ShareThisBy TERRY MORROW
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Skeet Ulrich doesn't fool around when he roughs it.
In 2001, when he lived in rural Virginia, he lived in a 19th-century house with no heat or running water. "I loved the land," he says, "but it was brutal."
But that's nothing compared to what his character, Jake Green, has to endure on "Jericho" (8 p.m. EDT Wednesdays, CBS). Jake came back to his hometown on a day when a mushroom cloud was spotted in the distance.
From there, the residents ran for cover when radiation started moving their way. On the Oct. 18 episode, hope comes when a brief power surge allows them to get a message from Homeland Security.
Jake has had his hands full since the beginning. He saved a bus filled with scared school children, fought off outlaws on the lam and tried to help restore peace in a chaotic situation.
Ulrich doesn't see "Jericho" as an action piece. Instead, he says it's a reflection of today's human condition in trying times.
"Can you take people at face value? Are they more? Are they less?" he asks. "This show explores all that ... It's not about the end of the world. It's about the rebirth of America."
At this point, no one's quite sure what's going on. He prefers it that way.
"I don't have any theories about what happened," Ulrich says. "I'm purposely doing it that way because I want to be open for whatever might happen."
Jake has been gone from his hometown for years but returned on the day the cloud appeared. Since then he's been helping his father, the mayor, to restore order.
"He's the classic example of an anti-hero," he says. "He's been thrown into a situation he can handle, but it's been hard for him."
Raised in Concord, N.C., Ulrich has had his own share of trying times. His parents divorced when he was 3 years old. At 10, he had open-heart surgery to correct a ventricle defect.
He says he didn't date in high school. Back then he didn't care for education. He scored a 910 on his SAT. Later Ulrich went to college and studied acting.
Ulrich's credits include big-screen hits "As Good As It Gets" and "Scream." In 2003, he starred in the supernatural drama "Miracles" for ABC. ("Jericho" has been a moderate hit for CBS so far this season.)
His mother remarried to D.K. Ulrich. Skeet's uncle is NASCAR driver Ricky Rudd. Skeet is a big racing fan and tries to stop by the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee often during the summer.
Skeet, now divorced himself, has twins, a son and a daughter. He says he'd go for them first if he spotted a mushroom cloud near Los Angeles, where he lives.
"I'd want to make sure they were safe," he says. "After that, I'd get to a safe place around here because this place would be a zoo."
