Sitcom shows Eve's softer side
LOS ANGELES -- Starring in her own sitcom allows Eve to reveal a side not usually associated with the hardcore rapper image that made her famous.
"The part that people know the least about her comes across most in this show: There's a seriously girlie girl side to her," says costar Jason George.
He cites her fondness for frilly slippers, little dogs, and movies like "The Sound of Music" to explain the flip side of a woman who described herself as "a pit bull in a skirt" in one of her early raps.
Eve plays fashion designer Shelly Williams, the central character on UPN's "Eve" -- about a group of friends struggling with modern attitudes about romance. Now in its second season, the series airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m..
When Eve first signed on to star in the series, "Eve" was titled "The Opposite Sex." She acknowledges being uncomfortable when the network decided to name it after her. "What if it fails and my name was on it?" she recalls thinking at the time.
The network eased her doubts, explaining the importance of letting audiences know it was her show and that viewers wouldn't find it confusing to have the title name not match the name of the main character.
Eve, of course, is used to name changes. Born Eve Jeffers 26 years ago in Philadelphia, when she first started rapping she was known as Eve of Destruction.
Then "I looked at myself as an artist and decided I didn't want any title," she explains. "I just wanted to be myself." So she settled on just one name, Eve, "the name my mother gave me."
After breaking into hip-hop as a protege of gangsta rap pioneer Dr. Dre and then the Ruff Ryders collective headed by ruffian DMX, Eve released three successful solo albums: "Let There Be Eve," "Scorpion" -- which featured the 2001 Grammy-winning single "Let Me Blow Ya Mind," recorded with Gwen Stefani -- and "Eve-olution."
This spring, she'll be cutting a new album and relaunching her fashion line, Fetish.
After it was retitled "Eve," her sitcom naturally shifted its focus a little, but at its heart, the show remains the dilemma of six friends -- three female, three male -- trying to make sense of their love lives and better understand the opposite sex.
Over and out
After a dozen seasons and 260 episodes on the air, "NYPD Blue" will catch its last case at the end of February sweeps.
ABC, which announced earlier this year that this season would be the last for "Blue," has set a series finale date for the venerable cop show. "Blue" will bow out with a two-hour episode March 1 -- one day before the February sweeps period ends.
Other than the date and its duration, details of the finale are being kept quiet. "NYPD Blue" debuted on ABC in 1993.
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Getting a lift
Fox's supernatural drama "Point Pleasant" and NBC's sitcom "Committed" will both get some extra exposure when they premiere in January.
Fox will likely test the ability of "American Idol" to boost the ratings of shows around it when "Point Pleasant" debuts after "Idol" on Wednesday, Jan. 19. The show, about a mysterious young woman (Elisabeth Harnois) whose father, unknown to her, is Satan, could hardly be more different in tone than the musical talent search that precedes it.
"Point Pleasant" then moves to its regular slot -- 9 p.m. Thursday.
NBC's "Committed," meanwhile, will air twice a week for the first two weeks of its life. The comedy, about two off-kilter New Yorkers (Jennifer Finnigan and Josh Cooke) who meet by accident and fall in love, will debut in its regular time period at 9:30 p.m. Jan. 4.
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Globe on NECN
Here's what's happening on "Around the Globe" today on NECN:
9:30 a.m.: "Talk of New England" -- Columnist Derrick Jackson on how bowl-bound college football teams rank according to their graduation rates.
12:30 p.m.: "Globe at Home"
4 p.m.: "Around the Globe"
6:30 p.m.: "New England Business Day"
8 p.m.: "NewsNight"
Schedule is subject to change.
Talk of the dial
7 p.m. WUMB-FM (91.9) -- "A Paul Winter's Solstice Concert Special." Guest: Paul Winter tells story with a decidedly Russian flavor.
Other radio highlights
9 a.m. WCRB-FM (102.5) -- Mozart's Divertimento No. 11; Haydn's Symphony No. 98.
