SCOUNDRELS - The ABCs TV Show
The Canadian-born actor, 49, is red hot -- starring in two simultaneous shows.
During the day, he'll throw a party for the cast and crew of his ode-to-pops Hallmark Channel movie, Dad's Day, about a widower who loses his big advertising job and reconnects with his kids. Later he'll toast his return to prime time with his new ABC comedy Scoundrels. He plays a crooked patriarch of a family of petty crooks trying to clean up their act after he's sent to the slammer.
Good thing his L.A. home -- which he shares with actress wife Nanci Chambers and their two kids -- is made for entertaining. ``I can feed a lot of people and put on a real show,'' says the actor, who first caught the attention of fans in the 1990s on the original Melrose Place. ``I've got a pizza oven in my back yard. It was the architect's mistake but I've made the best of it.''
Elliott may have not been burning up the tube in a few years, but he still gets stopped ``every day'' for his role on legal drama JAG, playing Cmdr. Harmon Rabb from 1995-2005.
When the Toronto native landed the lead in JAG (or Judge Advocate General), he didn't think the show would stick.
``A lot of people were very down on the military when we started,'' he says. ``But then 9/11 happened and it changed how the country felt -- the worst possible reason.''
Elliott gets saluted every so often and still gets a lot of fan mail. ``I feel like I was in the military in a way. We took great pains to make it authentic.''
These days, Elliott may be hitting a new career high, but kids Stephanie, 17, and Wyatt, 7, won't treat him any differently on Sunday.
``Mother's Day was just last month so by the time they get around to me it's pretty anticlimactic,'' laughs Elliott. ``It kind of sticks a pin in my balloon.''
Also See:
