|
|
As much as we dig NBC’s rom-com anthology Love Bites, it’s time to face the facts: The romance isn’t destined to last beyond summer’s end. There’s been no official announcement, of course, but ratings are anemic, and odds are slim to none that NBC will extend the show’s run past its original nine-episode order. So what’s next on the agenda for Bites‘ charming star Becki Newton? First, she wants to get back in the game and land herself another series. And in the meantime, she has her undying devotion to former Ugly Betty costar Michael Urie to keep her occupied.
“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.
|
|
|
On her old show, Ugly Betty, Becki Newton was the pretty one. On her new show, the long-delayed Love Bites, she’s the pregnant one. The NBC series is an anthology rom-com in the vein of He’s Just Not That Into You or Valentine’s Day — a procession of loosely connected stories, anchored by a few core characters — that was supposed to be NBC’s big new show of last year. But it got delayed, management changed, Newton shot a pilot for CBS that didn’t get picked up, and now Bites has been burned off over the summer. We spoke with Newton, who is in Atlanta, hanging out on the slapstick set of a new Farrelly brothers movie, about how her real-life pregnancy impacted Love Bites, cheating on NBC with CBS, and where Michelle Trachtenberg goes wrong in tonight’s episode.
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.
• Read More?
|
|
|
Seemingly forever-shelved (and waylaid by backstage drama) for more than 12 months, NBC’s Love Bites – a rom-com anthology series starring Ugly Betty‘s beloved Becki Newton, Heroes‘ charmer Greg Grunberg, and Entourage femme Constance Zimmer — is finally making its debut, this Thursday at 10/9c. After such a lengthy delay, there has to be something wrong with Bites, right? Actually, not really. In fact, I’m pretty smitten with this bit of summer fare — and I’m not alone. Newton is thrilled that the show is finally seeing the light of day, and believes “anything can happen” when it comes to the longevity of this Love.
TVLINE | Given that Love Bites was shelved for so long, was there ever a time that you were worried the show may never make it to air?
You know, I’ve learned through experience that you can’t ever predict what’s going to happen with any show. When I signed on to Ugly Betty, I just prayed that I wouldn’t get fired after the pilot, and four years later, I was still doing it. So, I’m really learning that you can just do your best work, and where the show goes from there is beyond your control.
TVLINE | What were your thoughts on all of the behind-the-scenes drama we kept hearing about? [TNT compelled My Boys star Jordana Spiro to vacate a lead role, original showrunner Cindy Chupack stepped down, the episode order got slashed....]
That’s what was so incredible about this experience — all of these things were going on, but it was actually the most well-run and organized show that I’ve ever worked on. It was really this incredibly pleasant experience. All of [Love Bites'] setbacks tend to happen individually on every show, but we just had a bunch of things happen around the same time. The impression of what was going on made it sound much more chaotic than it actually was. Every step along the way, people just went with the flow.
• Read More?
|
|
|
