Interview: Brooke Burns Exacts Her Revenge

You might be used to seeing Brooke Burns cast as, in her words, “the apple-pie, blond-haired, blue-eyed, all-American girl.” Her various roles on TV shows and movies like “Baywatch,” “Shallow Hal,” “Miss Guided” and “Pepper Dennis” showcased her sweetness; the more recent “Melrose Place” incarnation allowed her to explore her dark side. Well, get ready for a whole lotta dark-side exploration on Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm ET/PT, when Brooke’s new movie, “A Sister’s Revenge,” premieres on Lifetime. I caught up with Brooke recently, and she told me all about her fierce new role as a woman (named Suzanne Dell) seeking revenge on the man she feels is responsible for her sister’s suicide.

Daytime Dial: Since we are used to you as “the nice girl,” it was a shock to see you in this kind of role. Was that a big reason you wanted to do this movie?

Brooke Burns: There were a couple of things. Obviously, the longer you’re in this industry, certain roles start to recirculate through your life. And then certain ones are new and fresh, and it’s always fun to kind of sink your teeth into something a little more diverse than what you’re used to.

I love the thriller aspect of this movie, and at the same time, it’s always fun, especially in a bad-guy role, to find justification for a character. And I loved the fact that she has this deep love for her sister; I found a lot of truth in feeling sort of like her champion and being able to justify her being in a very dark place in the film. With a bad-guy role, you have to be able to find empathy for the character as well. She’s driven to madness because of the love that she has for her sister and feeling like somehow that her sister’s death will be avenged if she can pull this off.

DD: Obviously you aren’t a homicidal maniac, but in what ways can you relate to Suzanne?

BB: Her fierce loyalty to family. She lost her parents, and her sister is the only person that she has, that she feels connected to. My family is my most important thing, so I can’t even imagine if that were the last family member and she were taken from me in that kind of way. How those feelings of anger and sadness would be very potent, and could probably drive a person to some level of insanity — if you allow yourself to go there.

DD: Tell me about the filming process: Where did you film, and how was the cast to work with?

BB: We shot in Ottawa, Canada, which has some of the most beautiful architecture I’ve ever seen. And the cast was fantastic. I worked mostly with Tim (Rozon) and Ashley (Jones), and we had a ball. Tim is such a gentleman, and he actually owns a couple of restaurants in Montreal. And Ashley and I have seen each other in passing through different stuff out here, but we had never actually worked together before. And we just had a great time.

DD: You’ve done dramas, comedies, hosting duties, etc. Is there a certain genre you prefer, or are you happy to dabble in lots of things to keep it interesting?

BB: I just like to work. I think from growing up as a ballerina, I have some incredible discipline and work ethic that was deeply ingrained in me, so whether it’s acting or hosting, I’m happy. I enjoy acting because you get to dip your toe into the fantasy of a role like Suzanne in “A Sister’s Revenge.” And I enjoy the hosting because I love people, and that’s a natural kind of medium for me that I enjoy as well. I don’t really have a preference. It’s never boring; it’s not a nine-to-five job.

DD: Lately I’ve seen you in a lot of dramas, but I love you in comedies too, especially that comedy series “Miss Guided” from a few years back. Would you like to get back to comedy?

BB: Oh, yeah. Comedy’s awesome. When you get to go to work and have fun and play and laugh, there’s nothing better. It’s some of the hardest work to do, but it’s also the most rewarding. It really depends on the people you are with, and what your chemistry is with them. I would say that “Miss Guided” and “Pepper Dennis” were my two favorite comedic roles that I’ve gotten to do, for sure.

DD: What else do you have in the pipeline that you can talk about with me?

BB: I just shot a pilot for the Game Show Network. It’s a dating show called “Where Have You Been All My Life?” It’s kind of a 2013 version of “The Dating Game,” which I was obsessed with. It is super fun, and they’re using a lot of social media as research, and using it in an onscreen format. It’s been a blast, and we’re waiting to see if it gets picked up. I really hope it does, because it’s just perfect. It fits my lifestyle because it’s in LA. It’s close to home. I get to be with my family. I like that stuff.

So that’s pretty much what’s going on right now, except for I’m planning my wedding. So that’s exciting. It’s a summertime wedding. And I’m trying to get my kids out of seventh grade with honors. I love little things in life.

Interview: Catching Up with Courtney Thorne-Smith

Courtney Thorne-Smith is no stranger to comedy. While she may have had her big break starring as Allison Parker on nighttime soap “Melrose Place,” she really honed her acting chops on shows like “Ally McBeal” and “According to Jim.” For the past few years, she’s co-starred on the CBS hit comedy “Two and a Half Men,” playing Jon Cryer’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, Lyndsey Mackelroy. I spoke with Courtney recently about being on a headline-making sitcom, and how the cast and crew are leading up to the show’s ninth season finale on May 14.

Celebrity Extra: You’ve been working pretty much nonstop in Hollywood since 1986, and when “According to Jim” ended after eight seasons, I thought you would take a little breather from series television. What made you decide to jump back in with “Two and a Half Men”?

Courtney Thorne-Smith: It wasn’t really jumping back in — it was sort of like I put my little tiny toe in. The first season I was on, I did only two episodes, and then I did about 10 last year and about 10 this year, so it’s nice. When [my son] Jack complains about me working I say: “Sweetie, I work 10 weeks a year and most of those are half-days. So you really don’t get to complain.” This schedule is ideal for being a mom. I get to go to work and be this absolutely insane character and do these crazy things that I’ve never gotten the chance to do before, and then I come home and make Play-Doh and cookies.

CE: Tell me about your character, Lyndsey, and her relationship with Alan, played by Jon Cryer.

CTS: I said to somebody the other day who was asking me about Alan and Lyndsey, “I love their relationship so much because of their honesty.” They are two people who look at each other and say, “Seriously, we’re just not going to do any better.” They’re settling, and I just love the honesty. They’ve said it to each other several times: “Really? Do we have options? We’ll just stay together. Why not?” That just makes me laugh.

I also love the scene earlier in the season when Lyndsey is dating a younger man but decides she wants to be with Alan. She tells him: “I want to be with you because you’ll never leave me for a younger woman because you can’t get one.” But it was said with this joy and this love. How great is it? We don’t have any options, so let’s just be together.

CE: How did you feel about coming onto this established hit sitcom? Were you anxious, excited, scared?

CTS: Oh, terrified. When I signed on, it was only for two episodes. But I’ve known Jon for a long time, and I’ve been a fan of his too — he’s just the greatest guy. I thought, worst-case scenario, I get to watch Jon do his magic for a few weeks and then go on with my life. But I’m still on — and I’m lucky because I get to go in and work, and then I get to come home and be a mom. It’s been the most surprisingly wonderful career opportunity I’ve ever had.

CE: How was the transition from Charlie Sheen to Ashton Kutcher?

CTS: It was surprisingly smooth. Everybody wondered, “What’s going to happen?” The writers wrote a really good character for Ashton that he just stepped right into. The cast, crew and writers are all so solid that all they had to do was add another character to the mix. People miss Charlie as a person because he’s wonderful and funny and smart and sweet, but they got Ashton, so it’s a win/win. All the people here are such extraordinary pros that it was pretty seamless.

Interview: Catching Up With Heather Locklear

Lifetime Television’s new original movie “He Loves Me” (airing tonight 9 ET/PT), brings “Melrose Place” alum Heather Locklear back to the small screen with a bang. Heather plays Laura, who believes she leads the idyllic life: She’s a successful Seattle real estate agent, presumably happily married to one of the city’s leading cardiologists and mother to their darling 6-year-old daughter. When Laura begins to suspect her husband is cheating on her, she is devastated by his infidelity, despite having a torrid affair of her own. Desperately trying to save her marriage, Laura’s mysterious past begins to emerge. I spoke with Heather recently to learn more about her role in this dark, psychological thriller.

Daytime Dial: When you first read the script for “He Loves Me,” were you excited to play the dichotomy of a woman devastated by her cheating husband who is also an adulterer herself?

Heather Locklear: Absolutely. First of all, her idea, the idea that she knew what Sam (her lover) was about and what her affair was about — she knows it’s not an emotional connection. But now, knowing that her husband has been unfaithful, and not knowing what it’s about, you go: “Well, I know what I’m doing, but I don’t know what his is about. Is his even about love? Does he want to leave me, or is it just about the sex?”

DD: I like that even though your character is far from perfect, you are able to elicit sympathy from the viewer. How did you go about portraying that?

HL: I tried to make her, and her situation, as real as possible. It’s all happening to her, and she has to deal with it, especially when details of her past emerge. I just tried to make it as real as possible.

DD: You have quite a few sizzling scenes with co-star Max Martini (Sam). How was he to work with?

HL: He’s such a man. It’s so funny — just hearing his voice, I’m like, “Oh my god, he’s so masculine.” He’s also very sexy and adorable, and also very sweet and funny. 

DD: The subject of this movie is pretty heavy. How did you lighten the mood on set?

HL: Just by laughing a lot. We laughed at the absurdity of some of the things we had to do. It wasn’t absurd for the movie, but just for us in real life. His wife and kids were there. I met his wife. She’s really sweet. But it was also weird. You always trust an actor that they will take care of you when you feel so naked.

DD: I know that you are a mom yourself, so it was fun to see you playing a mom in this role. How was Megan Charpentier, who plays your daughter Emily, to work with?

HL: She was adorable. It is so easy now for me to squeeze and hug and kiss and be all over kids. I’m thinking, “Oh, I hope the mother doesn’t care.” Because my daughter is 13 now, and it’s harder to kiss her these days. It’s just not cool. But it’s really fun when they are little and sweet, and they talk to you, and they’re just really adorable.

DD: You’ve done a few movies for Lifetime now — what is it about the network that keeps you coming back?

HL: Lifetime always has good stories. They are trying not to call it a woman’s network, but women love this stuff, and I think if your man sits down with you, he would be interested too. The networks don’t make movies of the week so much anymore, so this gives us actors a chance to do something different rather than just a series or hoping to get a feature film. What comes to me from Lifetime is always good.

Interview: David Charvet Is The Perfect Teacher

David Charvet is well known to fans as a hunky lifeguard on “Baywatch,” but he stretched his fan base even further when he went on to star on the nighttime soap “Melrose Place.” Since then, he has been busy with his music career, being a father to his four kids (with fiancee Brooke Burke) as well as fitting in a movie here and there when his schedule permits. His latest movie is the Lifetime Movie Network thriller “The Perfect Teacher” (which airs Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. ET), where David stars as a good-looking young teacher who becomes the object of desire for one misguided student.

Daytime Dial: Tell me a bit about the movie and your role in it.

David Charvet: “The Perfect Teacher” is about an actual story that happened with a student and a math teacher. This is kind of an issue that happens a lot nowadays, where younger women, high-school girls, fall in love with their teachers. For me, it was kind of interesting to play a teacher, because I have never played one before. After having four children, I also wanted to play a father. So, for me, those two elements were really more interesting to explore as an actor.

DD: How could you relate to your character, Jim?

DC: Being a father is something I can really relate to and really wanted to play. The other thing was, he’s a good guy. He loves his family and he’ll do anything for his kid. He’s a hard worker and he has a lot of passion for life. I can really relate to that. I have a lot of passion for life and I really love to do everything at 100 percent. That’s the kind of character he was.

(Photo Credit: Albert Camicioli/Lifetime Movie Network)

DD: As a father of daughters, was it difficult for you to play a teacher who becomes the object of a young girl’s affection and fantasies?

DC: Funny enough, that was kind of the hardest thing for me for this role, to actually be able to justify that when this girl is coming on to me that I don’t completely see it. Obviously, Jim knew that she was kind of flirtatious, but that it wasn’t really going anywhere, especially with my girlfriend also being one of her teachers. I think that he’s figured it all out kind of toward the end. Sometimes I think that guys are like that. Guys aren’t always figuring things out right away, and it takes them a little bit of time, especially in the woman department. He honestly felt that she was a girl who was a little lost herself.

DD: How was it to work with Megan Park (“The Secret Life of an American Teenager”)?

DC: Megan did a great job on this. I have to say that it probably was not the easiest role in the world, and I think she did really well. I actually saw the movie a couple of weeks ago, and I thought she played it right. Sometimes you can play this so over the top, and she didn’t do that. She kept it real. I think we all tried to keep it as true as possible and make it as real as possible, that if these circumstances really did happen we wouldn’t look like we were completely out there.

DD: What is the lesson learned from this movie?

DC: The biggest message is what can happen to somebody who is actually trying to do his job and be a good teacher. This is happening in schools today, so we are just kind of portraying a story that could possibly happen. I think it’s important for people out there, especially young kids, to realize that they could actually ruin someone’s life when their schemes get out of hand.

Interview: Catching Up With Courtney Thorne-Smith

Courtney Thorne-Smith (pictured left, photos courtesy Lifetime Television) is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Allison Parker on the popular nighttime soap opera Melrose Place from 1992 to 1997. She then honed her comedic chops on the ABC sitcom According to Jim from 2001 to 2009. Now she is starring in an original Lifetime Television movie called Sorority Wars, playing Lutie Snow, a woman who desperately wants her college freshman daughter, Katie, to join the sorority she co-founded, the Delta house.

Courtney was excited to try something new with Jim ending its eight-year run. She reveals: “Doing Sorority Wars was really fun — it has a lot of good stories within the movie. When I first read it, I thought it was sort of a lark, but once I started working on it, I started noticing all the stories about friendship, the mother-daughter relationship and being true to yourself. I thought, ‘Wow, it’s actually really good.’ I was really impressed the more I got into it.”

Playing the mom to a college-age daughter was a new challenge for Courtney, and she was more than happy to take it on. “I played the young ingénue for so long, and when you’re the ingénue, you are the grounding, normal person in a sea of crazies. With Lutie — well, “crazy” is a strong word — she is really neurotic, and she lives in the past.

“She is still so involved with her sorority; it’s like she thinks she is still in the sorority. It’s the most important thing in her life besides her daughter. She’s really tightly wound, and I liked that I’d really got to play a character. It was so much fun for me.”

Was it difficult for Courtney to tap into a part of herself to be able to empathize with Lutie’s obsession with her old sorority and her daughter’s future place in it? “It was hard until I realized that Lutie wanted this to be something that she shared with her daughter. Her sorority was where she felt most important and the fact that if her daughter didn’t make that same choice, then what would they share?

“Lutie never created anything else for herself in later life. She feels rejected when her daughter doesn’t want what she has to offer — and it’s heartbreaking when you think about it that way.”

Courtney enjoyed acting with her co-star, Lucy Hale, who plays her daughter, Katie. Lucy is best known for her role on the critically acclaimed and now-defunct comedy-drama “Privileged.” Courtney gushes: “She is so solid. I kept telling her, ‘Don’t worry about getting another series; you’re going to be a movie star!’ Her work is very honest. And she’s so smart. She’s going to go far — mark my words!”

While Courtney did have fun on the set, it also was a sort of learning experience for her. “What I learned from Lutie is that you really have to keep your life going, keep it on a forward path. That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to give everything to my son, because I do, but you need to have a full life. It doesn’t help you to get stuck in the past.

“It’s like, what if I were still wearing my Melrose Place baseball cap and asking people to call me Allison? It wouldn’t work. I’ve moved on. Even though with the new Melrose Place, it’s HARD to move on. You just have to move on and keep your life going in a positive direction.”

You can see for yourself that Courtney Thorne-Smith has moved on in her new movie, Sorority Wars, which premieres Oct. 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the Lifetime Television network.

Interview: David Charvet Shows Us What He's Made Of

David Charvet is perhaps best known for his roles on Baywatch and Melrose Place. On Melrose, David was the man (as character Craig Field) who was finally able to tame bad-girl Sidney Andrews. However, their happiness was very short-lived: She was hit by a car and killed on her wedding day.

David’s latest project retains all the excitement of his previous endeavors, without all the melodrama. In fact, his new show might even gain our new president’s seal of approval. That new show is called The Superstars, an athletic competition that pits teams of celebrities and professional athletes against one another in a series of strenuous and strategic competitions.

David explains: “The Superstars is a show that was first on back in the 1970s on ABC. When we met to shoot the show, they showed us a clip of a Barack Obama interview where he says The Superstars was his favorite show. It’s a show about athletes competing against one another; the twist on our version of the show is putting celebrities with athletes and pairing them up together. We compete in bicycle races, obstacle courses, swimming, triathlons, rock-climbing — all of these hard, physically demanding things — and see who’s the best at them.”

David and his partner, Jennifer Capriati, were quick to size up their competition. “I knew that (All-Pro NFL receiver) Terrell Owens would be a force to be reckoned with, with his tremendous speed and agility. There was another girl, Brandy Chastain, a gold medalist in soccer who won the cup against China. She’s so well rounded. I knew she’d be our competition.”

Among the other celebrities, David kept his eye on Julio Iglesias Jr. “He was unbelievable and super-fast. He was paired up with Brandy. He’s an outstanding athlete. I was really impressed with him.”

The Superstars was filmed on location at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. David says: “That was a lot of fun. The whole facility is really beautiful. The people are wonderful there. It was 15 days of bliss. And to be able to be competing with all the people I was working with was a dream come true.”

David didn’t get a lot of time to fully enjoy all the resort had to offer, explaining, “We had two days off out of the 15, and it was mostly just icing down and recuperating.” He was grateful that his fiancee, TV hostess/model Brooke Burke, and their children were able to join him at the island paradise.

Aside from The Superstars, David also has a new film in the works called Nephilim, a sci-fi action thriller created and directed by Danny Wilson. “It’s a comic-book series that’s being turned into a film. It’s a trilogy of films, and I play one of the lead superheroes, a priest named Father Markus Knight. I can’t say much about it yet, but it’s a very dark series about people dying and coming back to live and fighting evil and all that.”

With the announcement of the reincarnation of Melrose Place (following in the footsteps of the revamped 90210), there is also one question that has to be asked of a former Melrose Place actor: Can we expect to see David on the new Melrose? He reveals: “Right now I think they are really focusing on trying to get the show on the air and introducing the younger characters. As of now there hasn’t been talk of my going back there. However, it was a fun show, and if there is an opportunity to do something great, I’d love to be involved.”

In the meantime, don’t miss David on ABC’s The Superstars. The six-episode run begins Tuesday, June 23 at 8 p.m. EST.

Heather Locklear Seeks Treatment for Anxiety, Depression

Former Melrose Place and Dynasty star Heather Locklear reportedly has checked herself into a rehab facility in Arizona to seek treatment for anxiety and depression. Her publicist, Sarah Fuller, released the following statement:

"Heather has been dealing with anxiety and depression. She requested an in-depth evaluation of her medication and entered into a medical facility for proper diagnosis and treatment. This is a confidential medical matter and no further statement will be released."

Daytime Dial Gets (Uncredited) Mention in OK! Magazine

Last night, I was perusing OK! Magazine online, because I wanted to read the recent interview with former heartthrob (and my former future husband) Kirk Cameron.

I noticed a link entitled: Melrose Place: Where Are They Now? You can bet that piqued my interest, so I clicky-clicked the link. It's a fun little article, fun to see what Michael Mancini and Jane Mancini and others have been up to, and what they look like. I was sad to see "Grizzly Man" Grant Show. Man, I hope that was for an acting role.

Anyhoo, imagine my surprise when I get to Laura Leighton's photo spread and see that they quoted from my Aug. 17, 2007, interview, but failed to credit me or Daytime Dial.

http://www.okmagazine.com/pixandvids/gallery/5795/13

Melrose Place: Where Are They Now?

Then: Laura Leighton joined the show during its second season and played scheming Sydney Andrews, the younger sister of Jane Mancini. In a 2007 interview Laura reflected on her Melrose Place years. "Sydney was so much fun to play," she said. "I really dug the character; I could see there was so much potential there. It was definitely the right time for that character to come on to the show."

However, it is still pretty exciting.

Now, all of you peeps who have a blog, make a link in your blog mentioning this, so maybe somewhere in the blogosphere, I'll get due credit!

John Enos III: More Than Just a Tough Guy

Who knew that John Enos III (Bobby Marsino, The Young and the Restless; Bobby Parezi, Melrose Place) is really a softie at heart? Known for playing tough guys and mafioso-type men, John has carved a niche for himself in the acting world as the go-to man if you need a henchman.

However, I recently spoke with the handsome actor to talk about his new movie, The Hallmark Channel's summer blockbuster movie, Shark Swarm (Sunday, May 25 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.), and he revealed to me his hobby of creating short movies with his Chihuahua, Duke, as the lead.

And Duke is no stranger to the camera. As John told me: “Duke is also in two scenes in Shark Swarm. He almost got cast on Days of Our Lives, but they ended up going with a Maltese. He was just too macho. Chihuahuas are the new tough-guy dog.”

My favorite of his videos is called "Crazy Chihuahua" (see below), however, John also has some funny shorts featuring himself and some of his other actor friends (e.g., Greg Germann and Neal McDonough).

Check out Duke's video below, then go to YouTube.com and check out the rest of John's videos.

Stanley Kamel (Days, Melrose Place, 90210) Passes Away

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Stanley Kamel, who played Adrian Monk's long-suffering psychiatrist on the TV detective show Monk, has died. He was 65.

Kamel was found dead Tuesday of a heart attack in his Hollywood Hills home by his agents, publicist Cynthia Snyder said.

Kamel, born on January 1, 1943, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, had a nearly four-decade acting career, much of it on television. He had a recurring role as an unscrupulous psychiatrist, Dr. Graham Lester, in the 1995 television series Murder One, and other recurring roles on Days of Our Lives, Melrose Place and Beverly Hills, 90210, as well as smaller roles on many other shows.

Kamel began acting off-Broadway and got his first television break playing Eric Peters on Days of Our Lives in the 1970s. He appeared in several movies.

For several years, he portrayed Dr. Charles Kroger on the USA Network series Monk. As Kroger, he dispensed advice during weekly therapy sessions to Monk (Tony Shalhoub), a brilliant but neurotic private detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Soap Couple Confirms Dating Rumors

According to the latest issue of People magazine, Heather Locklear (ex-Amanda, Melrose Place) has confirmed that she and former onscreen hubby, Jack Wagner (Nick, B&B) are indeed a couple. In fact, Heather is so over the moon, she says she's marry him if her asked. Here's a quote from the magazine: "If Jack said, 'Let's get married,' I'd go, 'OK!' But I have a daughter to consider. I'm trying to be a thoughtful role mode, and not selfish."

I am so excited to hear the news, as I think they make an awesome -- and great-looking -- couple. The footage I have seen of them together, they appear to be a kind and thoughtful couple, two people who deserve the happiness that being with one another brings. And if I can't have Jack, then I am happy that Heather got him. :)

Congrats to both of you!