When you hear MTV, "serious drama" doesn't spring to mind. It's more of the "Ridiculousness"/"16 and Pregnant"/"Catfish"/"Real World" type of show. Sure, the occasional proper series -- "Teen Wolf," "Degrassi," "Awkward." -- pops up, so it was only a matter of time before a show that looks like it belongs on ABC Spark found its way onto MTV.
The tagline for "Finding Carter" is "A different family. A new life. A second chance." And the same could be said for its new home. With "Finding Carter," MTV is taking a chance on a family drama and spinning it the only way MTV knows how: fast and furiously.
The story centres on Carter (Kathryn Prescott, "Skins"), a teenage girl who is devastated to learn that the woman she always believed was her mother actually kidnapped her when she was a toddler. She is sent to live with her biological family and needs to find her way in this new life she never asked for.
HuffPost Canada TV spoke with Prescott and Cynthia Watros ("Lost"), who plays Carter's real mother, Elizabeth, and we chatted about goofing around with a battering ram, why you won't need tissues for every episode, and the need for strong women on television.
HuffPost TV Canada: I think it's safe to say that this show is unlike any other MTV series. What drew you to "Finding Carter"?
Kat Prescott: What I really liked about the show when I read it is that it centres around the relationships that a young girl has, but it's not exclusively about her relationship with men. It sounds like a really silly thing, but there are so many films and TV shows where all the female roles are major roles because of their relation to the male character, and with "Finding Carter," I feel like it's not about any man, it's about her relationship with her mother, her friends and her sister. This relationship she has with men is secondary, which I think is nice because you don't see that often.
Cynthia Watros: I like the fact that the way Elizabeth is written is that she's not just one thing. She's complex like all of the women I know. She lives in this grey area, she has this family that she loves, she's trying to have this relationship with this daughter that she hasn't seen in 13 years, she's trying to make a marriage work that has its definite problems, and she's dabbling in an affair that she doesn't quite know what to do with, and she's just trying to be the best detective she can be. She's juggling a lot of things which I think a lot of women have to do. So I love playing real women like that, who carry a lot on their shoulders.
What is the relationship like between Carter and Elizabeth?
KP: Carter doesn't see Elizabeth as her mom. The relationship with this other woman, Lori (Milena Govich), is so ingrained in Carter's head that she's grieving the loss of the woman who she still feels is her mother. That's bad enough, but now she's being flung into this situation where she has to treat another lady as her mother, so it's twice as hard. They definitely butt heads.
How does Elizabeth deal with this?
CW: It's a really difficult thing for her. Her coming into the interrogation room and seeing her daughter that she hasn't seen in 13 years and then hugging her and feeling that instant distance, looking into her daughter's eyes and her daughter not knowing who she is, not remembering anything and insisting not to call her Lyndon but to call her by a name that the woman who abducted her gave. Elizabeth is struggling, she concedes in calling her Carter and says she doesn't have to call her Mother, and I think it's all so painful, but she knows that this is something that she has to do to get anywhere with this young woman.
KP: Which they eventually do.
CW: With every show, they're giving us more and more things to bond us, which I am so appreciative of, that I get to have fun. Not only Elizabeth and Carter but I get to have fun with Kat, which is so great. We have this awesome scene where I got to bring her to work and we had a great time. I got to show her how to knock through doors with a battering ram, which I loved.
It seems like Elizabeth gets the brunt of Carter's resentment over her life changing. What's Carter's relationship like with her dad, David, and the rest of the family, siblings, grandparents?
KP: She represents the one person who Carter's losing and right at the beginning, Carter doesn't really connect with any of them. Except maybe David, her dad, I think because he's not replacing anyone, he's just someone new. I think at first she's reserved because she's never had a man in her life that takes care of her. He's the first fatherly figure ever, so that relationship becomes really sweet and they get closer, and she accepts him and he looks out for her. And the relationship between her and her twin is really special. They really touch upon the twin connection thing, and the further along the series goes and the more you realize how alike and how well they really get on, the sadder it is that they were separated and apart for so long.
Kat, you had a twin on "Skins," played by your twin sister, Megan, and now you have another twin on "Finding Carter." What is it with you and twins?
KP: I know, it's really weird. And Cynthia has twins. It's so weird.
CW: Yeah, I have twins that are almost 13.
Crazy! Was Megan ever considered for the part of Taylor?
KP: No, my sister's writing now. She does some acting still but her thing is writing. That's what she wanted to do after we did "Skins."
The show is called "Finding Carter," and her trying to find herself. But a lot of it also has to do with finding the woman who kidnapped her. Does that take up a big part of each hour?
KP: No.
CW: It's much more than that. In the back of Elizabeth's mind, Lori is there. But what's more important is foraging a relationship with my daughter.
KP: Who is now there.
CW: Yeah, who is now in front of me. If this is going to be a block for us, if Lori, the kidnapper, is going to be a block, then I want to push that block aside and concentrate on my daughter. But Lori never goes too far away because she did take something from me that I can never get back. Years. And I didn't get to raise her so, yeah, Elizabeth has a lot of feelings around that.
The promo is a heartbreaker. I feel like it's going to be one of those shows where I cry every week -- Carter hugging the grandfather, when the boy says he's the replacement child, I mean, come on!
KP: The first episode is obviously more because there's a lot going on. It's a very emotional episode because that's when Carter finds out her mom is not her mom, and she she has to go live with all these random people who are looking at her like they've known her forever. She just wants to get back to her mom and her old life that she knew. Everything's been ripped out from under her so the first episode is pretty intense. But with a storyline like that, it would always be because that would be a pretty dramatic thing to happen to someone. But it's not like that every week. There are some really funny scenes and when you meet Carter's friends, and Carter's ex-boyfriend in the second episode. There's a lot of comedy as well as drama.
How is Carter able to juggle everything -- the only life she's ever known, school, friends -- with this new one she is, for lack of a better word, forced back into?
KP: I think it takes her a while to balance both. She spends the first five episodes, maybe, fighting it at every given opportunity. She does have her ex-boyfriend, who is now her best friend. He moves with her from the place where she used to live, so she still has one person from her old life with her. She's got that sense of normalcy. Then she meets these friends at school and she starts building this connection with her twin sister, and I think slowly over time she just feels more comfortable there. She's juggling stuff, I think she's fighting something for a long time, but then eventually she sees the good in what's around her now, even though she's still grieving over her kidnapper mom.
Cynthia, is this your first time playing a cop?
CW: No, I think I've played cops before. My career, sometimes I can't remember exactly what show it was but I've played cops before.
Maybe you've shot a gun as crazy Annie on "Guiding Light."
CW: Oh, yes, I definitely did that. And Cynthia herself has shot a gun, so, yeah, I really love playing a cop, a detective. I love the power that comes with that and the sexiness that comes with that. I really like it. I'd rather do that than bake cupcakes.
Yeah, for sure. Strong women.
KP: That's what I like. I think every single one of the female characters in this show is a strong character. And, actually, it's the men that are weaker, which is very interesting. David is weak.
CW: Yeah, we see sides of David that ... aren't so great.
A lot has been said about your choice to leave "Y&R" for "Finding Carter," but it seemed like a no-brainer to me. How is Elizabeth different than the other characters you've played in the past?
CW: I've played a number of different women. I really like how they're writing Elizabeth, and the struggles and the happy times and the reality of her world seems very true to me. No matter if I'm on a soap or if I'm doing primetime or a movie, that's what I ultimately look for, just the truth of the character and the truth of the world. And, like I said, I love that she's a detective. I love that she's not perfect. I love that she is married and struggling and having an affair, has problems with her children but trying to make it all work, trying to juggle all these things. I'm really enjoying Elizabeth.
Kat, "Skins" was quite a heavy show, you were on "Reign" for a few episodes, which is by no means light, and now this. Do you ever just want to do something light and fluffy and comedic, or do you enjoy playing the drama?
KP: I really want to do comedy. What I ultimately want to do is drama, which is kind of cool because I'm doing it now but I really, really want to do a comedy. I would love to. The comedic scenes in "Finding Carter" are always really fun because I get to play with that a little bit.
"Finding Carter" premieres Tuesday July 8 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on MTV.
