TV
guide article on Carly Pope (Jan 15-21 ssue)
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Interviewer: Mark
Schwed
Miss Popularity fresh out of High School, Carly Pope of Popular matriculated
straight into the Hollywood version.
Ah, yes. Who wouldn't want the glorious life of a young Hollywood actress:
the easy money, the stretch limos, the big house, the pampering, and the
partying? So why then is, Carly Pope, the stunning star of WB's Popular,
so miserable?
"Are you kidding me? I'm having
the hardest time," she says. "I miss my family so much. It's just that
when you're not ready to move out of your home, it's really hard to do
so-and I wasn't ready at all." Homesick? What kid wouldn't want to bop
out of her mom and dad's house in Vancouver, Canada, just six months after
graduating from Lord Byng High School, jet to Hollywood and land a job
on a network TV show? Sorry, Carly, but you won't get much sympathy from
the thousands of wannabe actress dying for a shot 
at the big time.But Pop isn't having any if it. In fact, the whole image
of being a hot actress on the verge of breaking out from the pack makes
her cringe. "What is the life of a star?" she asks. "Why is it such a
big deal? I'm from Vancouver. I came down here to do a job. I have a real
problem with celebrity and how it's glamorized. What confuses me is why
people are in awe." How they grown-up. It quickly becomes clear during
a stroll around the Disney Studios lot, where her show is shot, that Pope
is one very mature 19- year-old. But the fact remains that she will have
to deal with continued popularity and fame because Popular is doing well.
Even with the worst time slot on TV-Thursdays at 8.P.M./ET, opposite Friends
and Jesse on NBC-it's the fourth-highest-rated program for pulling in
teen girls (behind Dawson's Creek, 7th Heaven and Sabrina, the teenage
witch). The series centers on two girls: Brooke McQueen (Leslie Bibb),
a home coming queen, and Sam McPherson (Pope), crusading high school journalist.
They hate each other. When Brooke's dad (Scott Bryce) and Sam's mom (Lisa
Darr) fall in love, the whole gang moves in together, causing conflict,
drama and lots of cool catfighting. Sample: "You're like the menudo of
couples," Sam meows to Brooke about Brooke and her boyfriend. "Totally
interchangeable." The show cleverly launches arsenic-tipped barbs while
dealing with serious teen issues. Thus, in the episode "Tonight's the
Night," where everybody is planning on having sex, such a comedy of errors
ensues that by the end of the hour the whole class is clamoring to join
"Knees Together," a group promoting abstinence. WB president of entertainment
Susanne Daniels remembers the day Pop walked in for her audition, fresh
off a plane from Canada. "About 30 seconds after she opened her mouth,
we knew she had the role," Daniels says. "I love her presence. She's was
perfect to play opposite Brooke. She's not the blond cheerleader type."
But there was one hitch: People look a little funny when they have just
gotten off a long flight and raced to an audition. With a little rest,
however, Pope is a knockout. "I'm not saying that now that I see how gorgeous
she is that I wouldn't cast her again," Daniels says. "This is TV's version
of the ugly duckling. Expect she's already a swam." So everything is perfect
for Pope, right? Not exactly. For one thing, she needs a home, one that
would make her feel safe and secure, the way she used to feel in Vancouver.
When Pope first moved to Los Angeles, she rented a house. From time to
time, her big brother, Kris, 23, also an actor, would come and stay. One
morning an earthquake, centered 100 miles east of L.A., rocked Pope out
of her sleep. She first 
thought burglars were trying to break in through her rattling windows.
Then she realized that the ground was moving. She ran out of the house
and returned only to pick up her belongings. Since then the actress has
been home-hopping, sleeping on a friend's couch here, on a friend's floor
there. She's currently hunting for an apartment. Because she's single,
it's time for the inevitable question: Dating anyone? She won't say; the
only thing she dislikes more than Hollywood is talking about her personal
life. She will tell you that she has a mother and a father (but no names
or occupations) and two brothers: Kris and Alexander, 10. but that's it.
"We don't have to get into that." She won't even say whether she was popular
in high school. (Actually, she told TV GUIDE months ago, before she tired
of the question, that she had plenty of friends then.) After nearly a
season on a series, she's learned a few lessons:
"I felt bad when doing interviews because I was divulging too much. I
was so stressed out I really felt bad about myself and who I was and how
I was portraying that. So I just said, 'No more.' " No more interviews?
"This is the last hurrah for a while," she says. "It has nothing to do
with pretension, with trying to be mysterious or being a prima donna.
I'm not doing this so that people recognize me on the street and tell
me what my favorite color is. I mean, that's really not what it's about.
It's about the work."
going up?
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