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"Kevin Bacon has revealed why he finally decided to star in a television series. Bacon currently appears in Fox&amp;#039;s The Following as former FBI agent Ryan Hardy, who was brought back to the field to help re-capture serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) after he escaped from prison.  When asked by Deadline why it took a while for him to get into TV, the award-winning actor said: &amp;quot;TV has undergone a renaissance, but when I started that just was not the perception. So it was a very difficult decision.  &amp;quot;Most of it was clouded by my own snobbery. There was a directive among my representation to never, ever come to me with a television show because I would perceive that as a vote of no confidence, and it would anger me.  &amp;quot;And then my focus started to shift. I started to think about all the shows that I was watching and consuming over an entire weekend - The Sopranos, The Wire, Dexter, Six Feet Under. I was seeing iconic performances, not the least of which with [his wife] Kyra [Sedgwick] and seeing her life in the seven years she was on [The Closer].&amp;quot;  Bacon continued: &amp;quot;I went, &amp;#039;Why am I being such an asshole? Why not? What I really love to do is act. Why not put yourself in a situation where you have a greater chance and more time in front of the camera, over the course of months - years, if you&amp;#039;re lucky?&amp;#039;  &amp;quot;I threw my hat into the ring and said, &amp;#039;OK, I&amp;#039;m open to the idea now&amp;#039;. In the next two weeks I read three or four of the best scripts I&amp;#039;d ever read. Pilots. And I thought, I really have been missing out.&amp;quot; The Following also stars Shawn Ashmore, Valorie Curry, Jessica Stroup and Connie Nielsen. The Fox crime drama is now in its second season and airs on Mondays at 9pm. Watch a preview from The Following&amp;#039;s second season below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a556405/the-followings-kevin-bacon-on-why-he-agreed-to-tv-role/>