New York Post on Strange Frequency

["Brian Cady" <cadyb@home.com>]

Available on line at:
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-08-16/New_York_Now/Television/a-121966.asp

New VH1 Suspense Series A Who-Dunit
by David Bianculli

Roger Daltrey, who gave the swagger and the stutter to the rebellious voice
of the Who's "My Generation," is about to follow in the footsteps of Rod
Serling and Alfred Hitchcock  as the host of a weekly suspense anthology
series for television.

The series, an excellent one, is "Strange Frequency," based on a successful
VH1 telemovie pilot from earlier this year. The new show makes its debut
Saturday night at 10, also on VH1, with Daltrey playing a dual role
(business-suited music promoter and tie-dyed guitar-store hippie burnout)
opposite James Marsters ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") as a wanna-be guitar
virtuoso.

Daltrey did so well with the roles, and liked the experience so much, that
when VH1 asked if he'd like to be series host, he accepted immediately.

"It's very much a team effort," Daltrey says. "All the young actors,
everyone who does this show, there's no egos  everybody's pulling together
on a team and putting input in. It's like being part of a band. It's created
like music from a band; that's what's great about it."

Growing up in London, Daltrey was drawn to such imported suspense
anthologies as "The Twilight Zone" and "Outer Limits," and to British fare
like "The Prisoner" and "The Avengers."

"Like so many people," he says, "I loved those kinds of 'suspended reality'
shows, and I think it's a genre that's sadly been lost.

"What I think is great with this show is that it brings it up to date and
deals with the music genre, which I think is a very, very shrewd move on
behalf of the writers and VH1," he adds. "It's got a bit of weight to it.
And there's no nudity, no swearing. It's perfect material  half an hour of
good entertainment."

Daltrey admitted that the confidence he developed decades ago as a singer
was harder to come by as an actor. The film version of "Tommy," his first
starring role, was easy "because it was music." But his next film for
famously unorthodox director Ken Russell, playing Franz Liszt in
"Lisztomania," Daltrey laughs off as "a nightmare."

Now Daltrey is comfortable and enthusiastic enough to take work he likes
when it comes along  though he'll pass up opportunities in order to remain
flexible for a possible tour.

"I just don't want to get in the way of the Who potentially doing
something," he said. "It's my band, I started the band, and I would hate to
be the one who pulled the plug."

While Daltrey still looks forward to a future with the Who, he has come to
appreciate its legacy.

Of the original group  Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, the late Keith Moon
and himself  Daltrey laughed fondly and recalled: "We were four
megalomaniacs on the stage who could play reasonably well, but together, we
were a force to be reckoned with.

"It was an incredible gift. Of all the billions of people on this planet,
what the hell put us four together? You couldn't find four more different
people if you tried."

        -Brian in Atlanta
         The Who This Month!
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