I like The Pretender. I started watching it the night of the premier because I had the house all to myself and the premise sounded fascinating: A man who can be anyone! What's not to like? Apparently NOTHING...
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Fill mushroom caps with stuffing and oil. In a mixing bowl, combine tomato sauce, chicken stock, parsley and garlic. Pour mixture into shallow baking dish. Place mushrroms in dish and sprinkle tops with cheese and bread crumbs. Bake 15 minutes; remove from sauce (some will be absorbed by mushrooms).Serves 4
When Andrea Parker first read the role of Miss Parker, the villainous vamp on NBC's The Pretender, "I realized that my name was all over it," shesays with a laugh. "It's a total coincidence that we had the same name, but I wasdrawn to her like a magnet -- the way she was describes as a chain-smoking, condescending, impatient, sarcastic, consummate professional sounded so apppealing. she is so the opposite of me. I smell the flowers; she stomps on them."
That being the case, it's no wonder the California-born actress is concerned about nutrition. "Playing my character is very physically demanding," she says. "Believeme, it's all that I can do to keep up with Miss Parker -- kicking down doors and driving like a bat out of hell in six-inch stilettos."
Yet for all of their differences, Parker admits there are days when she can empathize with her television counterpart. "Her personality may not be who I am on a dailybasis," says the actress, "but when I'm stuck in traffic, I'm mising an important appointment, my hair won't go right, and I've ust been cut off, I could rip somebody's face off in a heartbeat. In that moment, magnify that to be all that I am when I'm on the set and in the scene, I am Miss Parker."
