Trevor Rieger
10-28-2003, 10:54 AM
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'Hope & Faith' Passes Out Candy
By Jacqueline Cutler
Zap2it Tribune Media Services
Kelly Ripa rummages through a huge bowl of candy as she sits cross-legged on a couch on the set of ABC's "Hope & Faith." "I have passed out candy for years and years, and I have never once had anyone who remotely looks like him come to my door," she says of guest star Christian de la Fuente.
Women scattered throughout the cavernous studio laugh, acknowledging that they too have opened their doors to dole out mini-Snickers but never found a hunk. This, however, is a sitcom, and the Chilean actor plays a no-good love interest in the Friday, Oct. 31, episode "The Halloween Story."
As Ripa, who plays Faith, extracts a candy, co-star Ted McGinley struts through a door, doing his impersonation of John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever." McGinley, as Charley, goes as the disco king, while Faith Ford, who plays his wife and Faith's older sister, Hope, is dressed like a rock star for Halloween.
The sitcom children's costumes are to type. Justin (Paulie Litt), with chunks of food taped to him, is vomit. Hayley (Macey Cruthird), looking dour, is famine. And when Charley asks oldest daughter Sydney (Nicole Paggi) where her costume is, she says, "I'm wearing my pumpkin thong."
With a roster of proven television talent - McGinley was on "Happy Days" and "Married ... with Children," Ford was on "Murphy Brown," and Ripa was on "All My Children" and continues on "Live with Regis & Kelly" -- the show should be a hit. The first two episodes, however, had some cringe-worthy scenes, such as a food fight and corpse jokes, and the writing is not up to the actors' talent. But early Nielsen numbers were promising, and the cast is hopeful.
Though Ripa lives in Manhattan, McGinley and Ford moved from Los Angeles for the show that shoots Fridays in Queens before a 264-member audience. McGinley pines for his wife, actress Gigi Rice, and two sons, ages nine and six. "We talk every day before they go to bed," he says.
Despite the oppressive heat of a September afternoon, Halloween is in the air. "I love Halloween," McGinley says, "and I am going to be home on Halloween. We'll go out with the kids, and my folks will hang home."
As the other parent on set, Ripa is also making Halloween plans. Her family is "going trick-or-treating with The Wiggles," she says. Then they attend a block party on the Upper West Side, where the street is closed to traffic. Five weeks before the big day, the costumes were not definite, but Ripa predicts her 6-year-old son, Michael, will be the Tasmanian Devil, 2-year-old Lola will be a ballerina, and Joaquin, 8 months, "will be a little clown, and I'll be a big clown," she says.
"At 'Live,' we always incorporate the families," she says. "Last year, when Regis and I were each other, Mark (Consuelos, her husband) and I kept making out -- and I was Regis. It was haunting and disturbing."
Outside of Ripa's character watching scary movies, nothing on this show is haunting. And the most disturbing aspect of this episode is that de la Fuente's character is not the upstanding stripper he pretends to be. Of course, Hope, as an omniscient big sister, knows this and tries to warn her.
Faith moved in with Hope and her family after her character on a soap opera was killed off. A true drama queen who is about as a deep as a wading pool, Faith seems to have little interest in the world outside herself. Ripa plays her to the max.
Indeed, the three adults have a firm handle on their characters. McGinley sees Charley as "the patriarch of the all-American family," he says. "He has three kids and a beautiful wife and he is an orthodontist. I wanted one of the kids to have bucked teeth. It would be the bane of his existence."
So far, that has not been written into the show, which is taped in a studio that from the outside looks like an airplane hangar. The most popular spot is the craft services table holding bowls of fruit, candy and other food. Ford takes a handful of almonds.
"I call Faith the squirrel because she leaves little plates of food behind in every scene," Ripa says.
"We are a rarity," Ford says, draping her arm around Ripa's shoulder as they walk off to lunch. They also love to talk about food, push food and share food.
Ford is working on a cookbook of Southern dishes, "Cooking with Faith," and proves that she is a real chef because she can cook on a teeny stove in a Manhattan hotel and knows how to save scorched soup.
She even thinks in culinary terms. "I was here first on the planet with this family," she says of her character, "and [Kelly] came on, and she's a cross between tabasco and file (in gumbo)."
"My big concern," Ripa says between bites of a Cuban sandwich, "is, what if she's a dieter?"
Ripa openly chats about everything, including gaining 80 pounds during her last pregnancy. Today, as they sit on the floor eating from plastic take-out containers, both women are thin. "It's because we work," Ford says, taking a break from her tuna salad to sample Ripa's sandwich. "We don't sit on our tuchises and expect people to wait on us."
They only have a few minutes before rehearsal of this episode, the sixth, resumes. As they sit across from each other, it is striking how much they resemble each other. It is not simply because they are both blondes, dressed alike in jeans, cotton tops and slides. "About 10 years ago, I was coming from an appearance, and I knew I was looking fine," Ripa says. A fan mistook her for Ford, which pleased her.
Ford has experienced people seeing her, then complaining -- albeit in a genteel way -- "that she didn't look like herself," she says. Visiting her mom in Louisiana, Ford dared go to Wal-Mart sans cosmetics. "In the South, women wear makeup," she explains.
Posted By Trevor Rieger
TVTalkShows.com Webmaster
'Hope & Faith' Passes Out Candy
By Jacqueline Cutler
Zap2it Tribune Media Services
Kelly Ripa rummages through a huge bowl of candy as she sits cross-legged on a couch on the set of ABC's "Hope & Faith." "I have passed out candy for years and years, and I have never once had anyone who remotely looks like him come to my door," she says of guest star Christian de la Fuente.
Women scattered throughout the cavernous studio laugh, acknowledging that they too have opened their doors to dole out mini-Snickers but never found a hunk. This, however, is a sitcom, and the Chilean actor plays a no-good love interest in the Friday, Oct. 31, episode "The Halloween Story."
As Ripa, who plays Faith, extracts a candy, co-star Ted McGinley struts through a door, doing his impersonation of John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever." McGinley, as Charley, goes as the disco king, while Faith Ford, who plays his wife and Faith's older sister, Hope, is dressed like a rock star for Halloween.
The sitcom children's costumes are to type. Justin (Paulie Litt), with chunks of food taped to him, is vomit. Hayley (Macey Cruthird), looking dour, is famine. And when Charley asks oldest daughter Sydney (Nicole Paggi) where her costume is, she says, "I'm wearing my pumpkin thong."
With a roster of proven television talent - McGinley was on "Happy Days" and "Married ... with Children," Ford was on "Murphy Brown," and Ripa was on "All My Children" and continues on "Live with Regis & Kelly" -- the show should be a hit. The first two episodes, however, had some cringe-worthy scenes, such as a food fight and corpse jokes, and the writing is not up to the actors' talent. But early Nielsen numbers were promising, and the cast is hopeful.
Though Ripa lives in Manhattan, McGinley and Ford moved from Los Angeles for the show that shoots Fridays in Queens before a 264-member audience. McGinley pines for his wife, actress Gigi Rice, and two sons, ages nine and six. "We talk every day before they go to bed," he says.
Despite the oppressive heat of a September afternoon, Halloween is in the air. "I love Halloween," McGinley says, "and I am going to be home on Halloween. We'll go out with the kids, and my folks will hang home."
As the other parent on set, Ripa is also making Halloween plans. Her family is "going trick-or-treating with The Wiggles," she says. Then they attend a block party on the Upper West Side, where the street is closed to traffic. Five weeks before the big day, the costumes were not definite, but Ripa predicts her 6-year-old son, Michael, will be the Tasmanian Devil, 2-year-old Lola will be a ballerina, and Joaquin, 8 months, "will be a little clown, and I'll be a big clown," she says.
"At 'Live,' we always incorporate the families," she says. "Last year, when Regis and I were each other, Mark (Consuelos, her husband) and I kept making out -- and I was Regis. It was haunting and disturbing."
Outside of Ripa's character watching scary movies, nothing on this show is haunting. And the most disturbing aspect of this episode is that de la Fuente's character is not the upstanding stripper he pretends to be. Of course, Hope, as an omniscient big sister, knows this and tries to warn her.
Faith moved in with Hope and her family after her character on a soap opera was killed off. A true drama queen who is about as a deep as a wading pool, Faith seems to have little interest in the world outside herself. Ripa plays her to the max.
Indeed, the three adults have a firm handle on their characters. McGinley sees Charley as "the patriarch of the all-American family," he says. "He has three kids and a beautiful wife and he is an orthodontist. I wanted one of the kids to have bucked teeth. It would be the bane of his existence."
So far, that has not been written into the show, which is taped in a studio that from the outside looks like an airplane hangar. The most popular spot is the craft services table holding bowls of fruit, candy and other food. Ford takes a handful of almonds.
"I call Faith the squirrel because she leaves little plates of food behind in every scene," Ripa says.
"We are a rarity," Ford says, draping her arm around Ripa's shoulder as they walk off to lunch. They also love to talk about food, push food and share food.
Ford is working on a cookbook of Southern dishes, "Cooking with Faith," and proves that she is a real chef because she can cook on a teeny stove in a Manhattan hotel and knows how to save scorched soup.
She even thinks in culinary terms. "I was here first on the planet with this family," she says of her character, "and [Kelly] came on, and she's a cross between tabasco and file (in gumbo)."
"My big concern," Ripa says between bites of a Cuban sandwich, "is, what if she's a dieter?"
Ripa openly chats about everything, including gaining 80 pounds during her last pregnancy. Today, as they sit on the floor eating from plastic take-out containers, both women are thin. "It's because we work," Ford says, taking a break from her tuna salad to sample Ripa's sandwich. "We don't sit on our tuchises and expect people to wait on us."
They only have a few minutes before rehearsal of this episode, the sixth, resumes. As they sit across from each other, it is striking how much they resemble each other. It is not simply because they are both blondes, dressed alike in jeans, cotton tops and slides. "About 10 years ago, I was coming from an appearance, and I knew I was looking fine," Ripa says. A fan mistook her for Ford, which pleased her.
Ford has experienced people seeing her, then complaining -- albeit in a genteel way -- "that she didn't look like herself," she says. Visiting her mom in Louisiana, Ford dared go to Wal-Mart sans cosmetics. "In the South, women wear makeup," she explains.
Posted By Trevor Rieger
TVTalkShows.com Webmaster