THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507040022
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
WHEN THEY resume shooting the NBC series ``Homicide: Life on the Street'' in Baltimore - or Bawl'mer, if you prefer the natives' pronunciation - Catharine Fletcher of Virginia Beach will be there as the cop show's new costume designer.
Fletcher, who got her Big Break at age 33, will leave soon for Baltimore with her two cats. ``Homicide: Life on the Street'' begins work on the new season July 24.
Who in show biz would not be thrilled to be working on this series? ``Homicide: Life on the Street'' is one of the best dramas on television, a contender for Emmys, a sometimes bleak, sometimes funny exercise in the unusual camera angles and quick cuts that the MTV generation loves so.
As television too good for television, the show didn't catch on at first but eventually built a nice-sized audience Friday night at 10 and was renewed last May.
Since Fletcher was hired, she has been watching one show after another on tape. ``To get a feel for the characters,'' she said.
The principal players are detectives, including an iceberg named Frank Pembleton, played by Andre Braugher; a cop (John Munch) who owns a bar, played by Richard Belzer; and their boss, played by Yaphet Kotto. Designing their costumes sounds like a snap. Buy cheap suits.
It's not that easy, said Fletcher, who impressed the series' supervising producer, Jim Finnerty, with her work as costume designer on The Family Channel sitcom ``Big Brother Jake.''
It is the costume designer's job to oversee every detail of what the show's cast, guest stars and bit players wear. ``Right down to the wedding rings,'' said Fletcher.
She is thinking about subtle changes in the detectives' wardrobes. ``More earth tones, perhaps,'' said Fletcher.
This is a cop show that's for real. So you won't see the men and women with the badges dashing about in designer duds like Don Johnson in ``Miami Vice'' or Rob Estes in ``Silk Stalkings.''
Fletcher says she plans to hang out with detectives in Baltimore to see what they wear, when they wear it and how they look in their work clothes. Research on the street. It will be Fletcher's job to buy clothes and supervise fittings.
She did that for four seasons on ``Big Brother Jake.''
Fletcher's job includes dressing the corpses - even bodies discovered in dumpsters.
The look has to be just right, said Fletcher.
Doing a weekly series is pressure for everyone on the set, she said.
``You're involved in a mini-movie every seven days. On that kind of a schedule, you don't dare hold up the shoot. You must be organized.''
That means reading the script two, three or four times if necessary. There are actors who don't care what the costume designers give them to wear. There are others who fuss about shoes, ties, shirts. You name it.
The trick is to get the actors to trust you, she said. Fletcher most recently worked on a TV film set in the 1860s. That was The Family Channel's production about Abraham Lincoln's early years in the White House, ``Tad.''
In the first couple of seasons of ``Homicide: Life on the Street,'' the costume designer was challenged to make actor Ned Beatty look good in a suit. He's built like a rain barrel.
Beatty will not be Fletcher's problem.
He's left the show, as did Daniel Baldwin. Adios Bolander and Felston. Their characters survived a fierce shoot-out last season, but now they are gone. Finnerty isn't ready to announce who will replace them in the Baltimore squad room.
When those actors or actresses come on board, it will be up to First Colonial High grad Fletcher to make them look nicely rumpled. The look.
Even rumpled, the detectives on ``Homicide: Life on the Street'' dress better than Columbo. by CNB