Charisma Carpenter has fun in a mean-spirited role

When it's time to kick a television series up a notch, smart producers know what to do: Add bitch, stir well.

As for who is best for the job, that depends. Those requiring a well-seasoned snake get Heather Locklear on the line. Anyone looking for a princess hiding a knife behind her back, however, can't do better than Charisma Carpenter. The fan favorite returns to television this fall on UPN's "Veronica Mars" (premiering 9 p.m. Sept. 28 on KSTW/11) playing vampy trophy wife Kendall Casablancas, Neptune's latest manifestation of pure evil.

To meet her, you wouldn't think she'd be up to the task -- bringing us to well-known fact No. 2: Like most actresses skilled in bitchery, Carpenter is, in fact, 100 percent sweetheart. Happily married and loving life with her toddler, Donovan, "that keeps me grounded," she said in a recent interview in Los Angeles. "It's really hard to have a tough day when you have a 2-year-old running around."

Enough with nice, back to nasty. On "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," Carpenter was Cordelia Chase. Seven years with Cordy ended when producers wrote her out of "Angel" in the fourth season, incurring the wrath of longtime viewers. Fortunately she stayed busy. Carpenter appeared on "Miss Match" as the shallow Serena Lockner, then turned up on The WB's "Charmed" as the testy demon seer Kira.

In comparison, Kendall is grounded in reality. That didn't prevent her from popping up at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego, though. We'll let Carpenter tell you what happened.

TV Gal: You have a story to tell about Comic-Con. Someone asked you about "Veronica Mars," and I heard your answer received thunderous applause. What did you say?

Carpenter: The question was, "What do you play on 'Veronica Mars' "? And I said, "A bitch." And everybody was like, eek! And then I said, "... In a bikini." And then they went crazy. I think that people are excited to see me reprise that role, because it's campy and fun. You can't take your eyes off her. You can't stand her, but you can't stop watching.

TV Gal: People keep connecting you with the "Buffy" legacy. You've clearly moved on, but Cordelia Chase is still informing the roles you've been getting. Do you mind that at all?

Carpenter: No. You know why? When I was younger I did. When I was first starting out, and I was less established, I was really concerned about being typecast. And now, I just think, let's have fun. Let's just have fun and get paid too, you know? I think that if the character's well-written, that's the thing that I'm concerned with. I don't mind playing the same character, but if it's not well done, then I'm not interested. I've been fortunate to work with some really great writers like Joss (Whedon), and David Greenwalt, Tim Minear, Marti Noxon, David Fury and now ("Veronica Mars" executive producer) Rob Thomas.

TV Gal: Is it true that you're trying to make the transition from hourlong dramas to sitcoms?

Carpenter: Yes. I had developed a sitcom with UPN, but it wasn't picked up. I want a half hour, but we'll see how it goes. I had seven years of one-hour shows, with late-night shoots, lots of action, you know, and special effects. It's a very time-consuming process that's hard on the body, and it's very difficult to be present for family when you're working like that. I put my dues in, and I want a half hour, so that's where I'm heading.

TV Gal: So, what are the differences between Cordelia and Kendall Casablancas?

Carpenter: Kendall is a little bit older, she's 28. She's honed her skills a lot more, so she's way more manipulative and hip to how it all works, how to get what you want when you want it. Cordelia was good, but it was on a high-school level. As Cordelia changed and evolved, she started to mellow out.

TV Gal: She gained insight.

Carpenter: Right, and there was more humanity to her and she became more fleshed out, three-dimensional and complicated. That's key for any character to be redeemed, if you're going to keep them around. But Kendall could totally take her. This fall I'm really looking forward to just causing trouble and having some fun and being mean!

'Biography' hits bottom

Last week was not a stellar entry for either Jude Law or A&E's "Biography." Law, recently raked over the coals for two-timing his fiancee Sienna Miller with his nanny, endured the additional shame of having the offending body part photographed while changing outside his mother's house in France. The photo quickly made the rounds on the Internet, where little Law's size has been equally ridiculed and defended.

Now that I have your attention, the second news item preceded Law's embarrassment by a couple of days, and that is a distressing revelation about "Biography." The award-winning, 18-year-old series, which used to be the main reason for watching A&E and still accounts for the majority of the channel's enriching contributions to television, has experienced its own significant shrinkage, both in viewership and quality.

A week ago, Television Week reported the series has lost almost half of its viewership in recent years, with its viewership average per episode dropping from about 1.5 million in the '90s to current levels around 676,000. More alarming news is that about 25 percent of that audience left within the last year.

As utterly disparate as these two news items would seem, the astute viewer might see that they share a couple of things in common. One concern for both parties is their cheapening for the sake of puerile thrills.

To hear Sean Penn dourly mumble about Law at the Oscars, he is considered to be one of the Great Actors of Our Time. We can agree he's someone you wouldn't expect to turn up in the likes of "Supercross: The Movie," but we'd expect him to be smart enough to know it's a bad idea to let it all hang out while the tabloids are hounding him either.

Audience gets younger

In the same way, A&E used to be an oasis for upper-crusty programming, giving the viewer options beyond PBS and the Bravo of yesteryear. And now? A&E's "Growing Up Gotti" commenced its third season Monday night at 9. "Criss Angel: Mindfreak," a magician beloved of Rob Zombie and other rockers, opened earlier this summer to an audience exceeding 1.6 million, putting it on par with viewership levels for "Dog The Bounty Hunter." Indeed, A&E's transformation is old news.

In A&E's estimation, its greatest achievement during the past couple of years is that it has lowered its median audience age. Its 18-to-49 audience has improved as well, thanks to the above programs. Overall viewership is up.

Just not for "Biography."

"Biography" has many more profiles under its belt than starlets and singers, mind you. It has pulled back the curtains on presidents, conquerors, spies, outlaws, murderers, even a few otherwise average people who happened to be thrust into the limelight for only 15 minutes.

Imitators abound

Copiously cloned, most of "Biography's" competitors are more concerned about digging celebrity dirt than profiling figures of wide-reaching historic and cultural import.

Every cable viewer knows they'll find more salacious details on "The E! True Hollywood Story," VH1's "Behind the Music," or MTV's "BIOrhythm." We can examine their bling on "The Fabulous Life of ... " or their willpower via "Driven." But for true substance and detail about these figures and many others who matter in the long run but don't fit MTV's image, you tune in to "Biography."

In other words, you can't really even blame these copies for "Biography's" decline. The real reason may bring us back to that snapshot of Mr. Law's loins and every click like it, which is to say, our overload on cult of celebrity and all things ephemeral.

That crude candid shot represents the main threat working against "Biography" these days, which is that audiences prefer too much information about glamorous lives to expository glimpses into history and culture. We are in the days in which James Lipton sees fit to interview Jennifer Lopez on Bravo's "Inside the Actor's Studio." A coming A&E series from Mick Jagger's production company called "Being" is another shot of pseudo-reality, as cameras follow a celebrity to show viewers how wonderful and tough it is to be famous.

Follow the money

Right now, stars and action figures make better business sense to A&E than other subjects, which is why "Biography" recently devoted an extended broadcast to, of all people, David Hasselhoff. There were "Biography" specials on "Life After Baywatch" and "Home Improvement," and the episode tonight at 10 p.m. examines Tommy Lee (NBC, currently airing a reality series starring Lee, co-owns A&E with Hearst and ABC).

These are more defensible than Paris Hilton, another "Biography" subject. What's next, an hour on the brief and storied life of her dog Tinkerbell?

The good news is that although fewer "Biography" installments are made each season, the series isn't going away. A&E thought enough of it to launch The Biography Channel in 1998, and that spinoff's viewership is up from last year as well. Plus, the series remains bankable to advertisers and is a lucrative export.

As sorry as "Biography's" ratings are looking, the competition seems to be scraping ends together as well. "Behind the Music" gave us the secret dope on Motley Crue and Iggy Pop when it was a really good time, but the most recent episode I came across explored "The Backstreet Boys." Who cares? Sunday's "E! True Hollywood Story" dove into the ups and downs of, if you can believe it, the NBC series "Blossom."

A&E may never return to the audience levels "Biography" enjoyed in its heyday, but it can afford to hang on to it for the sake of the viewers who made it a cable destination in the first place. Because, like the sting of Law's embarrassment, our fascination with Victoria Gotti's life and freaky illusionists will fade. A reputation for high standards, intellect and depth? That, in the end, is what matters.

What's worth seeing this fall?

To answer your question, I cannot tell.

After three weeks of slogging through almost every new series broadcast television networks will offer this fall, I remain unable to give you any definitive new additions to the "Television You Can't Live Without" department. No single show is arriving on the heels of loud buzz.

At the same time, you needn't fear a repeat of two seasons ago, when we were in the same situation because every new series looked awful. This fall's problem is one of too many high-grade averages -- meaning, most of the pilots are well-constructed, even those undergoing a reshoot. There's an abundance of thought-titillating concepts, some with potentially addictive hooks built in.

Potential, however, is an interesting word, and usually paired with "unrealized." That is the main fear this fall.

You'll have to wait a few weeks for the P-I's fall TV preview, but I figured I'd pull out a few shrug-worthy examples while the Television Critics Association's Press Tour's body is still warm and twitching. Shall we start at the bottom?

UPN has scored another fall win, because everybody who writes about television will soon construct wonderful odes to "Everybody Hates Chris." The Thursday night comedy is a multi-front win for UPN -- it's funny, nostalgic, filled with mordant social commentary, and it has Chris Rock attached. Its chances of maintaining the same level of laughs as the pilot are pretty high.

On the other hand, it's on UPN, a network many viewers still refuse to watch. And it is on Thursday, pitting it against CBS's "Survivor," NBC's "Joey," ABC's "Alias," Fox's "The O.C." and The WB's "Smallville."

The WB, abandoning its illusions of surviving almost completely on the devotion of young girls, has rolled out the welcome mat for older viewers. Few programs show this better than "Just Legal," a legal dramedy from Jerry Bruckheimer starring Jay Baruchel and Don Johnson. Bruckheimer has a solid record on television, and Baruchel and Johnson exude a buddy-flick chemistry onscreen that borders on wonderful.

Another WB series worth checking out is a cool paranormal adventure called "Supernatural," which brings the network back to its "Buffy" heritage.

On the other hand, "Just Legal" is pretty edgy for Monday nights, which have belonged to "7th Heaven" since The WB was a tadpole. That audience may notice Johnson is in the series, see porny implications in the title, and reach for the clicker. "Supernatural" has "Gilmore Girls" as a lead-in, which could make for quite the awkward pairing.

NBC has its problems. "My Name Is Earl," fortunately, is not one of them -- it's one of the only two surefire comedies on television for fall. Not to mention the love young viewers have for Jason Lee.

On the other hand, it's airing on Tuesdays, where the Emmy-nominated "Scrubs" and "The Office" have languished.

ABC found two of the biggest hits on television last year, and a few more that put it squarely in the top 20. From what we've seen of "Invasion," however, the network doesn't appear to have bothered to maintain a sophomore stride. With "Lost" as its 9 p.m. lead-in on Wednesdays, the weird sci-fi series should attract a sizable audience for its premiere.

On the other hand, that audience may lack the patience to stick around to see where it goes, what with "Law & Order," "CSI: NY" and cable offering more in the way of immediate gratification.

Fox is a closet full of shrugs this season, none as ambitiously designed as "Reunion." The premise takes viewers through one year in the lives of six friends, beginning in 1986 and ending in the present, when one has been murdered and another, ostensibly, did the job.

An interesting aside is that the cast has only been signed to one- or two-season contracts. So by the end of this season, only one character will continue, and the rest will be left looking for work. Then again, all of them will be out of work if the show isn't picked up beyond its 13-episode commitment.

On the other hand, "Reunion" airs after "The O.C.," a show that's not going to be up for any Emmys, and it's leap years better than anything else that has occupied the post-"O.C." timeslot.

CBS really has to screw up to lose this season, especially a Monday night still anchored by "Two and a Half Men." Of the two comedies premiering that night, however, the iffier may be "Out of Practice," the new sitcom from "Frasier" producer Joe Keenan. "Out of Practice" matches the wit of Keenan's previous series, and it has a likable cast that includes Paula Marshall, Henry Winkler, Stockard Channing and Christopher Gorham.

On the other hand, viewers liked "Frasier" in the beginning because they liked Frasier Crane. "Out of Practice" has no such character recognition going for it, and the humor isn't as direct as it is in "Two and a Half Men," "Practice's" lead in.