ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 19, 1996 TAG: 9602200037
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
As the title character of ``Second Noah,'' Daniel Hugh Kelly has his work cut out for him: not getting trampled.
Consider the scene. A llama here. An adorable, sloe-eyed child there. A 17-year-old, fanzine-destined lad over yonder. A pig, an iguana, and, hey, let's don't forget Noah's wife Jesse, played by pretty Betsy Brantley.
If it sounds like a crowd, that's just for starters.
On ``Second Noah,'' Kelly plays Noah Beckett, patriarch of a family consisting of eight adopted children, not to mention an ark's-worth of pets rounded up by his veterinarian-wife. But the brawny, curly headed Kelly stands his ground. Which is what he must do as Noah, the show's calming center.
``Noah's not as excitable as I am,'' Kelly acknowledges during a recent visit to Manhattan. ``Or as impulsive.''
Speaking maybe twice as fast as Noah does, the jovial Kelly goes on to explain: ``A few years ago my wife and I were driving through a valley in the northern Catskills. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. So I bought a farm. A huge farm. I knew nothing about farming.''
Not that he can spend much time there just now. Kelly and his wife and son live in an apartment in Tampa, Fla., where ``Second Noah'' was filmed - and will be filmed again if it gets renewed. Its third episode airs tonight at 8 on ABC (WSET, Channel 13).
No matter how ``Second Noah'' fares with Nielsen families, one thing is beyond dispute: This is the sort of TV show America's families say they want.
``Noah'' is gentle, loving and lush - prime material for viewers and politicians who want TV to clean up its act. Occupying golden days and silver nights, it's a weekly ticket to the home, sweet home of your dreams.
``The timing for our show is great,'' Kelly notes. But he didn't sign on with the expressed purpose of peddling wholesomeness.
Instead, he explains, ``I liked the writing. I find it to be very simple and elegant, not clever or cute just to be clever or cute. And almost always toward the end, it grabs me emotionally.
``And I've read enough scripts to know good from bad.''
Another script he thinks well of was written by a fellow named Tennessee Williams, who titled it ``Cat On a Hot Tin Roof.'' Kelly co-starred with Kathleen Turner in its 1990 Broadway revival.
Otherwise in his varied career, the 42-year-old Kelly was one of several actors to take a turn as Frank Ryan on the daytime soap ``Ryan's Hope,'' and he teamed up with Brian Keith for the mid-1980s action-adventure hour ``Hardcastle & McCormick.''
It was during that latter series that another reason to do a series like ``Second Noah'' was planted in Kelly's brain.
``I was in a bar with Ed Marinaro,'' Kelly remembers. ``He was doing `Hill Street Blues' then, and he was telling me how much time he had off. I was shocked. On an action show like `Hardcastle' starring just one or two guys, you're in every scene, you never get a day off.
``I remember coming out of that bar thinking, `I gotta get an ensemble show like `Hill Street.' ''
A decade later, he has.
``This is not my show,'' Kelly says happily. ``It's called `Second Noah' but it's an ensemble piece. The star will hopefully be the family love and the writing.''
Having just finished filming the 13th and - for now, final - episode, he beams with so-far-so-good optimism.
``The animals have been fine,'' he reports, ``although I kind of luck out and don't have a whole lot to do with them.'' At this he chuckles, thinking of Betsy Brantley and her memorable scene aired last week: ``She's the one who has to do things like give mouth-to-mouth to a chimp.
``And the kids are not only pros, they've got their heads on right. If they didn't,'' adds the real-life father of a 6-year-old, ``they'd know about it soon from me.''
So - once and for all, now - Daniel Hugh Kelly doesn't feel upstaged?
``Not at all! Nahhhhh!'' he laughs.
``I think there are some kids on the show whose popularity is really gonna take off, and that's nice. I hope ALL these kids get to be big stars. More days off for me.''
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB