January 10, 2005 |
New Love for Monk?
Monk fans may be bitter, but Bitty Schram's Sharona has returned to New Jersey and she ain't coming back. If y'all are ready to move on, read on for some scoop on what's coming up when Tony Shalhoub's germaphobic-sleuthing saga returns January 21... As previously reported, Traylor Howard (Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place) joins Monk's world as Natalie, the widowed single mom who's replacing Sharona as his new assistant. "Initially, there's a real difficulty for Monk wrapping his brain around bringing a new person into his world," Shalhoub says, "but he knows that he really needs it." What difficulties does the sidekick swap entail exactly? "Monk has certain obvious gaps in his brilliance, and he sometimes loses sight of the fact that [Natalie] isn't familiar with everything she needs to know about him," he says. "So he has certain expectations of what she needs to do for him. It's interesting because she's strange and familiar at the same time. Familiar because of what her job is and strange because he doesn't know who she is." Neither will most Monk fans. "Of course there is some concern," Shalhoub admits. "It's going to be an adjustment, especially for people who were on board right from the pilot episode. A certain Monk world was created... but now that we have two-and-a-half seasons under our belt, it's really healthy for the show to change it up a bit, to give the audience a new relationship to explore. So I'm hopeful people will just adjust and we'll move on." Among the upcoming highlights: Monk "temporarily adopts" a toddler in one episode. In another, Shalhoub previews, "Monk goes to Las Vegas and we discover there that Natalie had a history with a gambling problem there and a lot of back story gets revealed." Might we spy some romance betwixt Monk and Nat? After all, she's pretty, he's needy, they're both widowed.... "I would not rule it out, but it's not something we want to rush into," Shalhoub chuckles. "I sound like a typical American male — I can't commit! But I think the door is certainly open for that." |
CSI: NY Lightens Up
The third installment of the CSI franchise has gotten off to a strong start, cleaning up in the ratings against NBC's long-running warhorse Law & Order on Wednesday nights (10 pm/ET). But CBS isn't content to rest on those laurels. CSI: NY producers have been given a mandate to lighten up the look of their show and tell stories that are unique to the Big Apple. Early episodes looked like they were shot in the sewer system and had a generic feel to them. "We need to bring Melina [Kanakaredes] and Gary [Sinise] into the light so our audience can get to know them," says CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler. "And we want this CSI to tell stories that can only be told in New York, which has many faces. There is the darker underbelly downtown. But there is also Central Park. New York's a vibrant, bright, colorful, multicultural place." Changes will be noticeable this week, with an episode set at a Westminsteresque dog show. There will even be some Law & Order-style headline-cribbing with a story based on the 1994 case of the Tanglewood Boys, a gang of young mobsters who killed a college student outside a sports bar in Yonkers. There are also personal developments ahead for Sinise's character, Det. Mac Taylor. Still haunted by his wife's death on September 11, Mac will begin a romantic relationship with Jane Parsons (Sonya Walger), who works in the DNA lab. "Mac will continue to commit to putting the death of his wife behind him," says executive producer Anthony Zuiker. "Just when it looks like he has jumped over the hurdle, he'll get a piece of news [in the season finale] that will shake him into oblivion and force him to move forward [in] Season 2." Could it be, as it's been speculated, that Mac finds out his wife isn't really dead? All Zuiker will give us is a cryptic "No comment." — Additional reporting by Mary Murphy |
Y&R Star's Un-Pleasant Role
Actress Susan Walters played man-eating architect Diane Jenkins on The Young and the Restless, where she stole her ex's frozen sperm, then burned her own home down and framed her rival for arson — all in the name of obsessive love. Next up, she's the foster mom to a teenage female hellspawn in Fox's new nighttime spook-sudser, Point Pleasant, debuting Jan. 20. Here, the 41-year-old Walters — who's the real-life wife of Melrose Place and Y&R alum Linden Ashby — dishes her fabulously soapy career. TV Guide Online: With apologies to Alex Donnelley, who originated the Y&R role back in 1982, your Diane was more... youthful. Isn't it odd when soaps recast roles with younger actors? It's like a time warp!
Susan Walters: [Chuckles] People on the show were very complimentary to me. We'll just leave it at that. I think the other actress felt I was cast on my similarity to how she looked. I don't see any similarity other than that we both had brown hair. They were just trying to cast the part in a way that would work for the show. TVGO: People make so much of the antics on Desperate Housewives, but torching houses was just a typical day at work for you on Y&R.
Walters: Well, yeah, no kidding. Except what's so much fun about Desperate Housewives is that there's a sense of campy fun to it. The norm for daytime is that one takes oneself very seriously. Diane had major issues going on. TVGO: Speaking of Desperate Housewives, Eva Longoria was your character's best friend on Y&R.
Walters: Yes! She played my girlfriend Isabella. TVGO: Whatever happened to Diane, by the way?
Walters: What's hysterical is that on my very last episode, I asked Neil for a job because Phyllis and Drucilla were fighting so much. And he said, "I'll think about it. Lemme get back to you." And we never saw me again! Well, it worked out for me because I went on to do an independent movie in Utah and then I got this Fox show, Point Pleasant. TVGO: So what's Point about?
Walters: It's debuting after The O.C., which is very exciting. It deals with the dark side and the supernatural. Within that, there's husbands and wives and teenagers exploring their relationships. It's good. I'm just having a blast playing Meg Kramer, the doctor's wife. We take in this mysterious girl, Christina, who's found in the ocean. It's a coincidence because my character's been grieving, depressed and taking pills because her oldest daughter drowned three years ago. There's also a love triangle involving a single mom who's after my husband! TVGO: What's Christina's supernatural connection?
Walters: It's the Devil, basically. You'll definitely see a lot of the priest trying to help the daughter of the dark side. She's fighting her destiny. Of course, my character doesn't know anything about that. |
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