ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 1996 TAG: 9604020031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jamie Luner had never been to the South before last fall, when she landed the role of Peyton on ``Savannah.''
Since then, this Los Angeles native has embraced the local cuisine (``I get grits and coffee at the Waffle House right outside my complex''). And, even withholding the accent that, as Peyton, she spoons on like pan gravy, Luner seasons the conversation with an occasional ``y'all.''
``I also say `sugar' a lot,'' she confesses. Force of habit. ``I'm genuinely hooked. I love the show!''
Sugar, you're not the only one!
Since it premiered on the WB network in January (airing Sundays at 9 p.m.), ``Savannah'' has shown the same potential so grandly fulfilled by earlier Aaron Spelling-produced sudsers like ``Beverly Hills 90210'' and ``Melrose Place.'' It's already been renewed for next fall.
Set in ``the Mother City of Georgia,'' the series is a sassy saga of power, wealth, romance and class conflict focusing on three beautiful young Southern women who have been friends since childhood.
There's struggling journalist Lane (Robyn Lively). Wealthy naif Reese (Shannon Sturges).
And, best of all, there's working-class vixen Peyton, who, as it turns out, may very well be Reese's half-sister, resulting from an act of indiscretion between Reese's father, Edward Burton, and the family housekeeper - Peyton's mother - who, by the way, is in jail for murdering Reese's fiance who, as it happens, had been sleeping with Peyton.
How do you like them hush puppies?
``Some people might say, `Ah, it's so campy, it's too much,' '' says Luner over lunch on a recent visit to Manhattan.
``But it's got to be too much,'' she explains. ``It's got to have enough to bring it back, so it seems real.''
Whatever that means, ``Savannah'' pulls it off.
Take it from a former Georgian: ``Savannah'' does a mighty good job of capturing the South - and making the most of it. Courtesy is bred into the Southerner, which ``Savannah'' knows. But the show also understands that the flip side of good manners is deviousness - which, of course, is the soul food of any soap opera.
Which brings us back to Peyton.
Although the actress who plays her generously allows as how ``I'm not the only villain on the show,'' it is Peyton who seems to be the chief agent of underhandedness.
She can pass herself off as candied-yams sweet. But where there's trouble, Peyton likely is in the middle of it, and often its sultry architect.
The red-haired alley cat with the hickory-smoked gaze, the earthy opportunist who keeps her conscience on hold ... Peyton could be a career-making role for Luner. But, if TV history teaches us anything, it could also be a trap.
``Yes, we've seen other actresses on an Aaron Spelling show making a career from playing this kind of character. But I'm not Heather Locklear, I'm Jamie Luner. Right?
``Peyton is an incredible launching pad, incredible. But I put this character on when I play her - and I've got a thousand different other people in me, too.''
At 24, Luner already has tapped a number of those people. As a child, she was doing commercials. She played a spacy teen on the 1988-90 sitcom ``Just the 10 of Us.'' She made several TV movies.
After that, work started to taper off.
What then? ``I put myself through culinary school,'' she says proudly, ``and I started cooking in the kitchen of a friend's restaurant, havin' a good ol' time.
``Then this audition came up.''
Actually, she first read for the wholesome, hardworking Lane.
``Then I went to the restroom and pulled down my hair and put on my attitude.'' Convincingly.
Within weeks, Luner was playing the overheated Peyton on an unheated soundstage just outside Atlanta, where, with just the right addition of some moss on the trees, ``Savannah'' is filmed.
``It's crazy!'' Luner marvels. ``One minute you're working in a restaurant, and the next minute you're in a TV series with everyone asking how you feel playing the bad girl, and you're going, `Well, I know how to julienne carrots really well.' ''
Things culinary are still important to her. Over her salad Nicoise, honey-mustard dressing on the side, Luner shares with her interviewer a couple of upcoming plot twists - hot tidbits she seems to assume he won't print.
Then, a little later, the subject of her killer peanut-butter brownies comes up. Yummmmmm.
``But I won't give out the recipe,'' she says, throttling her throaty laugh. Why not? ``A girl,'' she purrs, Peyton-like, ``has got to have her secrets.''
LENGTH: Medium: 90 linesby CNB