Zach's All, Folks!
Soap Opera Weekly - October 24, 2006

WEEKLY:  Your AMC fans are mailing us the craziest stuff—shot glasses, chocolate, memo pads—so we figured maybe they’d like a magazine cover to celebrate Zach and Kendall reuniting this week.
KAYE:  Do you really need her on the cover, too?
MINSHEW:  Honestly?  Probably not.
KAYE:  Here’s what we should do:  two covers.  One with just me, one with the two of us.  Let’s see what the numbers are.
WEEKLY:  How about one with just Cameron Mathison (Ryan)?
KAYE:  Who?
WEEKLY:  Why haven’t Zach and Kendall been able to get it together till now?
KAYE:  These people are more of an Edward Albee love story than a soap opera love story.  There’s an energy to them that is not always good.  They have to figure out where that fits in and what sacrifices they have to make to not hurt each other.  If you put these people together with no obstacles, something would still happen, and not necessarily something good.  She can’t trust anybody, and Zach doesn’t tell people things.  That’s oil and water.  They’ve got to come to an understanding before they commit to that relationship.
MINSHEW:  That’s a damn good answer.  That’s what I was going to say.
KAYE:  That is not what you were going to say!
MINSHEW:  No, listen, I was going to add to that.  Even if there weren’t all these other things going on, their personalities being the way they are, they would have obstacles anyway.  She is her own worst enemy, in every sense of the word.
KAYE:  When people have chemistry with each other it’s not always good.  Chemistry can blow up in your face if it’s not put together right.  But I do think that the long story for these guys is that they will be together.
WEEKLY:  If you re-sign your contract.
KAYE:  That’s a whole other cover, and it doesn’t involve Alicia.  (laughs)
WEEKLY:  Does Zach tell Dixie this week that they have no future together?
KAYE:  Yes, although I think this man really loves this woman.  He has helped her like he has helped every woman in Pine Valley and he hasn’t slept with any of them.
WEEKLY:  He even gave Di his coat.
KAYE:  Yeah, I need that back, by the way.  Winter is coming.
WEEKLY:  Who tears up the divorce papers this week?
MINSHEW:  They both do.  There are some nice moments in the scene.
KAYE:  A little note to the bosses:  Maybe they can leave the shirt-off scenes to the shirt-off people, the guys who spend time at the gym.  People who spend time in a bar shouldn’t do scenes with their shirt off.  That’s why we had to rip up the papers together because I was trying to cover up with the other hand.
WEEKLY:  You have no clothes on in the scene?
KAYE:  I’m not wearing pants, no.
MINSHEW:  We were under the covers.
WEEKLY:  When Ryan discovers Kendall and Zach are back together does he cry?
KAYE:  Well, he’s a weepy guy.
MINSHEW:  Wait--Ryan discovers…?
KAYE:  What is wrong with you?  We just taped this three days ago!  How much did you do in three days?
MINSHEW:  Remind me.
KAYE:  He walks in to the apartment and goes, “Um, hi,” and then I walk in from the bedroom and say, “How you doing?”  He’s a little creepy, anyway.  Why would you buy the apartment across they way?
WEEKLY:  His child lives there.
KAYE:  He’s got a car.
WEEKLY:  What about Zach having $10 million and sleeping in the same bed that Kendall slept with his son in?
MINSHEW:  And his brother!
KAYE:  That’s not creepy to me because I’m very secure.  And cheap.  I think it might be time for a new mattress, though.
MINSHEW:  A new everything!  Ryan is not weepy, he’s actually very stoic.
KAYE:  In a weepy way.
WEEKLY:  Does Zach apologize to Ryan for not appreciating his intentions with Kendall?
KAYE:  Yes.  I think Zach thought that Ryan would take advantage of the situation, because Zach would have and Ryan didn’t.  [To Minshew]  Although from what I understand, you’re the one who said no when he tried to get his leg over a little bit.
MINSHEW:  That’s right.  She finally said, “I can’t do this.”  It was Kendall stopping, not Ryan.
KAYE:  And I’m talking to him like it was him saying, “I can’t do this.”  He would have tipped you.
MINSHEW:  Isn’t that nice?
WEEKLY:  Any crying in those scenes?
KAYE:  No.  You’ve seen Cameron.  He’s attractive, so there is a lot of bitterness and jealousy.
MINSHEW:  I was spying on you guys when you were taping.
KAYE:  You were doing what Ryan usually does from his apartment, looking over into ours.
MINSHEW:  Yes.  And it was enjoying it.
WEEKLY:  What is Erica’s reaction to Zach and Kendall’s reunion?
KAYE:  Not good.  I don’t know when this turned bad with her.  I helped her in Vegas and I’ve been nothing but nice to her.
MINSHEW:  I wondered this, too, because you pretty much saved Kendall’s life in that coma and you made sure she gave birth to her child.  Kendall credits Zach with saving her life and Spike’s life, and Erica never said anything about that.
KAYE:  You know what it is?  I think your mother has a huge crush on me.
MINSHEW:  I wouldn’t doubt it.
KAYE:  She wants a piece of this.
WEEKLY:  Don’t most of the women have a huge thing for Zach?
KAYE:  Yeah.  And some of the men.
WEEKLY:  How are Zach and Erica?
KAYE:  The next thing that should happen is that Erica and myself go out, talk about old times, have cocktails—she doesn’t drink—and then you find us in the magic room.
MINSHEW:  You and my mom!
WEEKLY:  Seriously.
KAYE:  I tell Erica I never wanted to hurt this woman because I love her.
WEEKLY:  So everyone’s happy?
KAYE:  Of course not.  It’s Pine Valley.MINSHEW:  Right now, they’re finding their way back to each other and there’s talk of maybe moving into a bigger home…
KAYE:  And getting a new mattress.
MINSHEW:  Clean sheets.
KAYE:  And some of that ugly furniture you have has got to go.
MINSHEW:  That’s Hayley and Mateo’s furniture.
KAYE:  Really?  We’re sleeping on Kelly Ripa’s couch?
MINSHEW:  Pretty much.
KAYE:  I kind of like it now.
MINSHEW:  Now it’s not so bad.
KAYE:  Talking about happiness, the nice thing about what’s happening in the scripts now is that they’re not ignoring what has happened.  These two people go through a healing process.  We’re not just back and everything is fine.  There’s an awkwardness that comes out of new information.  What would my life be if you weren’t in it?  Is it worth it to put up with the nagging?
WEEKLY:  Does Kendall nag?
 BOTH:  Oh, my God!
MINSHEW:  Kendall is a nagger.  It comes out of insecurity.  I try to justify it, but I read the scripts sometimes and I’m like, “There she goes again!” [To Kaye] But you make her laugh and lighten things up a little.
KAYE:  So then what’s this whole thing with Ryan?  If I make you laugh so much, why do you keep going to his apartment?
WEEKLY:  He’s the father of her child!
MINSHEW:  That’s something Zach has chosen to deal with, or he wouldn’t have come back into this life.
KAYE:  You should say, “This is not right.  I should just leave the pretty boy to his Canadian literature.”  But you don’t.  You keep going to this guy for help.  That’s your shortcoming.  And for someone who is very secure—me—it’s still a hard thing to watch.
WEEKLY:  If you were the father of the baby, would you let her go off with somebody else and not try to stalk her from across the hall?
KAYE:  I would respect her decision.  However, if a woman just leaves her door open…
WEEKLY:  Is there a lot of kissing in the love scenes?
KAYE:  Why do you always go there?
WEEKLY:  I’m just asking what the readers want to know.
KAYE:  The readers should watch.  Make the readers be watchers and they’ll see for themselves.
WEEKLY:  Any tongue?
MINSHEW:  I’m trying to remember.  Was there tongue?
KAYE:  You mean with Kendall and Zach?
MINSHEW:  [Laughs] Yes.
KAYE:  There’s appropriate kissing.  Normal, grown-up sex.
MINSHEW:  It was very Zach and Kendall.  It wasn’t overly mushy, because that’s not how these people are together.  They talk to each other, they enjoy each other, they try to relate to each other and then they bang.
WEEKLY:  Is it romantic?
KAYE:  Romance is two people understanding each other, and I think we’re trying to get back to that.  You can light as many candles as you want, but if you don’t know who the other person is, that’s not romance.
MINSHEW:  There were no candles.  It’s just us talking through things and realizing things.
KAYE:  And seeing what the problems are.  If I can make a sports analogy, it’s like a team in the off-season.  You’re seeing what you need to change to make the next season better.  These two are saying, “Let’s see how we can make it work without hurting each other.”
WEEKLY:  What if somebody wants to make a trade?
KAYE:  Myrtle didn’t want it.
MINSHEW:  That’s her loss.
WEEKLY:  Alicia may have to make a trade if you don’t re-sign next year.  Seriously, what’s going on?
KAYE:  I think as an actor you have a shelf life.  You get to be 40-something, and your shelf life is not what it was when you were in your 20s.  So, for someone like me, I’ve got to make a decision that works for me and my family.  I’ve got to make these next two or three years count.  Not just financially, but with story as well.  You want to go out on top.  You don’t want to be asked to leave in the middle because you’re not producing.  So whatever the next contract is, it’s got to make sense.
WEEKLY:  Have other shows approached you?
KAYE:  I’ve talked to a couple of people.  But that doesn’t mean anything until it’s written down.  I didn’t become an actor to be famous or to drive nice cars.  I like telling good story.  And if the story is good, I’d like to stay here and tell it.
WEEKLY:  A lot of note pads and shot glasses would go to waste if you left.
MINSHEW:  That’s right!  Besides, I just read in the new script that you have a bunch of scenes coming up with Myrtle.
KAYE:  My potential love interest?
MINSHEW:  I’m a little jealous.  She said to me the other day, "Dahlin’, you’re one lucky woman to be working with that Thorsten."
KAYE:  She’s right.  I know I look 23, but I’m actually a little older.  That could work.