Chris Potter could use a change of pace. The Canadian actor has been working in television series for eight years in a row now, and it would be nice to see himself on some other medium.
“That’s the problem with my career,” Potter says in mock frustration. “It’s like, when I get a show, I really feel I know how to make it last. I know what I want to watch when I watch TV. So I try to bring that to the character.
“And then they say, `Great, it’s working. Another season!’ And I’m like, `Wait, wait, wait, I want to do a movie or something!’ “
And Potter has been working. He currently plays Police Sgt. Tom Ryan on the USA Network’s “Silk Stalkings,” airing at 10 p.m. Sundays. Before that, he spent four years as martial arts master/Shaolin cop Peter Caine on the syndicated “Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.” And before that, Potter was on a Canadian comedy series called “Material World” for three seasons.
Potter, 35, says it is a career goal of his to ease into movies, “but it’s sort of, you want what you can’t have. And when you’ve done as many television shows in a row as I have, it is that one thing where you wonder if you will ever do one.
“But hey, works begets work.”
Poor Chris. Looks like he may have to wait for that movie career to kick in, because USA has renewed “Silk Stalkings” for a seventh season of 22 episodes. Still, work seems to be working out pretty well for Potter.
He’s settled into his role on “Silk Stalkings,” a show that started out in 1991 on CBS as part of a late-night programming block called “CrimeTime After Primetime.” It also aired on the USA Network as part of a joint production venture between the two, before it went exclusive on USA in 1993.
Potter and his co-star, Janet Gunn, had their work cut out for them when they came on as the new detective team in the Palm Beach Police Department this season (the two, who are divorced from each other, investigate high-profile society murders, nicknamed “silk stalkings”).
The original stars, Rob Estes and Mitzi Kapture, left the show last season. A new detective team, played by Tyler Layton and Nick Kokotakis, came in midseason but never clicked the way the more popular Estes and Kapture had.
Potter had additional worries. There were the flashy clothes he would have to wear: “The first jacket I wore in the pilot was bright pink.”
He also didn’t know how his family would react to the raciness of “Silk Stalkings.” His parents were proud of their son on “Kung Fu,” and his three kids watched all the time (Potter and his wife have a fourth on the way). “I saw it and I went, `Oh, geez, my family can’t watch this!’ ” he says.
He also worried that fans of “Kung Fu” wouldn’t accept him in his new job. But accept him they have.
“The two worlds have collided and merged,” Potter says. “And that’s been a big relief. It was quite a change, really, when you think about the philosophy of `Kung Fu,’ anti-violence and sort of the philosophical side to everything. And this (series) is Thong City.”
How loyal are Potter’s fans? How about the Chris Fests? These are actual conventions all devoted to the wonderful world of Chris.
“None of this stuff has ever been initiated by me, except for the fact that I’ve sanctioned the rights to somebody to run the fan club,” he says. “The rest of it is all a group of people who use me as a catalyst, I really think, to meet each other. That’s just excellent.”
Potter says one such fest was held in a Holiday Inn in Burbank, Calif. last year. “The Chris Fest flyer came out, and I showed it to my wife. And it had all these activities planned,” he says, laughing.
“And it said: `Invited guest: Chris Potter.’ And that was it,” he says. “And in brackets it said, `Not yet confirmed.’ “
Seeing a chance to make a Michael Moore-type surreal comedy, Potter took a film crew with him to the convention of about 300 people. “That was like a private party. It was a little weird for me.”
But overall, Potter says, “Silk Stalkings” has “become entertaining, and thongs have become secondary to the importance of what’s going on in the show, I believe. It’s very watchable and it’s doing well.”
– Where’s the remote: There’s an CBS movie on Tuesday called “Sleeping with the Devil.” It stars former “Beverly Hills, 90210” brat Shannen Doherty. Despite any preconceived notions that might be popping up, Doherty isn’t the devil being slept with. It’s really Tim “Animal House” Matheson as a maniacal millionaire with whom Doherty’s nurse character was stupid enough to fall in love.
