By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Monday, May 30, 2016
Lifetime's soapy drama "Devious Maids" ended season three with serious dangling cliffhangers because that's the type of show it is.
Is Adrian dead or alive from explosion at the Powell mansion? Will Genevieve choose to save Zoila or the baby? What chaos will Peri bring now that she's back in the picture?
I spoke with some of the actors who attended aTVFest at SCAD earlier this year about the upcoming season, which returns Monday, June 6 at 9 p.m. (The show is set in Beverly Hills but has been shot in Atlanta since it debuted on Lifetime in 2013.)
Season four, which could possibly be the final one, is only 10 episodes, which concentrates and quickens an already fast-paced show. And based on the trailer, murder and romance are naturally back in the mix.
"We're having the best time," said Sabrina Wind, executive producer. "We are shuffling the deck. Almost everyone has story lines with new characters."
For instance, Rosie (Dania Ramirez) and Genevieve (Susan Lucci) get to spend quality time together for the first time. "They're two such sweet characters, almost childlike," Ramirez said. "We have some great comedic moments and heartfelt ones, too."
Grant Show, who plays kind actor Spence, suffers from amnesia. He is well aware this is a classic, well-worn soap opera trope. But he said: "I love playing it. It's a way to reset the clock on the Rosie-Spence story line. I get to fall in love with her again. That moment season one when he found out he was in love with her was one of my favorite moments... I have a great story line this year."
(Show has gotten used to Atlanta after spending so much time in Candler Park. "My daughter was born here. Taking a baby out to dinner is a much better experience here than in Los Angeles. People love kids here. People are nicer here, too.")
The producers have reintroduced the love triangle from season one with Peri (Mariana Klaveno) trying to upend the Rosie-Spence love affair. "She's so deliciously evil," said Ramirez. But she compares Rosie and Spence to Ross and Rachel on "Friends." "You want them together but something is always pulling them apart."
"Happily ever after is boring," added exec producer Wind. "Makes bad television!"
Ramirez, by the way, often takes MARTA to Eagle Rock Studios in Stone Mountain via bus. "I like public transportation," she said. "I can learn my lines. I talk to people. People say, 'You're an actor? What are you doing on the bus?' I'm nothing more than you are. This mode of transportation is made for everyone!"
Rebecca Wisocky, who plays the steely but always funny Evelyn Powell, said she's going to miss her mansion, which was blown up in the final seconds of season three.
"It represented so much about the Powells and what they mean to the show," she said. Her relationship with her long-time husband Adrian, she noted, "has always been twisted. They are at each other's throats. Then we literally blew the crap up. We'll see what happens. I think it's a nice metaphor. We were a couple that always found our way back together. That was literally flung through the air. That was really fun to film, too!"
Although "Devious Maids" creator Marc Cherry is no longer actively involved with the show day to day, his fingerprints remain. Former "Desperate Housewives" actor and "Devious Maids" executive producer Eva Longoria, for the first time, appears on the show. And so does former "Desperate Housewives" regular James Denton.
Both will be connected with Marisol, who is creating a show about Latina maids. They are in the official trailer, with Longoria appearing as herself and wondering in a meta way if a show about Latina maids "seems kind of racist."
TV PREVIEW
"Devious Maids," 9 p.m. Mondays, Lifetime
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