TCA Press Tour: The critics get hot and bothered

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

BBC America has a hot new show. At least, that’s how it looks from the trailers.

There’s a lot of hot, steamy sex in ‘Mistresses,’ the story of four female friends who have infidelity in common. Apparently, the hot, steamy sex got some of the TCA critics going because the first question out of the gate at a press conference on Saturday was for Shelley Conn, who plays a perpetual bed-hopper who likes men and women and spends some quality time with a character played by Anna Torv, the star of Fox’s ‘Fringe.’

‘Shelley, you had a lot of make-out sessions with Anna. What was it like to make out all the time with Anna?’

This was a real question.

And the answer?

‘I was very lucky --’ (at that point, the ballroom erupted in juvenile laughter).

Conn (‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’) continued. ‘ -- in that she’s a very talented actress and she’s very sensitive to be able to work with her and we were very honest with each other and that just allowed us freedom. It is always strange making out with somebody you don’t usually make out with, whether male or female. So, to me that’s not the issue. ‘

If it sounds like the show, which also stars Sarah Parish (‘Viva Blackpool’), Sharon Small ‘(About a Boy’), and Orla Brady, (‘Shark’), could be a ‘Sex and the City’ copycat, BBC America President Garth Ancier warns that ‘it’s not a fluffy show. It’s actually dark and complex.’

Co-creator SJ Clarkson said the project developed out of the idea that infidelity can happen to anyone, not to glorify being a mistress.

‘I’m not sure if there is a happy mistress, but what we tried to show is the truth,’ Clarkson said. ‘ You meet someone, you nave a connection, fall in love, and then you find out they’re with someone else. I think that’s a real dilemma and a truthful dilemma for many women today.’

Executive producer Douglas Rae said the relationship among the women is central to the show.

‘These are women at an age, in their 30s, where their families may have moved to another city and the girls are becoming family,’ he said. ‘The girls themselves are a family and share the stresses and strains of everyday life with each other. The series is not about promiscuity and how people can bond together and share secrets together.’

It premieres Feb. 20.

--Maria Elena Fernandez