming order would apply there, more likely to be just faded memories. As you say, 18 hour days all roll together after 20 odd years.

Hmmm... I wonder where exactly that was...

Ack, of course, you're absolutely right! And Don Davis might have been doubling for Dana Elcar even earlier than that.

I'll fall back on the notion of faces blurring together, until a given incident (falling into icy water) makes someone stand out in memory.

I just made a rough estimate of the number of people with whom RDA would have filmed a four-line scene over the course of seven years. I wouldn't be able to remember more than a small fraction of that many faces and names, even without the 18-hour days.

For that matter, Dana Elcar did a guest shot on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but I don't think RDA remembered that they had worked together pre-MacGyver.