Corpus natives hit TV paydirt

She's a mysterious out-of-towner after a married man. He's a shadowy detective who catches married men cheating on their wives.
   But they're only acting.
   Two people who grew up in Corpus Christi are currently appearing on TV screens nationwide, and although their success stories are drastically different, they both share roots that bring them back to South Texas every so often.
   Eva Longoria, a slender, 5' 2" 26-year-old, recently stopped by my office, and the Miller High School grad had news that she now stars on a soap opera that's older that she is. Longoria is the newest cast member on CBS's 28-year-old serial "The Young and the Restless."
   "Y&R," which rotates around the residents' lives in the fictional Genoa City, is Longoria's first big break after moving to Los Angeles a few years ago. She's enjoyed small roles on "General Hospital" and "The Bold and the Beautiful," but Longoria signed a 3-year contract with "Y&R" - a typical length for soaps, but abnormally long for most acting jobs.
   Ruffling serial feathers
   Longoria's character, Isabella, is a mischievous, rich divorcee. Paul and Cricket have been married for more than 8 years in "Y&R," and when Paul meets Isabella, more than a few feathers are ruffled.
   "She is in town to stir up trouble," said Longoria, a graduate of Texas A&M University - Kingsville. "We might break up their marriage - well, at least I'll put it on the rocks."
   She filmed her first episode in early February and it aired March 9. But getting to that point wasn't as easy as it sounds. Longoria auditioned eight times, and after a variety of readings and workshops, she finally got the call.
   "Aside from being incredibly gorgeous, she's doing fabulously well," said "Y&R" supervising producer David Shaughnessy. " We're seeing some interesting things coming out of her character, and (Eva is) playing that scared, frightened, emotionally battered woman very well.
   Eva and Isabella
   Longoria initially said she doesn't share any common personality traits with her character, but when pressed, she admitted a few similarities.
   "We're extreme opposites," she said. "She's very analytical, strategic, thinks things through, where I'm a very shoot-from-the-hip girl. I guess we're both very strong and very determined. We're both educated. She's very street smart, and she has more of an edge to her."
   No matter the parallels or dissimilarities, Longoria loves that Isabella is a strong Latina - albeit a criminal - who defies pigeonholing.
   "I like that this character is not the stereotypical Latin," she said. "She's educated. She's very articulate. She doesn't speak with an accent. She's not the maid. I mean, she's a bad con artist, but at least she's a smart con artist. But she's beautiful, intelligent and sexy, and I hope I'm those things."
   The mails say yes. Longoria had been on the air for less than a month before her fan mail became unmanageable. The letters showed Longoria that not only is she sexy, she's also an inspiration to other aspiring actresses in the Latin community.
   Also born and raised in Corpus Christi is Tommy Habeeb, the host of the syndicated "Cops"-like hit, "Cheaters," which catches philandering partners in the act. Under the screen name of Tommy Grand, Habeeb plays a detective who talks to the suspicious wives and boyfriends, finds the cheating husbands and girlfriends, and arranges a forced, sometimes-violent rendezvous among all of the parties involved.
   With "Cheaters" (airing locally on ABC affiliate KIII at 11:05 p.m. on Saturdays), Habeeb and his partner Bobby Goldstein have slammed Orwell's Big Brother into a real-life morality play. While their ethics have been questioned in every form of media imaginable, the show's popularity is on the rise.
   The show is making impressive gains in New Orleans, San Antonio and Albuquerque, and it's unexpectedly popular among women.
   "It's a big surprise," said Habeeb, 43. "But it's nice to see. These are sensitive women with feelings and they're going, 'Hey, I appreciate what you're doing.' "
   Habeeb has tested the waters of numerous careers - competitive foosball, formalwear design and his family's jewelry business - but it was always TV that he loved. When "Cheaters" took off, Habeeb was amazed that he had reached the next tier.
   Learning experience
   "I didn't know the first thing about relationships before doing this show and doing hundreds of interviews with people: couples, individuals," said Habeeb. "I think I've learned a lot about people."
   His relationship philosophy is simple:
   "We all know what's right and what's wrong, but sometimes we don't listen to ourselves and we don't hear it," he said. "So, it takes somebody to say green is green and red is red."
   "Cheaters" is now on in 80 percent of the country - even with a few primetime slots - and its second season starts in September. Even though Habeeb has been lambasted in the media and by his critics, he still envisions his role on the show in an elementary, public-defender light.
   "I see myself as a friend to these people," he said. "That's all I want to be."
  

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