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interviews
Parker Plays a 'Perfect' Part
Thu, Oct 3, 2002 08:58 PM PDT
by Heather Feher
Zap2it, TV News
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Actress Andrea Parker
has had recurring roles on television dramas such as "ER" and "JAG,"
but she is probably best known as the villainous Miss Parker on "The
Pretender."
She's returned to small screens in a comedy this
season on ABC's "Less Than Perfect." Parker says that her goal was to
find a 30-minute show instead of her usual hour-long dramas. "It's so much
fun and it's such a completely different experience from episodic television,"
she says. "It's thoroughly refreshing."
"That I actually get to rehearse with my
material is brilliant," she says of the new series. " Fresh out of the
gate, we have such a nice rhythm. It just feels like an old show."
"Less Than Perfect" stars Sara Rue
("Popular") as Claude, a long-time temp who suddenly lands her dream
job working for Will Butler (Eric Roberts), the pompous news anchor of GBN
Television Network. Her friends from the fourth floor, Ramona (Sherri Shepherd)
and Owen (Andy Dick), watch her back while her jealous new coworkers, Kipp (Zachary
Levi) and Lydia (Parker) plot her downfall.
Parker has high praise for all of her "Less
Than Perfect" co-stars. "Sara Rue is a doll," she gushes. "Sherri
Sheppard is funny as hell. Zachary Levi, it's hard to believe that he's so young,
he's so talented and professional." She describes Roberts as "talented
and kindhearted," but has a surprising revelation about spastic
"NewsRadio" veteran Andy Dick.
"He's really grounded and loving,"
Parker confesses. "That might be a secret."
When asked how she got the role, she jokes,
"I'm very pretentious and shallow at heart. It's total typecasting."
Her character on the show "doesn't want to make you cry, she just wants
your job," she explains.
In the show's premiere, it was briefly mentioned
that Lydia and Will had a history together. Unfortunately, the scene where she
tells Claude about the relationship and its effect on her was cut. "Basically,
my whole character explanation was deleted," Parker laments. "The
editors and the producers and the network are going to do what they need to do,
which is make the show shorter. We were like seven minutes over, so things had
to be cut."
Parker is used to challenges, but Lydia's
character development is especially tricky. Every show finds her learning an
imengant lesson only to discard it. "You know, it seems like with every
episode I start out being really bad and then by the end of the show, I'm best
friends with whoever it is, and then the next show, I start out being bad again,"
she says. "It's definitely a challenge for me to try to keep the through
line."
So long as Lydia remains flawed, Parker will be
happy in the role. "I crave dysfunction in my characters," she admits.
"Who wants to be perfect?"
"Less Than Perfect" airs Tuesdays at
9:30 p.m. on ABC.
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