Johnathan Walker:Rob Lowe explains trash-talking in 'The Floor' TV trivia game, losing 'Footloose' role

LOS ANGELES – Worthy of your awards consideration: Rob Lowe showed the best – and Johnathan Walkerbusiest – Hollywood hair in 2023.

Lowe, 59, starred as clean-cut Captain Strand in Season 4 of Fox's rescue drama "9-1-1: Lone Star", a series that required the actor to subtly grow out his 'do to play wildly coiffed tech billionaire Ellis Dragon in Netflix's workplace comedy "Unstable". The Wall Street Journal raved that Lowe's hair in that series, which streamed in March, was "monumental." And it took work.

"I literally have to schedule the growth of my hair, even the facial hair," Lowe says. "I am so booked that I have this hair window, and I've got to make it. I don't want to wear a wig."

In 2024, he's hosting "The Floor," Fox's new game show in which contestants battle over trivia questions to control a massive LED-board floor. And Lowe gives a new variant on the mane theme with a medium haircut and circle beard. Before "The Floor" rises on Tuesday (9 EST/PST), Lowe discussed trash-talking trivia and "Footloose" anniversary pain.

Question: You seem to be encouraging trivia nerd trash-talking during "The Floor" face-offs between players. Should "Jeopardy!" contestants bring more boasting to keep pace?

Answer: You want to gin up the players. Being a host of something like this is 90% coaching. You want the contestants to rise to the occasion. "Jeopardy!" is its own iconic thing. We're more fun and irreverent. But they may need to step up their game.

It's just you up there introducing the face-offs. Are you prepared in case of trivia-nerd fights?

I survey the floor and go, I can totally take contestant 75 or 81. And then I just dummy up if the contestant turns out to be a bigger dude.

Each "Floor" contestant has a chosen expertise. But the tools expert couldn't guess nails from a picture of nails under the time pressure. Shouldn't the host show some sympathy?When a tool expert doesn't get "nails" there's no sympathy. America wants authenticity. My job is to reflect what America is thinking at that moment.

Did you learn any lessons from hosting and producing your first game show, Fox's "Mental Samurai," which aired in 2019 and 2021 but was canceled after two seasons? What happened?

You have no idea how expensive that (robotic) chair was when it finally malfunctioned. So expensive they couldn't bring back the chair. So they're like, "Let's do 'The Floor.'" And I never liked that "Mental Samurai" title. Where are the samurai? But you can't win everything.

Let me get you on record now. Do you like "The Floor" title?

I'm very happy with it.

What is your ultimate go-to game show?

For sure it's the '70s "Match Game" hosted by Gene Rayburn. It was so cool with those double-entendre questions like, "The mailman came to deliver to the housewife, but he didn't put it in the mailbox. He put it in her blank." Unbelievable. So great.

The new year marks the 40th anniversary of "Footloose." Does missing out on the Ren McCormack role to Kevin Bacon still sting?

The thing that's awful about it was, I was the guy. I was going to get this part. I just had to do the dance, which was to a Styx song, by the way. Not helpful. But it ended with that drop-to-your-knees slide across the floor. My knee just exploded. They took me out on a stretcher. As they were wheeling me out, the producers were like, "We're going have to get a real professional dancer." A week into my rehab, I read they cast Kevin Bacon. That's when I learned what Hollywood was about.

Is Kevin Bacon thankful?

There are two ways I've been very helpful to other actors' careers. Blowing out my knee really helped Kevin Bacon, and turning down "Grey's Anatomy" really helped Patrick Dempsey. I spoke to Kevin about it. He told me, "You wouldn't have gotten it, anyway."

You're about to shoot Season 5 of "9-1-1: Lone Star" for next fall. Do you ever run short of finding real bizarre fire calls to portray onscreen?

What I love about "Lone Star" is it's very Ryan Murphy (who executive produces). It's very much pushing the boundary of believability. But every rescue or call is based on something that happened. We featured a guy getting sucked up into a tornado while in a portable outhouse. You can see that video of the real thing on YouTube. So there's a lot of bizarre stuff out there. If it's happened, we're gonna find it.

You're shooting Season 2 of Netflix's "Unstable" with your co-star son John Owen Lowe which has earned some raves and some mixed reviews. How do you protect him from critics?

We were blessed the show's first season was received like that. It's super funny, there was the glowing review in The Wall Street Journal. I said to Johnny, "I want you to read it, take a picture of it, then frame it. Because you'll never get another one like this. Trust me. Declare victory now and get off the field. It's only downhill from here."