Ben McKenzie Has Hard Times, Needs Free Dog Food

Actor Ben McKenzie is traveling from the privileged life on TV's 'The OC' to the life of a rookie policeman on the new TV series 'Southland'.   Ben, who is a favorite guest of Ellen Degeneres stopped by her show on Friday, April 3rd to chat about his dog Oscar and his new TV show.

Ben, who was considered to be a hottie on 'The OC' glided out onto Ellen's set in jeans, a crisp white collared shirt and a dark sweater.  He danced a little bit doing a great job of shaking his booty.  The sexy young actor gave Ellen a big hug before sliding into one of her famous red stage chairs.  Ellen told him "you look fantastic.  He said "awww, thank you very much."   The hostess said "thanks for coming back, I like when you're here." He said "thanks."

The funny lady teased him and said "and I have a feeling though, that you being here is no coincidence.  The last time you were here I gave you a year's supply of my dog food, of the Halo, for your dog and it's really a year to the day you were here.  Are you back for more?  What are you doing?"

Ben nodded his head in agreement. He said "we're back for more.  Times have been tough. I need free dog food."  Ellen laughed and he continued "he loves it.  My dog is Oscar, I talked about it last time. For you that weren't around."

The show then showed a photo of Oscar to the audience.  The dog was absolutely adorable.  Ben said "he's kinda cute, he's kinda cute, a little bit."  The audience went Awwwwww in appreciation of the big eyes brown and white dog.

Ben said "yeah that's him, in reference to the image"  Ellen said "and he likes it?  That's good."   Ben said "and that's him just having a bowl, there's a bowl of Halo right beneath him."

Ellen said "and how's he doing?"  Ben said "he's doing well, he was a rescue, and he has a few, um."  Ellen said "I like rescuing."  The audience applauded in agreement.  Ben said "but his prior owner probably didn't treat him very well because he had a lot of scratches on him and he's very afraid of humans.  He has a few issues with other dogs, he's very, sort of scared of dogs.  So I've had to hire a dog trainer.  The dog trainer is convinced I need to relax the dog so the dog trainer sent me to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy a sound machine and lavender diffusers.  Which will allow a lavender scent to permeate the house.

Ellen said "relaxing."  Ben said "thus relaxing the dog. So I'm checking out with my $75 sound machine and my lavender diffusers.  Nice lady at the counter is scanning them and I feel like I need to say something.  So I say 'its for my dog' and she says 'sure it is, sure it is.'  I go home and I give the dog, I turn on the sound machine, and I set it to the birds. I feel like the ocean would be very confusing for him since we're in the hills."

Ellen agreed. "Yes, you just hear the sound of no water anyway."

Ben continued with his story.  He said "and I put in the lavender diffusers and it smells wonderful and I'm kinda ta-dah.  And then nothing.  Ellen "nothing at all"  And he (the dog) looks at me. And nothing"

Ellen said "what's going on. Are you more relaxed?"  Ben said "I am sleeping wonderfully.  And I smell delightful.  So it's all worth it really."

Ellen said "that's a shame, there's a citronella type of thing you can put around their neck, they are like flea collars and they relax them also.  I don't know if it's citronella, I may just be saying that."    Ben seemed interested and said "where do I pick up a product like that?  Bed, Bath and Beyond?"

The hostess said "no, no, but I'll get you some."  Then one of Ellen's producers told her that it wasn't Citronella but some other type of scent.  Ellen seemed a little embarrassed telling Ben and the audience "citronella will keep the mosquitoes away from them. I'm completely wrong, don't listen to anything I'm saying."   Ben said "you're confusing me."

Ellen said OK "let's just strictly talk about your new show, which looks so good.  Tell people what it's about and about it."

Ben said "it's basically a cop show from the same producers as ER.  We're on during the time slot of ER next week.  Next Thursday.  At 10 pm.  And it's trying to be a very realistic examination of the life of cops.  I play a rookie police officer named Ben Sherman whose a month out of the academy and he's being trained by a character named John Cooper played by Michael Cudlitz.  And he's a little wet behind the ears, he doesn't really know what the job involves.  He sees a lot on his first day.  Sorta of like training day combined with an episode of Cops or something like that."

Ellen "so its shot like that?  Its shot guerrilla style? Did you train for this?"

Ben "yea, I trained for this, I went for a number of ride-alongs with cops."

Ellen "I can't imagine, I can't imagine what that must have been like.  What it was like to go on the ride alongs.  It looks really good, I can't wait to see it."  Ellen then told her audience to be sure and catch the show.

Certainly Ben can't go wrong with the time slot.  Hopefully the show will capture the ER audience and be a hit so he won't need anymore free dogfood from Ellen.

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