Jean Smart longs for a return to High Society
By Jane Wollman Rusoff
When Jean Smart left Designing Women after five seasons--to spend time with her newborn son--she swore she'd never do another TV sitcom. But then her agent sent over the pilot script for High Society, and, well, Jean just thought "it was the funniest thing for television" she'd ever read. "I howled," says Smart, who plays neurotic novelist Ellie Walker on the CBS series. "It had the brittleness and fast pace of screwball comedies." Not everyone agrees with Smart. Critics have been mixed about the series, which also stars Mary McDonnell as Dott, Ellie's chic New York book publisher, and best friend, and audiences have been lukewarm. The season's final episode airs on February 26, and no one knows whether it will be back again next fall. (CBS will decide in May.) If High Society does return, Smart would like to see some changes. "I said right from the start it should be like really bad Noel Coward," says Smart, a University of Washington drama graduate who cut her teeth on stage classics before segueing into TV sitcoms fourteen years ago. "It's important to let the audience know that we're saying, 'Come on, this is a romp, don't take it seriously.' The broader we do it, the less offensive it will be. That's a fact, not just my opinion. Sometimes they think actresses don't know what the hell they're doing--that they're sort of children who get paid too much money." Smart has already run afoul of the network censors. She recalls digging in her heels over the use of the word "bitch" in one episode. "They said, 'You've already said bitch [about] nine times. You can't say it a tenth,'" says Smart, hotly. "Don't they get that the more times you say it, the more ludicrous, over-the-top, and funnier it becomes!" The censors finally backed off. But High Society's producers and writers are talking about toning Dott and Ellie down a bit, making them softer, more sympathetic, more like real folks. "That's death, or at least it is to me," says Smart. "This isn't Mary and Rhoda. Slipping back into a slower pace with 'meaningful moments' is gonna make us end up neither fish nor fowl." Needless to say, Smart's return to sitcoms has been harder than she thought. "They want Mary and me in every scene, and what with disagreements all along the way, the show is harder to pull off." Nevertheless, Smart seems genuinely disappointed that CBS hasn't ordered up more episodes. If High Society does return, Smart predicts a smoother second season, and that's a comforting thought for the forty- four-year-old working mom. "I'm not good at arguing and confronting," says Smart. "The producers have been very, very gracious about letting Mary and me put in our two cents. I'm sure sometimes they wish they hadn't encouraged it." While she awaits the fate of High Society, Smart and her husband, actor Richard Hilliland, will produce the play Into the Light for Fox Television. |