|
 Hollywood –
Kate Jackson
is having
the time of
her life
doing the
new NBC
sitcom Baby
Boom because
none of her
scenes
involve car
chases,
hopping from
train to
train or
ducking
bullets.
“I think
I’ve told my
last person
to
‘Freeze’,”
says the
throaty,
dark-haired
TV veteran
whose
previous TV
outings were
action/adventure
shows
featuring
mucho stunt
work.
In Baby
Boom, based
on the
successful
Diane Keaton
movie of the
same name,
the only
stunts so
far involve
changing
diapers and
juggling a
fast-lane
business
career with
that of
being a
single
parent.
Baby Boom is
Jackson’s
fourth TV
series. She
first played
nurse Jill
Danko on the
The Rookies.
The others,
of course,
were the
immensely
popular
midwife of
Jiggle TV,
Charlie’s
Angels, (she
was the
smart one
who jiggled
least) and
Scarecrow
and Mrs.
King.
This time
around, the
Alabama
native stars
as J.C
Wiatt, a
high-powered
corporative
executive
whose
well-organized
life is
tossed
topsy-turvy
by the
arrival of a
child willed
to her by a
now-deceased
distant
relative.
However,
unlike the
movie, which
saw Wiatt
eventually
move from
the
corporate
jungle to a
small town,
TV’s Baby
Boom will
remain in
the business
world for
now.
But not
every
episode will
have J.C
hunting for
baby
Elizabeth’s
(played by
twins
Kristina and
Michelle
Kennedy)
“lost
blankie”.
Upcoming
stories will
deal with
her guilt
over being a
working mom,
not having
enough time
for her
child or for
her work.
Maybe even
suffering
over the
fact the
child has no
father.
Meanwhile,
Jackson, who
is pushing
40 and has
no children
of her own,
says she’s
not really
concerned
with her
lack of
experience
in dealing
with little
tykes.
“I don’t
have any
children,
but I have a
lot of
friends who
do. I have
many
godchildren
and a
nephew. But
ask me what
it’s like in
six months
or a year
when maybe
I’ll have a
little more
experience
…. It’s fun
and I’m
amazed at
the
different
feelings
that I have
being around
them”. Yes,
some of them
of a
maternal
bent.
Even more
important,
she says,
working with
babies adds
to the usual
challenges
she finds as
an actress.
“You really
don’t know
what to
expect from
them. As an
actress, it
keeps you
right in the
moment. You
can’t be
anywhere
else and
your
attention
can’t
wander. If
it does,
this little
child
doesn’t
understand
and she’s
off
someplace
else.
“Then, too,
as an actor
or actress,
we have
intentions
and we have
words to
make things
happen.
Well, with
other adults
all sorts of
things are
going on.
With a
child, you
really have
these words
to make that
happen, and
you either
make it
happen with
those words
or you
don’t. It’s
challenging,
but it’s
fun.”
And while
she
sometimes
feels
awkward
being around
the babies,
she also
knows that
if this
series
endures
she’ll
influence
their lives.
“It’s fun
mostly to be
around them.
I don’t have
to scold
them or
things like
that. But if
we do the
show for two
or three
years, I
realize that
I will be an
important
adult in
their lives.
So I’ll
think about
something
before I do
it”.
Jackson
added that
some input
comes from
her close
friend and
Charlie’s
Angels
co-star
Jaclyn
Smith, who
juggles a
baby and a
career.
“Jackie’s
little girl,
Spencer, is
one of my
godchildren,
and I’m
really aware
of how hard
Jackie
works. When
she goes
away on
location,
the whole
family picks
up and goes
and they
have to work
hard to keep
everything
together”.
So far, it’s
one
balancing
act Kate
Jackson says
is still in
the refining
stages.
By Jerry
Gladman |
