Everyone had a little bit different take on what they thought would work. My take, since I was in charge of the story, was that I wanted a good mix of people. It's almost like writing a screenplay. You want a variety of stories and you need different things. For example, it was clear from the beginning that Kaya was more into it than Valerie was. And even though she agreed to do it, she was hoping that it would push Kaya into realizing she was "the one."

How did they even get involved in it in the first place?

Our Miami casting director found them. I believe she had worked with Kaya on some kind of modeling shoot. So she approached them.

How do you know if a couple would be good on the show?

You read between the lines. Even though Valerie said she was enthusiastic about it, you read her body language, you watch her watching her mate answer questions. It became clear, to me at least, that Valerie's story would appeal to a lot of women who are ready to commit and their boyfriends are not quite there yet. And so that's a very compelling element to me, even though some people said, "Well, she's not going to be any fun and she's not going to throw herself into it." And I said, "Well, we have other people to fill that slot."

Did she hold back a lot once she got there? Or was it clear that she would be pretty reserved from the start?

I think we had a pretty good idea, which was OK. You wouldn't want all four women to be in Valerie's position, but it's OK to have a Valerie when you know you have a Mandy, who's very exuberant, and a Ytossie who's very outspoken. Whenever you cast one of these shows, it's about the mix. It's like a network developing a programming schedule. They develop a hundred pilots and they only put a few on and they don't always pick the top 10, they pick the one they think complements "Frasier."

Why did you choose Shannon and Andy?

We thought of Andy and Shannon as our 30-something couple, because they had been together for five years and some of their problems seemed more mature. Some people thought they seemed too in love or don't seem to have the drama. I fought for them because I thought there would be a story with them.

They seemed like the most potentially explosive couple to me ...

That's what I thought. When they came into the interview, they were both very confident. They thought they could go through these two weeks, no problem. And they hinted that they were moving toward getting engaged.

One of the questions we asked the couples was "What do your friends and family think about this?" And most said, "They think we're crazy, this could really wreck us." But Shannon and Andy sort of said, "We've been through much worse." They told us enough about their past ups and downs and their "down time ..."

What made you choose them?

The two things I thought were interesting about them was No. 1, they have a tit-for-tat relationship. If one was caught kissing, the other person would go out and do the same. The other thing was that they had a little bit more mature issues. One of them was that Shannon is an attorney; he has a kayaking company. She has a very corporate existence and he has the mellow, 20-something, not far out of college existence. I thought that was different from our other couples, and would provide a contrast.

Was each of the main cast members assigned a story producer?

I supervised a team of eight story producers who were each assigned to one cast member.

Were the producers surprised by some of the outcomes?

A lot of people were surprised by Shannon and Andy because they really thought she was going to break up with him. I didn't think so. She'd been with him for five years. As for Andy's more controversial comments, it's not like we were lurking in the bushes. He would say [these things] to the producers in interviews. That's just who he is and I assume that Shannon knows that he is who he is. Do you live in Los Angeles?

No.

OK. Well, L.A. is not a town that's built on sincerity. They can smile at you and then stab you in the back. So, even though I don't necessarily agree with everything Andy ever said, I found it refreshing because at least he was honest. And the thing about Andy is that his intentions are never bad. For example, the comment he made when he compared Shannon's legs to his date Megan. I don't think this ever came out in the show but she used to be a professional dancer. She was a Lakers girl. So when he gave her I think it was an 8.5 or 9 and gave Shannon an 8, the way he said it, "Shannon's right behind her with an 8." I think, in his own mind, it was a compliment to Shannon, saying her legs were almost as good as a professional dancer's.

Right.

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