Blair Underwood And Vivica A. Fox Are Doctors And Ex-Lovers In Tv Series `City Of Angels'

Jet, Jan 17, 2000

Blair Underwood and Vivica A. Fox head the cast of "City of Angels," network television's first predominantly Black medical drama, which premieres this week, Sunday, Jan. 16.

In the CBS series about the professional and personal lives of the doctors and nurses at Los Angeles' Angels of Mercy Hospital, Underwood is the acting chief of surgery and Fox is the medical director.

The nurses, doctors and administrators try to give the patients the best care possible, but are beset with chronic underfunding, incompetence, outdated equipment and shortages of personnel. Most of the patients are poor, Black, Hispanic and homeless.

The ensemble cast also features Michael Warren, Robert Morse, Hill Harper, Phil Buckman, T.E. Russell, Maya Rudolph and Viola Davis.

Fox's character, Dr. Lillian Price, is hired from Oakland to take over as medical director and help the struggling hospital get its accreditation back. She finds herself supervising hotshot surgeon Dr. Ben Turner (Underwood), the man who stood her up seven years earlier just three days before their wedding.

"I get the best revenge. I get to come back and be his boss," she recently told JET. "Blair is the main reason I wanted to do this. We had worked together on Set it Off. Lillian was originally going to be older and they said, `Guess who the love interest is? Blair Underwood!' I had to audition--twice. I hadn't had to audition for a while. But, it was okay. It made me humble."

Besides working with Underwood again, Fox said the show is wonderful because of the cast and the great writing. "The writing is off the hook! If you don't have good writing, it won't matter how good an actor you are. Also, it's great that they show two sides of African Americans. We're professional and we can be down with each other."

Underwood said he'd wanted to do a show primarily about Blacks in an inner-city hospital. When he went to a "L.A. Law" reunion (he was on that TV series seven years), producer Steven Bochco (who also produced "Hill Street Blues" and "NYPD Blue") pulled him to the side and said he'd wanted to do a Black hospital drama. "He said, `I don't know what your commitments are. I'm doing this show and I have this role that's just primo for you.'"

The hospital has thoughtless administrators and nurses and spies who somehow feed the press every single scandal involving the institution.

Michael Warren of "Hill Street Blues" TV fame is Ron Harris, the hospital's CEO who has political ambitions and tons of resentment toward Lillian. Robert Morse is county administrator Edwin O'Malley who's also chairman of the hospital's board. He brought Lillian in to whip the place into shape. But, he also keeps advising her to walk a fine line because there are many around who will trip her up.

Phil Buckman is Geoffrey Weiss, the only Jewish resident in the hospital. He feels underappreciated by the hospital personnel, especially considering that he could have done his residency at more prestigious hospitals instead of the inner city. He and Wesley Williams (Hill Harper) are bitter rivals who fight over prized operating room assignments.

"We have the one White character in the hospital," Underwood explained. "I was the one Black character on `L.A. Law' for so long. It's like a flip flop."

Underwood pointed out that everyone's having a ball with the ensemble cast Bochco put together. But he also realizes there's a major spotlight shining on the show unlike other prime time programs.

"The perception in Hollywood is that if Steven Bochco, with the pedigree of Black talent that he's assembled can't make a primarily Black drama work, other networks and people in this town will say, `Why should we?' Whether that's right or wrong, that's the perception. So much is riding on this show. We need support. We cannot afford to fail. There's so much riding on it. We need letters, faxes, email and phone calls to go to CBS." If not, he said there probably will be a long time before Blacks are seen heading a weekly prime time drama. He recalled the fate of such well-received dramas as "413 Hope Street," "Frank's Place" and "Under One Roof" which were praised by critics, but canceled because of poor numbers. He said audiences for such shows have to be much more vocal with their support than they've been in the past.

Fox agreed. "It's going to be important for people to watch all 13 episodes. If we don't have the support for all 13, it won't work."

And there are plenty of reasons to watch. Besides the dramatic and comic goings on at the hospital, there's always that undercurrent of romance between Lillian and Ben. Sure, he stood her up, but she generally handles it like a pro. Only rarely does the anger rear its head. "There's that love/hate relationship that people like to watch," Fox pointed out. "I hope they'll stretch the relationship out. Lillian is ambitious, smart, powerful. Underneath it all, she still loves him, but she deals with it professionally."

So far, the two are professional and slightly friendly. Their relationship hasn't gone beyond a gentle, yet erotic kiss. Both are hoping the relationship remains sexually tense without going all the way.