Scene And Heard

  HOLDING OUT HOPE Despite Kate’s many failed romances on DAYS, her portrayer, Lauren Koslow, still believes Kate can find a true love match. “I never give up hope,” says Koslow. “I feel like we really are missing that beat in her life. The fans really do miss that. Look at the demographics, especially. That’s really important for women who are watching, to show that chapter of your life never has to close. Especially for a woman who is obviously flawed and has had lots of highs and lots of real lows. Life goes on and you don’t stop searching for that love or the person that you can share a life with on whatever level. I think it’s so important.” Koslow enjoyed the dynamic she shared with James Read’s Clyde. “I loved working with him,” she shares. “I thought there were so many great possibilities. He has so much charisma. He’s such a wonderful actor. He brought sophistication to that role, [despite] the type of character he was playing. That’s a character who saw something in Kate. They had this personal chemistry, but they also had their love of power and all of that.”

NAVY BLUES As GH’s Scott and Liz reel from Franco’s transformation into Drew, Kin Shriner (Scott) welcomes the opportunity to work more closely with Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth). “Love her, love her, love her,” he declares. “She couldn’t be nicer. She says, ‘I just wait for you to stop talking,’ and then she comes in. And I say, ‘That’s the way to go!’ She is very easy to work with. She’ll go with whatever you give her, she’s right there. I enjoy her and I’ve always been a big fan of hers and it’s a lot of fun to work with her. She makes it very easy.” As for creating a new on-screen dynamic with Roger Howarth (Franco), Shriner explains, “I thought, ‘He doesn’t need me and my hijinks and shenanigans,’ because when I get to work with Roger as father and son, we always go where it’s going to be humorous and [as Drew], he can’t go down that humor road with me. If you’re going to play that you believe that you’re a Navy SEAL, then you become a little no-nonsense. Drew’s not funny and Franco is. He was Scotty’s son and they share that kind of comedy gene, but if he doesn’t know the gene, he’s got no comedy. My shenanigans would just fall flat!”

BOYS CLUB They may be real-life close friends, but Joshua Morrow (Nick, Y&R) was intimidated by his TV dad, Eric Braeden (Victor), when the young actor started in 1994. “Eric was obviously welcoming, but he had an air of ‘Don’t mess with him,’ ” Morrow recalls. “He’s the king of the castle and he’s not afraid to let people feel that. He’s not going to say it, but everybody knows he’s the man. When he sees new guys come on the show, there’s always an element of the animal kingdom of ‘I’m the top dog, and you better get in line!’ ” Morrow relays that he and Braeden got along right away. “Eric was glad that Nick was aged and was able to tell more stories,” Morrow explains. “I loved working with him early on. We developed a very good friendship. He’s always been like a second father to me. The thing that I look forward to most on this show is working with him and that look he gives when he’s proud of me. It’s the same look that my dad used to give me when I played sports. I know when I make Mr. Braeden proud in a scene, there’s nothing that feels better than that.”

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND B&B’s Tisha Campbell (Dr. Davis) was thrilled to be a part of the EMPIRE cast. “When I got the call, they said, ‘They want to offer you the role of a has-been ’90s performer [Brooke, from the trio Three Black Divas].’ Most people had said no, and I jumped at the chance,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘Hell, yeah! I want to do that!’ First of all, it’s my first time working with Taraji [P. Henson, Cookie] and Terrence [Howard, Lucious]. We all know each other but we never got a chance to be on camera together. I was really excited to be on that set. When I got there, the other girls were local hires, and I like to rehearse. I said, ‘Hey, guys. Listen, do you really like the role?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you want to come back?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Okay.’ They gave us an hour to rehearse. We rehearsed until 8 o’clock that night. We got there early and we did not leave. We kept rehearsing. That first episode we appeared on was incredible. They had put together girl trios and girl groups before, but they really enjoyed it, and we knew that we were going to have to come back. I got nominated for an [NAACP] Image Award for a guest spot on EMPIRE! I’m very proud of it.”