Fact, fantasy married in 'Hidden Hills'

LOS ANGELES -- On the set of NBC's "Hidden Hills," Justin Louis spins around in front of a camera, a distracted expression on his face. In turn, the camera spins around him.

Louis is acting one of those moments when his character, Doug Barber, is about to snap out of a fantasy and return to the reality of his life as a suburban husband and father.

Fact and fiction are routinely blurred in this Tuesday sitcom (8:30 p.m.) about married life in the suburbs.

The interior of this "Hidden Hills" home is on a sound stage in North Hollywood. That's about 20 miles and several tax brackets away from the real Hidden Hills, an upscale community where the show's co-creator and executive producer, Peter Segal, grew up.

Segal, now 40 and married with three children, says he's surprised critics and audiences think the name has some "hidden meaning" -- even a sexual connotation. It's just his hometown, he said.

'A very realistic view'

Segal is less surprised that his married friends think their follies and foibles show up in the behavior of the sitcom's fictional couples. He can't deny there's an autobiographical element to what he hopes -- daydreams and all -- is "a very realistic view of married life."

"Any honest person will admit marriage is hard," Segal said, adding that it's important for children to see parents who "hug and kiss and get along." So he's created couples who, despite their frustrations with their spouses, "embody a real sense of affection."

Louis is a Canadian actor, known back home for starring as an ex-con-turned-newspaper reporter in the early '90s TV series "Urban Angel." Paula Marshall, whose comedy credits include guest shots on "Seinfeld" and "Spin City," is Barber's wife, Janine.

Dondre T. Whitfield, who starred in the daytime soap "All My Children" and last season's short-lived NBC sitcom "Inside Schwartz," portrays Zack Timmerman, Barber's best friend, co-worker and neighbor, while Canadian actress Tamara Taylor plays Timmerman's wife, Sarah.

"All the characters' flaws are very much out in the open and you can see them full frontal," said Whitfield, who describes the fictional "Hidden Hills" as a place where "everyone knows each other's business, everyone is in each other's business and there aren't many secrets that live for too long."

"We make fun of the little things in life, not unlike 'Seinfeld,'" said Marshall.

The show, which Segal describes as "anecdotes about adult adolescence," has been picked up for a full season, despite a sharp decline in viewers from the premiere episode.

The series has drawn some criticism for a focus on sex, including a story line about a soccer mom with a porn Web site, and episodes with racy innuendo.

"We are sexual beings," Louis countered, saying there's something pleasant in seeing married people like the Barbers "still hot for one another."