I recently had the pleasure of talking with Daytime Emmy-nominated star Darin Brooks, who has portrayed Max Brady for the past four years. As many fans are aware, Darin is leaving his role of Max Brady at the end of May. He discussed his new Spike TV series, Blue Mountain State, and reflected on the past four years at DAYS. Additionally, he talked about Tag the World, a non-profit charitable organization which he’s actively involved in and especially passionate about.

Darin is not only talented and easy on the eyes, but he’s also a humanitarian with a heart of gold. Read what one of daytime’s hottest young stars had to say.

GM: First of all, I just want to congratulate you on your new series Blue Mountain State being picked up by Spike TV.

DB: Thank you.

GM: And you know that’s really great news, but it’s also kind of sad news for Days of Our Lives fans.

DB: (chuckles) Yeah, it’s a little tough. I mean this is my first big job, and you know the fans have been good to me and so it is kind of a sad thing, but I believe that I’m blessed. Hopefully they enjoy the new show as well.

GM: And it’s been picked up for thirteen episodes I understand?

DB: Yeah, we got picked up for a full schedule of twelve more, since we already did the pilot, so thirteen total.

GM: Can you tell me a little bit more about it? I know it’s a college comedy that kind of combines the football with Animal House?

DB: Yeah, basically it’s called Blue Mountain State, and it’s a half-hour comedy for Spike TV.

It’s a single-camera comedy, so we’re shooting in Montreal, and basically it’s Friday Night Lights or Varsity Blues meets Animal House or that one movie Van Wilder with Ryan Reynolds.

My character (Alex) is kind of like a Vince Vaughn or a Ryan Reynolds. He’s a second-string quarterback on the team. He’s a new freshman coming into this all-college football school. And they live, they breathe football. So, these new college freshman are coming into the school and it’s all about sort of like making friends, hazing, the senior’s hazing of the freshman, pulling pranks, having fun, partying, the whole nine yards. It’s just a big comedy about college life, and football, and my character’s kind of like, he’s a second-string quarterback. He’s got the talent to be first-string, but he doesn’t want the responsibility. He just wants to party, and have fun, and make friends, and get laid, and do his thing. It’s just a fun time for him.

GM: When’s the premiere date?

DB: I don’t know exactly when it is because we’re going to be shooting in June, July, and August for twelve weeks, twelve episodes in that. I think what they’re trying to do is air it in September sometime around college football season.

GM: Of course the news just recently came out that you are leaving your role as Max Brady after four years. Were there other factors that led you to make this decision besides your new series getting picked up?

DB: No, not really. I mean, it’s just that the opportunity presented itself and I just kind of felt like maybe I should try and go out and do it. When I was testing for the pilot, who knows if you’re going to get cast, and then also who knows if the pilot’s actually going to go, and who knows if your season’s going to get picked up? So, everything was kind of up in the air, but all these opportunities just kept coming up one by one, and I was in close contact with Gary Tomlin, our executive producer, and he’s been really great through it all. He understands that it’s a great opportunity, and he was like, ‘You know I was an actor at one point and I totally understand. Go do your thing if you need to. Let us know if it gets picked up because we need to figure out what to do with you.’ So it was always like I had to keep them in the loop and just keep them updated from time to time.

DAYS has always been good to me. It is a little inevitable, but soap’s are kind of a dying breed, you know Guiding Light getting cancelled after 73 years. It is a shock to me, and I think a shock to many people. But you know, soaps are kind of a dying breed. There are a lot of factors that go into it, but basically I just think that this opportunity presented itself at the time, and I’m really thankful for DAYS and everything they’ve done. I hope DAYS goes on for another 30 years. It’s just a right place, right time kind of thing.

GM: Looking back over the past four years, obviously you’ve seen a lot of cast members come and go over that period of time. Is there anyone you’re going to especially miss working with?

DB: I’m going to miss working with a lot of people. I mean, everybody on the show, we’ve become sort of a big family. I wish that I had more scenes with, you know, some of the people that I wanted to work with, like the new girl playing Arianna, Felisha Terrell. She’s a wonderful girl, I just started doing a couple of scenes with her. The new young kids, you know, they’re fun people. Molly (Burnett, Melanie) you know who plays my sister is great. Peter Reckell (Bo) has always been good to me, and Kristian Alfonso (Hope). I’m going to miss working with everybody. You know, Ari Zucker (Nicole) and everybody like that.

GM: And it’s no secret that your character has definitely has his share of the ladies over the years......

DB: (laughs) Yeah.

GM: ......which has been fun. (laughs). You started off with Chelsea, and now you’re ending up with Chelsea again which is kind of sweet. Who did you feel was best suited for your character of Max?

DB: Yeah, I think he’s had his fair share. You know, the good thing about this story with Max, he’s starting with Chelsea and now he’s ending up with Chelsea, I think it’s a nice little story. You know, because I’m kind of a hopeless romantic myself, and people always kind of feel like sometimes they rekindle their old flames. In the beginning when they were together, it just wasn’t right, it was that timing, something happened, they broke up, they dated other people along the way. Serendipidously something happens and they come back together ten years later and they’re perfectly happy again. It’s sort of like rekindling that old flame which I kind of like.