TYLER MCLEOD,
CALGARY SUN; 01-24-2000

LOS ANGELES -- Forget the talk about Scott Gomez,
Edgerrin James or Steve Francis -- the rookie of the year
is Judging Amy.

"I still think it's going to end. That's just my point of view,
" a modest Amy Brenneman tells the Sun.

Don't count on it, Amy.

As the lead in the season's best-rated new drama,
Brenneman seems to be facing unavoidable stardom.

"I get a lot of people looking at me like they think they
went to high school with me and then I'm thinking: 'I know
what you're thinking,' " Brenneman says.

"But people are very sweet. They're very generous. They
get it, they get the show."

Judging Amy, airing Tuesdays at 6 p.m. on F and 11 p.m.
on M, casts Brenneman as a newly divorced mom who
returns home to Hartford where she renews ties with her
family and presides over a family court.

So far, that's where most of the storylines have been
concentrated (family, family court) but Brenneman says
that changed when CBS committed to a full season of the
freshman hit.

"Partially because we were up against Once and Again,
they didn' t want to go into my divorce at all and we really
wanted to," she says.

"That was one of the first things we started looking at
(after the pick-up). You feel like the ball's in your court
again."

And Judge Amy's going to run with it.

"I get a sex life which I'm very excited about. I've been
very virginal," says Brenneman of the latest episodes.

We have to wonder when she finds time for a love life
considering the constant time constraints of work and
family.

"Quickies. It doesn't take long," Brenneman simply states.

Do we know this lucky guy or is he a mysterious
stranger?

"A little bit of both.... There was some sense of
establishing a character who's not attached to a
relationship but, you know, human beings are human
beings, so I think something will happen."