allie.cahill

Schroder Silences Critics

Former child star Rick Schroder is the first to admit that many people expected him to fail when he made his grown-up debut as Detective Danny Sorenson on ABC's NYPD Blue almost two years ago. But the artist-formerly-known-as-Ricky says he never got discouraged. "When I didn't fail, people were a bit, 'Hey, wow,'" says the 30-year-old Silver Spoons star, who's long since won over the critics. "I don't know why it worked out so well. I never had any doubts, though. I know a lot of people did, but I didn't." Schroder tells TV Guide Online that he knew right away he was the perfect choice to play the former narcotics detective on Blue. "You know when a role is yours," he says. "You know when you're right for [it]. You just feel it. You feel it in the pit of your stomach. You want it so bad." The veteran actor began appearing in TV commercials when he was still just a toddler and skyrocketed to stardom playing opposite Jon Voight in the 19

Mon, Sep 25, 2000

Susanna Thompson's Stormy Past

Once and Again's Susanna Thompson says she passed on a role in the summer blockbuster The Perfect Storm to play Billy Campbell's ex-wife on the hit ABC drama. "Though I was torn with the decision, I know I made the right one," the actress tells TV Guide Online. "I think destiny sort of plays a role." "I was a week away from starting The Perfect Storm and I had no intention of giving [it] up," says Thompson, recalling her audition for the part of Once and Again divorc&eacute;e Karen Sammler. "And I went in to read and they wanted me for the part and they couldn't work it out [with] the production company for The Perfect Storm. So I had to choose." The Random Hearts star missed out on one of the summer's biggest blockbusters, but she has nothing but praise for the Tony Award-winner who took her place on the stranded sailboat. "They got Cherry Jones and she's the foremost stage actress in New York right now."

Thu, Sep 14, 2000

Shandling's Big Emmy Gamble

First-time Emmy Awards host Garry Shandling can't wait to perform his new stand-up material Sunday evening in front of an audience of 50 million viewers. In fact, he may be a little too excited. "I'm trying to convince [executive producer] Don Mischer to not give out any awards this year and give me the whole three hours," he says of the ABC broadcast, which kicks off at 8 pm/ET. "I think I can do it. I think we should lock the doors. And I think that should be the real Survivor. Just let me talk and talk and talk and just watch them waiting for the awards. I think that would be great." Whatever the format, it's pretty much a given that viewers will gripe about the show's length. "No matter what, it's going to feel longer than it is," Shandling says. "I'm saying that's a good thing. It's not the length; it's how we use the Emmys, how we're going to use the Emmy programming." Shandling, himself an Emmy winner (The Larry Sanders Show), c

Thu, Sep 7, 2000

In Living Color: The Reunion?

Funnyman David Alan Grier says he'd like to join his former In Living Color castmates ? including Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, Keenan Ivory Wayans and Tommy Davidson ? for a reunion of the Fox sketch comedy show. Finding time would be difficult, he says, but not impossible. "It could be really great as a movie or HBO special, but everyone would have to want to do it and just come back in the room like we did before," says Grier, who stars this fall on the new NBC sitcom DAG (Tuesdays, 9:30 pm/ET). In his latest role, Grier plays a disgraced Secret Service agent assigned to guard the first lady (Delta Burke) after dodging a bullet meant for the president. Grier's DAG character is quite a departure from the In Living Color creation that put him on the map ? flamboyant film critic Antoine Merriwether. The actor says he'd like to someday see the return of Antoine but, again, only under the right circumstances. "

Mon, Aug 28, 2000

Cibrian Eyes New Watch

It's been a lonely job playing divorced firefighter Jimmy Doherty on NBC's Third Watch, confesses portrayer Eddie Cibrian. "It was tough in the beginning because my character didn't have a partner," the actor tells TV Guide Online. "I'm the only one on the show who doesn't have a partner. Everybody else gets to drive and talk, which is where you find out a lot about the characters." The former soap star (The Young and the Restless, Sunset Beach) says he would have liked Jimmy to open up more in the first season, but realizes that his solitary alter-ego poses a challenge for the show's writers. "I was just looking forward to every script thinking, 'Okay, what are you going to do with me now?'" Cibrian is also the first to admit that Jimmy has been a lousy ex-husband and father. "He was very immature, he had a gambling problem, he didn't really know what responsibility was as far as taking care of his kid," he says. But fans are wondering if Ji

Mon, Aug 21, 2000

Meet Mrs. Ed

Forgive Julie Bowen if she sounds cocky, but she knew she was a shoo-in for the female lead in NBC's new fall dramedy Ed the moment she auditioned. "Usually I leave an audition and I go, 'Yeah, I got it,' or 'I didn't and I don't care,'" she tells TV Guide Online. "[But] I left this audition and called my manager and said 'If I don't get this there's something wrong.'" Well, turns out Ed producers Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman agreed. But Bowen admits that the chemistry with her leading man, Providence's Tom Cavanagh, was such that the audition was a breeze. "It sounds so cheesy, but when I met Tom it was really a magical moment," she says. "It was a room full of strangers and I didn't even know which one was the actor. I looked at him and I thought this is good. This is really good because we had instant chemistry." In Ed, which will air Sundays (8-9 pm/ET), an affable attorney (Cavanagh) loses his job and fin

Thu, Aug 10, 2000

Sex for Men

Gabriel Byrne believes that his upcoming ABC sitcom, Madigan Men, will be the male equivalent of HBO's Sex and the City ? but with less exposed flesh. "From my experience, I'd never seen a series that dealt with the secret emotional lives of men," the Irish actor says. "You don't get to hear what they're thinking." Inspired by the candor of Sex and the City and, ironically, women's magazines, Byrne wanted to do a show that "projected the way [I] felt about the world." The charismatic 50-year-old says that Madigan Men is an attempt to explore men's feelings about sex and relationships. "In the magazines I saw," he explains, "I just wondered where do men go to discuss these things and that's what led to the idea." Like Byrne, who has two children with ex-wife Ellen Barkin (he calls their split "amicable"), his character, Benjamin Madigan, is a single dad slowly adapting to New York City's dating scene. "Like everybody else in t

Thu, Aug 3, 2000

Nolte Works Cheap

Trixie writer-director Alan Rudolph has found the perfect collaborator in Nick Nolte ? an actor who knows how to deliver the goods and do it cheaply. "Nick is this guy who was making seven figures and was probably the first male actor to get into that category, and then he turns his back on it," Rudolph, who previously worked with the actor on Afterglow and Breakfast of Champions, tells TV Guide Online. "Afterglow was a decidedly low-budget movie and he worked for a tenth of what his normal salary was. And then the next movie we do is Breakfast of Champions [and] he works for a third of what he did on Afterglow. And now we do Trixie and he works for a third of what he did on Breakfast!" "Bruce Willis told me this about Nolte: he's the most influential actor working today because he turned his back on the basic franchise," adds Rudolph. "Nick decided that his real chances and real interests a

Tue, Jul 4, 2000

Nolte Works Cheap

Trixie writer-director Alan Rudolph has found the perfect collaborator in Nick Nolte  an actor who knows how to deliver the goods and do it cheaply. "Nick is this guy who was making seven figures and was probably the first male actor to get into that category, and then he turns his back on it," Rudolph, who previously worked with the actor on Afterglow and Breakfast of Champions, tells TV Guide Online. "Afterglow was a decidedly low-budget movie and he worked for a tenth of what his normal salary was. And then the next movie we do is Breakfast of Champions [and] he works for a third of what he did on Afterglow. And now we do Trixie and he works for a third of what he did on Breakfast!" "Bruce Willis told me this about Nolte: he's the most influential actor working today because he turned his back on the basic franchise," adds Rudolph. "Nick decided that his real chances and real intere

Mon, Jul 3, 2000

Bullock's Dating Rules

After failed relationships with Matthew McConaughey and Tate Donovan, Sandra Bullock says she's through with dating her co-stars. "You're thrown into a situation where you have to create this artificial intimacy with the guy you're co-starring with," the 28 Days star tells McCall's. "It's unnatural because you spend more time with this person than you would with your significant other. In the beginning you think, 'Oh, he's so sweet and attentive.' Then you realize it says he has to be that way in the script." Although McConaughey dumped her after two years, the actress has no hard feelings toward her A Time to Kill co-star. "Of course it's more fascinating to have a horrible breakup where you end up hating each other, but that's just not the case here," she claims. "We consider ourselves good friends." Bullock is still looking for love and says she's finally feeling prepared to have children. "It's taken me a long time to be com

Fri, Jun 30, 2000

Halle's Oscar Horror

Halle Berry says one of the hardest parts of being involved in her hit-and-run car accident last February was becoming the butt of one of Billy Crystal's Oscar-night jokes. "I was sitting there crying, like, they're making a joke and this is my life and I didn't do it," the X-Men star tells InStyle. "The next day I talked to Warren [Beatty]. He and I have stayed really good friends since Bulworth. I said, 'Did you hear that terrible thing he said about me last night? And he goes, 'I was there, yeah, I heard it.' And I say, 'That was awful, wasn't it?' And he says, 'No, Halle, all that means is you're famous. Get over it.'&nbsp;" Berry may be regaining her sense of humor, but she's still troubled by her collision with motorist Heta Raythatha. After sustaining a head injury, the actress drove from the accident site to her home without alerting the police or assisting Raythatha. "There has been a lot of guilt. You thi

Wed, Jun 28, 2000

Kevin Smith's Gay Sib

Does Kevin Smith have a GLAAD media award in his future? The ribald writer/director of Clerks and Dogma reveals that his brother's homosexuality has helped him become a more enlightened filmmaker. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't think we're 100 percent one thing or the other," he tells The Advocate. "You always have a degree of curiosity, whether you're straight or gay." But Smith didn't always feel this way. "I grew up in suburban New Jersey where [homosexuality] wasn't the thing to talk about ? it was a clamped-down culture." When Smith found out his brother, Don, was gay, he questioned their closeness. "My mother told me before my brother had a chance, which always bugged me," he says. "I was filled with a sense of sadness that he hadn't told me because he thought I was a homophobic moron." Discussing Don's past helped Smith come to terms with his sadness. "Here was a dude on the inside who could tell me about all sorts of stor

Mon, Jun 26, 2000

Mel Gibson's Patriotic Duty

Appearing in films like The Patriot and Braveheart has taken its toll on Mel Gibson. "You get hurt all the time. All you gotta do is just like eight takes of running down a hill and you twist an ankle," the action pic veteran tells TV Guide Online. "I got a chiropractor to come along to the [Patriot] shoot, because they can actually stick you back together within 15 minutes. He used to come every other week, from Los Angeles to South Carolina ? spend a week and work on the entire crew. All the stunt guys were like, 'Oh, fix my disc.' He's putting their discs back in. The guy's amazing." Gibson let director Roland Emmerich do his own thing, too. The Australian actor won an Oscar directing Braveheart but wasn't even tempted to share some of his own ideas. "I

Thu, Jun 22, 2000

Zeman's Happy Time

Apparently there is life after death on General Hospital. A Martinez's character, Roy DiLucca, died 20 years ago, but he's returned from the grave to woo Bobbie Spencer. Actress Jacklyn Zeman insists that her co-star isn't simply reprising another actor's role because "he's made it so his own. I don't think anybody feels that. "He came back as Roy, who was Bobbie's first love, her only real love, the man she subsequently went on and compared every man she'd ever been with to, and everyone always came up short," she says. For Zeman, working with the Santa Barbara veteran makes her job easier. "You know the man speaks for himself; he's talented, he's handsome, he's wonderful. And he's a really nice person. So it's a pleasure to be with him." After years of chasing emotionally unavailable men, Bobbie has finally found love. "I'm having the time of my life with this story line; I really am!" Zeman tells the TV Guide Channel. "Because women are coming

Wed, Jun 21, 2000

Stuart Damon's Toughest Role

As General Hospital's Dr. Alan Quartermaine, Stuart Damon has survived impotency, murderous ex-wives and amnesia. But nothing's been as hard on the actor as the drug addiction story line that last year earned him a Daytime Emmy Award. "The drug addiction story line was probably the greatest challenge of my entire career," the veteran soap star tells the TV Guide Channel. "I mean emotionally I was just spent at the end of every day. I was one of the few people who would come into make-up and come out looking worse." How is Damon going to top his portrayal of GH's drug-addled chief of staff? "I think I'm still young enough to handle a triangle love story line, but I don't want it to be me and another guy," he explains carefully, "I want it to be two women and me?them fighting over me. I think that would be a lot of fun. I think I could still do that." For now, the 63-year-old actor is busy recovering from real-life surgery. "I've had both of my elbows

Tue, Jun 20, 2000

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos's Feminine Mystique

There's something funny going on with Rebecca Romijn-Stamos! The former House of Style host has proven her comedic chops with small, well-received roles in Just Shoot Me and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and she feels her carefree attitude will help her land bigger and better acting projects. "There are a million beautiful blondes out there," the 27-year-old tells Cosmopolitan. "I think a lot of my success came down to the fact that I'm fun and I get along with everyone." Romijn-Stamos's easygoing disposition served her well on the set of the upcoming X-Men flick: She endured 10 hours of blue body makeup each day for her role as villainess Mystique. "The painting was torturous," she admits. "When they finished my face, they'd say, 'All right, bend over.' They'd paint me down there. I left a trail wherever I went. My last night, I did a celebratory

Wed, Jun 7, 2000