Tori Spelling returns 'Home'

PASADENA, Calif. - Who says you can't go home again? Tori Spelling and her actor-husband Dean McDermott have done just that. After hosting their reality show at a B&B in Fallbrook, Calif., for two years they've decided to move back to the bright lights where it all began.

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As the daughter of the late TV producer Aaron Spelling and former costar of "Beverly Hills, 90210," nothing Tori does is overlooked by the press. And this move is no exception. Their backshift will be chronicled in the third season of their reality series, "Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood," premiering on Oxygen this week.

"Our lives are pretty much out there for everyone to talk about and write about anyway," says Spelling, who is nine months pregnant and pretty in a buttercup yellow sundress. "But it's misconstrued. They never had the facts right. So we figured if someone else is going to write about our lives. . ."

"Let's set the record straight," McDermott finishes her sentence, "and make a career out of it. The easy part is getting used to the cameras. Whenever you start a new season there's a couple days we feel a little out of sorts, but you hit your stride and it's second nature," he says.

"It looks a little different than it is," says Spelling. "There's not a million people on the set like there is for a movie. It's a pretty intimate crew and they're seeing the intimate details of your lives so you get to be pretty close."

It's surprising how intimate the details really are. Spelling has always been unexpectedly candid about her life. "I think it comes from years and years of reading stuff people write about you and how false it can be and how hurtful it can be, and it gave me a humor about myself. I'll laugh at myself first _ beat them at their game. So that was the attitude I took on. It made me strong. I turned into a very strong woman, I think. Celebrities, people think are fair game anyway. They can say whatever they want about their lives, so I feel like it's best to be as honest as you can with people."

The couple met when they were making a TV movie together. McDermott had been an actor in Canada for 20 years and says, "I wasn't aware of the big life that followed Tori. I had a crush on her from the '90210' days but I didn't really know any details of family or anything going on in her life. I just knew that I really liked this girl and then the opportunity rose to work together, and again, I didn't really know what to expect but was just excited to be working on the project. And then we met in the director's office and I was floored with how beautiful she was. And now I was in the same room with her face-to-face and the most beautiful brown eyes I'd ever seen in my life. And my heart skipped a beat, she was so beautiful. I knew."

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Spelling says she fell instantaneously, too. "It was everything you always see in movies but then as you go through life, you think that doesn't make sense."

Since the reality show is a few beats behind real life, Spelling is still pregnant during the first few episodes of the show. But she and McDermott welcomed their daughter, Stella, on June 9. They were already parents of 15-month old, Liam.

Though people think of Spelling as the spoiled little rich girl, she and McDermott are pretty much on their own these days. They relinquished their option to buy the inn in Fallbrook because they couldn't swing it financially; they currently employ no nannies to help with the kids and live, for now, in a three-bedroom 2,800 square-foot house which is filled with pets, camera crews and crying babies."

They're hoping exposure on the reality show will boost their acting careers. "We never really left acting," says Spelling. "We were both back and forth to L.A. for auditions while we were living in Fallbrook."

"Auditions are starting to come in and everyone's always been nice," says McDermott. "I just finished a project in Canada called 'Saving God' scheduled for a September release. We're trying to get it into the Toronto Film Festival. That was a big one for me because I was absent for 2 ˝ years from the acting community. So it's nice to get back to it."

"I've been having babies for two years but want to get back into it," says Spelling. "We have a production company we created for this show so we're producing things for ourselves and others."

Spelling will be back as a guest star on the CW's new spin-off of "Beverly Hills, 90210" this fall.

"The apple didn't fall far from the tree," says McDermott, patting her thigh. "She's supremely talented, an incredible producer and she has this eye. I run all my auditions past her and value every word that comes out of her mouth."

"And he's a phenomenal director, so it's not hard," she smiles.

"We discuss everything _ from auditions to dinner."

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Jimmy Smits will be back on the right side of the law when he joins the cast of Showtime's "Dexter" this fall as an ambitious Miami district attorney who joins forces with Dexter in pursuit of a murderer. Of course, the DA doesn't know that his right hand man is a righteous serial killer, if there is such a thing. Smits, who costarred on "L.A. Law," "NYPD Blue" and "The West Wing" will appear in 10 of the 12 episodes next season.

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TV networks are tuning into viewer complaints about not being able to follow their favorite continuous shows when they miss one or two episodes. Shows like "24," "Heroes," "Jericho," and even "Lost" may prove pure treasures but most people don't have an hour a week to devote to their twisted plotlines, and simply give up. With that in mind, Fox is bringing back "Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles" beginning Aug. 10 with encore episodes of the first season, airing Sundays through Wednesdays through Aug. 24. Then the new season kicks off on Sept. 8.

The first season of Showtime's controversial "Californication" starring David Duchovny, is due out this week on DVD. It includes all 12 episodes of the first season which can bring you up-to-date when the series returns for its second season in September.

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If you wonder what all the fuss was about now's your chance to tune in to a 30-minute special about last season's Golden Globe winning "Mad Men" at www.AMCtv.com. The hotly awaited show, about the Madison Avenue ad men of the '60s, will be returning for a second season on July 27. In the meantime you can cull some nuggets from some of the spot-on cast, including the tasty lead, Jon Hamm.

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© 2008, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.