Despite the seemingly similar aims of her characters in "Miss Match" and "Clueless," Silverstone says, "I never thought of it that way. This is sort of a magical quest that Kate Fox has. She can't really help it. It's not her goal, but as the show goes on, it becomes a very big part of her life. I think it's just in her nature to have people be happy and to believe in the possibility of love. She's in love with love.
"I just look at it as a great story line," Silverstone adds. "There's so much fun to be had from setting people up and pulling them apart, with all the madness and mayhem that occurs around that. I didn't look at it as a timely thing, although right now, everybody is really fascinated with dating shows. I think it's just that people want to be with someone."
Producer Star also has dealt with the dating game not only on "Sex and the City," but on "Melrose Place" before that. He reasons that "Miss Match" is well-timed because "I think people don't feel they need to get married at a young age the way they used to. They feel they have endless options, and sometimes when you have so many, you're always looking for the next one. The idea that there is sort of a 'right' person out there for somebody is a nice fantasy."
It doesn't have to be a fantasy that always pushes TV's "envelope," Star stresses. "I conceived 'Sex and the City' in a way [counter to] other television comedies about sex that had only used euphemisms," he says. "They were about sex in a roundabout way, and I wanted to do a show in a very R-rated way that could only be done on cable. 'Miss Match' is a show about romance and relationships. We don't need nudity and strong language to tell these stories."
"Miss Match" also is notable for O'Neal's return to television more than a decade after "Good Sports," the CBS sitcom he made with his then-girlfriend, Farrah Fawcett. "It felt like something I could do with (the producers)," he says of his new TV role, "and I knew Alicia's work and I admired it. We had a meeting and I read the script with her for, like, a whole locker room of people. I did over 500 episodes of 'Peyton Place,' so I'm comfortable on the small screen. I shrink."
The pilot for "Miss Match" heavily involves a love-seeker played by actress-singer Melissa Errico ("Central Park West"), but Star insists the show won't be a landlocked "Love Boat" driven largely by guest stars. "It's going to have other people's relationship stories," he says, "but Alicia's character is going to affect those stories. [The show has] a wonderful sort of father-daughter element, it has a courtroom element, and it has a wonderful ensemble of actors who have their own stuff going on with each other. You don't have Alicia Silverstone and Ryan O'Neal on a show about other people."
"Clueless" clearly was Silverstone's biggest success to date, but she has updated her resume in various ways. After launching the ABC Family animated series "Braceface" as producer (and principal voice-cast member), she debuted on Broadway last year opposite Kathleen Turner and Jason Biggs ("American Pie") in "The Graduate." Silverstone says, "I feel really lucky. I've learned a lot at a young age, and I've learned to be very particular about material. That was something I really learned through producing. The last thing I have to worry about is great material, which is such a gift.
"My intention was to keep going slowly," she adds, "but I'm so excited again. I'm so psyched about this material and about the character I'm playing. I feel very stimulated by that -- but at the same time, there's this little voice that's saying, 'What are you getting into?' My excitement wins over that voice, though."
