Soap Opera Weekly: Is there anything the three of you would like to see added to this story?
John Ingle: I wish that the writers would give Mickey, Maggie and Bonnie even more of a dilemma. For instance, instead of being the victim, that Maggie could be written to say to Mickey, "Listen, Buddy. I've had it with you."
Suzanne Rogers: Wouldn't that be fun.
Judi Evans: (To Rogers) Or you and I could fall in love with each other and we could both dump Mickey! (To Ingle) You would end up with the dog.
Ingle: Like Thelma and Louise.
Weekly: What goes on behind the scenes, when you're rehearsing?
Ingle: We've got our scripts in our hands and we're trying things. In rehearsal we go for the performance. So I never know which is the rehearsal and which is the performance. I don't even care. We play the scene.
Evans: I was raised in the school of, you always give a performance whether it's dry block or in your own home. You ALWAYS give a performance. That helps you mold what you're going to do. You can go further or you can pull back. If you wait until the last minute, that's all the choice you have. The two of you are so good that it doesn't matter between dress and tape. They're both full performances.
Weekly: What response have you gotten to this triangle from fan mail and viewers on the street?
Rogers: They love it.
Ingle: They want to see more.
Evans: Yeah. I've gotten some mail that says, "I hope Mickey does choose you. I hope you kick Maggie out." Then, there's also, "You deserve to be out with yesterday's trash." It's great. There seems to be....
Rogers: A reaction. THAT'S the good thing. You want a reaction. You don't care if it's good or bad. You just want a reaction.
Weekly: What have friends and family commented about?
Ingle: My daughters always say, "Daddy, I don't want to hear about it. I don't want to hear about any affair. I don't need this. I'm going to have to have more therapy if I hear this."
Rogers: I have friends who have watched the show on and off for years. It's been so long since Maggie has been sensual at all, let alone even in a nightgown. And when she was, they were always very prim and lovely. My friend Jeanette's husband told me that he re-ran the tape of me wearing that red negligeé three or four times. He hasn't erased it, yet.
Evans: My husband is so funny. He likes all of it. And my parents are getting a huge kick out of this triangle.
Weekly: What was their reaction to that mènage á trois bed scene?
Evans: They loved it. My parents are show people. They're from the circus. I'd have to do a lot worse to shock them.
Weekly: Judi and Suzanne, what makes each of your characters the right woman for Mickey?
Rogers: With Maggie it's an investment. They've been through a lot. That sounds dull, but...
Ingle: No. They wrote in for Mickey to reminisce to Julie about how Maggie was crippled and Mickey held her in his arms and they danced. That was very romantic.
Rogers: Mickey pulled Maggie out of herself, when she was a cripple on a farm. He came on the farm and he was an emotional cripple. He had just found out his wife, that he loved all those years, had had a child by someone else.
Evans: Bonnie is different from Maggie in that she opened Mickey up to a whole new world. He and Maggie had been together for so long, and, although it was a wonderful life, it was always the same.
Ingle: When Maggie died, Bonnie gave Mickey a reason to go on living. That is very important. She makes him happy.
Rogers: And what Bonnie brings to Mickey is hot sex! I truly think that.
Ingle: (laughing) Where Mickey is completely open to say, "Yahoo!" Mickey even had a cowboy hat on one time.
Rogers: I feel that Maggie is complacent. She's ben complacent.
Evans: Bonnie brings a whole different dynamic to Mickey. She's adventurous and lives for the moment.
Ingle: There aren't any "should'ves" for her.
Rogers: And one other thing, she's a blonde like his first wife.
Laura was a blonde.
Ingle: I'm learning so much about this character. This is wonderful therapy and I don't have to say anything.
