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Spencer For Hire

Soap Opera Digest: So now that you’re a New Yorker, are you taking public transportation?

Paul Satterfield: I take cabs. If it’s more than 10 blocks, it’s a good idea. Then I was late to work one morning and took a cab, but I could’ve walked faster. On the other hand, I went to visit friends in Greenwich, CT the other day and I took the train. It was a piece of cake. I was there in an hour. It was easy. Before, I never would’ve seen myself actually going down in that hole for a train, but it’s amazing what you can get used to. Now it seems like the most natural thing in the world.

Digest: What else was different about L.A.?
Satterfield: There, I was so privileged to get off work and run straight to the beach. You can do that here, too, I guess, but you have to have a little bit more money. It’s a little more exclusivity to have that sort of a lifestyle here.

Digest: The last time you were in daytime was BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL [ex- Pierce]. How did that that end?
Satterfield: B&B came shortly after SAVANNAH [ex-Tom], which we thought was going to be our own little MELROSE PLACE and we could all retire. For whatever reasons — I won’t get into them now — you find out things later, but network executives at The WB just decided something else. Maybe they had wisdom that I don’t. But then B&B just came. That was [Executive Producer/Head Writer] Brad Bell. I didn’t have to read for or test for it or anything else, because he already knew me and thought I was right for the part. I just had to go in, sit down and talk with him, and couple weeks later the phone rings, so we started up. The thing ended pretty abruptly. That show has … a habit of bringing [on] people like myself or Jack Wagner [Nick] or Antonio Sabato, Jr. [Dante] or Sean Kanan [ex-Deacon]. They have a revolving door there, and then they just kind of run out of ideas, or it doesn’t benefit them or it’s time to move on. They just keep their core people. A lot of shows are like that. They like to bring it in, stir it up, mix it up, then you’re out. So that’s what I suspect happened for me at B&B.

Digest: So then what did you do?
Satterfield: After that, I got really busy personally with my family, babies and all that. I was really blessed to be able to spend that time with my wife and kids. Just really crucial bonding years, being there to help her and stuff. That was really great. And I’ve got some old folks to take care of, too. It wasn’t hard for me to leave L.A. [and move to Mendicino County, CA] for a while.

Digest: How did you wind up in Mendicino County?
Satterfield: I’d wanted to spend some time with my grandparents, who basically raised me up there. I’d go up there for a couple weeks at a time, this place I grew up in. It’s enchanting. It really is. It’s mesmerizing.Digest: So what’s it been like working with Tuc Watkins [David] on OLTL?
Satterfield: Watkins has been able to carve a niche for himself out of being hilarious. It’s almost as if he lets you in and lets you know that he gets it. He’s letting you in on a joke a little bit, and people love that. That’s a big part of what these shows are. You can’t constantly take yourself too seriously all the time, I don’t think. Michael Easton’s [John] character is a very different thing. He’s dealing with things that I would say you’d have to be pretty serious about. He does a really good job playing strength and vulnerability all at the same time. It’s almost as if we’re on two different shows sometimes, I think, but there are opportunities.

Digest: How would you describe Spencer?
Satterfield: You can say that the evolution of this character is a combination between [Tom from] SAVANNAH and [Paul from] GENERAL HOSPITAL.

Digest: What’s going to happen to Spencer once people find out his true intentions, whatever they are?
Satterfield: Eventually, there’s got to be repercussions for all this, unless they’re just going to not finish it up and follow up on it, but I can’t imagine that’s going to happen. I just hope it doesn’t all come crashing down on him at once because I don’t think he could climb out of it. But then again, maybe he can. This is a character who loves this.

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