I'm still churning out interviews from parties in recent days before I head out to another one this evening (hey, it's a living). I was so excited to see Annie Potts on Sunday night at the pre-Emmy party for producers. Annie, star of the television classics "Designing Women" and "Any Day Now," is a former Emmy nominee. But this year, it's her director-husband James Hayman whose show "Ugly Betty" nominated for many awards, including outstanding comedy.
Says Potts: "It's easy to get jaded about these things. I've got to get dressed up and worry about what to wear. I mean, everybody should have these problems. I'm just there in support so it's easy for me. It's [James] who has to bite his fingernails down to the knuckle."
I asked her what was she is up to these days.
"I am working at home. The little one is 11 now. I'd love to do a series. I love that work you know. I did it for a long time but I needed to take a break because I did 17 years straight and I was tired. But, I'm rested now and ready to go again. You know, there's not a lot of roles for women over 40 and I am definitely over 40. Of the 120 pilots that were done last year, there were only 10 roles for women over 40. I got one of them. It didn't go. Considering that there are so many boomers in this age bracket, there's very little product out there and I think it's a missed market. So, I'm hoping that something will come up."
I had asked Potts' former "Designing Women" co-star in July about her interest in doing a Broadway version of the sitcom that had been written by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason. Smart isn't interested in reprising her role but Potts seemed somewhat open: "I wanted to see the script. I'd love to work for Harry [Thomason] and Linda again, she's a brilliant writer."
Then I had to know: which of all her roles is her very favorite. It's gotta be the spunky Mary Jo on "Designing Women" right? Or the secretary on "Ghostbusters"? Maybe the high school teacher on the television version of "Dangerous Minds."
Nope. Her favorite, and I can completely understand why, was on "Any Day Now," the Lifetime channel drama that ran four glorious seasons. "It's my very, very favorite. Ever. Ever. It was dear to my heart. I mean, 'Designing Women' was a classic and cult thing but it's 'Any Day Now."