My chat w/Eric Winter...

Ran into Eric Winter last night at a Television Academy event in North Hollywood which he accompanied his beautiful girlfriend, Roselyn Sanchez of "Without a Trace" to. Eric could not have been nicer but he is sad about the quick cancellation of his CBS series "Viva Laughlin" after just two episodes but will be returning to "Brothers & Sisters" as the brother of Rob Lowe's character and the boyfriend of Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys).
"I'm gonna go back for a little while," Eric says. "I don't know what's going on storyline-wise. I'm sure they have something fun cooked up. But I will be bringing my face back there, yeah."
I wondered if Eric was aware of how many "Brothers & Sisters" fans want him back on the show - so much so that more than a few were rooting for the demise of "Viva Laughlin."
"I know. [Laughs]. 'Brothers & Sisters' is a class act of a show. Those creators are phenomenal and I loved going to work with those people every day. And the actors, you can't say more about the talent. It's amazing. So, I get it completely why the support is there. I loved "Viva Laughlin." I loved my experience with CBS and my cast on "Viva" so I was very heartbroken. We put a lot of effort into singing and the acting on the show so it was hard. But you know, all you can do is move on and be thankful that there's other opportunities."
Fortunately for Eric, the storyline on "Brothers & Sisters" has his preacher character gone overseas to do missionary work with Kevin remaining committed to the relationship - for now. It makes his return not only easy, but potentially quite dramatic since Kevin is getting closer to his ex-boyfriend Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) in Jason's absence.
"They have been so great to me over there," he says. "Coming off of "Viva" has been rough in the beginning and now I'm coming into my own with other stuff."
In all, seven episodes of "Viva" had been completed but only two aired before CBS yanked the series off the air because of low ratings. He hopes the remaining shows somehow see the light of day.
"I don't know what's going to happen with them, Maybe something will be put together. I'd love to see some of the stuff that we shot. The great thing, and the sad thing, is that the episodes were getting better and better, storylines getting so much more interesting. The songs were so great. I have a really cool scene in episode six where I'm singing "I Need You Tonight" from INXS and I was so much looking forward to seeing the sequence put together...You know what's gonna happen, they're gonna put these on YouTube and we're gonna develop this huge fan base and they're gonna want us back! (laughs)."
Back to "Brothers & Sisters." So, what's it like to play Rob Lowe's younger brother?
"You can't go wrong there. When I first read, they said, 'You're gonna play Rob Lowe's younger brother 'and I thought, 'Who doesn't want to be Rob Lowe's younger brother?' That guy's an icon with the things he's done in his career. Nicest guy on the planet too so I've had so much fun working with him."
And finally, what about Matthew Rhys as a boyfriend?
"Such a cool guy. Talented. Immediately, because a lot of my stuff was with him, immediately made me feel welcome on set. That's quite an intimidating cast because everyone's so major and you walk into that. But everyone there was so welcoming and he was a big part of that, making me feel at home."
And what about that kiss at the end of last season in the pantry when they practically knock each other over?
"It was my first time because it was my first time playing a gay role. They make you feel right at home like they would any other acting piece. As actors, you welcome anything you're gonna do no matter what and you just enjoy doing it in the sense of putting on a good performance with whatever character you're playing. You want people to support it and be all about it. And so far, the fans have been very supportive of our characters."
With Kevin's boyfriend back, what's gionna happen with Scotty who is also popular with audiences?
"People are talking about that, what's gonna happen. Is there gonna be a break-up? an arguement? Am I gonna walk in on sometning? I don't know. It's gonna be really interesting."