A/N Once again clearing out my brain before getting to Middlewood. This story is very AU. It's basically a fic about the backstage antics of a show that doesn't exist. Well the show kind of exists, since it's the Kim Possible show. Not exactly the same Kim Possible show we know and love but more of a network prime time version. Kind of like a Larry Sanders Show type deal. This will be something fairly different so I hope it works.
Please excuse the format of the prologue folks it's supposed to look like a semi real interview.
I don't own anything having to do with Kim Possible. And any resemblance to celebrities that I may or may not add to this fic in the future is purely coincidental.
The TV Tattler: Celebratory interviews with televisions' hottest stars.
The stars of Kim Possible dish about the new season and their lives.
This summer I had the pleasure of seeing an advance screening of the fourth season premiere of the smash hit T.V show Kim Possible. Unless you've been living on Mars you should know what the buzz for this show is all about, but if your first name happens to be Marvin then let me clue you in on to what you've been missing. Mix in a little bit of 24, add a dash of Friends, a pinch of Dawson's Creek and a sprinkling of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and you've got the complete package known as Kim Possible. It happens to feature some of the best action sequences in television history while bringing consistent laughs and drama throughout.
The show was borne from the fertile minds of the show's stars themselves Kimberly Ann Possible and Ronald Stoppable (the characters they play are partly based on themselves). After seeing the new episode I had the opportunity to sit down with Kim and Ron. Here are some interesting excerpts from the sit down.
So, for the unacquainted, let's talk about your characters and how they fit into the show.
Kim: Well I play Kim Possible; she is a normal girl who just happens to save the world every now and then. She's a strong, independent woman, she doesn't ask for any rewards and she's not seeking recognition for her good deeds. She does what she does (saving the world) because she has a good heart. But she's far from perfect; the little details in life will occasionally freak her out and that's probably what's appealing about her.
Ron: My character is Ron Stoppable, he's been Kim's best friend since pre K…and he helps her save the world. He's a little goofy; he's a little immature and silly. But he's laid back, he tends to enjoy life and he's really loyal to his friends, family and favorite fast food chain. Ron's GPA may not be anywhere near impressive but, if its eight seconds in overtime, Kim won't be afraid to pass the ball, because she knows Ron will come through in the clutch
A teenage cheerleader and her goofy best friend save the world while dealing with the high and lows of their every daily lives. Where exactly did the idea for this show come from?
Kim: (glances at Ron). How, we got the idea for the show is a pretty strange story.
Ron: It all started a few years ago back in Middleton. One day Kim and I happened to be walking through Middleton Park……
You guys have been friends for along time right?
Kim: Since Pre K just like the Ron and Kim in the show.
Ron: Some of the stuff on the show is based on our real lives.
Kim: So we're going through the park this one cold winter day.
Ron: Hey I thought I was telling the story……
Kim: We're both telling the story
Ron: Yea but I started it. I wasn't done with the set up
Kim: Fine go ahead…..set it up
Ron: Eh your name's the one in the title you should probably set it up
Kim (sighs). So we're crossing through the park in the middle of the coldest winter the area had ever seen. It was so cold that the park lake was frozen solid or so we thought.
Ron: (leans forward). We're walking along the outer edge of the lake right, and we see these kids, they're like fooling around on the ice. When suddenly there's this loud cracking sound and the ice just breaks underneath one of them. The kid falls through a hole about eight feet wide, and disappears.
Kim: It was the most surreal moment ever; everything was happening in slow motion. I saw the kid fall in and all of a sudden I'm running towards the hole.
Ron: Now I'm like a chicken with its head cut off. As I'm scrambling to pull out my cell phone so I can call the cops, I see Kim take off. I can't believe me eyes as my lunatic of a best friend dives right into the hole after the kid.
Kim: (laughs). I just reacted, it wasn't a well thought out plan, now that I think about.
Ron: And some people call me the weird one. Anyway I've just called the cops, and I'm standing at the edge of this hole, and the water is dark, I mean really dark. I'm screaming "Kim!" at the top of my lungs.
Kim: At that moment I'm underwater and I can't see a thing, the water it's so cold it feels like it's biting at my skin. I'm jerking my hands around when I hit something with my elbow. It's the boy, his name was Scott right?
Ron: Yea Scott
Kim: So I pull Scott close to my body, and that's when, I'm not really sure how, but I hear Ron's voice. I start swimming up towards the voice!
Ron: On the surface I'm thinking it's time for me to dive, I've practically braced myself for the cold when Kim's head pops up out of the water. By then some other people who had seen the incident have come over to help. They helped me fish Kim and the kid out of the water.
Kim: Then Ron starts tearing off his coat and his clothes to wrap around me and Scott. So he's standing in the middle of winter in only a T shirt.
Ron: (laughs). The insanity was infectious that day. The funny thing is three days later I'm the only one who ends up with the flu….but I'm jumping ahead. An ambulance arrives moments later and we're being hauled off to the hospital. We're in the back of the ambulance, Kim's shivering, I'm holding her hand as I'm shivering, I'm telling her how she saved the kid, she saved the day, and she says to me, and I quote…. "I guess I won't be baby sitting the Haywood twins tonight."
Kim: So then he starts laughing at me
Ron: I had too!
Kim: I'm lying there my body temperature is about thirty below, and he's laughing at me. I say "what's so funny?" And he says
Both: Kimberly Anne Possible she can do anything! She'll save the day and be back in time to baby sit your kids!
Kim: Two weeks later I get a phone call from Ron in the middle of the night and he goes "you know what would be a great idea for a show" We kicked the idea around for a couple of months and we wrote up the pilot together……
Ron: About a year or two later, the summer of high school graduation. We filmed the pilot ourselves, which was really difficult. We had to ask just about everybody we knew to help us out in some way.
Kim: That's why we cast all of our friends and family into the show, which worked out so well that we decided to keep almost everyone on, even after we got a studio to pick us up.
Ron: Which is really great because unlike professional actors; they will work cheap
Kim: Ron! He's just joking, everyone is paid well.
The setups for a lot of the episodes are brilliant in their originality. For example when Ron falls asleep while cooking breakfast, he burns down his parent's recently remodeled kitchen, forcing him to spend a month with the Possibles and hilarity ensues. Are those stories taken from your real life? Who comes up with them?
Ron: I'm going to be honest and say yea I actually did fall asleep while cooking breakfast. I'm not proud of it but it wasn't exactly my fault. It happened three years ago during our sophomore year of college, Kim and I were dating at the time and we were like a week into the couple thing and (smiles) I didn't exactly get a lot sleep the night before.
Kim (strikes Ron on the shoulder) Shut up! You're not on trial you don't have to reveal everything
Ron: What? The fans have a right to know!
Kim: Luckily for Ron the fire didn't spread as fast as we portrayed on the show or we wouldn't be here today.
Ron: I lost a good sponge in that fire I still dream about it sometimes……I miss you spongy.
Kim: Some of our stories are inspired by real life events, but the rest is thanks to one hell of a writing staff.
Ron: It was hard enough for me and Kim to write the pilot let alone an entire season. So the studio hooked us up with a staff being led by Mark and Bob, those guys handle most of the writing load these days. We look the script over, give our seal of approval and concentrate on the acting.
You've both alluded to having once dated. May I ask what happened?
Kim: We did date during our sophomore year of college but it didn't last too long.
Ron: The thing is I was at this club in L.A and I bumped into Angelina Jolie and well I'm sorry to say, magic happened.
Kim: (smirks). Yes the famed Rongelina couple.
Ron: Best three weeks of my life, a whirlwind romance. Kim obviously didn't take the news well and you can't blame her; this is me we're talking about. Brad Pitt ain't got nothing on me.
Kim: Meanwhile back in reality we decided that our friendship and the show were more important than anything else. It was very much amicable.
Ron: You know I think she still yearns for me
Kim: I do not!
Ron: I was talking about Angelina
Kim: Oh
Since we're discussing celebrity couples, Ron there have been rumors linking you to Amanda Bynes.
Ron: (laughs). Wow that's hilarious because I've only seen her face to face once.
Kim: (Turns to Ron). You've met her? When did this happen?
Ron: Huh? It was that week you had the flu….I met her at Boris' son's Bar Mitzvah.
Kim: Boris our agent?
Ron: Yea the Mitzvah was three weeks ago.
You two allegedly got hot and heavy by the poolside.
Ron: (shakes head). That never happened.
Kim: What did happen?
Ron: Nothing happened we just talked that's all.
Kim: Why didn't you tell me about this party?
Ron: It slipped my mind, besides you were sick. I tried to stay over but you told me not to worry about you.
Kim: Ok
Ron: Are you mad?
Kim: Why would I be mad?
Ron: You sound a little mad
Kim: (angrily) I'm not mad!
Ron: I'm sorry
Kim: You don't have to apologize because I'm not mad
Ron: Obviously
Kim: Anyway we remain the best of friends. We've never been closer.
On improvisation:
Kim: I'm not as good at improv as Ron is. He comes up with some wickedly funny stuff from like out of thin air. Sometimes he'll say something like "bon diggety" in the middle of the scene and at first you'll be like "bon diggety? What the heck?" But after you think about if for awhile, you realize that it fits the character perfectly.
Ron: Most of the time I don't even know where I come up with the stuff. I just kind flow with it, but I do remember one moment clearly. It was in the first season and the scene called for Ron to shout "radical." As we're shooting I'm thinking "who in the world still says radical?"
Kim: No one does.
Ron: Exactly, and all I'm thinking during the scene is "Radical that is so bad, really, really bad" Suddenly it's my cue and I just blurt out "badical!"
Kim: It was an instant hit with the writers
Ron: Now I can't buy groceries without a bag boy telling me how badical the show is.
Kim: Personally I tend to follow the script closely but once in awhile I'll come up with something decent. Especially during scenes with Ron, we naturally play off with each other so well that I can easily come up with some off the cuff dialog.
Ron: Kim's improv skills shine during the fight scenes. She'll turn a simple leg sweep into a falling backwards spinning heel kick faster that you can say booyah!
About the fighting scenes, this show consistently has the best action choreography on TV right now. The frequent battles between Shego who is played by Shelia Ricci and Kim are especially intense.
Ron: I'm going to let you guys in on an insider secret. The reason Kim and Shelia's fights are so great are because A) They don't like each other B) They both have prior backgrounds in martial arts C) They don't like each other D) They're naturally competitive, so they both try their hardest to steal the scene E) They don't like each other.
Kim: That is so not true. The entire cast gets along fine.
Ron: Sometimes during the fight scenes, maybe it's just me, maybe it's my whacky imagination, but sometimes, you can't help but think they're really trying to hurt each other.
Kim: Exaggerating much?
Isn't it true that in the past three seasons you and Shelia have both suffered at least two broken noses? Shelia sprained her ankle in season one, you dislocated your shoulder in season two. In season three it was rumored that Shelia had two teeth knocked out and black eye and you spent an afternoon in the hospital with a bruised rib.
Kim………Those were work related accidents.
Ron: Sure
Kim: Shelia and I are very dedicated to our craft.
When did this apparent animosity begin?
Ron: Shelia's going to kill me for this but the story must be told.
Kim: Oh no
Ron: Shelia as most of her fans are very well aware of is a former child star. For those who don't know she was Lil Beth in the show "Married with Strangers" that aired about ten years ago.
A classic sitcom for its time
Ron: I couldn't agree more, but we all know what happens to child stars.
Kim: Try not to stereotype
Ron: Allow me to stereotype. Former "child star" legends don't usually end up as success stories in adulthood. With that said we held an open casting call for the final villain role as Kim's arch enemy. Shelia shows up, only two weeks out of rehab………
Was that after the incident where she was found driving on the wrong side of the highway?
Ron: Yes…….Shelia shows up to the audition and she and Kim immediately "hit" (he uses air quotes) it off. It was a match made in heaven.
Kim: I just commented that she arrived to the audition with a less than professional attitude.
Ron makes a hand motion as if he's tipping a glass to his mouth.
Kim: Professional attitude aside Shelia did manage to wow us with her terrific talent, especially as a villain.
Ron: Translation, they're bickering was so great; the rest of us knew immediately no one else could play a better rival for Kim on the show.
Kim: (glowers at Ron) what Ron is clearly trying to say here is that Shelia and I take our martial arts training and our jobs very seriously; we both work our tails off to bring the best fighting experience to the show that we can.
Ron: (brief silence) Right what she said…..they're uh very dedicated to um creating an authentic fighting…experience.
Kim: Exactly.
Speaking of Shelia she and Bonnie Rockwaller who also plays a character of the same name; have both graced the covers of twenty three magazines in the past three years. This includes Shelia's scintillating, provocative and highly controversial, cover for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
Ron: I'm very familiar with that issue.
Kim strikes him again on the shoulder.
Ron: Ow!
You yourself Kim have repeatedly turned down many magazines that were interested in you over the years. And for the longest time it seemed as if you would never do a photo shoot of your own, but to everyone's surprise you've got your own spicy cover and photo spread for Premiere magazine that is hitting the stand next month.
Kim: Yes I'm very proud of how the pictures turned out, especially the cover.
Did your decision to do the cover have anything to do with Shelia's swimsuit edition being the highest selling issue in the magazine's existence?
Kim (slightly irritated). No all of Shelia's photos were gorgeous and the same could be said for Bonnie's. I decided to take a chance for once, I asked Ron for his opinion on the matter and he said if I felt it was right, I should go for it. and I did.
Was it a good experience?
Kim: When I first got there, I was so nervous but it wears off fast because there's so much going on. For the first second you feel naked, even though I wasn't……but after that it's more like "let's do this!" I got into it, plus Ron and Monique were there to support me. And I think they turned out well, they were really classy pictures.
Ron: I personally thought they were great like in an artsy way. And I'm not just saying that because Kim's my best friend. If there was anything sleazy about it I would have pulled her out of there whether she wanted to take the pics or not.
Kim: (laughs) He was like a little watch dog at the shoot. He got into fights with everyone he "caught" staring longer then they should have.
So you enjoyed the photo spread as well?
Ron (grins) Natch (naturally) I forgot to get the photographers name but he did a really great job. There was one picture where the sun is shining directly down on Kim and the sunlight really illuminates her face. Cuz when Kim's happy she sort of glows and her eyes kind of sparkle like….uh….what do you call those green gems?
Kim……….emeralds
Ron: Yea emeralds, it's obvious that Kim's got a smoking body, but if you take the time to notice, she's also got rocking eyes as well. And that photographer he just captured all of that perfectly. Those pictures blew me away.
Kim: ……………. (softly) Thanks Ron
Ron: No big
Now we're going to get to some fan questions. This one is from Kelly362. "Some actors have special rituals they go through before shooting. How do you guys prepare for your roles?"
Kim: Well I have a Tai Chi and Yoga routine that helps me relax before filming. Ron however listens to bad songs, and I mean some of the worst songs ever made. His play lists includes Achy Breaky Heart, Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Ice Ice Baby, Sunglasses at Night
Ron: The point is to get to a place so low, that you can only go up for there.
Kim: I don't know how he stands it; some of those songs are just awful.
Ron: All I know is I've got two people's choice awards.
Here's a question from LonelyLinda "What happened to Josh? He was the perfect guy handsome, smart, friendly, artistic? Why did he and Kim break up?"
Ron: I heard from a good source that the problem was that he and Kim wore the same kind of underwear, and he kept borrowing hers.
Kim (laughs) Oh my god where did that come from?
Ron: (laughs) It's what I heard
Kim: Seriously the thing about Josh is that he may have been too perfect
Ron: I.E boring
Kim: Besides he wasn't really Kim's type. Kim likes quirky funny guys.
Here's one from SlashieMcGeee "Ron is so irritating….I can't see why Kim would be his friend, I don't even know why she likes him. He's dumb, he can barely do basic math, he can't ever be serious, and he's always screwing things up. They better not end up together! My question is will we be seeing more of Tara this season."
Ron: (angrily) First of all I'm…..Ron's not stupid!
Kim: It's alright Ron
Ron: He's just an underachiever is that a crime? Ok he's kind of lazy and irresponsible at times but that doesn't mean he's stupid! There are various degrees of intelligence folks; it's not all about book smarts. And what about the fact the he can cook like a master chef but Kim can't huh? Granted I did fall asleep in front of the stove and almost burned down my house but that's irrelevant
Kim: So not the drama Ron……
Ron: I….he has other skills….skills that are vital to helping Kim save the world alright! And you can't see why Kim would like him? WHAT ARE YOU BLIND?
Kim: Amp down
Ron: What about the fact that whether they're friends or more, he'd take a bullet for her right in the spine, die, and then resurrect himself so he can dance at her wedding, while holding in the sorrow that is tearing his soul apart, as he watches her feed wedding cake to another man!
Kim ………..
Ron: (takes deep breath) I'm sorry…….I got carried away there.
Kim: Um Ron has changed; he's no longer the old Ron during season 1-3. He's a little more mature.
Let's back up a minute "Whether they're friends or more?" Is that a hint that Kim and Ron will be getting together this season?
Ron: (huffs) Show? …What about the show?
Kim: To answer the first question, yes Tara will have more screen time. For the second question……stranger things have happened.
StarGazer69 wrote in with "Robin, Iolaus, Gabrielle, Luigi, Barney Rubble, Mr Spock, Dr Watson, Stan Laurel, these are all great sidekicks. Do you think Ron will go down in history as a great sidekick?
Ron (sighs). I don't uh….I don't think Kim has ever uh called Ron her sidekick…..has she?
Kim: He's right, Kim's never called him her sidekick, various villains have, but Kim hasn't, he's her partner.
Ron: Get it right folks P.A.R.T.N.E.R
The last question is from RonUnStopable63…..
Ron: I like this one already.
He or she says "I love you guys and I love the show. I think Kim and Ron are perfect together, the sexual chemistry between them is amazing…….
Kim (blushes). Sexual chemistry?
Ron: I assure you any sexual chemistry between me and Kim is not being done on purpose.
Kim: (glances at Ron) What?
Ron: Huh? Did I say something wrong?
…….Kim and Ron are soul mates in my eyes. If they get married what do you think they're wedding song would be?
Both: (laugh)
Ron: That's an interesting question…
Kim: Yea
Both: (simultaneously) True colors.
They pause briefly and stare at each other for a moment.
Both: (simultaneously). The duet version
Both: (simultaneously). Jinx
Both: (simultaneously). Double Jinx
Both: (laugh)
Ron: Well that was pretty weird.
How about some final thoughts on the upcoming season?
Ron: I'll let the lady with the name in the title answer that one.
Kim: Well this will be a pretty interesting season for our two heroes. It will be a roller coaster ride all the way to the season finale, which should be one that our fans will never forget. So stay tuned and enjoy the show.
A/N I hope the format didn't bug people too much. There's probably not a lot of you still around, but those of you who are, bear with me folks this one should be fairly interesting. And if anyone has any ideas on anything they'd like to see feel free to suggest. Read and review this fic will continue.