TV Guide 6/30/01: Michael Easton
"Vamping It Up" Port Charles Hatches A Plot That Really Sucks
TV Guide By Michael Logan
June 30, 2001
Some 34 years after Barnabas Collins made TV history as the first soap vampire, ABC's Port Charles is about to reveal that Caleb--the tattooed creep played by --is also a card-carrying member of the blood club. This is just the latest in a string of weird PC plot twists aimed at addicting young viewers: On June 4, Jack (Brian Presley), one of the show's most popular young characters, died mysteriously, and his body was buried by the other PC kids (shades of "I Know What You Did Last Summer"). A few days later we learned that Caleb has a thing for Jack's girlfriend, Livvie (Kelly Monaco). In the June 29-July 2 cliff-hanger, viewers will find out Caleb is a vampire and that Jack--who was bitten by Caleb and has come back to life--is in some sort of vampire limbo. And that, says PC executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers, will kick off the show's next big romantic triangle.
"Jack must kill someone in order to survive and have eternal life as a vampire," says Carruthers. "This sets up the struggle for the summer: Will he succumb to this and cross over [to the vampire world]? Or will he fight it off in order to preserve his love with Livvie and protect her from Caleb?" PC recently switched from the standard soap form to surreal, fast-paced, 13-week story arcs that have resulted in a nifty Nielsen bump. The lavishly produced bloodsucker plot--titled "Tainted Love"--has "led to a rebirth in the studio," says Carruthers. "I've never seen the cast and crew so excited."
Easton, who starred in the series Total Recall 2070 and had a notorious recurring role on Ally McBeal (as the well-endowed model in Ally's art class), is also playing PC priest Father Michael, who is Caleb's twin. In preparing for the gig, the actor reread his collection of Anne Rice novels. "If you're going to borrow and thieve, at least take it from someone who's great at what they do," Easton says. "Rice has been very influential on the PC story line--in spirit if not literally."
But Easton also got a little first-hand experience when he accidentally walked into Coven 13, a Gothic dance party sporadically held at a music hall near his home in Los Angeles. "It's a vampire club," he says. "People come with their teeth filed. They bring their blood work. This vampire stuff is very real to them. You think something like that might draw a few people. The night I stumbled in, there was a crowd of 4,000!" Adds the actor with a laugh: "Just when you think you know your city, you don't."
By the way, Easton's tattoos are real. "We did have to alter a few of the personal aspects--dates, names, things like that," he says. "But I finally got a job where I don't have to hide them."
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