‘Almost legal’ almost famous
Soap opera has red carpet premiere
by Kelly Maria Howard
Staff Reporter

It was a plastic red carpet entrance for the cast of the TCU radio-TV-film soap opera, “Almost Legal,” at the world premiere Wednesday in Moudy Building South.

LaVar Veale, a senior theatre-TV major, said he was in the last TCU soap opera that aired in spring 1999, “Studio 13,” and plays Hayden in the new one. He said he expects the episodes to improve because they were filmed in a class environment and the cast is learning to get better as the semester goes on.

“Everyone is more dedicated this year than when I did it three years ago because we had actors that really didn’t take it that serious,” Veale said. “I think this year everyone is taking it a lot more serious because they will get a lot more out of it. With this one, next spring, Burly Bear Network may possibly play it, so it is pretty much a national thing.”

Veale said Burly Bear Network is a college television network viewed at about 600 campuses. The network is also associated with TBS, and the radio-TV-film department is hoping TBS will pick up the soap opera for overnights, he said.

New episodes of “Almost Legal” will air every Wednesday at noon in Moudy Building South, Room 164.

Davis Jackson, a sophomore radio-TV-film major, said he thought the first episode was good and he will probably come back to see the weekly episodes as they are released.

“The quality for a college level production is just fantastic,” Jackson said.

Suzanne Russell, who plays Beth Merrick, said being associated with the production will help in the future because it gives her exposure in the career she hopes to follow.

“Working with everybody is great,” said Russell, a junior radio-TV-film major. “I have class with most everybody and it kind of becomes like a new little family you are with all of the time.”

Robin Devoe, a senior radio-TV-film major and one of the directors, was a character in “Studio 13” and said it was about the backstage dilemmas of a soap opera production in California.

“The plot line (of “Almost Legal”) is more closely centered to a college age, 18 to 24, and is more appealing to that age group,” Devoe said.

Veale said the setting of the series is in a Northeastern town and is based around the lives of students at a college and an all-girls boarding high school.

Kelly Maria Howard
k.m.howard@student.tcu.edu

credits

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