Shaun News

Shaun of the dread

November 16, 2005

''Invasion," the creepy post-hurricane drama that airs Wednesday nights after ''Lost" on ABC, has done a leisurely job setting up its what's-in-the-water plot. But stick around, creator Shaun Cassidy says: The show is about to unleash some serious information. Cassidy was in town last weekend to visit his son, a Boston University student, and see his brother Patrick in ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." We caught up with him by phone a few days earlier to talk about the series, the ins and outs of mystery TV, and the fan base that hasn't forgotten his ''Hardy Boys" days.

Q. You've said ''Lost" made ''Invasion" possible. What has changed about TV?

A. Well, the show was possible in terms of my psyche. But [there's a new] openness to a serialized drama. We have a sheriff and we have a doctor. Our show is way more complicated than their jobs. Their blended family is kind of a metaphor for the bigger invasion of a species. [Pause.] If it is another species.

Q. People have worried that the creators of ''Lost" are making up the show as they go along. How much do you know about ''Invasion"?

A. I know a lot. You have to have an idea, a very clear idea, of where you're planning on landing. The next three shows really are delivering a lot of steak with the sizzle. You're going to pretty much get all of these answers, [which] raises a lot more questions.

Q. Did you plan to have such a slow roll-out?

A. We're moving quicker than I initially thought we would about reveals. We're called ''Invasion"; that tells the audience you'd better be getting Martians off the spaceships pretty soon. By the ninth episode, Russell, our protagonist, is going to know pretty much what the audience thinks they've known all along. The audience, by the way, is wrong.

Q. What's up with Russell's unborn baby?

A. A pregnant person in a sci-fi anything show -- the assumption is, there's an alien. Larkin [Russell's wife] has endured more than any pregnant woman should have to. If this baby makes it, it will be a miracle child.

A. (Laughs.)

Q. Will anyone die?

A. You never know. It's a big cast. I don't want to scare any of our actors. [But] that is the benefit of an ensemble show. It gives you credibility.

Q. How does your life and your family's life show up in the show?

A. My wife is from Homestead, Florida. She went through Hurricane Andrew with her family. The impossible became possible after the hurricane. You'd be driving through an intersection and there'd be a boat in a tree. So if the world is literally turned upside down, anything can happen with plausible deniability.

Q. And the blended family?

A. I've been married more than once. Thanksgiving is complicated in my family. I understand that dynamic. Who the invaders are is a subjective thing.

Q. Some fans have entire websites devoted to your teen idol-dom. What is that like?

A. It's kind of weird. I've been doing this job [as a producer] for far longer than I was ever an actor or a singer. My initial audience were kids and teenagers. They never forget you that way. It's like Santa Claus or something.

Q. Do you miss acting and singing at all?

A. I'm so much happier doing what I do now. I always wanted to do this. Even when I was doing the Hardy Boys, I'd go to [executive producer] Glen Larson's office. Glen had been in a group, the Four Preps. [Cassidy sings the group's hit:] 'Twenty-six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina's waiting for me.' I thought, hmmm. I have gold records. Maybe I can become a producer.

JOANNA WEISS

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

Music

Chart Flashback

How do 29-year-old hits by Shaun Cassidy, the Commodores, and Carly Simon hold up today? Whitney Pastorek gives 'em another listen

I'll be honest, Flashbackers: I was a little dismayed when so many of you confessed not to recognize last week's hits. But I've chosen to forgive you, and take the advice of a commenter named Carolyn who suggested I find out what happened to the songs in that Top 10 as the days went by. It turns out ''Don't Worry Be Happy'' — which, lest we forget, is off the soundtrack to Tom Cruise's classic Bollywood love story Cocktail — was in its final week on top, to be replaced in quick succession by ''Love Bites'' and then ''Red Red Wine.'' Both Taylor Dayne and Peter Cetera took their mediocrity and dove back down the charts, never to be heard from again. The entire group of songs would soon all be wiped away by Phil Collins' ''Groovy Kind of Love,'' as well as another song from Cocktail: ''Kokomo,'' by the Beach Boys. And based on those songs and their common theme of syrupy sweetness, I can only presume the answer to my question from last week is that we were all suffering from some sort of national brain hemorrhage in the fall of 1988. I can also assure you that we'll be revisiting this year sooner rather than later, because in about five weeks, the No. 1 song is Escape Club's ''Wild Wild West,'' and I don't think I could actually be more excited

Billboard's Top 10 hits for the week ending Oct. 8, 1977

5. ''That's Rock n' Roll,'' Shaun Cassidy

Do you know what was a really good TV show? Invasion. I loved the whole aliens-among-us premise, and I'd pay to watch Bill Fichtner try and untangle Christmas lights. But alas, just as the conspiracy was picking up steam, ABC had to go and cancel it. (To make room for what? Sure, The Nine looks good, but I'd like to throw Six Degrees and Brothers and Sisters back, please. Also, thanks a lot for canceling My So-Called Life.) Now Shaun Cassidy — who created Invasion in what can best be described as his third career chapter, after ''Pop Star'' and ''Hardy Boy'' — is left with nothing. Well. Not quite nothing. Just the memories of his long-ago fame as the '70s' most successful purveyor of updated '50s rock & roll — a fame that, while it never quite approximated his brother David's, still managed to be better than, say, Andy Gibb's. I really like Shaun Cassidy. And he was using a full 52-piece orchestra to record the score for Invasion every week, which, in this era of digital fakery, is a pretty rare occurrence. Bonus points for that, I suppose. B

Post your response below

cheryl- Mon, Oct 9, 2006 at 9:12 PM EDT

Thanks for your positive comments about Shaun Cassidy! From creative teen star to beyond creative TV innovator, he was always on My #1 list! I've followed him from the 1977 debut of Hardy Boys (when will Universal release Season 2?) to today & will always be a supporter! FRIENDS OF THE CASSIDYS!!

Mark Foley- Mon, Oct 9, 2006 at 3:27 PM EDT

When I'm not e-mailing young boys, I'm rockin' out to Shaun Cassidy. I like the way he ties a sweater around his neck. Sweater!

I agree - Invasion was one of my favorite shows last season - and now it's gone.

jillian- Mon, Oct 9, 2006 at 10:09 AM EDT

I was 10 years old and so in love with Shaun Cassidy. Especially da-doo-ron-ron. "I met her on a Monday and my heart stood still/somebody told me her name was Jill". I just KNEW he was talking about me.

The Dribble moves from cartoons to extra terrestrials with “Invasion- The Complete Series.” The show about strange occurrences in the aftermath of a Florida hurricane is available in Spanish, French and Portuguese subtitles as well as an English audio track. The DVD, which features 22 episodes of the series on six discs, also includes missing scenes, "Invading the Mind of Shaun Cassidy" featurette and a gag reel.