Actress Thompson comes to Ackerman
Sitcom star shares character insight, time slot jubilance
By Rodney Tanaka
Daily Bruin Staff
Look! There’s Caroline in Ackerman Union!
Lea Thompson has heard this joke before. Her NBC sitcom,
"Caroline in the City," premiered in the fall, and she’s heard the
same joke ever since then. "Look! There’s Caroline in Hollywood!
There’s Caroline in Nordstrom’s!"
Her appearance today at Ackerman Grand Ballroom gives Thompson
the opportunity to delve into her character and show rather than
provide the punchline to a tired joke.
"(Caroline is) trying to get through life with as much dignity
and a sense of humor as possible," Thompson says. "Each character I
play has a different part of me that I blow up and magnify."
Thompson plays Caroline Duffy, a successful cartoonist whose
daily travails in Manhattan provide fodder for her comic strip,
aptly titled "Caroline in the City."
"I can relate to a lot of things about her," Thompson says. "Her
struggle to survive, how life can be so humiliating and her
struggle to find love."
Caroline’s struggle with love took twisting roads in recent
episodes. Her on-again, off-again relationship with Del, the
president of a greeting card company that markets her comic strip’s
merchandise, culminated in an accepted marriage proposal. However,
the romantic tension has risen between Caroline and her sarcastic
colorist, Richard.
"Del was always designed to not be the best choice for me,"
Thompson says. "We thought it would be an interesting idea to have
this woman in kind of a bad relationship, so that’s the way it was
always supposed to be. The colorist was supposed to be a better
choice for me, but they keep missing each other."
Thompson has no such problem expressing her feelings toward her
co-stars, saying she immediately loved them after meeting them. She
shares a secret that may disappoint fans of Annie, Caroline’s
oversexed best friend, played by Amy Pietz.
"Amy’s no slut," Thompson confides. "Sorry to tell her fans. She
isn’t like that at all."
Similarly, Malcolm Gets contains little of the moroseness and
sarcasm of his character, Richard, a classically trained artist who
must work for Caroline to pay the bills.
"He never cut people down. He’s really a generous, kind person
in real life," Thompson says. "He’s really vivacious; when he plays
Richard he has to get real monotony. In real life he’s more
animated."
Thompson says she respects Gets’ theatrical background and his
college education. She did not attend college, although she
received 15 years of formal dance training.
"I think it’s a wonderful experience to really concentrate on
being an artist and exploring your art," Thompson says. "It’s a
wonderful thing to have when you go out into the cold, hard, cruel
world."
The actress entered the cruel world of entertainment while still
a teenager. In her first role, she dealt with the cold, wet
seaworld inhabited with a famous shark in the 1983 film "Jaws 3-D."
She subsequently starred in such movies as "All the Right Moves,"
"Some Kind of Wonderful" and "The Beverly Hillbillies." The
pre-Caroline role that garnered the most attention was her role as
Michael J. Fox’s mother in the "Back to the Future" trilogy.
Thompson has experienced life on a movie set and a television
sitcom, and she does not want to give up either option.
"I feel incredibly grateful to be able to act," Thompson says.
"It’s boring to say, but it’s kind of hard for women to get
interesting parts (in films).
"There’s a lot of great writing on television right now, and a
lot of bad, too," Thompson adds. "I’m enjoying the fact that every
week it’s a new play."
"Caroline" is Thompson’s first foray into series television. She
tunes in to other sitcoms for insight into the form.
"I like to watch ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Roseanne,’ and I even like
‘Grace Under Fire,’" Thompson says. "I’ve been watching sitcoms
because I had to take a crash course."
She appreciates a classic ratings champion, "The Mary Tyler
Moore Show," however she avoids the ratings monster that follows
her show on Thursday nights.
"’ER’ scares me because I’m a mom," Thompson says. "They always
have some poor kid die or mom dying, and I can’t take it."
Her squeamishness should not be mistaken for ingratitude. Her
enviable time slot, sandwiched between "Seinfeld" and "ER," almost
guarantees high ratings, a point not lost on critics who believe
"Caroline’s" success hinges on its position.
"I’m hoping they keep us on Thursday nights, even though we take
a lot of hard knocks for it," Thompson says. "If they move us, then
everybody will have to be quiet about whether or not we can survive
on our own."
Thompson says she believes the show has a good fan base and the
show will only get better. The timeslot does not hurt, though.
"Believe me, every time I see Warren Littlefield, the president
of NBC, I (say) ‘Please keep us on Thursday night!’" Thompson says.
"It’s such a great night."
SPEAKER: Lea Thompson, today at noon in Ackerman Grand Ballroom.
For more info call (310) 825-1958.
Lea Thompson
Comments to webmaster@db.asucla.ucla.edu