Jack Rowand / The CWHello, gentle readers and fellow travelers of the blogosphere!
I have a very special treat for you this week, the "Überblog," which is where I invite the entire cast over to my house, ply them with food and then rope them into writing my E! Online blog for me.
But here's the deal, first a little background information is in order...
When I was a junior at NYU, my first audition ever was for Roswell, the Jason Behr role. Of course, I didn't get it. But my senior year in college I saw a bus drive past me as I was walking through the city with Shiri Appleby's face on it advertising Roswell, and I thought, man, I could have been doing that right now.
Later that year, I had my first screen test for a role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was flown from New York City to Los Angeles to meet and read with Joss Whedon and Sarah Michelle Gellar for the role of the FBI agent. Didn't get the role, but if I had I would have worked with Miss Emma Caulfield.
Then in 2001, I worked on a pilot for Fox , flew out to L.A., where I met my future wife (who was a rabid fan of Dawson's Creek) and where I watched an actor kill in the role of Jack McPhee. I saw Kerr Smith around town throughout the years, and I was shocked, beside myself, when I found out that the guy who played Jack was not into guys—in fact, quite the opposite, which is a testimony to how great an actor he is.
So here I am, a kid from Reno, Nev., living a dream, sitting in my living room with people I used to watch in my living room.
OK, let's begin, shall we? First up is my TV better half, Shiri. Take it away, kid.
Shiri Appleby: Hey guys! So here I am, in front of Kris's computer with the first hand of this super blog hand-off. It's Halloween, and the entire group is together at Kris' house watching the show, eating some Chinese food and pounding massive amounts of sugar. We just finished watching this week's big camping episode of Life Unexpected and are taking a bit of a hiatus so the kids can hit up the neighbor's house for their share of candy.
Watching the episodes together has probably meant the most to me through this entire family-TV run. We started when the pilot was first shot, before we even knew if the show would get a future. Afterward, Kris sent us all an amazing email saying how proud we should all be of what we did together, regardless of if the show gets a shot. These nights together make the job better than work.
Kris Polaha: And on that note, we watched the episodes at Shiri and Brittany Robertson's house last year when the show aired on Monday nights.
S.A.: Anyway, enough with all the emoting. I am gonna pass the computer over to my fine lady friend, Miss Emma Caulfield. What's it been like for you living up in the Couve, and being a part of this crazy family?
Emma Caulfield: It's been really nice. My hate-hate relationship with Vancouver is now solely a love affair. There's a certain amount of closure being on the show for me. I read for the role of Cate when the pilot was being cast and licked my wounds over that loss for some time after. I really loved the pilot and was certain it was my part! Sadly, no one agreed with me. Honk. Funny thing is, I can't imagine anyone else but Shiri in the role. Talented girl, she is. As far as being a part of this crazy family, I love it, I really do. I hit pay dirt working with Polaha. Kris is one of the most sincere, kind and generous actors I've ever worked with. The whole cast and crew are just really great people, so going to work ain't no chore, you know? I need someone to cut me off otherwise I will wax poetic all night long. Kris take this computer away from me...
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And so I do, removing the computer from Emma's hands. Those were very sweet things she wrote about me, so thank you Emma.
The next person in my line of fire is the queen bee of the show, our very own boss lady, the incomparable Liz Tigelaar:
Liz Tigelaar: Hey, it's Liz. I remember that crazy casting process where I became obsessed with having Emma on the show. I loved her from the minute she read for Cate, and I'm so happy that we got both Emma and Shiri on Light Years (the original title for LUX). And sweet Britt who was Lux from the first minute we saw her. I think back to Kris and Kerr and Austin Basis, and remember crossing our fingers that it would all end up this way. And it did. Now, three years later, I love the nights that we watch the show as a family because that's what we are. A crazy, dysfunctional, insane, we-love-each-other-no-matter-what family. I truly love these people. And not just the actors—the writers, the crew, everyone.
This show has been three years in the making—we started this July 2007 and we've been going strong since. Obviously, the show means so much to all of us in many ways—it's a job, it's our livelihood—but for me, all of that aside, I love these characters. I want to tell their stories. Thinking of moving on from them, feels equivalent to the guy you want to marry dumping you. I spend more time thinking about them than about real people in my life. And yes, I know, they are fake people who don't exist but they exist to me; each character is a piece of me, and I feel like I know them. And on nights like this, I look around at everyone and I feel like a proud, lucky parent. Not that I can take credit the way a parent might but I'm proud to know these people, to be associated with them, to tell stories with them and to just be with them. The nights spent laughing and hanging out, the moments that no camera captures are just as poignant as the moments it does. One word I can use to describe them is committed, as is evidenced by our Halloween costumes. When this group sets out to do something, it commits. And it shows.
Okay, so I'm going to pass this along to the next person because I could type about the show all night, but a big sweet shout-out to Kris Polaha, who's kind of the greatest guy ever (as he's upstairs putting his kids to bed).
Austin Basis: OK, it's my turn. I'm sitting here in my Eli Manning costume (New York Giants jersey, hat and eye black), admiring Liz's poignant blog contribution and her new eyeglasses. She's an amazing writer and person, and it is so much fun working with her. We went trick-or-treating with Superman and Batman (Kris' kids), and my stomach hurts from all the candy I inhaled. (I'm a bad diabetic!) We also watched episodes seven and eight tonight. It's always a nice thing to be able to gather as a cast and share the show before anyone gets to see it. I think every cast should do it. I get to see Kerr and Shiri act their butts off; Kris and Emma heat up the TV screen with unbelievable chemistry; Britt maneuver through the complicated life of Lux; and, finally, judge myself and look out for the appearance of my double-chin and bald spot. Really, the pleasure of watching is being able to see all the scenes I wasn't a part of, and laugh and applaud some really good work and writing—and unfortunately smell a certain someone with a bad digestive cycle that doesn't hold his/her bodily functions back.
(Note from Kris: The "his/her" Austin is talking about here is Kerr Smith, who just let one rip in my ear!)
A.B.: I have to go outside to breathe now. Here Kris, take your laptop back...now!
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I'm back from bathing my two sons. They are clean, with their teeth well-brushed, and my lovely wife is now putting them to bed. After ten minutes of begging and pleading, Kerr has decided to take the computer and contribute to the Überblog. Ladies and gentlemen, live from my living room, Kerr Smith:
Kerr Smith: A parrot joke (Note: The parrot sounds like Mr. Hankie from South Park):
A guy has to walk past this pet shop on his way to work. There is a parrot on this pole outside the shop. As the guy walks past the parrot says, "Hey you!" The man turns around. The parrot says, "F--k you!"
Day 2: The man walks past the parrot, again. The parrot says, " Hey you!" The man turns around reluctantly and says, "What?" The parrot says, "F--k you!"
The man, fed up, walks into the shop to talk to the owner. "Listen, you have this parrot outside that has told me to f--k off the last two days. I don't think it's cool, it's not good for business and quite frankly I don't appreciate it." The owner says, "You're right, I'm sorry sir. You're absolutely correct. I'll take care of it."
The next day the guy walks past the parrot. Eyeing him up expecting the same routine. He gets about 15 feet past the parrot and hears, "Hey you!" He turns around hesitantly, and says, "What?!" The parrot says, "You know what."
Note: The key to the joke is in the attitude of the parrot which is not appropriately conveyed in this blog.
I'm Here All Week. Try The Roast Beef. Kerr
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Thanks, dudes! Sadly Ksenia Solo and Brittany made haste right after the episodes, but we'll get to them soon.
We had fun tonight, hopefully as much as you'll have watching our episode. Oh, and by the way, the answer to last week's pop quiz is Bobby Roth, the director of episode seven, "Camp Grounded" written by Sallie Patrick and Liz Tigelaar. Bobby lived next door to both Elivs Presley and Bruce Springsteen. Cool, eh?
Thanks again to the awesome folks at E!, and to all of you out there reading this, until next week, this is Kpo signing off!