ABC Family ABC Family's ‘Greek' focuses on college life, the social minefield that is the Greek system and on a cast of characters trying to navigate their way through this treacherous terrain at Cyprus-Rhodes University. The series is a departure from the network's typical programming.

ABC Family channel doesn't exactly conjure up images of sex, booze and fraternity parties. At least it didn't in the past. But with the hit college comedy “Greek,” which just wrapped up its first season on Sept. 10 and has already been granted a second, perhaps the rules have changed a little bit. While the show doesn't go all HBO on viewers, it does feature drinking, sexual innuendo and other aspects of college life. Among the show's many characters are Cappie (Scott Foster), a Kappa Tau Gamma big brother to the show's star, Rusty (Jacob Zachar), and Heath (Zack Lively), a closeted gay member of Kappa Tau Gamma who has a short-lived relationship with a member of another frat. With enough drinking and drama to fill an episode of “Desperate Housewives,” it's no wonder “Greek” airs in primetime. 210SA recently caught up with Foster and Lively to get their opinions on their somewhat risqué show, its newfound success and the trials and tribulations of young Hollywood.

Is it safe to say that “Greek” is pushing the envelope as far as ABC Family is concerned?
ZL: We're trying to push it as much as possible, but we get held back a lot from network. They contain a lot of the stuff we do. But it's a new kind of ABC Family. They're trying to change their image from being a little family show to new and up-and-coming.
SF: I never thought about it as something that would be an issue for the channel it's on. When I first read (the script), I couldn't understand why it was on ABC Family, but at the same time, I didn't really care.

Is it tough to get the full Greek experience on any major network?
ZL: I wouldn't say it's tough. There's a lot we can show and a lot we can't show. A lot of crazy stuff happens in Greek life, but also a lot of good stuff, like fundraising. We show as much as possible, but we also show the true side of Greek life.
SF: You'd be surprised. When we get the production drafts, the first scripts pushed it a lot more. As we get revisions, the network will say you can't do this, cut that, this is too dirty. What you see is brought back quite a bit from what was originally read. But you have to do that.

Did you have to do any research for the role?
SF: It was written so well, that I didn't have to go out and go to USC with a notepad, going to parties and taking notes. It was written so easily, I can just feel that it's completely relatable.

Going out to parties wouldn't be the worst form of work research.
SF: That's what everyone else thinks, that I should just go out and party and write it all off (to work).

From Lindsay Lohan to Britney Spears, young Hollywood doesn't exactly have the best reputation right now. How do you manage to avoid that?
ZL: It's kind of cliché to be young in Hollywood and stupid and drunk. Not everyone is like that, obviously, but growing up through the years, I've realized that I'm here to work. There's time to go out and mingle and meet people, but I sit back and see people doing so many things, drinking and driving, drugs. That's just not me. I'm here to work and act.
SF: I haven't had a whole lot of experience yet, and maybe I won't, but when you're in the public eye, people recognize you and you have to keep a sort of rapport about yourself. Don't portray the wrong image ..... There are a lot of things going on that you don't see that happen to a lot of people that are worse than what you see in magazines. That will happen, but it's all about taking responsibility ..... Take a cab, and don't drive. Think about how much it costs. A cab ride costs nothing. That's what I do, just get a cab and go out on the town. Obviously, don't do drugs. All these people getting caught with drugs, if they need that, there's a problem.

If you ran a frat, how would you initiate people?
ZL: I'd make them pass a test, and it has to be about college football.

You're a college football fan, so how about a national championship prediction?
ZL: USC and LSU.

You're still relatively new to acting. Are you glad to have had a normal high school experience?
SF: I enjoyed my high school experience, but I realized I should have gotten out here earlier. I wished I could have graduated at 16 and come out. But I'd never go back now and trade what I did then.

CLINT HALE | 210SA