With Body of Proof, Dana Delany takes on a role that's close to her heart

ON SCREEN:
BODY OF PROOF,
TUESDAYS; ABC, Citytv

ONLINE:
abc.com (U.S.)
citytv.com (Canada)

Proof positive

With Body of Proof,
Dana Delany
takes on a role that's
close to her heart

By Eric Kohanik

Dana Delany has rarely been typecast.

"I don't like to repeat myself," she says. That's why some fans remember her as a brave army nurse on the 1980s hit China Beach and others recall her as the scantily clad dominatrix she played in the '90s big-screen comedy Exit to Eden.

Most recently though, TV buffs knew her as a cold and conniving resident of the fictional Wisteria Lane.

"I had the best year," says the 55-year-old, contemplating her final days playing Katherine Mayfair on Desperate Housewives. "I went to the loony bin, and I became a lesbian!"

Now, with the melodrama behind her, the New York native is giving life to a decidedly more grounded character in Body of Proof. It's a part, she says, that is close to her heart.

Of all the roles you've played, who does Body of Proof medical examiner Megan Hunt resemble the most?

I'd say she is going back to my China Beach days. This character feels very close to me.

Why is that?

It's funny, I've always been more drawn to doctors than lawyers in terms of my acting. I think in another life I was a doctor. My grandfather was a doctor. I do love the medical stuff. For this, I went and saw an autopsy. I encourage everyone to see an autopsy. It's fantastic. It will make you really want to take care of your body and have even more awe for what we've all been given.

So, how do you take care of your body?

I do yoga. That's it. Yoga.

Megan is in a car crash in the pilot episode of the show. I gather that the scene struck a bit close to home?

Yeah, I was hit by a bus two weeks before we started filming. I broke two fingers and my car was totalled, exactly like the accident in the pilot. I was in Santa Monica, 8:30 in the morning. I was making a left-hand turn and I was hit by a bus. It hit my passenger side. I'm lucky to be alive. And the irony is, when I got out of the car, the bus driver said to me, "I know who you are. Can I have your autograph?"

Megan works a lot and doesn't have much of a life outside of her job. Have you ever been at that point in your real life where you realize that you're working too hard?

Well, I love to act, so it doesn't feel like work to me. You know, you get that family feeling on a series. Still, there are long hours involved with a TV commitment.

What's the secret to coping?

The key is good food. You gotta have the fuel. I learned that. And sleep.

Do you miss your Desperate Housewives colleagues?

I had a ball on the show. I had a great three years. And, yeah, I miss my friends there. It really became a family, but I'm always up for the next adventure. When ABC came to me with this opportunity, it was kind of an offer I couldn't refuse. And [Housewives executive producer] Marc Cherry was great. He said, "I don't want to get in the way of you having a lead in a show, so I wish you well and you're always welcome back." I feel very blessed.

(First published in Hello! Canada weekly magazine - April 4, 2011.)

Patricia Heaton feels at home in The Middle

ON SCREEN:
THE MIDDLE, WEDNESDAYS; ABC, Citytv

Comfort zone

Sitcom mom Patricia Heaton
feels right at home in The Middle

By Eric Kohanik

With four kids of her own, it's little surprise that Patricia Heaton is one of television's favourite moms. First, the 52-year-old actress won millions of fans - not to mention two Emmy Awards - for her performance as underappreciated mom Debra Barone on the long-running sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. And now the petite, happily married actress is bringing her parenting insight to another maternal role as down-to-earth matriarch Frankie Heck on The Middle (ABC, Wednesdays).

Despite her Hollywood success and red carpet-ready looks, Patricia reveals that she shares the Indiana-based sitcom's wholesome Midwestern sensibilities. "Our theme is 'raising a family and lowering expectations,'" she says with a laugh. Here, Patricia opens up about keeping house on- and off-screen, and explains why she shops for clothes in the boy's department...

What is so funny about living in the Midwest?

Well, when I was growing up in Ohio, Tang and Pop-Tarts was our healthy breakfast! There's just a more no-nonsense kind of thing there. I think [it offers] a more fundamental way of living. It's about finding the joy and the fulfilment in a simpler life. And it's been a while since there's been a show for the people who are actually watching TV most of the time, which is everybody in between New York and L.A. [Laughs] We have fun with it - because we love being from there, so we are allowed to poke fun at it.

You've experienced so much career success and red-carpet glamour in Hollywood. Does that make it harder to relate to "average" moms?

I really relate to every single thing. You can see me at [the supermarket in L.A.] three times a week [doing the family's grocery shopping]. I grew up in Ohio, and since I didn't really get a regular start in this industry until later in life, I feel that those Midwestern roots are still in me.

With four kids of your own aged 11, 13, 15 and17, you must know what it's like to be a harried working mom...

I get how moms feel harassed in having to do everything and always feel inadequate. Because everything you see on TV and in magazines says you are supposed to "prepare"everything. And it's supposed to be "fresh" and "organic" and "eco-friendly." But you often just don't have time for it. You are exhausted.

So is your house as cluttered as the house on The Middle?

If you have kids, you know - the constant picking up of stuff day after day, week after week, year after year just gets to you after a while! You just can't do it all the time. And kids won't pick it up unless there's a gun to their heads.

You seem destined to work with tall leading men! You're 5'2" - yet Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond is 6'2", and your co-star on The Middle, Neil Elynn, is 6'5"...

I'm used to it. People come up to me when they see me on the street and say,"Oh, you are so tiny. You are so much smaller than I thought." Everyone I've ever worked with is taller than me. I buy my sweat clothes in the boys' section of Target. It's cheaper in the boys' department - half the price! So, if you ever see somebody really short with green polyester sweatpants on and a hoodie, that's me.

(First published in Hello! Canada weekly magazine - November 15, 2010)

The TCA Press Tour

Wow.

I can't recall a Television Critics Association Press Tour so newsworthy in years.

At least not so early in the proceedings.

I should know. This is the 43rd time I've attended the semi-annual Hollywood gathering of TV critics and columnists from across the U.S. and Canada.

The news has certainly been coming fast and furious out of the grand ballroom at the posh Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa in stately Pasadena, Calif.

Well, the buzz hasn't all taken place at the Langham.

There was CBS's huge Survivor reunion party on Saturday night, for instance. Geared to mark the upcoming 2oth season / 10th anniversary of the reality show, the event was the biggest collection of the longrunning show's contestants ever in one place, filling a massive soundstage at CBS's famed Television City complex with a rockin' case of jungle fever.

Back at the ballroom, though, there was NBC's confirmation announcement on Sunday about its upcoming plans for Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien once the Winter Olympics have finished their run next month. That caused a media frenzy that made it to the front page of USA Today and countless other papers.

On Monday, it was Fox's turn to do the big reveal. The announcement: That Simon Cowell will leave American Idol at the end of this season in order to focus on the Fall 2011 arrival of Cowell's own pet TV project, The X Factor.

As Cowell signed the deal on the ballroom stage at the Langham, there was an almost-deafening cacophony of chattering keyboards as reporters raced to blog, tweet and otherwise get stories transmitted to their assorted media outlets.

All of which means ABC, which is up next on Tuesday, will really have its work cut out for it.

That is, if it hopes to come anywhere close to the buzz that its network rivals have already been generating at the TCA Press Tour.

TV Season Report Card - Oct. 11, 2008

ON SCREEN:
PRELIMINARY REPORT CARD ON THE NEW TV SEASON

BOTTOM LINE:
THERE'S GOOD AND BAD AMONG THE NEW AND OLD.


Cheers and jeers

The new TV season is only a month old. 

And, already, it's clear there are things on 

the tube that are - and aren't - working well.


By Eric Kohanik

It has only been a few weeks since thenew TV season officially got rolling. But it has already become clear. There are shows, both new and old, that are – and are not – working for me this fall.

So, what’s doing it for me?

✔ Dancing With the Stars (Mondays andTuesdays; ABC, CTV): The calibre of talent is better than ever. In fact, the first week saw routines that were already miles ahead of the final weeks of some earlier seasons.

✔ The Big Bang Theory (Mondays; CBS): Jim Parsons’ stints as the socially clueless Sheldon get more ingenious each week.

✔ Californication (Mondays; The Movie Network, Movie Central): Hank Moody (David Duchovny) and those around him keep hitting one wall after another. It’s so much fun to watch them pick up the pieces.

✔ 90210 (Tuesdays; The CW, Global): OK, don’t laugh. Nobody expected it to be good because it didn’t have to be; the show had a built-in audience. And that actually makes it kind of a pleasant surprise.

✔ The Rick Mercer Report (Tuesdays;CBC): Mercer is a brilliant satirist, even if the elements of each instalment of his show are getting way too familiar and predictable. At least the federal election is providing plenty of new ammunition.

✔ Survivor: Gabon (Thursdays; CBS, Global): OK, if ever there were a show made for HDTV, this is it. Too bad it took so long.

✔ Weeds (Sundays; Showcase): Quite simply, it stars Mary-Louise Parker. Enough said.

✔ The Bonnie Hunt Show (weekdays; Citytv): Despite its cheesy opening titles, Hunt’s warmth on this daytime gab showputs TV’s latenight talkers to shame.

There’s plenty that’s not working for me this season, too. The leading offenders?

✘ Mad Men (Sundays; AMC, A): The first season was so fabulous. But sometimes, there are such long, silent moments this season that you can’t figure out what’s up.

✘ Desperate Housewives (Sundays; ABC, CTV): Executive producer Marc Cherry reset the clock, moving things ahead five years to get rid of story screw-ups. After only two episodes, though, the show has already painted itself into a creative corner again.

✘ Knight Rider (Mondays; NBC, E!): Sorry. Maybe a supercharged car would be way more appealing if gas were cheaper.

✘ Saturday Night Live (Saturdays; NBC, Global): No matter how good it gets, how come cast members still don’t know how to read lines on cue cards without making it so obvious that they’re reading cue cards?

✘ So You Think You Can Dance Canada (various days; CTV): I LOVE it, but I feel sorry for it. As the debut week of Dancing With the Stars and Grey’s Anatomy illustrated, if CTV’s American shows have something big going on, the network will quickly treat this as a second-class refugee. If only Canadian broadcasters had the balls to put Canadian shows ahead of American ones …

Boston Legal / The Shield / ER - Sept. 27, 2008

ON SCREEN:
BOSTON LEGAL
MONDAYS; ABC, E!
THE SHIELD
TUESDAYS; SHOWCASE
ER
THURSDAYS; NBC, CTV

The long goodbye

A lot of new TV series will fall by the wayside 

this season. But there are three trusty veterans 

that are on their way out, too.

By Eric Kohanik

Call it “the long goodbye.”

The fall season is barely under way. And, by the time Thanksgiving rolls around (either the Canadian or American one), a number of new series will have bitten the dust. It’s just the way TV does business.

But this season will also say goodbye to some trusty veterans. And the TV landscape will be a little less vibrant without them.

Boston Legal will close the law offices of Crane, Poole & Schmidt for good after the 13 episodes of its fifth season finish up their run. This is a comedy/drama that has always been one of ABC’s most underappreciated shows – by viewers and network bosses – ever since its debut in October 2004.

A spinoff of a much more serious legal drama called The Practice, the saga of lawyers Alan Shore (James Spader), DennyCrane (William Shatner) and the rest of their colourful crew started off on Sunday nights, in the primo slot after Desperate Housewives. The show was elbowed out of the way midseason by ABC, which wanted to introduce viewers to a hot new medical drama: Grey’s Anatomy.

Of course, Grey’s Anatomy caught on and Boston Legal was shelved, returning the next fall on Tuesdays before being shuffled to Wednesdays and then back to Tuesdays.

This season, it airs on Mondays. At least it has Dancing With the Stars as a lead-in.

Maybe ABC brass never got Boston Legal’s offbeat sense of humour. Or maybe the occasional pink-flamingo costume simply hit too close to home. In any case, we’ll miss Denny and Alan’s Scotch-and-cigars ritual at the end of each episode.

Over in the cable world, the transgressions of Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) and his unorthodox squad of cops have been simply mesmerizing ever since The Shield made its debut in 2002. Finding where they were has often been a difficult task, though.

Although The Shield enjoyed a steady American cable home on FX, it was bounced around on broadcast and cable channels in Canada before landing on Showcase, where it is now serving up its seventh season.

Producers and actors say Mackey will finally get what he deserves when the final 13 episodes wrap up in November. Just what he deserves, though, is still debatable.

When it comes to TV longevity, though, there aren’t many series with the staying power of NBC’s ER. When it began in 1994, few predicted that the action inside Chicago’s fictional County General Hospital would win the head-to-head clash with CBS’s rookie hospital drama, Chicago Hope. Even fewer could ever have foreseen that ER would last for 15 seasons, thanks to ongoing transfusions of new acting blood.

Some of the old blood – like Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle) – will be back for ER’s farewell crop of caseloads. Even so, there’s no escaping the fact that “the long goodbye” will finally fill the halls of County General, too.

Double Time - Aug. 30, 2008

ON SCREEN:
90210
Tuesdays; The CW, Global
ELI STONE
Tuesdays this fall; ABC, A

BOTTOM LINE:
TWO'S COMPANY . . .


Double time

Some actresses are in an exclusive club this fall.

With roles on more than one show, the new 

season will be twice as nice for them.

By Eric Kohanik

Getting a role on a network TV series is a tough job. 

For some actresses, though, the upcoming season will be twice as nice because they’ve landed jobs on more than one show. 

AnnaLynne McCord is among those in that exclusive club. The 21-year-old actress was a dazzler as Eden, the deviant and predatory daughter of Olivia Lord (Portia de Rossi) who was slowly poisoning Julia McNamara (Joely Richardson) with mercury-laced fruitcake on Nip/Tuck last season. 

Starting this week, viewers will see McCord as Naomi Clark, a spoiled rich girl on the much-hyped new incarnation of 90210. 

“Obviously, 90210 is more the PG version of my role on Nip/Tuck,” McCord explained recently in Los Angeles. “I’m still ‘the bitch.’ It’s an awesome job.” 

There’s still plenty of action in store for Eden, though, when FX’s Nip/Tuck returns this fall –airing this time on Citytv in Canada. (It used to be seen on CTV.) 

“This does not mean you’ve seen the last of Eden,” McCord confirms somewhat playfully. “I am not written out of Nip/Tuck – and I’m not going to say anything [more]!” 

Toronto actress Shenae Grimes is part of the doublemint club this season, too. She tops the 90210 cast as Annie Wilson, the girl who endures the culture shock of Beverly Hills when her family moves there from Kansas. 

Grimes will also still be part of CTV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation when the Canadian series returns for its eighth season. 

For Grimes, the difference between working on TV shows in Toronto and Los Angeles has been mostly about the hype of Hollywood. 

“Everything that’s been going on has been a little overwhelming, to say the least,” the 18-year-old actress says of the publicity storm that is surrounding her. “I’m just rolling with it.” 

Loretta Devine has certainly learned to roll with things. Viewers have come to know her as Adele, the wife of Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) on Grey’s Anatomy. 

Last season, they also got to know Devine as Patti, the no-nonsense legal assistant to Eli (Jonny Lee Miller) on ABC’s Eli Stone. That role came about after Adele had left Richard and Devine thought it was the end of the road for her on Grey’s Anatomy. 

“I’ve sort of always been in limbo,” the 58-year-old Devine says of her Grey’s work. Although Adele’s return in the season finale didn’t surprise her, the character’s apparent reconciliation with her ex-hubby did. 

“I never know whether they’re going to kill me off,” Devine admits. “So, when I went back this past season, I thought that they were bringing me back to do that. Instead, they wrote in a bedroom scene. So, I was really happy about that.” 

And what about handling roles on two series at the same time this fall? 

“It’s all like a juggling act,” Devine says. “I’m real excited to be part of both shows.”

Grey's Anatomy - April 28, 2007

ON SCREEN:
GREY'S ANATOMY
THURSDAYS; ABC, CTV

BOTTOM LINE:
WILL LIGHTNING STRIKE AGAIN?


Doctor's orders

ABC needs a cure for its programming woes.
A Grey's Anatomy spinoff might be
just the right medicine.


By Eric Kohanik

When TV networks have a big hit series on their hands, they often try to see if they can get lightning to strike twice.

And, often, that means spinning that hit off into a new series.

Sometimes, networks get the idea as the original show comes to an end. That’s how Cheers was spun off into Frasier.

Unfortunately, that’s also how Friends gave birth to Joey.

More and more, however, networks are taking existing TV hits that still have lots of mileage left in them and turning them into “franchises” that lead to new shows. That’s how NBC took Law & Order and came up with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It’s also how CBS took CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and spun it off into CSI: Miami, which then spawned CSI: NY.

ABC is desperate to find that sort of franchise, too. The network toyed with one idea last season, in an episode of Boston Legal, a show that is itself a spinoff from a previous ABC legal drama called The Practice. The episode, which featured guest star Robert Wagner, was set in the Los Angeles offices of the fictional law firm of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. But it didn’t really go anywhere.

The need seems even more pressing for ABC this season. Such established shows as Desperate Housewives and Lost have clearly lost much of their heat this season. And many of the network’s new series – Help Me Help You, Big Day, Day Break, The Knights of Prosperity, In Case of Emergency, Justice, The Nine, Six Degrees and October Road – have more or less fizzled. So, ABC really needs something big.

Enter Grey’s Anatomy.

Clearly one of the most compelling ensemble dramas on TV today, Grey’s Anatomy gets better with each passing week. ABC is even rerunning episodes of the Thursday drama on Friday nights, with moderate success. It seems to be a natural breeding ground for a credible spinoff.

So, pay attention to this week’s episode of the show. It is meant to set the stage for exactly that to happen.

The star-studded two-hour instalment weaves much of its storyline around Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh), the dishy ex-wife of the show’s resident “Dr. McDreamy,” Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). A relative latecomer to the medical team that populates Seattle Grace Hospital, Montgomery is now facing a decision about leaving their ranks, thanks to a tempting job offer that comes her way in Los Angeles.

Of course, whether or not she accepts the offer and moves away will depend on whether or not network executives will want to go for a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff.

Given ABC’s lousy track record this season, it’s a pretty safe bet they will.