Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993 TAG: 9303270310
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HARRIET WINSLOW THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Like other cast members of the popular teen show, she draws a crowd when she makes publicized appearances. Last year, in Toledo, Ohio, she found 10,000 fans waiting to meet her.
Luke Perry, who plays heartthrob and recovering alcoholic Dylan McKay, caused a riot at a Florida mall in 1991. Nine girls were hospitalized, and he never signed an autograph. In Boston he was removed from a public appearance by speedboat. When Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green were mobbed at an airport in Spain, a Fox spokeswoman compared their arrival to "the second coming of the Beatles."
And yet, the schedules of most of the actors on the Wednesday night Fox show are loaded with visits to affiliate stations and public appearances for various causes. It makes life a bit difficult, especially for Carteris, with a new husband at home (stockbroker Charlie Isaacs).
"To go out socially is stressful," she said, so she won't make appearances unless it's something she really believes in.
A while back, Carteris caught the red-eye to Washington for Anthony Shriver's annual "Best Buddies" ball, which raises money and awareness for the organization that partners college students with the mentally retarded. Before a nap and a shopping expedition she paused at her hotel to talk about her series.
At 32, Carteris looks not much older than the teen-ger she plays. A petite woman, she wore jeans, a dark blazer and olive vest over a white T-shirt, and slanted, gold, wire-rim glasses (not the round ones Andrea wears on "90210"). She drank cappucino made with nonfat milk and talked about the series that has made household names of its ensemble cast, and about their fans.
"When you're hitting a young audience, they're much more verbal," she said. "Think about when you saw the Beatles, and you'd see the pictures of how the mob used to be. It's this like `mind meld' that happens. But I have to say that adults can be much more aggressive than kids."
Carteris had to relearn how to walk after surgery on both feet. When she discovered she had to have surgery, Carteris notified the show's producers, who asked the scriptwriters to devise a plot line. That explains the hit-and-run accident that befell Andrea in November (airing again this week) and put her in a wheelchair for several weeks.
Carteris wore Birkenstock sandals for a while, she said, and was pleased that Shriver's "Best Buddies" bash called for "creative black-tie," geared mostly for college students.
"I just started walking recently," Carteris said. "I'm getting better. But I can't wear heels, so I'm wearing combat boots with a black-tie dress."
A solid ratings collector, "Beverly Hills, 90210" nevertheless garnered negative criticism when it premiered in October 1990. The show caught on first with kids and teens; then polls showed that adults up to 34 were watching as well. Fox shrewdly brought out new episodes last summer while other networks ran repeats, cinching the growing audience.
But Carteris still fields questions about the show's substance, or lack of it. Some interviewers, she suspects, don't watch it.
"People ask me things that are Ao incongruous," she said. "Obviously they haven't watched the show. It's not about high school. It's not about being rich. It's about young people and dealing with the issues that take place in their lives - recognizing that they have lives."
"Beverly Hills, 90210" was created by Darren Star and is produced by Spelling Television Inc. Carteris calls the show a ground-breaker.
"What this show has done for television has been wonderful," she said. "Fox has acknowledged a whole group of people that needed to be acknowledged. Shows have always been the adult perspective of what a young person's life should be rather than really accepting what it is. Beverly Hills is just a location."
Gabrielle Carteris (pronounced gabb-ree-EL car-TARE-ez) is a San Francisco native. She toured with a mime troupe through Europe at 16 and went on to earn her undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College.
Carteris was living in New York doing stage work when she landed the part of Andrea Zuckerman three years ago.
When she auditioned for "90210," she said, "I came in acting." She wasn't worried that she was well past high-school age.
"It would be discriminatory to me if I fit the part to go and try to figure out my age," she said. "They weren't looking for school kids . . . it's not conducive to the series, particularly with such a large cast." Casting high-school students requires tutors on the set and limited shooting hours. The average age of the "90210" cast is in the mid-20s.
Nearing the end of the series' third season, "Beverly Hills, 90210" producers have promised the cast another year, so fans will discover what happens to the characters after high school.
The Fox press material describes Andrea Zuckerman as the "moral voice" on the show. She rolled her eyes at this.
"I'm going to change that. That was how we first described Andrea. Would you describe her as the moral voice?" she asked. "My husband is always laughing - she's kissed most of the boys on the show. She's really been out there."
Andrea turned out to be a young woman concerned with social issues. A bit of a crusader, she has worked to have condoms distributed at West Beverly High; answered calls to a rape crisis hotline; and thanks to Carteris herself, been an interpreter for the deaf.
Years ago, Carteris said, she learned American Sign Language and once planned to be a teacher for the deaf.
Carteris said she appreciates Fox executives' interest in cultivating new talent and supporting the shows, particularly "90210" and "Melrose Place," also created by Darren Star.
"Any other network would have dropped us," she said. "Our ratings were so low. They really held on to us and allowed us to develop and to find a voice. They've done that with `Melrose,' and I think that `Melrose' will be successful because of that."
by CNB