By Michael Fairman

Listen to the audio:

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TV SOAP:
Kyle, how has it been working with Hunter Tylo (Taylor) in the new budding romance between Rick and Taylor?  Did it come as a surprise to you?

KYLE:
It has been great working with Hunter.  The switch in storyline was a bit shocking for me, because I thought the characters of Rick and Ashley were going to come about, but it’s now been interesting with the Taylor situation.  The fact that she is Phoebe’s mother and Rick and Phoebe had a relationship stirs the pot.  This show, in my opinion, has been very good at taking situations like that and making them very dramatic and believable, and not out of this world far-fetched. Working with Hunter is great!  She is such a gifted actress. The scenes with her have been fun and challenging, and we have had a good time thus far.

TV SOAP:
Challenging in the way that once again Rick is involved in an older woman/younger man romantic situation?

KYLE:
Yes.  It’s challenging because again, it’s the ‘older woman/younger man’.  Eileen Davidson (Ashley) and I would have that conversation where we would say, “I have never done this before in work and in reality.”   Hunter was the same way.  She said, “This is interesting.”  It’s definitely something new for me as well.  I had a little experience with Eileen last year.  The whole younger man/older woman thing is challenging to make work, not personally because of the actors, but the story itself.  I want to make sure that Rick going to falling in love with Phoebe, to falling in love with Ashley, to falling in love with Taylor, is believable with this character.

TV SOAP:
So, to make it work you need to justify it as an actor.  Does it concern you?

KYLE:
I have to justify it, or it becomes an actor just playing this role and playing what’s on the page.  I think at the end of the day, it could be a bit unwatchable, not because the story is poorly written.  You need a character that people can become emotional attached to and not just blow him off because he is man who has no substance to him.  I want to make Rick a guy with substance and believability, and someone a woman can get attached to; otherwise, the fans are not going to take it seriously.

TV SOAP:
Did Brad Bell (exec prod and head writer) “B&B” give you any heads up that this story with Taylor was coming?

KYLE:
I had a brief talk with Brad.  But to be honest, he did not tell me any details.  But he thought of the possibility, and the seed was planted in my head.  I never gave it too much thought till I actually started seeing the scripts.  Now, I have seen what’s going to happen, and it’s well written, and it’s up to me to get people to jump on board and become emotionally involved with it.  Otherwise, they will say, “Oh God! Rick, he is such a weirdo.”

TV SOAP:
Are you at all concerned that it may appear to viewers and fans that they keep testing the character of Rick with different females on “B&B” to see what works?

KYLE:
That’s a good question and I think about it all the time.  Especially on ”B&B” where you do not have a lot of contract players, where at “DAYS” where I came from, you have an hour-long show with 40 cast members, and the possibilities are endless.  Here at “B&B” it can turn into that.  I have heard fan on message boards saying, “Oh, they are just testing chemistry.”  They are not saying, “Oh look at this story,” and “Oh, B&B is testing again.”  I don’t want it to come across that way.

TV SOAP:
How then would you ultimately like the fans to react to the new Taylor/Rick pairing?

KYLE:
In the first script, Rick shows up at Taylor’s house to give her a gift and we see what the writers want to do, and that’s great.  It’s my job to say, “How would this really happen that somehow Rick would become interested in Taylor and fall all in love with her?”   I want to turn it from a chemistry test for the fans to, “Ooh. I like this sexy, hot story with Taylor.”   Or, they have a strong feeling that its not.   I want the fans not to just look at it as a chemistry test between two actors.  That is the challenge.

TV SOAP:
What about Phoebe?  Have you had scenes yet where she finds out that her “ex” is now dating her mother?

KYLE:
I have.  They are fresh and I have taped scenes like that.  I will say, it’s definitely on my mind, like, “What about Phoebe? What happens when the three of us have a scene together?”   It’s pretty crazy though, and I cannot divulge anything more on that.

TV SOAP:
Hunter Tylo has a very unique working style on set.  She is very committed to the work and likes to take lots of notes.  How does her style mesh with yours?
KYLE:
She does take lots of notes, and it’s inspiring.  Working with her is different and her approach is, too.   Hunter is very experienced and talented.  I love her process, and she does have a lot of notes.  She takes the dialog that’s on the page, and the scene at hand, very seriously. She goes above and beyond normalcy to make the scene very believable in her own eyes.  She takes everything to heart.  It is evident when you look at her scripts.  There is chicken scratch written all over them.

TV SOAP:
Is your process similar?

KYLE:
Mentally, I am on the same page as her, but I am not as thorough.  I try to take a situation in the script, and I spend a long time seeing how it would play out.  First, I take my own reactions on how I would react to it.  Then I see how Rick would react to it, which is more dramatic and messed up than mine, only slightly. (He laughs)  I then come up with an average between the two and go with that.  The cool thing about Hunter is we recently filmed some dramatic scenes, and I give her credit.  She was so not just standing on set and really was in the situation mentally.  She is very inspiring!

TV SOAP:
How do you think the recent writers strike affected the scripts you were getting at “B&B”?

KYLE:
If I had to formulate an opinion, because the writer’s strike was a sensitive situation and I don’t want to single out “B&B”, but daytime in general kept going.  Scripts kept coming, writers were tentative, or not entirely comfortable, not experience wise, but just going to work.  My perception of it was that the writing was a bit conservative.  I am saying on the safe side.   I am not saying the scripts were bad or good.  I am just saying, because of the tentativeness of the situation, it came through in the writing a bit.

TV SOAP:
How has Eileen Davidson reacted to the defecting of Rick to a new romance with Taylor? Was she upset?

KYLE:
We had a funny talk about that.  It’s no secret that we felt there was something there between Rick and Ashley, and quite selfishly with me and Eileen, in terms of working together.  We love to work together.  We were teased around a bit when we both first came on the show.  Then the show focused on Rick and Phoebe, which was also great. Now, we come back from the holiday and think maybe something can start up again between Rick and Ashley and we find out, no, it’s Rick and Taylor.  For Eileen, and me we were laughing.  We were saying, “Just give us story!”  Then we thought could we have an Ashley/Rick/Taylor triangle?  I don’t know.  That remains to be seen, but at the end of the day, Eileen and I do have a laugh about it, like, “C’mon! Just give us a chance. One chance, to dive head first into the pool.”

TV SOAP:
So, you were both a little upset?

KYLE:
I don’t want to say we were upset, that would be a bit dramatic. We were more tongue and cheek. We were not pissed off about it.  We just felt we dipped our toes in the water, if you will, and we just wanted to dive in and see where the story would go.

TV SOAP:
Over at “DAYS” so much has been going on behind the scenes. First, with the news that the entire writing staff at “DAYS” was just fired!

KYLE:
Oh gees!  Oh dear. I did not know this.   My wife Arianze Zuker, who played Nicole Kirkiakis, is returning to “DAYS”.

TV SOAP:
That’s great to know, but you mean your ex-wife, don’t you?

KYLE:
No, we are married.  The press kind of jumped the gun on that.  We were never divorced.  Long story short, we, like many normal people in this world, we had issues.  These issues have been resolved.  Thank God!  The press jumped the gun a little bit and our personal statements leaked out and they were never official.  We are still married.  Ariane is going back to “DAYS” in March.

TV SOAP:
Have you been watching “DAYS” and all the mentions of your former character’s name of Brady all the time?  Is something in the works to bring you back to Salem?

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KYLE:
Because Ariane was returning I have been watching “DAYS” with her, and much to my surprise, I am like, whoa!  They are talking so much about Brady and it was an issue.  People have been asking me, “What is going on with that?”  It’s kind of a surprise, because in the States it’s been in Soap Opera Digest, and they posted an article, “Is Kyle Lowder coming back to “DAYS”?  And people are calling me, and I am going, “Nothing is going on!”

TV SOAP:
So, are you saying for the record, there has been no contact with “DAYS”?

KYLE:
I do not want to say there was no contact, but from my standpoint, there is never an issue as to where I was going to be.  But, I don’t want to comment further on the details.  At the end of the day, I am here at “B&B” and I want to be here

TV SOAP:
But it must be hard to watch “DAYS” knowing they are talking so much about Brady?

KYLE:
From my standpoint, quite truthfully, if I am not going to be there, are they recasting Brady?   Because they are talking so much about him, how could they not have that character return?  It’s bizarre!  At the end of the day they will recast.

TV SOAP:
How would you feel about “DAYS” recasting the role of Brady, knowing you had originated the role?

KYLE:
I don’t know.  I don’t want to be one of those soap operas cliché actors, saying, “It’s my role.” At the end of the day, it would be hard to watch somebody else step into that role.  When you invest in any business, or part with six years of your life in an area, and somebody else takes over when your hands are tied…. it is a bit hard to swallow.

TV SOAP:
But of course, you took over the role of Rick Forrester on “B&B” from another actor, so you know what it’s like.

KYLE:
Completely!  I have said that from day one, that the recast situation in this genre is a very sensitive issue because soap fans love their stories and their characters.  My first feature in a magazine, when I came on this show, was about how I looked at the recasts on “DAYS” when I was there, in particular, with Martha Madison jumping into the role of Belle on the show.  For a major contract player on the show, I was looking at it going, “Wow. I don’t envy that situation because fans get attached to the character, and the actor playing the character.”  And that’s been from day one here at “B&B”.  I am still respectful to the character of Rick and what’s been done.  It was not my intention to come into this show and do something new with the character.  I wanted to continue the work of the previous actors, and to add my own spin to it, and not to just dominate the character.

TV SOAP:
Have you spoken to Nadia Bjorlin (Chloe, “DAYS”) about the recent developments there?

KYLE:
We have spoken a bit.  We spoke a bit before she returned to the show, and we did speak right before the holidays.  Nadia received the scripts for the storylines that are airing now on the show.  She said, “We are talking about you a lot.”  And I said, “I don’t know what you are talking about?”  I will just say I find it a little intriguing… let’s just say that.

TV SOAP:
What would you like to see happen with Rick, and what are your goals moving forward with the character?

KYLE:
My goals with Rick in general, in the zany world of endless money, high fashion, high profile, and beautiful women where ever he looks… it’s a recipe for disaster!  My goal is to keep him as likeable and charming as possible, but at the same time, to keep the edge on him to keep him from being boring.

TV SOAP:
It must be tough to try and strike the balance of not being so “goody-goody”, correct?

KYLE:
You want to be charming and likeable, but you don’t want to be the “goody-two shoes”.  I want to create a balance with him.  At the end of the day, he is a chip off the old block with his mom, Brooke.  He wears his heart on his sleeve.  He is the kind of guy who leaps before he looks, in terms of getting involved in situations.  For instance, with the Phoebe situation, he was smitten with her.  He did not look at all the factors; like the age difference, the fact that he worked with her, and the fact that they thought they were related their entire lives.  Now with the Taylor situation, he is not considering the fact that this is his ex- girlfriends mother, and this is his own mother’s long enemy.   He just doesn’t think about that stuff.

TV SOAP:
Will we get to hear you sing on the show sometime soon?

KYLE:
I don’t know.  I hope so.  It’s definitely something I’d love to do, but that remains to be seen.