12 Facts You Didn’t Know About the Women Who Make Scandal Happen
Two months goes awfully slow when you’re counting down the days to Scandal’s return. After a long winter hiatus the political drama/soap thrill returns to ABC tomorrow night with the second half of season three.
For those counting down the days and minutes, you’re not alone. But until then we thought we’d give you some other Scandalous things to count.
1. Kerry Washington took home an NAACP Image Award on Saturday for Outstanding Drama Series Actress. Meanwhile, Scandal won for Television’s best drama series. The leading lady has also been nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
2. It’s old news that Washington has been sporting a baby bump from award show to award show, but Olivia will not be thanks to the magic of costume designing and camera angles. Expect to see a lot of Stella McCarthy and Dior on the actress for the rest of the season.
3. Lyn Paolo, Scandal’s costume designer had to convince ABC to let her dress Olivia in whites and lighter colors. In fact, Paolo uses the white suits and coats as a stand-in for Olivia’s armor.
4. Scandal is the first drama on network television to be written and produced by an African-American woman with an African-American actress in the starring role.
5. Last September, President Obama asked Scandal creator, Shonda Rhimes to sit on the board of trustees for DC’s Kennedy Center.
6. Rhimes has been referred to as the “savior” of network television. Combined, the writer/producer/director’s two series, Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy, generated nearly $300 million in advertising last season. You can also thank Rhimes for Crossroads (yes the Britney Spears movie of the early ‘00s), and The Princess Dairies 2.
7. The First Lady, aka Mellie Grant aka Bellamy Young wasn’t supposed to be a long-term cast member. Luckily for us – unfortunate for Olivia and Fitz – the creators liked Mellie so much they decided to make her a full-time character.
8. It’s rumored that Darby Stanchfield, otherwise known as Abby, will be working inside the White House, a setting that’s usually a Liv-only domain, for the remainder of season three.
9. Olivia Pope is based off real-life G.W. Bush press secretary, Judy Smith. Besides being an executive producer for Scandal, Smith the president and founder of the DC-based Smith & Company. The crisis management has worked with Wesley Snipes, Michael Vick of NFL fame, and the infamous Monica Lewinsky.
10. But Smith isn’t Olivia, and hence for every episode, the exec producer also writes a blog: What Would Judy Do? Published on ABC.Go.com. The like gladiators, Smith believes in teamwork. “To me the greater moral is that we all need support to deal with life,” she states in one blog entry. “And often we find it in much unexpected places.”
11. Lisa Kudrow’s guest appearance on several episodes earlier this season wasn’t just a coincidence. Her business and production partner is Dan Bucatinsky, aka the lovely James Novack, journalist and husband to the president’s chief of staff, Cyrus Beene.
12. Rhimes has a very active twitter feed and the entire cast will be live tweeting tomorrow’s premiere on ABC 10/9c.
Photos Courtesy of ABC Media Net
TAGS: Kerry Washington Olivia Pope Scandal Shondra Rhimes