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Appearances > 2011 > NOVEMBER 17TH – GQ’s 2011 Men of the Year Party

“We filmed the pilot a year and a half ago, and went through as series of setbacks and delays,” Newton, 33, says over the phone from Atlanta, where her husband Chris Diamantopoulos is playing Moe in the Farrelly Brothers new “Three Stooges” movie.

One of the stars, Jordana Spiro, had to go back to her old series, “My Boys.” The show runner, Cindy Chupack, quit for personal reasons. Once unveiled as the lynchpin to NBC’s fall season last year, it was bumped to midseason when Newton also became pregnant with her first child.

“These kinds of delays happen to a show. There’s not a show where these kinds of things don’t happen, when a show doesn’t go through a lot of changes,” Newton says. “But not often does it all happen to one show.”

Newton’s condition meant her character had to be entirely rewritten.

“Originally my character was going to be a virgin,” Newton says. “When I became pregnant, they wrote in that I was a surrogate mother for my sister. But I have to say when we got our heads together, it made the character so much more interesting,” she adds. “If the show had more time to explore the characters, how she related with her sister after the birth would have been the kind of relationship I don’t think has been on TV before.”

That won’t happen, since “Love Bites” was cancelled earlier this month.

“It was a short and sweet run, but one everyone who was involved with it would be very proud of,” Newton says. There won’t be a series finale tying up all the series threads on Thursday, Newton says. “This is what was great and complicated about the show. Every episode stood alone, and it was never meant to have an arc throughout show with a culmination.”

Being in an anthology show, with Greg Grunberg and Constance Zimmer the only recurring characters, she was surrounded by guest stars each week. Among them were Jeffrey Tambor, Sheryl Hines, Donald Faison, Christopher Gorham, Krista Allen, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Michelle Trachtenberg, Laura Prepon, Kurtwood Smith, Ken Jeong and Jaime King.

“It was unique every week,” Newton says. “I never worked with the same person twice. It was a huge difference from ‘Ugly Betty,’ where I worked with Michael Urie every day for four years. It was a great acting experience.”

And even if the show wasn’t a hit, it did connect with some viewers who enjoyed romantic comedy anthologies.

“What I have learned time and time again is that you can’t predict how a show will connect with people, and how a network will handle it. You just have to be proud of your work and whether two people see it or 200 people or 20 million people, if it connects with someone, with ‘Ugly Betty’ or different shows, it’s all you can do.”

Newton came to “Love Bites” immediately after her successful run as the brittle secretary Amanda Tanen on “Ugly Betty.” At the time, she says, “I was definitely looking for something very different than Amanda. Something very grounded and real – not that Amanda wasn’t real. But I was looking for something more relatable. I loved being able to play a character who was more similar to myself and in such a different style of writing. ‘Ugly Betty’ was very arch, and this was more grounded.” While waiting for “Love Bites” to air, Newton shot a pilot for CBS. “It was a multi-camera sitcom and I never did that,” she says. “What made it neat performing before a live audience. It was an incredible experience and I had such a great time doing it. “Homegrown” also starred Gerald McRaney. “I’m disappointed it didn’t get picked up,” she says, “But I discovered I loved that form of television.” Newton’s unsure of her next project, but she’s encouraged by what she’s seeing.

“I’m reading some really great scripts,” she says. “With the success of ‘Bridesmaids,’ and so many female comedies on TV, there is a lot of great material out there. With Tina Fey and Amy Poehler such great leading women, it’s the kind of thing you didn’t see five years ago. So I’m really hopeful.” In the meantime, she’s been enjoying spending time with her son and her husband on the set of slapstick “Stooges,” which wraps this week in Atlanta. “I go to the set every day,” she says. “He has bruises all over his body.”

She’s had time, too, to come back to Connecticut to visit family.

“I just spent 10 days at Evergreen Woods Retirement Community in Branford, where my 8 month old was the hit of the place,” she says. If the residents were also excited about a TV star in their midst, she says, “they didn’t say anything about it.”

GALLERY LINK:
Love Bites > Season 1 > Episode Screencaptures > 1×07: Boys to Men
Love Bites > Season 1 > Episode Screencaptures > Credits

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Photoshoots > Pictorials > D Levitt 2009

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Love Bites > Season 1 > Episode Screencaptures > 1×04: Sky High
Love Bites > Season 1 > Episode Screencaptures > Credits

“Michael Urie and I harass each other via text all the time,” Newton says with a laugh. Sadly, there aren’t currently any rumblings about revisiting the twosome’s ah-mazing 2010 cabaret act, but the bubbly star does offer this tidbit: “Michael and I need to tackle some sort of performance art in the future. I’m not sure what it is, but we will be reteaming for the rest of our lives on various projects.” Win!

Now, about that other plan…

“I’ve discovered my love of sitcoms,” Newton tells TVLine. “There’s nothing specific lined up right now, but I did a pilot for CBS [titled Home Grown] which unfortunately didn’t get picked up. I had never done a mutli-cam show before, and I absolutely loved it.” Translation: “The next step will be to play a sassy role on a multi-cam show!” Newton says that “the live audience [on Home Grown] was pretty great. It reminded me of my days back in theater. It was so much fun to tackle a scene and if it didn’t work, the writers would fly in with new lines and you’d try that.”

The TV vet also calls her sitcom experience an “incredible challenge,” though one that actually made her long to venture further into the genre. “The hardest [part on a sitcom] is continuing when a line doesn’t work, and not completely falling apart,” she laughs. “On Ugly Betty, we’d run in, do a scene and try different things — and we knew when it was funny. In a sitcom setting, I walked in with a joke that I thought was the funniest thing I’d ever heard — and heard dead silence!”

Regardless of where Newton ends up, though, she says she’s always thinking of her old Betty counterparts. “I miss them all so much,” she says. “We all get together anytime we’re in the same place. They are my family and I really love them.”

For now, you can catch Newton in Love Bites on NBC Thursdays at 10/9c.

GALLERY LINK:
Love Bites > Season 1 > Episode Screencaptures > 1×03: Keep On Truckin’
Love Bites > Season 1 > Episode Screencaptures > Credits

Annie was supposed to be a virgin. How was that going to play out, originally, before your pregnancy changed the course?
I don’t think that could have played out for long. There’s not a lot of room. It would have become all about who she’s going to lose her virginity to, and then when that happens, it would be over. We used some of that idea for Cassie [played by Krysten Ritter], who pretends she’s a virgin. But happily, my pregnancy opened up the character of Annie. And I was ginormous shooting that pilot, because we had to redo it. I was eight-and-a-half months pregnant; I was about to pop! And yet, Annie doesn’t think of herself as pregnant. “I’m not really a future mom. I can still date!” This of course gets her into these awkward, horrible situations. She’s the total opposite of what you think a pregnant woman is.

How will the show change once Annie gives birth?
You will see Annie have that baby — well, you won’t see it, but you will see the storyline conclude. And if there’s a second season, you’ll get to see how that changes Annie’s life. She thought it wasn’t a big deal to be her sister’s surrogate, but it gave her a purpose. And although she didn’t think she would, she now loves this baby. But this isn’t treated like a cliffhanger. That’s what’s unique about this series: The arcs are short enough and the scenes are long enough that nothing is ever left unresolved.

In the middle of all the drama that went down with the show — the cutback on the order of episodes, the mid-season bump — you signed on for a CBS pilot. To use a dating metaphor: Were you in an open relationship with NBC?
[Laughs] It is like dating other people.

Which could be great if that’s what you wanted, but also shows a lack a commitment on their part. Were you happy that you were free to pursue other shows or frustrated?
NBC allowed me to pursue other options because I think, at a certain point, they weren’t overly committed [to Love Bites]. I don’t know if frustrating was the right word for how I felt, but I’ve learned shows take many different routes to getting on air, and I can’t control the results. Everyone involved is very proud of our work on Love Bites, however it played out. We’re happy people. I know some people were frustrated, but I’ve learned I can’t control the results, no matter how hard I try. Before Ugly Betty, I was just doing commercial work the week before, and then suddenly the next week, I was on a pilot. Some shows just hit right away. Some don’t. All I can do is look for things that are fun and inspiring.

Michelle Trachtenberg is in tonight’s episode, and she makes banana bread for a guy, which freaks him out. Would it have scared him as much if she baked cookies?
I feel like when there are over five ingredients, it suggests commitment. Rice Krispies Treats would have been a better gift for someone you just started dating; those clearly don’t take a lot of time. Although I made bread for Chris [Diamantopoulos], and now he’s my husband. Michelle’s so funny in this, so we’re going to see more of her. She’s coming back.

You met your husband on the New York City subway? Usually when guys hit on you in the subway, it’s not cute, it’s creepy.
It could have been creepy and weird, and when my son gets older, I’m going to tell him, “Don’t talk to girls on the subway!” But Chris walked by, and we noticed each other at the same time, we were looking at each other in a way that was an invitation to talk, so we started chit-chatting. And years later, well …

What’s it like watching him on set as Moe in The Three Stooges?
With all the stunts, falls, and kicks, he’s coming home every day bruised and battered. When our son, who is six months old, first saw him in the wig, he was terrified! But then he quickly figured out it was his dad. [The baby] loves being on set. I just hold him, and Sofia Vergara comes over and makes him laugh. Everyone plays with him. And my son gets to watch the Stooges! I can’t think of a better way to entertain him. There’s just something about watching Moe poke Larry in the eye that never stops being funny.

Do you feel like you still have unfinished business with Ugly Betty?
I could have played Amanda until she was a 90-year-old receptionist. [Laughs] And she would still feel like she was a supermodel. Playing her was so much about the mannerisms. But Annie is a real person, and that was an adjustment. It took a while to let go of Amanda so I could play a normal person.