HOLLYWOOD -- ABC is putting a lot of faith and hope in its new fall comedy Hope & Faith. What it needs is charity.
The sitcom stars Live With Regis & Kelly spark plug Kelly Ripa and former Murphy Brown foil Faith Ford. The actress named Faith plays Hope. The actress not named Faith plays Faith. Confusing? That would be yes.
"They were cast after it was written," explained creator/executive producer Joanna Johnson at Monday's ABC critics tour session. "We have a jar in the writer's room and every time you say Faith when you mean Hope you put a dollar in. I've lost about $50."
Ford plays an uptight stay-at-home mom, and Ripa, who worked 12 years on All My Children, plays a self-involved soap diva whose character -- and career -- is suddenly killed off. "Usually, when you die on a soap opera, you are killed and brought back as your evil twin," explains Ripa. "My character's evil twin kills her and then kills herself. This is ground-breaking."
Ripa, who stole the session, seems delighted to play a side of herself she can mock. "Normally, on a soap opera, you're not dead until you as a person are actually dead. And even then it can be negotiated."
Naturally, the two characters move in together. Ford, who does not have children in real life, has a hubby (played by Ted McGinley) and three hyperactive children. Ripa, who has three children in real life, is single in the show. It's what happens when the fast lane collides with the car pool lane, sez ABC.
What happens is a messy food fight, at least in the pilot screened for critics. That will have to be re-shot, but Ripa has it down. "Mustard, ketchup, chocolate, whipped cream, spit, water, fall to floor."
The pilot, in fact, is being tossed. A grampa character is gone. Faith may yet wind up playing Faith.
The writers should just follow Ripa around with note pads. Famous for blabbing about her kids to Reege, she said that "children are a lot like pancakes. You sort of ruin the first one and you get better at it the second time around."
The series is being shot in New York, good for Ripa who lives and works in the Big Apple (where she'll continue on Live, which takes only an hour out of her day, she says) but bad for new bi-coastal commuters Ford and McGinley.
Is there a chance Regis might pop up in the show, I asked. "Maybe he'll play the sleazy agent down the lane," she snapped.
If re-shooting the pilot is strike one for this series, McGinley is strike two. The poor guy has been singled out by such Web sites as jumptheshark.com as the ultimate showkiller.
"I'm very proud of it," says McGinley, whose latest flop, Charlie Lawrence, lasted two episodes.
But where there's faith, there's hope, says McGinley. "It took me three-and-a-half years to kill The Love Boat, four-and-a-half years to kill Happy Days, and seven-and-a-half years to kill Married ...With Children. So I'm hoping it takes me 10 years to kill this one."
