Meet the Hot Citizens of "Point Pleasant"

As Fox TV press info says, "All hell is about to break loose when a beautiful young woman, Christina (Elisabeth Harnois), washes ashore and begins the search for her true parentage". This new Fox TV series, Executive Produced by Marti Noxon, writer/director/producer of "Buffy", will hit the network on Thursday nights. It's another combo of serial and supernatural thriller that execs hope will appeal, like "The O.C.", to both adults and younger viewers.

The stars and the producer of the show were in L.A. recently to introduce the press to this new TV visit to the dark side. Will this show be your new must-see cup of blood? Hear the scoop from Noxon and actors Harnois, Grant Show, Sam Page, Aubrey Dollar, Dina Meyer, Cameron Richardson and Brent Weber.

TeenTelevision: Marti, how different or hard is introducing this new show? How is the challenge different from "Buffy"?

Marti: Christina, the main character is complex. In "Buffy" you had a girl who didn't want her destiny but her mission was really clear. In this one, you have a character who, part of her mission is to fight her own darker impulses. I think we try to balance it by showing that there are going to be other storylines that are going to develop along with Christina's that you can lock into. The mission in the first three or four episodes is to clarify that Christina is as good as she is bad and there is a battle between those sides of her.

TeenTelevision: So there will be good and bad people pulling her both ways?

Marti: She's going to find allies and she's going to find people who are working against her. Hopefully, those things will switch at times. You won't always know who is on your side and who's not. In the "Buffy" tradition, she'll have her posse eventually.

TeenTelevision: The characters here aren't in high school. Are you moving up in age from "Buffy's" beginnings?

Marti: It's a multi-generational show. We're aging the characters a little bit. They're not going to high school. Jesse is someone who has been to college and came back. The parents are just very good-looking. They're age-appropriate but they're holding up great! With the success of "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" we realized that we could have a show that was really multi-generational. That's exciting.

TeenTelevision: Elisabeth, and Grant, can you talk about being the good/bad girl and the Devil's Advocate?

Elisabeth: It comes pretty naturally playing the good and the bad. Yes, this is a supernatural drama but it's very much grounded in reality; in normal human struggles. Of course, when I'm staring at someone with the evil eye, that's fun. You definitely feel that way in normal life but don't get to do that. It's important for me to play this character as grounded in the normal sort of teen struggles and have fun when I get to go over the top with it.

Grant: I'm having a great time. I'm playing with just how much pure fun it is for this guy; how much my own humanity is struggling to maintain my loss of faith in humanity. This character started out just being kind of smarmy and fun. Now we're developing him into a character where it's not so easy for him to advocate the Devil. It's great.

TeenTelevision: Elisabeth, you played Alice in the Disney Channel's "Adventures in Wonderland" when you were only about 13. You are good at playing in strange worlds. What is that like?

Elisabeth: I'm a big genre fan in general so to be a part of musicals and in sci-fi and now sort of horror, it's a nice journey. I was a kid then and I was just having fun. I got to sing and dance and eat good food and hang out with wacky Broadway stars. I had a great time. Now it's a bit harder. I'm a grownup now and I work 17 hours a day but it's good problem to have. I got lost in "Wonderland" because I was doing things that came very naturally to me and were fun. This (Point Pleasant) is not an unnatural or forced experience. It's based in reality as much as we're dealing with supernatural themes. It's fun to watch showers of blood and exploding gas stations, things that I don't normally see, though.

TeenTelevision: Can you talk about the transition from child actor to adult, Elisabeth?

Elisabeth: I was very protected from a lot of fanfare that goes along with being a child actor. My parents made me go home and wash the floors and do the laundry. I always knew that I wanted to go to college so I took time off completely from the industry to go to school (Wesleyan University) and completed it in four years and graduated. I was a film major so I knew I wanted to work in production for a little bit after I graduated and I did that.

TeenTelevision: Didn't you leave a job with a regular salary to do this?

Elisabeth: It was a big risk leaving a job where I had insurance and an income. It was really a hard decision to go toward my heart, where my heart wanted to be. I was living in New York and I came out to L.A. for pilot season, and there were a couple of other shows that I came very close on, this being one of them, and I got very lucky. I was new to (casting directors) again. 'Oh, new face'. But I've been doing this since I could walk. But, it's nice to feel rediscovered. It's a compliment.

TeenTelevision: Marti, will you have any of the "Buffy" actors guest star in the new show?

Marti: We have Adam Busch, one of the guys who played one of the super-nerds in a small role now. I would really love to bring James Marsters in at some point. We've been talking to him.

TeenTelevision: Can we hear from some of the other actors about their characters?

Brent Weber: Well, I play Terry. He's the devil-in-training. He's Jesse's best friend and they grew up together. He's really a good guy but he's got a list of issues. He wasn't born into the same world (as the other characters). He doesn't have as much money and he has family issues. He's tempted, when Grant's character comes into town, to get a little darker and make some wrong choices.

Cameron Richardson: My character, Paula, is the slut/bitch of the town and self-proclaimed queen. She's always gotten what she wanted and the minute Christina washes up on shore, her whole world is rocked. The attention is no longer on her. Christina and Jesse, my boyfriend, end up liking each other and I'm like "What's going on?" Paula uses sex as a tool to get what she wants. She gets that from her mother. And Christina tries to kill me about every episode.

Dina Meyer: I play Amber Hargrove, Paula's mother, recently divorced, smart, successful and she has everything money can buy. What she doesn't have, she tries to buy with sex. Now, she has her sights set on Dr. Ben Kramer, the very married doctor, who is Judy's father. She's not willing to stop at anything until she gains his love..even if for only one night. Mr. Boyd (Grant Snow) moves to town and he's a fine looking young gentleman but he very quickly kind of swats me down. We have the same goals so we sort of join hands and develop a partnership and start doing nasty things to good people.

Grant: Fun nasty things.

Audrey Dollar: I play Judy Kramer. Christina, when she comes to town, ends up living with my family. I had a sister who died a few years ago and there's been a gaping hole in our family since and my mother has been a mental case. Judy and Christina become fast friends. Judy is very real and humorous. She uses humor as a defense because there has been a lot of pain in her life.

Sam Page: The character Jesse Parker that I play is the town golden boy. It's kind of been his destiny. I've always been, prior to Christina's arrival, a very devoted and loyal boyfriend to Paula. Now, I'm drawn to Christina and it's troubling to Jesse. Through Christina's arrival I've come to understand my destiny and become burdened by it. I'm the hero...for now.

TeenTelevision: Marti, what is the extent of Christina's powers? Can she do anything she wants?

Marti: No. As the show progresses, we're going to develop what those things are. With Christina, it's going to happen over the course of maybe five years if we're lucky. It's going to be the constant discovery of 'oh, look what I can do'.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.