A few weeks ago, Rob Lowe found himself sitting opposite ABC News staffer George Stephanopoulos on the network's morning show "Good Morning America." Which as sort of weird, given that the character Lowe plays on "The West Wing" is to some degree based on Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton White House aide.
"In the middle of the interview, he said, 'OK, Rob, let's just cut to the chase. Let's talk about the big rumor,' " Lowe said. "And I said, 'Oh, the rumor that I'm playing you?'
"And he said, 'Oh, no. The rumor that you're a Republican.' "
(The first rumor is at least sort of true; the second is completely false.)
Lowe said that starring in "The West Wing" (which airs tonight at 7 on Ch. 5) has made him more aware of current events and politics than ever before — something that came in handy during his "GMA" interview with Stephanopoulos.
"I was able to contradict him on John McCain's position on a woman's right to choose. I mean, when you get to outguess George Stephanopoulos on a political position, that's a really good day."
JUST NOT TRUE: Lowe continues to express disbelief about the reports that circulated last year that he was unhappy on "The West Wing," that he felt his role was being overshadowed by Martin Sheen, and that he was ready to quit the show — all of which he adamantly denies, and all of which he blames on "my friends, the tabloids."
"It was a real head-scratcher to me, that whole time," Lowe said.
The actor, who has known Sheen since he was a kid — he grew up with Sheen's sons, Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen — said the reports were "hurtful on a lot of levels because I adore Martin so much and have been nothing but such a huge fan of this whole train ('West Wing'), I always wanted to get on it from the first minute I read it."
GOOD FOR HIM: Let's all give a round of applause to Jamie Kellner, the former chief of the WB who is now the head of all of AOL-Time Warner's networks (which include not only the WB but the Turner Group — CNN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon and so on). Among Kellner's first acts after taking control at Turner was to cancel the networks' WCW wrestling shows.
OK — so the ratings weren't good, anyway, but it's still a move in the right direction.
The WCW is now in the process of being sold to the WWF — so don't be surprised if the WCW resurfaces on TNN or MTV or both.
TOGETHER AGAIN: If the Turner networks start acting more aggressively — like Fox in its early days or the WB in more recent years — it won't be a coincidence. Kellner is re-creating the team that helped him build both networks.
He's been joined at Turner by Garth Ancier, his right-hand man at both Fox and the WB who left for a short, unsuccessful tenure as NBC's chief programmer. And Brad Turrell, who was the chief spokesman, head publicist and a top strategist for Kellner at both Fox and the WB, is now assuming the same role at Turner.
This ought to be interesting to watch over the next few months.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com