Grey’s Anatomy

Chandra Wilson is a hard core soap fan. She watches four every single day. And get this - she TAPES them. No DVR, no Tivo, just old school VCR taping. Chandra will be hosting SoapNet’s pre Daytime Emmy red carpet show on Friday. Check out her interview with TV Guide:

TV Guide: When you grill the arriving stars, will you be nicey-nice or channeling Joan Rivers?
Chandra Wilson: Hopefully somewhere in between. I may not be very warm if that Nash [played by Forbes March] from OLTL shows up. I just don’t like what he’s doing to Jessica. She needs to be with Antonio!

TV Guide: Geez, you are a fan. You even judged one of this year’s categories.
Wilson: Yep, supporting actress. And because I’m a fan, I was going, “Why on earth did you submit those episodes?”

TV Guide: Why are you so crazy for soaps?
Wilson: It’s pure voyeurism. You get a chance to go into somebody else’s house and snoop. I love escaping into Pine Valley or Genoa City. I get mad when I hate something but I keep watching. Of course, my shows fall short sometimes. How else do you keep going 52 weeks a year, no reruns?

TV Guide: You shoot Grey’s Anatomy right next door to General Hospital. Ever tempted to drop by for a cameo?
Wilson: No! In my early days I had a recurring role on OLTL — I was a classmate of Carlo Hesser’s niece — and I did a little background work at All My Children and, I think, Another World. But that just messes me up. It’s hard for me to have a “Hey, how ya doin’?” relationship with soap actors because then they’re not their characters anymore. I need them to stay in their world, not come into mine. When I see the GH stars on the lot, I can’t even talk to them. They must think I’m insane.

TV Guide: Well, you’ll sure be breaking down that wall for SOAPnet!
Wilson: I know! People who know me well are saying, “Why on earth did you agree to this? What were you thinking?” But I’m honored to do it. Soaps are such a big part of so many lives. That’s what real people do — we watch soaps. Everybody has done it at some point, whether or not they want to deny it. There are men who don’t want to admit they watch Grey’s Anatomy. They always blame it on the girlfriend.

TV Guide: Grey’s’ Bailey could use a sudsier life — everyone around her is annoyingly self-obsessed and she’s all business. The viewers adored it when she had a baby.
Wilson: People did! One day Oprah corrected Dr. Oz. He made a reference to the “vagina” and she said, ‘No, no, no. It’s va-jay-jay!” I loved it!

TV Guide: Bailey didn’t make chief resident in the season finale. Were you shocked when you got that script?
Wilson: No, because Bailey just doesn’t delegate. The chief had been warning her for weeks — you need to slow down, you need to spend time with your family, but, no, she was running the clinic, doing her surgeries and looking at the chief like he was crazy.

TV Guide: But we didn’t even get to see her reaction when she lost out to Dr. Torres. Seems like you got robbed of some damn good drama there.
Wilson: That was Bailey’s choice. What was she gonna do, act the fool and get all crazy about it? That’s not her. She got right back to work. She had to go deal with her interns. She had Meredith and Cristina and their issues. That’s true to form for Bailey. It’s important for her to be competent.

TV Guide: So what’s ahead for her next season?
Wilson: It’ll be interesting to see what [series creator] Shonda Rhimes reveals. There’s another POV to explore. It won’t be what it was this season with all the doubt and self-consciousness and that kinda crap. She’s moving on. There’s another journey ahead for Bailey.

I’m so excited to hear next season will be a departure from the downer of this past season. Yea!

Chandra Wilson, Grey’s Anatomy