Marc Cherry and Shawn Pyfrom talk about Andrew Van de Kamp...
When I saw "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry working the press line at Saturday night's GLAAD Awards, I was ready to let him have it. I've been bitching for several months now about how the character of Andrew Van de Kamp has gone from a sexually active gay teenager (whose a bit of a sociopath!) to this sweet Wally Cleaver kid.
But before I could get to Marc, I chatted up Andrew Van de Kamp himself, Shawn Pyfrom!
Greg: It's like Andrew has had a lobotomy or something. We want evil Andrew back.
Shawn: Well, he was out on the streets for a little while but I don't think it's completely out of him. I suppose it's still in there waiting to come out. I think it's just sort of laying low right now.
Greg: Has Andrew really forgiven his mom? I mean, he actually went to bed with her boyfriend!
Shawn: I know, I did some nasty stuff (laughs). As far as the way I've been playing it, I've made it as though he has somewhat forgiven his mother [who dropped him off in the middle of nowhere after Andrew seduced the boyfriend]
and grown up a little bit from being out in the streets. I'm just going off as much as I know so hopefully, they won't they don't throw something out there that would completely contradict that."
Then it was time to talk to Marc Cherry...
Greg: I want to know what's happening with Andrew. We're not seeing him as much anymore. Is he still gay? Is he still evil?
Marc: This is a guy who was kicked out of the house by his mother last season and had some rough experiences and now he's becoming a functioning member of the family. We're seeing him. He's working with Tom and Lynette in their restaurant and he gets his little jibes in. What I really worked on this year was seeing him as a member of the family and it wasn't his gayness that came first, it was him as a son trying to re-establish his relationship with Bree. So this has been a year more about trying to get Bree and Andrew together as a family...and I'm sure something really awful is going to happen next year."
Greg: so is Andrew going to have a boyfriend or a date or something?
Marc: I would imagine that there will be some sort of relatonship for Andrew in the future, yes.
Greg: What about having him get involved with someone at [Tom and Lynette's] pizza joint?
Marc: Yeah, it could happen. There's some cute people there.
Sounds good to me!
Just for kicks, I also saw Andrea Bowen who plays Andrew's neighbor Julie Meyer on the show and asked her what she thought of Andrew's love life: "I want him to have a boyfriend! I want Justin (Ryan Carnes) to come back on the show. I am so proud to be on a show that portrays gay characters and is very open about it. So, I root for Andrew, I'm right there."



On Sunday, Andrew admitted he's happy with $8.50 an hour at the pizza place because he's doing the beer delivery guy.
Remember, although quite subtle, this is a parody of soap operas. So Mr. Cherry has license to introduce characters such as Andrew, and then leave them in the background until a storyline needs them. It's part of the fun and outrageousness, of both a parody and some actual daytime soaps, that everyone is expendable. Anything can, and probably will, happen.