The 3 Ls: Lust, lies, leers

Trashy, titillating, torrid 'Titans' readies to bow

Victoria Principal says the characters in 'Titans' will keep audiences coming back: "It's the 'Brady Bunch' on acid"

In this story: Wealthy, healthy Tangled domestic web Fun on the set RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Paul Vercammen
CNN Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Ever since "Melrose Place" shut down more than a year ago, ardent supporters of trashy dramas have been at a loss. Where was all that prime-time lust, lies and leers that got them through the night?

AUDIO Yasmine Bleeth says her new role will be fun, not challenging 224K WAV sound     FALL TV Big names come to the small screen

The answer: They've moved to Wednesday nights on NBC. Aaron Spelling, who can find treasure in trash -- he dreamed up "Melrose Place," "Dallas" and "Dynasty" -- is now offering "Titans." The show debuts this Wednesday at 8 p.m. EDT.

Just how trashy is this new nighttime soap?

"How many families do you know where the son sleeps with the father's new wife?" asks John Barrowman, one of "Titans"'s stars.

"Well, it's a bit Jerry Springer (as in 'Jerry Springer Show') in that aspect," concedes Yasmine Bleeth, who showed off her assets "Baywatch." "But we're a lot wealthier and we have good teeth."

Not to mention good tans, good legs, good hair, good you-name-it: It seems someone shook California, and all the beautiful rolled to this "Titans"' set on a soundstage in Van Nuys, California.

Good looks aside, this cavalcade of cute cut-ups' feuding apparently is limited to the cameras. Off screen, they can hardly stop laughing.

	WHO'S WHO
Yasmine Bleeth plays beautiful, conniving Heather Lane. Past experience: 'Baywatch'

"We're going to succeed big or fail big," warns Victoria Principal. "This is not a show that I think that you can just be ho-hum about. It's the 'Brady Bunch' on acid."

It's the story of a lovely lady, Gwen Williams, played by Principal, who is divorced from the head of a global conglomerate, Richard Williams (King). They live across the street from each other in mega-mansions, periodically exchanging dirty looks.

Williams is hardly Mr. Nice Guy, King says of his role. "It's been a dirty life to get where he's gotten," he says. "Now he wants something to be really perfect and shining."

Enter the "home-wrecking bitch from hell" -- Heather, played by Bleeth, whose description of her character proves she harbors no illusions about her role in this prime-time soaper.

Heather is Williams' new wife, but as bad luck would have it, she happened to sleep with her stepson, Chandler Williams (played by Casper Van Dien), months before the wedding.

Standing on the sidelines, looking suspicious of the whole dysfunctional clan, is brother Peter Williams (Barrowman). Toss in Wagner as the rich uncle. (OK: They're all stinking rich.) Then add Josie Davis and Elizabeth Bogush as the hot sisters who would would love to hook up with the dashing owner of their mom's nightclub, David O'Connor (Rademacher).

Before you know it, you have a plot cooking, says Rademacher, who professes to like his new job. For one thing, Rademacher says, he doesn't have to be on a shoot every day -- a nice change from his days at "General Hosital."

Casper Van Dien, Yasmine Bleeth and Perry King are veteran serial actors who return to TV in 'Titans'

"A lot of the time we're at the club shooting, so there are a lot of scenes that get shot on the same day, which gives me a lot of days off," says Rademacher, sporting some solar-induced coloration that might make tanmeister George Hamilton jealous. "That's why I'm so tan."

But, even working, the cast of seems to enjoy itself. On a recent shoot of a ballroom dancing scene, cast members needle each other good-naturedly. Someone keeps imitating an unnamed, one-time big screen star, screaming, "Makeup!"

Bleeth, watching all the mayhem, confides that -- contrary to what some people may think -- she is not the most undressed person on a TV show. That distinction, she says, belongs to Van Dien.

That's not to say that she vanishes in the background, Bleeth admits. "Now, I do get to wear bikinis and high heels and jewelry," she says.

"And we get to yell, 'Save us Miss Baywatch, save us!'" Van Dien shoots back.

Perhaps Bleeth & Co. can save more than that. "Titans," its producers and stars hope, will rescue viewers from TV doldrums with a shot of romance and revenge, carried out by the rich and infamous.

The fall TV season: Big names come to the small screen
September 29, 2000

NBD: Titans

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