You'll love to hate her

By BILL BRIOUX (Toronto Sun)

PASADENA -- Yasmine Bleeth has no problem with becoming the Joan Collins of the new millennium.

The former Baywatch beauty plays the conniving young bride of wealthy industrialist Perry King in NBC's trashy, over-the-top Aaron Spelling serial Titans.

Asked if she was inspired by any of the prime time soap divas of the past, Bleeth said, "I really didn't have to draw from anybody. I've always been cast as the good girl, you know, high moral virtue, the girl next door.

"I don't know what took people this long to get it."

So what vixen-like qualities does she already have?

"Well, I'm a bitch, I'm a lover, I'm a child and I'm a mother," she said, avoiding the temptation to break into song.

Much was made at the NBC press session about Titans' almost tongue in cheek quality. TVtitan Spelling took exception to my suggestion that it was just a Leslie Neilsen away from being the funniest new show on television.

He swears that test audiences never found the show to be too campy "or were laughing in the wrong places."

Any humour in the show is intentional, he insists. "I think audiences love to see that rich people have as many problems as they have and more, and to answer your question, they love to laugh at rich people's problems."

Certainly there were howls of laughter from the assembled critics during a clip NBC screened, especially when bride-to-be Bleeth sashayed down the aisle, turned to the groom's son, and delivered The Shock Line of the new season.

"We're not expecting to be taken for the most serious show on television," added Bleeth. "It's Joan Crawford, Bette Davis 20 times over. We're hoping for that reaction."

Bleeth left the Don Johnson series Nash Bridges to work with King, Victoria Principal and Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers).

"It was originally only a two-year contract," said Bleeth, who's committed to Titans for the run of the show.

As for Principal, who plays King's wealthy ex-wife and trendy club owner Gwen (who happens to live right across the street from her ex-husband), this is her first prime time series since her bad old Ewing days on Dallas.

After years hawking skin care products on late-night infomercials, the still-stunning actress says she had to be talked into a return to series work, but came around to it once the character was defined.

"I'm 50 years old," she said, "and I love the idea that I'm going to play a 50-year-old woman on television. This is the new 50, and I like that."