Interview by Peter Robertson 
Exclusive talk with Katie Cassidy (15) and her mother Sherry 

Willy Sommers, David Cassidy, both teen idols at the beginning of the seventies.  Both father of a lovechild.  David never talks about his daughter, and also Willy kept Annemie out of the spotlights for twenty years.  But just as Annemie Katie Cassidy speaks up. 

Annemie met her father only recently for the first time.  She broke out of silence after Willy announcing the pregnancy of his girlfriend Cindy.  Also Katie, born on November 25, 1986 from David’s relationship with the former model and actress Sherry Benedon, carries out her biological dad.  She recorded a cd.  A catching hip hop version  of  “I think I love you”.  The same song that took her father , teen idol David Cassidy thirty-two years ago to stardom. 

But a duet between them is not for the near future.  David (52 by now) is on the contrast to Willy Sommers not yet into much contact with his lovechild. 

On and off relationship

David Cassidy stole the hearts of mass of teenagers in the popular tv-series “The Partridge Family”.  When he in 1971 went on a solo tour the mass hysteria reached unknown heights.  Ten thousands fanatical girls who shouted out their love for him.  His longing voice, his boyish face made David Cassidy the subject of their fanatical devotion.   In 1970 Sherry did an audition for a part in the Partridge Family.  “I didn’t get the part”, she says but David did ask me out that same night.  He was so sweet and charming I was no longer interested in that role.  I was only interested in that beautiful boy.  Sherry was never married to David.  She supported during the seventies and eighties an off an on relationship with the icon.  A period in which he was married two times. With actress Kay Lenz and with Mary-Ann Tanz.  And she one time.  With Dean, the father of  her two daughters Jaime and Jenna. 

I was divorced from Dean when I got pregnant with David’s baby, Sherry says.  When I told him the news, he didn’t make a scene.  He found it ok.  He had the greatest difficulties to adjust as a father.  David was always very busy, had no time for his daughter.
Katie therefore hardly knows her biological father.  When she was four,  her mother married Richard Benedon, a doctor.  Sherry : “ Richard actually raised Katie with me, she calls him daddy. 

When you where born, Katie , David was in England.
Sherry : David saw Katie as a baby.

Often ? 
Sherry : That doesn’t matter. 
Katie : I was in third grade when David for the first time spend some quality time with me.  David and I have seen each other more since then. 
Sherry : David supports Katie financially, but not with much.  It’s not much for a rich man as he is.

David hardly talks about you in interviews, Katie, even as you look much more like him than his son Beau, which he has with his current wife Sue Shifrin.
Sherry : Mostly those eyes, eh! 
Katie : I got his eyes.  Real Cassidy eyes.  I also have his spindle-legs.

David does as if Beau is his only child.  On his website no word about you Katie, no link to your own website.  In a recent interview he talks lyrical about his son.  When he was asked if he liked more children he answered : “ No, I’m happy as I am.  If you have less children, you can give them more attention.  Otherwise you have to split up your attention and that’s not good for them.”
Sherry : I have to admit that I personally are involved to the secrecy of Katie.  I made a deal with David when she was born to keep Katie out of the spotlights.  I wanted it that way.
I couldn’t see her being raised in his world.  I don’t believe that the life of an entertainer is so establishing for children.  I wanted Katie to grow up as a normal child in a stabile environment. 
Katie : My mother has always protected me.  She also didn’t want it to be known that I was the daughter of David. 

But now, at fifteenth, you bring a remarkable remake of a hit from you father.
Katie : The blood flows where it can’t go.  I love to dance and act and I’ve always dreamed of being a singer. 

All that fuzz is really good for you, to get you into showbiz .
Katie : That it was this number, was pure coincidence.

Are you serious?
Katie : No, really, it was not my idea, but my producers.  Joel Diamond.  I met him by coincidence in a store around the corner.  He found me a charismatic girl, he said.  We started talking.  I told him I love to sing.  He wanted to hear my voice.  He gave my his card, asked if my mother would call him some time.  My mother was rather skeptical, but after ten days I could convince her to call.  A few phone calls later, and just before I went into the studio she told him who my biological father was.  “Bizarre,“ he said.  I sit here working on a new version of “I think I love you.”  It gave me the feeling of destiny.  As if I had to sing that song.
“I think I love you” is like a calling card in show business.  In the future I will develop a more personal style.  Which is more Rock ‘n Roll.  I’m learning the guitar now and are writing some own stuff. 

That you chose this number, can also be an interpretation to get your biological father to notice.
Katie :  He wasn’t very  pleased with it.  He thinks showbiz  is not for teenagers.
“ You better not do this” he said. “Don’t count on my support”
It did hurt, him saying that.  He is my father and from your father you expect a bit of support.   I mean, he could also have said, something like, “ I don’t approve what you’re doing, but I respect your decision, you can’t let a chance like this go by.   It seems as if he’s not interested. 
My stepfather Richard thinks it’s cool, what I do.  He only said, “You know this is a hard business, with ups and downs.  But the make you to what you are” The darling.
Sherry : David was especially scared that Katie would quit school.  But he doesn’t have to be afraid of that, because Katie is in a self educating program at the Calabasas High School in California.  Now that he knows that Katie is finishing school he is more relaxed at it.
Katie : Oh, I don’t need his advice.  I will succeed without his help.

But as Katie Cassidy,  with the name of your biological father.
Katie : Of course, My name is Cassidy, isn’t it ?
 

Maybe David is reacting so reserved because he knows how wrong it can go.  At 21 he was the worlds highest paid performer, but he got into decadence, got the taste of drugs, drinking and love.
Sherry :  I don’t disagree with him getting concerned.  Teenage music became an industry.  You directly get catapulted and there’s an enormous pressure on you. 

According to David you don’t act in the concern of your daughter.  In an interview he says “ It’s not my idea, it’s Sherry’s business.”
Sherry : (angry) As if I exploit my own daughter! David doesn’t need to worry.  My husband and I will take care of her staying with both feet on the ground. 
Katie :  I can stand for myself.
Sherry : Katie is very mature for her age.
Katie : A person evolves.  I had my teenybopper stage.

But you are very young and vulnerable.  Experienced figures will try to interfere with you and your career. 
Katie : Oh, but mom will watch out for me.  She’ll never allow me going in the wrong direction.  She’ll never allow someone to hurt me.  And she’ll watch over me so that my personality never changes. 
Sherry :  David is prejudiced because he couldn’t handle the pressure, the expectations,  the hysteria around his person.  David never had a stable environment  to go back to.  He himself comes out of a showbiz family.  (His father Jack was an actor, his mother Evelyn Ward had a successful Broadway-career, his stepmother Shirley Jones played his television mother in  “The Partridge Family”) Katie grew up in a normal family.  We have total different criterias than his parents.  Katie grew up with normal values.  That’s a great difference. 
Katie :  For David, showbiz was his life.  For me, It’s totally different.  I’ll just finish school and later I want a family.  My mother is devoted to some values, which I’ve  taken over from her.  Mom always had a very firm influence on my live. 

What is your best subject in school? 
Katie : Algebra.  But now it’s history. I want to know if history will repeat itself.  If my song will be as successful as the original. (smiles)

COMMENTS:
First photo: Annemie, daughter of Willy Sommers has not have any ambition in showbiz.  Katie goes for stardom , with a song of her father.

Second photo: A rare picture of David and Katie.  As Willy and Annemie the same characteristic eyes.

Large photo of Katie : Katie today, at 15 she’s a teenage star.  But for love her mother thinks she’s too young… and smiles.

Photo of David and Willy :  Encounter between two teenage stars.  They looked very much the same in those days.

Photo of the PF : David in his glory years as important man of the Partridge Family.

Last photo: David and his wife, songwriter Sue Shifrin.  They have an 11 year old son Beau. 

In the space of a few short years he went from being the awkward myopic class nerd to one of the world's biggest teen heart-throbs, TV star and million-selling recording artist. At the height of his fame in the 1970s, David Cassidy had to be so cocooned from an audience who would rip him apart, that on tour he would spend almost all the time he wasn't on stage (when he could escape the horny hotel employees) "wrapped up in a blanket up in my room". But "life is so different now". His is a long shadow that shows no sign of completely abating, even though more years have passed since those times than he spent getting to that point.

He has a new album, Then and Now, bringing into sharper focus the comparisons, and perhaps an attempt at personally coming to terms with the inescapable past, after a few decades in the netherworld between outrageous fame and becoming comfortable with your life and your lot ("I played a lot of casinos").

Now, as then, he could do anything, really. He's handsome. He's a good actor, a professional performer ("I've done over 3,000 live 
shows") with a strong, warm voice, and has proven his talents in other creative areas, such as playwright, director and stage actor. "I twisted my brother (Shaun Cassidy)'s arm to do Blood Brothers on Broadway. It was a chance to explore with my brother the emotional journey we had to take – we'd never worked together before… and never again!" he jokes. He made a film, Spirit of `76, with the pop genius McDonald brothers, Steve and Jeff, from Redd Kross.

But he must daily face the question: `What was it like?'… He'll always be `Keith Partridge'. But he broaches it – and its inevitable like – with good spirit and humour, any weariness well hidden (he IS an actor, remember). In a press-conference situation – one he must have faced a million times – he's well prepared. He makes jokes. He flatters his host country. "We envy your love and celebration of life, your warmth, friendship and openness." He has anecdotes, such as the time a blue stage outfit was stolen in Melbourne. It was eventually sold to a fan who approached him with it after a show in London a few months ago "to see if it is really his". It had cost her £80 – "it's worth a little more than that to me. And I still got into it! Though it was a bit tight… here. Remember I was a skinny young guy."

He's surprising. "I was born in New York; I'd hitched to Haight-Ashbury. I saw Hendrix five times, Clapton, Cream. My good friend 
Alice Cooper, we used to hang together, I was much wilder than him, but our images were so different. I was 24 (years old) playing 17. Now I'm a wild rockin' 50-ish guy. I've gotta have fun in my life – that's the way to live it – to get people… happy. It's a great compliment to think that I could inspire people, even better musicians than me, with my music."

He's serious and compassionate in the light of recent tragedies, which have obviously had a profound effect on him. "We are now more 
than ever brothers and sisters in the world."

And he's gracious with the inevitable Partridge Family questions. "The Osbornes – without the language – are as sweet and lovable as The Partridge Family. Really, a lot of the shows I never saw. I was working, and there was no video then. The times are different. You can't compare decades. The reason I left it at the top was because I wanted people to know me, rather than that guy on TV. Around '74 – '75 John Lennon was a great positive influence on my life. He'd understand my experience; he'd taken the steps of demystification. George wrote Here Comes The Sun symbolising his entry back into the world again, be a real person rather than just a …thing. I knew that ultimately I'd find my way." 

He finds having the chance to tour again "liberating. I'd been there, but hadn't seen anything. I'm looking forwards to the experience, to 
come back and to spend some time and see the country". Like a proud dad, he's enthusiastic about the show he'll be presenting on this tour; "it's extremely high energy, a love-fest, a celebration. Come out and heal with me, celebrate the fact that we have this life and this freedom. It's a great thing."

Kerrie Hickin
 

WHEN 17-year-old Lisa and Jessica Origlasso learned they would be sharing a stage with David Cassidy, they were simply excited at the chance to perform for a large crowd. 

The Brisbane songstresses, who will support former teen idol Cassidy in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne over the coming week, had to be told of the importance of their achievement. 

"We did a radio interview and we said, 'David Cassidy's big,', and the (announcers) said, 'Yeah, he's really big'," Lisa said. 

"Since we got the gig we've listened to his CD – he's an amazing performer and he was absolutely huge." 

Identical twins Lisa and Jessica, of Albany Creek in Brisbane's north, began performing as five-year-olds and were recruited to support Cassidy after appearances at Twin Towns in Tweed Heads. 

The duo, called Teal, regularly performs at the services club and were recommended by its management to Cassidy's promoter. 

Crowds that pack the Brisbane and Sydney entertainment centres and Melbourne's Vodafone Arena will well exceed the crowds for which the twins have previously played. 

The largest so far was 5000 at Brisbane's Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols. 

"It's a pretty big deal – I'm not nervous at the moment, but I am when we're standing backstage," Jessica said. 

The girls will open Cassidy's show with a selection of covers – including material by Roy Orbison, the Pointer Sisters and Cher – and one original track. 

They write pop and R&B and list Destiny's Child, Michael Jackson and newcomer Avril Lavigne among their influences. 
 

Diminutive David Cassidy appears as Goliath in his own career critique, writes Bernard Zuel. 

He walked into the room like he was walking onto a yacht. The denim shirt was undone one button more than you might expect, revealing a tanned chest on a body that was kerchief sized: narrow shoulders, narrow waist, no hips and legs like a young girl. His hair was so Brian Henderson you wanted to lean across and tug it; his skin so unlined, so taut, it was all you could do not to pinch it. You were not the only one humming Carly Simon.

With a big-haired, cleavage-enhanced woman on each arm and a smile that hovered between Frankie Howerd licentiousness and Bob Downe cheesiness he preened for the cameras.

"You can draw your own conclusions," David Cassidy smirked, before all but leering, "I'm soooo bad."

Oh dear. 

Absent from Australia for nearly 30 years (albeit still here in The Partridge Family re-runs), Cassidy has been frozen in pop-culture aspic as young and innocent, his long hair gently blown back by the breath of thousands of panting adolescent girls. 

Not for nothing is his coming tour sponsored by a pay TV channel and the news conference hosted by the oldies radio station 2GB. 

So this tiny, 52-year-old man mugging shamelessly was not what we expected.

And then he began speaking. Or, more accurately, delivering an opening monologue as a glib night-show host would. "I have such great memories of my tour here," he said (a line he would repeat again and again during the next 45 minutes, and his week in Australia). "I never had as much fun as I had being here."

You would like to believe him, but, really, it was one tour in 1974 during five years of the kind of fame that fries your brain, no matter how level-headed you are because you were born into a New York theatrical family. The kind of fame that briefly made him the highest paid entertainer in the world when he was 21, with a fan club allegedly bigger than those of Elvis and the Beatles combined. (Of course, the Beatles had broken up and Elvis was fat and in Vegas. But let's not quibble.)

Back in leer mode to tell us that, as a teen idol, he "experimented with drugs, drank, slept with women a lot: I'm a red-blooded American heterosexual", he admitted the mayhem of those years had left him "pretty lonely, pretty empty". He spent 10 years in analysis coming to grips with fame and, presumably, its loss. 

Photographer Henry Diltz, who travelled the world with him during that time, recently said Cassidy's 1974 tour of Australia was, like those everywhere else, a collection of mad rushes from cars to hotels, hotels to venues, venues back to hotels. All serenaded by screaming pubescents who kept vigil outside his hotels 24 hours a day.

But still, he loves us, you know.

"America has a real romance with your country, your sense of loving life," Cassidy said. He quoted a newspaper headline from the time: "Cassidy: World War Three". He reminded us about underwear being thrown at him and explained that while the snootier media disapproved, they couldn't ignore him.

Quite reasonably then, he was asked about the delay in returning. (Admittedly, raising the question as to whether there had been any demand for his return during the '80s and '90s. But let's not quibble).

"As time evolved and my life in America flourished, I've been a very busy guy," he said. 

And, to be fair, while Australians have been watching Cassidy as Keith Partridge battling manager Reuben Kincaid, being outwitted by sister Laurie, and chased by girls, he's been otherwise engaged. He acted in several TV programs and on stage, starred on Broadway in Joseph And the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (also the stage vehicle of choice for our own teen star-to-serious artist Jason Donovan) and created several Las Vegas shows.

He's made his money several times over and these days is on the road in short bursts that add up to five months a year - a far cry from his 24/7 flagellation of the teen-idol years. As he repeats - whenever he can - he's had several careers and they all seem to have worked very well, thank you. So he's not the man we once knew; and we should move on.

Except that the new album is simply a collection of his old hits - reworked in the same studio with the same musicians and, it has to be said, not improved. 

His concert tour of Australia is being sold on nostalgia rather than new work. And every question at the news conference, on TV chat shows and radio programs, is about the distant past.

A few days after the news conference, on his last full day in the country, I asked Cassidy if he wasn't frustrated by the focus on the past rather than the present. And did he think that would bring in 10,000 people to the Sydney Entertainment Centre? For a brief moment we almost got an answer that hadn't been processed and honed in repetition ... but the tantalising glimpse remained just that.

"It's actually not frustrating; it's pretty interesting," he said. "I don't fear anything; this will be a fascinating journey. I don't know that I can [fill the venues]. That will be the first thing people will look at and if I don't [fill them] then people will say I failed. [But] after 27 years you come back and play to 8000 people - is that failure? I don't know.

"Most people view success by the results and I don't. 

People say to me, 'How do you feel now that you're playing to 2000 or 3000 instead of 70,000?' I prefer playing to 2000. You can't be 24 again; you can't be new when you're 40 years old. I don't view success like that: it's about the performance, the experience of making the music, creating the show and playing the music to people who come and experience it."

Perhaps it's more illuminating to see the company Cassidy keeps, or at least the company in which he places himself. Looking back on his career he said he was proud to be "one of the four or five artists" who have had a significant post-teen-idol career. "Sinatra did it; Elvis did it; the Beatles did it; Bobby Darrin almost did it," he said - with no trace of irony. "There were times when I was a joke, but talent survives."

So F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong when he said there are no second acts in American lives?

"I guess I just prove it," Cassidy said.

David Cassidy plays the Entertainment Centre, November 16. The album Then And Now is out now through Universal Music.
 

BIOG

DAVID CASSIDY

- Born April 12, 1950, New York, to actors Jack Cassidy and Evelyn Ward

- Starred in The Partridge Family (1970-1974)

- Albums: 13

- Unlikely partnership - Recorded a single, Gettin' It On In The Streets, with David Bowie's guitarist, Mick Ronson, in 1976
 

FORMER teen idol David Cassidy was chased through Brisbane airport by a mob of frantic fans yesterday – and he had no intention of stopping to sign autographs.

Harking back to the days when songs such as Cherish and I Think I love You made him a '70s pin-up, singer Cassidy, on his first Australian tour since 1974, was pursued by a pack of swooning women as he touched down in Brisbane ahead of his Entertainment Centre concert tonight. But yesterday, the 52-year-old was a less than willing participant. 

And instead of skipping school for the occasion, his admirers had dodged tuckshop duty to catch a glimpse of their favourite star. 

The trouble began when Cassidy made a run for it after spotting placards and television cameras at his arrival gate. 

His devoted fans would not take no for an answer – they pursued him as he shielded his face from the cameras, but the Partridge Family star refused to stop. 

He scampered past the baggage collection area to find his limousine had not arrived, and only stopped after being cornered by fans in the carpark. Cassidy signed an autograph and kissed two women before breaking into a fracas with a Channel 7 cameraman. 

"I go on stage professionally, but I do like to be able to walk through the world and be like everyone else," he said. 

Upon the singer's departure, his fans, some of which had driven for hours for the occasion after a promotion by radio station 4KQ, expressed their disappointment at the singer's conduct. 

Patsy Taylor, who ducked out early from tuckshop duty at her daughter's school, said the singer had shown no appreciation for his fans. 

"It's absolutely disgusting – it would have taken him a few minutes to say hello to everyone," Ms Taylor said. 

Cassidy's promoters were in damage control following the incident and claimed there had been a "communication breakdown" between the singer and a Sydney publicist who was liaising with 4KQ. 
 

Having grown up in and around show business, it was practically inevitable that Katie Cassidy would someday enter that realm. But, becoming a pop star was probably the last thing on Katie’s mind that fateful morning not long ago when she and her girlfriend popped into Rite Aid to pick up a fast snack. It was there that Katie met record producer Joel Diamond and his eight year old daughter Briana, and struck up a casual conversation. Immediately struck by Katie’s natural beauty and charisma, when he learned she could sing, too, Joel gave Katie his business card and told her to have her mother call him. 

As you might imagine, Katie’s mom’s first reaction was skeptical, to say the least. In fact, it took Katie ten days to convince her mother to call Mr. Diamond….and several more phone calls before she disclosed the fact that Katie is the daughter of David Cassidy, who sang his way into the hearts of millions as teen heartthrob Keith Partridge back in the 70’s. Joel was shocked at that bit of news, especially since, at that very moment, he happened to be working on a new rendition of the Partridge Family smash hit "I Think I Love You." Can you say ‘fate’? 

Well, before you could say, "let’s make a record," Katie and Joel were in the studio cutting what would become Katie’s first single. 

As Katie prepares to hit the road, touring in support of the official release of "I Think I Love You," her well-honed skills as a dancer, gymnast and high school cheerleader will come in handy, as will her previous experience as an actress and model. Katie also excels at skiing and snowboarding, and enjoys playing soccer and softball. 

Though she counts Algebra among her "best subjects," Katie’s tendencies lean toward the creative side. Like her grandmother, an accomplished painter, Katie loves to experiment with art. She also enjoys creative writing, and is currently developing her skills as a songwriter. 

Katie also shines in the kitchen. She absolutely loves to cook, especially desserts. Her favorite foods include Chinese, Sushi and the good ol’ All-American standby macaroni and cheese. In fact, Katie lists "pigging out with my best friends," as one of her favorite pastimes. 

Like most girls her age, Katie truly enjoys the time she spends with her friends, even if it’s just hanging out with them at home or going to the movies ("Pearl Harbor" is her favorite!) She has a very active social life, and loves shopping on Melrose with her sisters, Jenna and Jaime. (Shoes are a high priority, as are Frankie B pants.) Katie also likes to play on the beach, and go dancing at the teenage hotspot "Club 1-7" with her friend Brittney. She also loves playing with her three dogs Doodle (her fave), Jack and Sophie, and her pet desert tortoise, Myrtle. 

Gorgeous, multi-talented, and anchored by her strong Christian beliefs and the support of a loving family, Katie is aptly prepared, armed and ready to conquer the pop world…in a hurry! 
 

Former teenage heartthrob David Cassidy took a gamble in 1996 when he moved his family to Vegas, but it paid off. He recently produced the stage show The Rat Pack is Back and starred in his own extravaganza called EFX.

Not one teen act from the 1980s has successfully made the transition to adult stardom today, claims the VH1 special Bubblegum Babylon.

Impressive in its scope, including interviews with everyone from the Strangeloves (credited here as the first bubblegum act) to the Backstreet Boys and Hanson, the two-hour documentary nonetheless tells us what most of us already know: Teen pop is manufactured and disposable, relying more on looks and image than musical talent.

Of course, some of that "product" is among the best pop of the past 40 years, something Bubblegum Babylon barely acknowledges and never tries to explain. It also fails to delve into the unfair contracts and other manipulations that the genre's Svengalis and record companies have visited upon their willing, if naive, puppets.

Still, it's fun to see which former teen idols are the most bitter (Tony DeFranco of the DeFranco Family) and which producers are the most honest (Tiffany puppeteer George Tobin, who says: "There has to be manipulation. How do you let someone who's 14 run a career? I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this girl before she happened.")

Bubblegum Babylon uses wannabe star Katie Cassidy as its thread, tracing her bid for pop stardom throughout its chapters: where bubblegum started; how sudden stardom affects the performers; the role of merchandising; the increasing sexualization of teen acts, particularly girls; and the inevitable, typically quick fall back into obscurity.

Katie, 15, is David Cassidy's daughter, which isn't revealed immediately. Instead, we see her producer, her mother and her manager plan her career before a single song is released. It turns out that her former-teen-idol father is opposed to her bid for stardom, and we see her trio of advisers talking to her about how to handle questions about him.

She plans to tell the truth. "But how much truth are you going to tell? That's the question," says her producer, Joel Diamond. It's a creepy, insightful moment, only matched by a scene in which Katie tries on a bustier as her mother, Sherri Benedon, tries to dissect the "fine line" between underage performers like her daughter and the selling of sex. In the background, a female singer -- maybe Katie -- can be heard belting: "Make me crazy. Make me sweat."

Bubblegum Babylon traces the recent rise of sex in teen pop with the Spice Girls, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, who raises the typical defense that she's only an artist conveying her feelings.

Many Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers will be jazzed to see the acts they grew up with -- from the Monkees to New Edition to New Kids on the Block. 

But Bubblegum Babylon also wants you to feel sorry for these has-beens, whose exploitation by their corporate rock labels is the oldest story in the music business.

Mon, Nov 11, 2002 01:54 PM PDT 
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi and  executive producer Shaun Cassidy are re-teaming for a new pilot at CBS. 
     The duo, who executive produced the disturbingly compelling 1995-96 series  for CBS, are developing a one-hour series that's sort of a modern-day Jekyll-and-Hyde story. The lead character will be a forensic psychiatrist with a traumatic past who's involved in a love triangle. "It will have echoes of 'Spider-Man,' 'The Incredible Hulk' and 'Beauty and the Beast,' along
with 'American Gothic,' " Cassidy tells The Hollywood Reporter. "It's an area we've all explored before." 
     Cassidy will write the pilot and executive produce with Raimi and "Gothic" producer David Eick.Raimi won't be able to direct the pilot because of his commitment to a "Spider-Man" sequel, but he'll probably oversee some second-unit sequences and the main titles. 

CBS has given Sam Raimi, Shaun Cassidy and David Eick -- who collaborated on the 1995-96 Eye drama "American Gothic" -- a seven-figure put pilot commitment for an hourlong series described as a modern-day take on "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Cassidy will write and exec produce the project from Universal Network Television, where he has an overall deal. "Spider-Man" helmer Raimi and Eick also will serve as exec producers.

"Sam Raimi, David Eick and I have wanted to work together since 'American Gothic' and have tried to find a way over the years," said Cassidy, who also writes and exec produces Saturday night CBS series "The Agency," which U and CBS Prods. co-produce.

No director has been set for the pilot, and it's not likely that CAA-repped Raimi will take on directing duties, since he will be busy with the "Spider-Man" sequel. He will, however, likely get involved in second unit filming as well as the main title sequence, Cassidy said.

The untitled pilot concerns a forensic psychiatrist who has an alternate personality as a result of a traumatic childhood event. It's also a love triangle in that a woman is involved with both sides of the man.

"The show will be suspenseful, and the show will also be strangely romantic, reminiscent perhaps of 'The Hulk' and 'Beauty and the Beast' and with strong echoes of 'American Gothic' and 'Spider-man,' " said Cassidy, who is repped by Bob Gumer of the Kaplan Stahler Gumer Agency.

Cassidy also made a point of saying that he's glad the reunion project is at the Eye. "We've had a great experience with CBS on 'The Agency,' " he said. "They've been very supportive of me and the show."

© 2002 Reed Business Information  © 2002 Variety, Inc.

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - CBS is jiggering its schedule in a bid to boost a pair of struggling dramas. 

While CBS has pulled this week's episode of "Robbery Homicide Division" in favor of a "CSI" repeat, the network is giving the critically praised but low-rated crime drama a chance to find an audience in a new time slot. The show will air Saturdays at 10 on Nov. 30 and Dec. 7 as executives look to gauge whether the show fares better when not opposite Friday juggernaut "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." 

In addition, sophomore spy drama "The Agency," which has shown some Nielsen softness on Saturdays, will get a one-week tryout in "Robbery's" usual 10 p.m. Friday slot on Dec. 6. The goal is to give both shows added exposure in different timeslots. 

While "The Agency" is picked up for a full season, CBS executives have not decided about "Robbery." 

But CBS has ordered additional episodes of "Presidio Med," which has struggled Wednesdays at 10 p.m. but nonetheless remains a fave of network brass. Industry insiders expect the medical drama will get a full-season order.