TV: Fact merges with fiction in latest teen drama

By LOUISA CLEAVE

If watching Grosse Pointe gives you a sense of deja vu - that you've seen this cast somewhere before, perhaps on a teen melodrama set in Beverly Hills - then you will get the joke.

The new TV2 comedy is the creation of Darren Star, the television mastermind behind Sex and the City and Beverly Hills 90210.

The latter is the fodder for Grosse Pointe, a "show within a show" parody of a teen drama series, where the public face of the young and beautiful cast of stars belies an off-camera cesspit of bitchiness, eating disorders and general human grossness.

It is no mistake that Hunter Fallow (Irene Molloy) resembles Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty); that the actor who plays her on-screen brother Johnny Bishop (Al Santos) has the eyebrows, lips and swept back hair of a young Brandon Walsh; or that Quentin King's (Kohl Sudduth) sideburns should have their own mention in the opening credits, a la Dylan (Luke Perry).

But Star goes beyond just physical resemblance to his former starlets.

He has taken their off-screen attributes — in Doherty's case her reputation as a "difficult" actress, and in Perry's a hair-loss problem — and given them to his Grosse Pointe cast.

Hunter Fallow may play sweet Becky Johnson on the fictional series but once the cameras stop rolling she is scheming ways to get more lines, throwing diva-like tantrums to get her way and making cutting remarks towards everyone, from her hair stylist to her co-stars.

Quentin King is the idol of teenage fans everywhere as the rebel-like Stone Anders but would they still send letters if they knew he wore a toupee?

It's not hard to spot the similarities to 90210 and therein lay the problem when Aaron Spelling - Star's former boss - got wind of the show before it aired in the United States.

It wasn't that Spelling was offended by Star's satirical take on the shows which had made his fortune.

It was the characterisation of his precious actress daughter Tori Spelling in the character of Marcy Sternfeld (played by Lindsay Sloane) which hurt.

Marcy was originally written as an actress who, among her many emotional problems, relied on nepotism for her roles, including her current stint as confident cheerleader Kim Petersen on Grosse Pointe.

Spelling made his feelings known and Star backtracked a little, taking out the glaring nepotism reference, before the first episode went to air.

It is hard not to think of Spelling when watching the exchange in the first episode between executives viewing a scene from the show.

"Why does she always have to thrust her boobs like that whenever she feels an emotion?"

"And look at her lips this week — they're enormous."

"I read in an interview that she doesn't use collagen."

"Yeah, and that's her original chin."

Relations between Spelling and his former protege were stretched and Star was repentant.

"You know the bottom line is, it's not my intention to go out and, you know, hurt anybody's feelings or make anybody unhappy to the point where ... Aaron Spelling and Tori Spelling were upset," he jittered at a press conference to promote the show.

In poking fun at the genre which made him famous, Star did not hesitate to throw himself into the mix of dysfunctional characters.

He admits that the character Rob Fields, the fictional show's producer, is based on himself.

"It's open season on that character, as far as I'm concerned, because I have no constraints."

Star came up with the idea for Grosse Pointe after realising that, based on the shows he has worked on, what happened behind the camera "was in some ways more interesting than what was happening in front of the camera."

Lindsay Sloane supports Star's portrayal of Marcy and the other actors' neurotic behaviour behind the scenes.

"It definitely exists," she says. "And not just with actors. It extends to producers, writers and crew members."

It is not the first time Hollywood has attempted to take a satirical look at the business.

The 10-episodes of Action which screened late night on TV3 last year were far more adult - and a lot smarter - than Grosse Pointe.

But in the interim there has been successful spoofs such as Scary Movie, a parody of horror movies, which may give Grosse Pointe a better chance, said the trade magazine, Variety.

"There's proof that younger audiences can appreciate a good joke, even at their own expense."

The paper says Star had to go further than just sending up 90210 for laughs. He also skewers pop culture, teens and Hollywood's distorted view of reality.

You can bet you will never see a scene on Dawson's Creek like the one between Becky/Hunter and her mother after a car accident in the opening scenes of the first episode.

"The doctor told us there was a baby," says concerned mother.

"You lost it."

"I'm so sorry mom, I lose everything!"