“All Is Not Quiet on ABC’s Homefront”
Alec Harvey, The Birmingham News, Apr. 9, 1992
Add my name to the list of Homefront fans urging others to write ABC to save the struggling ABC drama.
Last week, Dear Abby devoted a column to the endearing series about life after World War II, and this week I’ll do the same, with a little help from Tammy Lauren, the actress who portrays Ginger on the show.
She’s been acting since she was 8 years old, appearing in series such as Morningstar/Eveningstar and The Best Times before landing her role in Homefront.
“I heard about the show from my agent, heard it was about 1945, and I knew I wanted to do it,” Lauren recalled during a recent telephone interview. “I read the script, and there are not enough superlatives to describe how I felt. I said to my agent, ‘I don’t care who you have to kill to get me on that show, but get me on the show.’”
No one died, but Lauren was cast as Ginger, one of many major characters on the soap opera-like series.
One of the show’s earliest storylines had Ginger and Jeff (an aspiring professional baseball player) consoling each other in bed after losing their respective loves.
It was to last only three shows, but a full season later, Jeff and Ginger are still an item, and they’re the hottest couple on television since Dave and Maddie on Moonlighting.
“It’s amazing, and it’s an awful lot of fun,” Lauren said of the characters’ popularity. “Kyle (Chandler, who portrays Jeff) is probably one of my best friends ever, and I don’t get close to people that I work with.”
Don’t get the wrong idea, though. Neither Lauren nor Chandler are seeing anyone right now, including each other.
“We’re not dating,” the actress says emphatically. “For one, we’re really good friends. And two, we both feel really strongly that you don’t date people that you work with.”
It makes it interesting when the two go out as friends, or with other dates.
“When we’re together, we really can’t go out that much,” Lauren said. “I’ve liked the girls he has dated, but I understand why they might have a problem with me. It’s a little intimidating to be out and have people come up and say, ‘God, it’s Jeff and Ginger.’”
The two enjoy playing their characters on Homefront, according to the actress.
“It’s funny, because if I find someone (to marry), it will probably be somebody just like Jeff Metcalf,” Lauren said. “If he does, it will probably be someone just like Ginger Szabo.”