ANGEL HEARTS
By Shawna Malcom

Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly aren't allowed to touch each other. Period. Dark Angel's recently engaged co-stars are attempting to shoot a scene for Fox's sophomore sci-fi series in which Weatherly hands Alba an envelope full of cash. In the process, though, the actor keeps brushing his fiancée's fingers. Ordinarily, that might seem harmless, thrilling even, on a show in which the two lead characters — not to mention the actors who play them — are known to be lusting after each other. But now that Alba's alter ego, genetically souped-up siren Max, is carrying a virus that's poison to Weatherly's Logan, a scruffy cyberjournalist, any contact is forbidden. "We're flirting with disaster here," says Weatherly. "If she touches me, I die."

Luckily, that's not an issue in their off-screen relationship, or Weatherly would be six feet under. During the nine hours the two spend together on the Vancouver, British Columbia, set this rainy, late-summer day, she calls him "honey" and rests her head on his shoulder; he rubs her back and kisses her tenderly on the forehead. They frequently run lines together and disappear even more frequently to each other's trailers.

Still, ask either about the romance and watch them tense reflexively. Both would rather avoid questions about their relationship, which began soon after Alba, 20, met 33-year-old Weatherly at his Dark Angel audition in early 2000. (Alba wouldn't even admit the two were dating until the engagement was announced in May.) "When it comes to my personal life, it's not anyone else's business," she says now. "It's special and intimate, and I don't want to exploit it."

Nevertheless, the relationship has raised Dark Angel's profile at an especially critical time. When the show took wing last fall, it was amid a flurry of intense hype. Not only was it the first TV series steered by Titanic captain James Cameron, the show's co-creator and executive producer, it boasted a knockout premise: Bioengineered babe Max flees the covert military lab Manticore for futuristic Seattle, where she wipes the floor with bad guys while searching for her missing test-tube siblings. Faster than you can say "Dark victory," the series became a cult hit on Tuesday nights among those 18- to 34-year-old viewers that advertisers covet. But when the show returned last month, it had flown to Fridays (Fox, 8 pm/ET), a potentially risky move given that much of its fan base isn't traditionally home that night. Yet early signs indicate that Fox's strategy may be working. While the premiere's ratings were down from last year's average, it scored the network's best series showing in that timeslot in four years among the 18-to-34 audience.

Dark Angel's producers, like the rest of Hollywood, also now face unexpected challenges in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. First there's the show's setting, a bleak landscape resulting from an "electromagnetic pulse bomb" detonated by terrorists. Producers chose to tweak the October 26 episode, shot before the tragedy, in which a government operative tests a biological weapon he hopes will wipe out Manticore's newly escaped, not-quite-human experiments. "We toned down the horror of it," says executive producer Rene Echevarria. "It's not nearly as graphic."In general, producers are looking to take some of the dark out of Angel, at least temporarily. "Right now," says Echevarria, "I'm more interested in writing some lighter stuff." Look for a Halloween episode in which Max teaches the mutated Joshua the fine art of trick-or-treating. What's more, Dark devotees will be happy to know that Max's beloved brother Zack (William Gregory Lee), who is presumed dead, will reappear. But expect at least one constant, says Echevarria: "Max will still have plenty of butt to kick." While mad Max may be a tireless action hero, Alba — who last season went from being a relative unknown to TV's latest It Girl — is only human. Between her training regimen, 16-hour workdays and nonstop interviews and photo shoots, she was burned out by the time the first season concluded production in April. To recharge, Alba and Weatherly headed for Jamaica. "We just hung out," she says, looking surprisingly small as she curls up on a sofa on the set. "I actually had time to read an entire book." She also caught up on her fiancé's body of work, namely his stint on the now-defunct soap Loving. "It was hysterical," says Alba, who was 11 when Weatherly started the show in 1992. "Michael looked like such a dork. His hair was all brushed over to one side."For the rest of Shawna Malcom's interview with Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly, pick up this week's issue of TV Guide magazine.

Ron Wolfe

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TV GUIDE® MAGAZINE COVER STORY ON NEWSSTANDS THIS MON., 10/15:

DARK ANGEL'S JESSICA ALBA AND MICHAEL WEATHERLY:
THE RED-HOT COUPLE LIGHTING UP FRIDAY NIGHTS ON FOX

WITH THEIR REAL-LIFE ROMANCE ALSO HEATING UP,
THIS DYNAMIC-LOOKING DUO IS BACK FOR A PROVOCATIVE NEW SEASON

Currently on Fox's Dark Angel, star Jessica Alba's alter ego, genetically souped-up siren Max, is carrying a virus that's poison to co-star Michael Weatherly's Logan, a scruffy cyberjournalist who will die if she touches him. But for some reason, Weatherly doesn't seem to mind missing out on what should be one of the perks of his job, physical contact with the striking Alba. "I'm up for it," says Weatherly. "Because I know at the end of the day, I get to go home to the real thing." Yes, unfortunately for the millions of fans who have dreamed about their chance to woo Jessica Alba or Michael Weatherly, both of the red-hot stars are taken...with each other, as the couple who cannot even brush up against each other on screen, is engaged to be married off of it. But fortunately for Fox, Alba and Weatherly's on-screen chemistry brings not a hint of disappointment to Dark Angel fans, who now flock to Friday nights to catch James Cameron's sci-fi hit. In a TV Guide magazine cover story in the upcoming October 20 issue (on newsstands October 15), writer Shawna Malcom takes an exclusive look at two of Hollywood's hot rising stars as they take Dark Angel into a provocative second season on the small screen, while talking about their relationship and impending nuptials.

ALBA STILL DADDY'S LITTLE ANGEL: While the eye-catching couple may look to be a perfect fit, there are those who insist on pointing out the challenges of the 13-year age difference between the 20-year-old Alba and Weatherly. Alba even concedes that her parents initially disapproved of the relationship with Weatherly: "I'm their baby girl," she says. "I mean, my dad was the man in my life, you know? And now he's not." When asked about Alba, Weatherly says he is weighing his words more carefully after an interview with TV Guide last January. At the time he said, "People always have to make it (sound) so titillating. (They say things like) 'She's a minor! No? Well, she's almost a minor!'" Now, he says, "It's like people think my interest in Jessica could only be of a sexual nature, that it couldn't be emotional or intellectual. I find that really childish and mean-spirited."

LIGHTING UP FRIDAY NIGHTS: The move from Tuesday to Friday nights looks to be working, as the season premier scored Fox its best series showing in four years in the 8:00 p.m. ET time slot in the 18-34 demographic. Executive producer Rene Echevarria: "We think there's an opportunity to do what The X-Files did" on Friday nights.

ON-SCREEN ROMANCE IN THE FUTURE? Sorry, it appears there will be no on-screen hookup anytime soon, as Cameron says, "Our job as writers is to keep the spark alive, and that means creating obstacles for them," including the lethal virus. And with no cure in sight, the star-crossed pair will eventually pursue other romances. "The trick," says Weatherly, "is keeping all these obstacles organic. It would be idiotic to have some blond come on with her chest heaving, all for the sake of ratings."

MUCH MORE IN THE NEW TV GUIDE, ON SALE THIS MONDAY, OCTOBER 15!

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Flipper scenes, characters, and logos are a trademark of SGM Productions in association with Tribune Entertainment Last Modified: October 17, 2001