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Football
vs NC State
Roth: Saving Grace
9/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
DURHAM, N.C. ? When last we visited with Bailey Chase, he was a regular on the daytime television drama As the World Turns. His world has since turned in another direction, spinning him onto one of the top prime time cable TV programs of the summer season.
Chase, a former Duke football player who competed for the 1994 Hall of Fame Bowl team, plays detective Butch Ada on the new TNT series Saving Grace, which premiered in July to more than 6.4 million viewers, becoming ad-supported cable's No. 1 series premiere of the year. The show averaged over 5 million viewers in its time slot following The Closer on TNT's Monday night schedule, and completed its debut season last week.
The network recently announced that it had ordered 15 new episodes of the popular and critically acclaimed series for a second season next summer. Oscar winning actress Holly Hunter, who plays Grace, an Oklahoma City police detective, is the star of the show and Chase works as one of her colleagues.
The cast also features Laura San Giacomo (Just Shoot Me), Kenneth Johnson (The Shield) and Leon Rippy (Deadwood) as the second-chance angel Earl who provides Grace with unconventional assistance.
Chase says part of the show's appeal is that it is totally unique.
“There's not anything like it on television,” he noted. “People say that all the time, but it's actually true in this case. Every week it's different, constantly pushing the envelope. They are very sensitive subjects when you are dealing with religion, and it doesn't take any one side. It doesn't say, ?Oh yeah, the Catholics got it right,' or ?The Muslims got it right.' It's just an open forum and it comes at it from a completely objective point of view.
“What I like about the show in terms of being part of the audience is that I can relate to everything that they're doing. There are universal themes and problems that we all struggle with, and at the end of the day we're just trying to do the best we can.”
Chase has been doing very well for himself since his days as defensive end Bailey Luetgert (Class of '95) for the Duke football team. (Chase is actually his middle name.) After studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, he has built an impressive portfolio in the acting profession, with several roles on familiar television programs.
He was series regular Graham Miller on Buffy the Vampire Slayer during its prime time run, then spent two years (2003-05) playing Chris Hughes on the daytime soap As The World Turns. He returned to prime time with a recurring role on Las Vegas and last year played Beckett “Becks” Scott on the hit series Ugly Betty before landing the spot on Saving Grace. He'll be back on Ugly Betty this year, returning to the set last week.
“It was always on the back of my mind ? I knew I wanted to get back into prime time,” said Chase, who has also guest-starred on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. “With the soap, in terms of life experiences, living in New York was something I always wanted to do and it was the right job at the right time. Living in Tribeca, 30 years old and single was pretty fun.
“Saving Grace happened pretty much like all the rest of them. I just went in and auditioned and fortunately the creator of the show said it was love at first sight and we went from there.”
Chase's character Butch is a former Texas football star who went to law school. Butch and Grace used to date but are now professional partners. “We still have to work together, so we make the best of the situation, and it creates a very sarcastic banter,” Chase said, “We push each other's buttons, which is fun to watch.”
Chase pushed a lot of buttons last year. He shot the Saving Grace pilot in Calgary last October, worked on Ugly Betty during the winter and went into production for the Saving Grace summer series in April. He also appeared as the lead in a science fiction movie The Next Race, which has not yet been released commercially but claimed three awards at a Hollywood film festival.
Saving Grace is now on hiatus until production for the second season begins in January, leaving Chase time for Ugly Betty. He wouldn't mind if another movie project came up as well.
“That transition from prime time to film is not always an easy one,” he said. “Between now and January, we'll see if I can squeeze in another feature and go from there.”
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