Jon Chattman's thecheappop.com

Evie Almighty
By Jon Chattman

Long before Hiro Nakamura teleported out of his cubicle, there was Evie Garland of the often overlooked 1980s sitcom Out of This World. Not only did the teenager have more powers than the Heroes character (she could pause time by pressing her two fingers together, make objects appear, and teleport), she was easier on the eyes.

From 1987-1991, Maureen Flannigan played that glorious teenage girl who discovers she’s actually half-alien. Figuring it was long overdo, we recently caught up with the actress and asked her all about what she’s been up to since the show went the way of Scott Baio. Turns out, the actress has been working regularly since she bid Evie adieu. In recent years, she’s appeared on three television series – Push for ABC, Starved for F/X and the immortal 7th Heaven (as Matt’s girlfriend Shana).

Thankfully, she put down the crystal cube and spoke to us about life after the series, and how she still gets recognized on the street as Evie.

Obvious first question is – What have you been up to since leaving Planet Evie?
Gosh. So much. College at USC… Besides doing the three TV series, I’ve been traveling the world and moved to NYC.

Sweet. Do you still get noticed on the street for Out of This World? 
I get recognized at Evie Garland almost everyday. Every other day, I am recognized as Shana from 7th. It’s pretty wild that I’m still recognized. Most people think I look familiar and wonder why. How do I know you? High school? Neighborhood? Work? Depending on the mood I’m in, I either let them figure it out in their own time by saying, Gee I’m not sure or cut to the quick and tell them straight out, Maybe from TV? I’m an actress.

What are you currently working on? Are you acting full time
I act full time. The last movie I did  was A Day Without A Mexican. That was fun. I was just on an episode of Close To Home. I played the next door neighbor to Annabeth. I just found out the show was cancelled so no hope of recurring. Too bad. 

That stinks… hey you have a MySpace page – can you explain the phenomenon of the site? It just seems everyone is on now.
My MySpace site is pretty straight forward. It’s meant mostly for my fans. I’m not very good at keeping up with all the bells and whistles of the website. I spend more time doing non-techno things like cooking, playing and reading. It’s challenging for me to stay focused on the computer. Hence, my friend’s were nudging me to set up the site. They said I had to get with it and I agreed. It’s a new age and I need to step it up. I was so against it at first, but now I’ve really embraced it and love it. I’m so glad people are visiting! The phenomenon must be because Out Of This World is not in reruns and people wonder why. They’ve found my page and it’s a tiny bit satisfying for them I think. I should amp it up a bit. Hmmm. If anyone out there is interested in designing a website for me and my fans, I’d welcome it for sure!

That’d be pretty cool… you must get inundated with Out of this World questions on your page – no?
I wouldn’t say I get inundated. It’s more like Are you her? or Crazy question but were you Evie? I don’t really know how to reply to the first question. I am me. But I am Evie, too.

You seem pretty grounded for a “child star?” Is this true? Spill it…
I am grounded for a child star. I’m the only actress or movie person in my family. We were pretty naive about the business per se and I think that helped a lot. I also have a mom whose been a recovered alcoholic for 24 years. So I’m sure that curbed me from getting involved in too many drugs and alcohol or bad situations. I got pretty savy at a young age to say the least. Also, Out of this World remained pretty underground I think and I was not in the paparazzi’s sight line as most wanted. It was the first of the syndicated shows. Way before it’s time. At the point it wasn’t cool to be syndicated. We were considered the poor man’s sitcom. The WB was not the WB yet too.

If you could freeze time like Evie did – what would you do?
If I could freeze time like Evie…first, I would unfreeze all my friends, family and crazy famous people I’ve always wanted to meet. We would play and travel and explore all those places that I never get to see. I’d do that forever! I mean. Do you age when you freeze time? Can you cook when you freeze time? Like does the gas work on your stove? Do inanimate objects unfreeze? I have so many questions that OOTW did not explore or answer. Such a shame.

You’re damn skippy. Have their been instances where you wish you could have her powers?
Yes, of course. I would’ve liked to freeze time before my grandma died and just spent more time with her. When I took the SATs I would’ve liked to have frozen time. I was horrible at those tests. They are horrible. Anytime situations when I don’t feel like I’ve got my head on straight, I’d like to freeze time, have a little pep talk with myself and literally snap out of it! 

Right on! Do you think Evie was an inspiration for the Hiro character on Heroes?
I don’t know if Evie in particular was an inspiration for Hiro. Time travel and quantam physics were of interest to people before OOTW. In fact, Quantum Leap was a huge hit during the same time as OOTW. That could’ve been an inspiration, too. But sure, I’ll take the credit!

As you should, and mad props to Scott Bakula! Any plans of Out of this World to reach DVD?
I have no idea if OOTW will reach DVD. I sure hope it does. That would be cool. Unfortunately, the executive producers of OOTW did not practice fair business policies and had an injunction placed against them barring them from ever making money off the show again. Sucks for me and my fans, but it was a very good thing to happen to the producers. What comes around goes around sometimes in Hollywood.

Scott Baio directed a couple episodes of the show. Do you remember what the experience of working with Chachi was like?
Working with Scott Baio was great. We had so much fun working together and he’s a very cool guy. He was also dating Pamela Anderson at the time. So she was around the set a bit. I think back on all the guest stars we had and it just amazes who I got to work with: David Doyle (Bosley on Charlie’s Angels), Tom Bosley (Mr. “C” on Happy Days), Florence Henderson (Brady Bunch), Mr. T (great story there), Lyle Waggoner (Wonder Woman’s/Diana’s boss) and the list goes on. But a good bit of trivia is the voice of my father [was] Burt Reynolds. I’d go to loop the shows with him. He was a hoot.

That guy has a great mustache. Well, last question… you have to tell us that Mr. T story…
So remember all his gold chains? Well, he came to set one day and I noticed he only had a little bit around his neck. So I asked him where all his gold was. He pointed to a crumpled up brown paper bag (like from the grocery store) over behind one of the set walls. [It was] just laying there like someone forgot their discarded lunch or something. He told me to bring it over to him. I did. And it was heavy… He said to open it up. Inside was the rest of his gold necklaces. Mr. T said if he wore that stuff around his neck all the time, he’d have messed his back up big time. I actually think he wore some real gold (around his neck) and the rest was just fake (in the bag). Regardless, the fake gold was still so heavy!

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