FOX Hosts a Troubling 'Reunion'
By Jay Bobbin
What's a murder between friends?
Some possible answers play out in "Reunion," an intriguing Fox drama marking one of the new television season's earliest series debuts when it follows the season premiere of "The O.C." Thursday, Sept. 8. (The pilot episode will have an encore the following night.)
An attractive cast of young actors charts the highs and lows of a tight-knit group from 1986 to the present ... but one initially unidentified character won't make it all the way through. The resulting funeral sparks the premiere, which was directed by feature-film veteran Jon Amiel ("Entrapment," "Copycat").
Played by Sean Faris ("Life as We Know It") and Will Estes ("American Dreams"), pals Craig and Will have a car accident that sets off many of the events, but privileged Craig's girlfriend, Samantha (Alexa Davalos, "The Chronicles of Riddick"), has a secret known only by friend-to-all Carla (Chyler Leigh, "The Practice"). Also in the gang is Aaron (Dave Annable, "Little Black Book"), who's anxious to become more than friends with aspiring actress Jenna (Amanda Righetti, "North Shore").
Extended flashbacks are standard in "Reunion," which covers a different year each week; 1987 is the backdrop of the second episode, 1988 the third, etc. Often, those segments are cued by questions from Detective Marjorino (Mathew St. Patrick, "Six Feet Under"), the policeman probing the murder. Those he interrogates have to look as much as 19 years older than they do in the sequences set earlier, necessitating careful casting by executive producer Jon Harmon Feldman ("Tru Calling," "Dawson's Creek").
"Part of making that transformation is physical," Feldman acknowledges, "but a large part of it is acting. The first few episodes turn over one card, or one character, per episode. They age differently, but it's also a matter of how the actor inhabits the character.
"In the pilot, Chyler just becomes that character at 38, in how she carries herself and changes the tenor of her voice. As an 18-year-old, Carla is the sweet 'flat-chested friend,' as she calls herself; by 38, she's been hardened and she's carrying around some baggage. Part of the fun of the show is exploring how the characters change over the years."
Big performance swings can follow for the "Reunion" actors. "My manager and a lot of my friends call me 'The Chameleon,'" actress Leigh muses, "because I can basically look like anyone in any time period. I'm very grateful for that because it gives me such variety, whereas other people can have a hard time adapting to a certain look or style. When we see Carla at 38, she has much heavier makeup and a different posture, in a sense. By 38, you really know who you are. At 18, you're still exploring, and there's a certain naivete."
Just as he was last fall in ABC's "Life as We Know It," Faris is in a show pitted directly against the CBS ratings juggernaut "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," but he has faith in "Reunion." In playing a charmer who persuades others to suit his agenda, the actor days, "I looked at two friends of mine and took different personality traits from both of them. My character means well and has good intentions; he just doesn't realize his selfishness. He's had everything all his life."
And do his friends know they've served as living research for Faris? "Not in the least. I would never, ever bring that up."
The ensemble movies "The Big Chill" and "St. Elmo's Fire" might seem like touchstones for "Reunion," but Feldman credits fellow executive producers Steve Pearlman and Andrew Plotkin with the idea to follow six friends over 20 years.
"Immediately, that concept felt so rife with possibility that I went off and brought back these characters and ideas." Feldman then fleshed out the murder-mystery aspect. "I just thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if there were additional stakes?' It's not uncommon that when you're 38, the innocence you felt at 18 has left. A death brings that home, but the murder is only one part of the show, and it only comes into play in the present day. Most of the stories we tell are distinct and separate from that."
Period music also plays a big role in "Reunion," with hits by the original artists -- including Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" and Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" -- informing the first episode's soundtrack. As with other series like CBS' "Cold Case," the rights to such songs can add a lot to a show's budget, and Feldman is ready for that. "It's no secret that the wish list comes with a price tag," he says, "and we'll have to lose some of them, but my goal is to maintain the essence of that music. I think we'll be able to keep more than you might think."
Some critics already have voiced doubts about "Reunion's" longevity, since the one-year-per-week premise might seem to exhaust the storytelling possibilities in just one season. Feldman disputes that, maintaining he would still have plenty to explore about the characters for a second season ... and possibly beyond.
"What I think I'm drawn to is the chance to write young people as adults," he says. "They don't think of themselves as not having the depth of feeling or thought that adults do, and one of the nice things in writing them is to try to accurately portray that."
By Jay Bobbin
What's a murder between friends?
Some possible answers play out in "Reunion," an intriguing Fox drama marking one of the new television season's earliest series debuts when it follows the season premiere of "The O.C." Thursday, Sept. 8. (The pilot episode will have an encore the following night.)
An attractive cast of young actors charts the highs and lows of a tight-knit group from 1986 to the present ... but one initially unidentified character won't make it all the way through. The resulting funeral sparks the premiere, which was directed by feature-film veteran Jon Amiel ("Entrapment," "Copycat").
Played by Sean Faris ("Life as We Know It") and Will Estes ("American Dreams"), pals Craig and Will have a car accident that sets off many of the events, but privileged Craig's girlfriend, Samantha (Alexa Davalos, "The Chronicles of Riddick"), has a secret known only by friend-to-all Carla (Chyler Leigh, "The Practice"). Also in the gang is Aaron (Dave Annable, "Little Black Book"), who's anxious to become more than friends with aspiring actress Jenna (Amanda Righetti, "North Shore").
Extended flashbacks are standard in "Reunion," which covers a different year each week; 1987 is the backdrop of the second episode, 1988 the third, etc. Often, those segments are cued by questions from Detective Marjorino (Mathew St. Patrick, "Six Feet Under"), the policeman probing the murder. Those he interrogates have to look as much as 19 years older than they do in the sequences set earlier, necessitating careful casting by executive producer Jon Harmon Feldman ("Tru Calling," "Dawson's Creek").
"Part of making that transformation is physical," Feldman acknowledges, "but a large part of it is acting. The first few episodes turn over one card, or one character, per episode. They age differently, but it's also a matter of how the actor inhabits the character.
"In the pilot, Chyler just becomes that character at 38, in how she carries herself and changes the tenor of her voice. As an 18-year-old, Carla is the sweet 'flat-chested friend,' as she calls herself; by 38, she's been hardened and she's carrying around some baggage. Part of the fun of the show is exploring how the characters change over the years."
Big performance swings can follow for the "Reunion" actors. "My manager and a lot of my friends call me 'The Chameleon,'" actress Leigh muses, "because I can basically look like anyone in any time period. I'm very grateful for that because it gives me such variety, whereas other people can have a hard time adapting to a certain look or style. When we see Carla at 38, she has much heavier makeup and a different posture, in a sense. By 38, you really know who you are. At 18, you're still exploring, and there's a certain naivete."
Just as he was last fall in ABC's "Life as We Know It," Faris is in a show pitted directly against the CBS ratings juggernaut "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," but he has faith in "Reunion." In playing a charmer who persuades others to suit his agenda, the actor days, "I looked at two friends of mine and took different personality traits from both of them. My character means well and has good intentions; he just doesn't realize his selfishness. He's had everything all his life."
And do his friends know they've served as living research for Faris? "Not in the least. I would never, ever bring that up."
The ensemble movies "The Big Chill" and "St. Elmo's Fire" might seem like touchstones for "Reunion," but Feldman credits fellow executive producers Steve Pearlman and Andrew Plotkin with the idea to follow six friends over 20 years.
"Immediately, that concept felt so rife with possibility that I went off and brought back these characters and ideas." Feldman then fleshed out the murder-mystery aspect. "I just thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if there were additional stakes?' It's not uncommon that when you're 38, the innocence you felt at 18 has left. A death brings that home, but the murder is only one part of the show, and it only comes into play in the present day. Most of the stories we tell are distinct and separate from that."
Period music also plays a big role in "Reunion," with hits by the original artists -- including Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" and Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" -- informing the first episode's soundtrack. As with other series like CBS' "Cold Case," the rights to such songs can add a lot to a show's budget, and Feldman is ready for that. "It's no secret that the wish list comes with a price tag," he says, "and we'll have to lose some of them, but my goal is to maintain the essence of that music. I think we'll be able to keep more than you might think."
Some critics already have voiced doubts about "Reunion's" longevity, since the one-year-per-week premise might seem to exhaust the storytelling possibilities in just one season. Feldman disputes that, maintaining he would still have plenty to explore about the characters for a second season ... and possibly beyond.
"What I think I'm drawn to is the chance to write young people as adults," he says. "They don't think of themselves as not having the depth of feeling or thought that adults do, and one of the nice things in writing them is to try to accurately portray that."
