On Tuesday, May 22nd, Global Television debuts at new dramatic series entitled The Best Years, from former Degrassi: The Next Generation executive producer Aaron Martin. The series will make its American debut on The N on June 29.
The series captures the highs and lows of college life as seen by six freshmen, with the focus on Samantha Best, a Southie girl who earns a scholarship to the prestigious Charles University in Boston.
Recently, I had a chance to talk to lead actor Charity Shea (with a cameo from publicist Beverly Warren) about The Best Years.
Kevin Wong: Hi Charity.
Charity Shea: Hi Kevin.
KW: How’s it goin’?
CS: It’s good, how are you?
KW: Not bad. Ready to do this?
CS: (laughs) Well, if you want.
KW: OK…
KW: Charity, how did you come about this part?
CS: I had the audition in L.A., and then I went to audition for it and I got a callback three weeks later and they wanted me to test in Toronto with four other guys and two girls that I was going against. One of the people I tested with was of course Brandon, and it was a nine hour audition (laughs). I went home, and two days later they told me I got it.
KW: What did you think about Samantha?
CS: I really liked her and thought she’d be a neat character because she’s thrifty and she’s edgy and she has a really big heart but she still makes mistakes and she tries to do the best in every situation and I thought she’d be really fun to play out because you would get a few things that were maybe a little bit bad but she means well, you know? I constantly felt like I was being mean and then being super nice (laughs), so it’s funny.
KW: I notice that this is filmed over Ontario – Guelph, Hamilton, Toronto. Did you get to see much of the cities you were in?
CS: No. I was really working like 15 hours a day. I got to see a little bit of Toronto when we – Brandon and I made a pact to go to every nice restaurant that we could find.
KW: Which ones did you get to try out?
CS: Canoe, and of course the CN Tower which we really liked. There’s a Ruth’s Steakhouse and we tried Blowfish. We tried a lot – we even tried Hooters. And then we went to Harbour 60.
(Note: I managed to refrain from plugging my friend’s restaurant to Charity, but if you’re in Toronto and want some quality Japanese food (from a chef trained in Japan), go to Mochizuki at Bay and Elm, ask for a chef’s tasting menu. It’ll probably cost you around $75, but it’s totally worth it. I’m not saying that Murtz should woo Survivor‘s Michelle by taking her there, but… yeah, I guess I am. OK, back to the interview.)
KW: How were your other castmates? Did you get along with them, hit it off with them?
CS: Actually we did. Brandon and I were the closest. We were like best friends. All the cast, we’re really, really close, which is great – and we all work well together, and there aren’t any divas or anything, so that was really refreshing. And hopefully that goes on if we have second season ’cause everyone was really nice and really grateful to be working on the series.
KW: Did it feel like you were back in college or back in school doing the show?
CS: It did. I didn’t really go to university – I did for a couple of months, but it’s kinda like going to college, the whole dorm experience and of course I didn’t have to do homework or anything but having to know some of the terms and everything like that and being in class. Sometimes I felt when the teacher was doing a lecture when we were filming like I was really in class – I started twirling my pen and (laughs) not paying attention.
KW: That sounds like me, actually. (Charity laughs) I wasn’t very good – I took engineering. Speaking of which, in an early episode you get dyed purple. How did that feel, because you had to wear purple for a while.
CS: We got one take. They told me “we can’t mess this up, how it all happens, we can’t redo it.” So we had one take to do it, which is pretty nerve-wracking. It was pretty funny because the makeup artist and the producers couldn’t agree on “the look”, so I had to get purple, show ’em, and then go back and then either put more on or less on. You know, we’re shooting, we’re shooting out of sequence – out of order, so it was constantly like “now you’re normal Sam here and for these two scenes you’re purple”. And then you’re out of it, and then you’re back to purple in the end. And then we had to do a reshoot on the fifth episode so I had to go back in the purple again.
KW: So you spent a lot of time in makeup then?
CS: Yeah. Especially since noone could agree on what looked right, ‘cuz people were saying “we just want an even purple”, and some people were saying “well that’s not how a shower, when it comes out, that’s not how it would look.” And then people were saying how I looked like I had burnt skin. So it’s pretty funny.
KW: The funny part about that, and the reason I bring that up is that my frosh year we had – I guess you could call it an initiation where you dye your arms purple.
CS: Ugh.
KW: And it’s similar to what you showed in the episode where it’s very difficult to get off. In fact, I had purple arms for about two weeks. Because no amount of soap or scrubbing could take it off.
CS: (laughs) Oh no. I heard that girls really do that to girls so, it’s pretty funny.
KW: Well, I don’t know about that because I’ve never lived in a co-ed dorm…
CS: Apparently, that’s where they got the idea – stick it in a little faucet thing.
KW: Switching gears, in the first episode there’s a tragedy that happens – what did you think about that?
CS: I read the first episode when I was auditioning and that’s what I liked about it – instant drama. And we hadn’t really read any of the other episodes but it was really cool because you’re getting to know everybody and all of a sudden there’s this thing that immediately we all bond or even fight but we form a relationship ’cause instantly that happens and it shows everybody’s true colours and everything right away. So it was, I thought it made the episode exciting ’cause it wasn’t just “oh, here’s everybody in la-la land”. Like instantly, there was more going on. And what a bad way to start a year, you know?
I think the idea was “Sam is really excited but she gets to leave home and she thinks that her world is going to be perfect.” And then it’s like, maybe it’s a lot worse than she thought. So I think right off the bat it shows kids having to make tough decisions. But I really like that we didn’t dwell on it. It’s like it happens, and now it’s over.
KW: It’s something the characters might reflect on, but you can’t do anything about it, you have to move on.
CS: Yeah, and we’re not drawing it out too, like every episode.
KW: Initially you strike a friendship with your roommate, Kathryn, and then for reasons seen in the first episode you become adversaries. Can we expand on what you think there’s such a conflict between the two?
CS: I think that no matter what, Kathryn and Sam would’ve ended up not friends, because really they are – they have a love/hate relationship, and even when they are on good terms they’re smart asses to each other and they constantly cut each other down but it’s all in, kind of like good fun. And they really like each other and that’s kind of why – I don’t remember what episode it was, but I think they had a chance to get away from each other and they didn’t, even though they hated each other. So no matter whether it was they would’ve eventually gotten in a fight because Kathryn, that’s what was great about Sam and Kathryn being roommates – they’re totally different people. They wouldn’t normally be friends. You know, in a high school situation, they wouldn’t normally be friends. But they’re stuck living together, and they’re forced to deal with somebody that they don’t normally deal with and learn to like them and appreciate them. Their relationship is totally cute and more towards the end of the season, something happens between them and it’s so perfect just because of their relationship so it’s really, really awesome.
KW: Speaking of relationships your character seems to have some sparks going with Devon but there’s also Noah. He’s kind of the foreign student – from Canada, which is kind of ironic seeing as you’re filming in Canada. And also there’s Cynthia, who’s socially awkward. Sam’s always hanging out with them. What’s Sam’s deal with them?
CS: I think that she had sparks with Devon but that whole bad thing happened so she had to turn to other friends and I think she feels like she really hurt Cynthia so she really owes it to her to be her friend and she definitely likes her but I think she’s disappointed in Kathryn’s behaviour, she’s disappointed in Devon’s behaviour but she really likes them. But I think she turns to Cynthia and Noah because she feels like she relates to them more because of everything that’s happened and she feels really bad for going along with Kathryn and being mean to Cynthia so I think she feels like she owes it to her and feels like she (Cynthia) is a true friend. So she wants to take Cynthia under her wing, be her friend. And Noah is – you know, I remember in high school having one of “those guys”. It’s that guy who’s your friend, and he kinda likes you, but he’s always there for you, and whenever you get hurt or anything he’ll always be the one you turn to. And I’m not sure if it’s episode 3 or 4, she has a really bad situation and she turns and he’s standing right there, cries on his shoulder, but it’s really cute. He’s always, always there for her and it’s that kind of relationship.
KW: Through the first season, what kind of growth do you see Samantha and the other characters?
CS: Basically I think that Sam, she starts off thinking it’s going to be one way, and it’s completely different. But I think she realizes that not everyone’s gonna be like her and you can’t – she feels like she can only trust herself but she comes to learn that she even lets herself down and that not everyone’s perfect and you have to like people for their decisions and who they are. You can’t change people and people aren’t perfect. At one point she gets on her high horse and she’s brought back down to earth and she realizes that people are people, human beings are human beings, and you have to love people for who they are. And I think that she realizes what’s important to her. All the characters take huge turns, realizing that high school and college life are vastly different – kind of sheltered in high school, and when you get to college you have to grow up and things change and everything gets real so we all kind of go through that change together
KW: Are we going to see more of Samantha’s past?
CS: Yeah. You are going to see HUGE surprises that I definitely cannot give away but it’s pretty shocking. It’s good fun.
KW: Sounds good, thank you very much for talking to me.
CS: No problem.
Beverly Warren: Hey Kevin, since you were in Engineering did the first episode ring true to you when the guys run through in togas and construction hats?
KW: Well, I can’t say that we had togas. We did have hard hats.
BW: But we want to know what you had to wear.
KW: Well, we were dyed purple, so I don’t think any togas or other clothing could really replace that. I don’t think we ran through dorms – that was my dorm initiation, actually. We ran through the girls dorm in underwear with garlic, oil and flour in our hair.
CS: Oh my goodness.
BW: Would you say that your college years were some of the best years of your life?
KW: It was a lot of fun. So fun that I “stayed” an extra year.
BW: Thanks so much, Kevin
KW: Thank YOU, Beverly, and thank YOU, Charity.
CS: Bye.
The Best Years debuts in Canada on Tuesday, May 22nd at 10pm on Global Television.
The Best Years debuts in the U.S. on Friday, June 29 on The N.
