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THE STAR SCOOP:
On Desperate Housewives this season, Paul Young comes back. Did you have any strong feelings about the story line when you found out about it?

KATHRYN JOOSTEN:
No, we only find out about the story line at the table reads. I thought it was cool! I like it when I see former performers come back to the show, because it gives it a consistency that I think is a lot of fun. 1I was delighted to see him. You make friends with these people and you like it when they come back.

THE STAR SCOOP:
Last’s weeks episode there was a pretty interesting story development, that Paul’s wife, Beth, is actually Felicia’s daughter.

KATHRYN JOOSTEN:
Yes. How ’bout that? I didn’t see it coming. I thought it was an interesting choice to bring [Felicia] back. And then they’ll write her out again and then they’ll bring her back again.

THE STAR SCOOP:
You’ve been talking with Lily [Tomlin]. Is there any update on the stats of the rumored spin-off?

KATHRYN JOOSTEN:
Right. I wish I knew. It’s very difficult. It’s only lately that the networks have begun to examine the idea that the 49-60 year olds are significant consumers. Up until now, everything has been pretty 18-49.

There aren’t too many of us that want to sit around and watch whatever those kids’ shows are, Gossip Girl or something like that. We don’t care if 90210 comes back. I didn’t like it the first time. Maybe there’s a market for us.

We’re certainly working on it when we can get together. Lily travels a lot and I’ve been off doing things a lot. Just trying to get us in the same room at the same time is sometimes a real challenge.

THE STAR SCOOP:
You’ve had a large role with cancer-work. Is there anything you’ve been involved with lately?

KATHRYN JOOSTEN:
I am the official spokesperson for the American Lung Association Christmas Seals. Christmas Seals started in 1907. People don’t realize that it’s almost a Christmas tradition. It started because of Tuberculosis and my father had Tuberculosis and I remember as a child seeing the Christmas Seals.

Golly, look, it worked!  It wasn’t just Christmas Seals but their goal now, and their focus now is any lung diseases and air purity, and smoking cessation, and lung cancer and asthma and all of the assaults on the lungs that our modern society is experiencing.
They have a great website, www.ChristmasSeals.org.

People who get a degree of celebrity have a responsibility to use whatever celebrity they have to advance something good. If I can get them to pay attention long enough to support a cause by Christmas Seals or to support legislation having to do with lung cancer, then I will promote that as much as I can.

THE STAR SCOOP:
You have a greater level of prominence being on Desperate Housewives. Do you have a sense of who your fans are?

KATHRYN JOOSTEN:
People are very friendly. I get a lot of people who, for some reason, want to give me a hug. Okay, I like hugs. I get a lot of the comments about grandmothers. When I was doing The West Wing, I had a youngster, a kid wrote me and said that his grandmother had died and he was watching The West Wing and I was now his new grandmother. Then of course they killed me off on The West Wing. He was so hurt!

This is a responsibility, when you enter people’s lives this way. People on the street or at the grocery store are very, very pleasant. I’ve never had a negative  interaction at all. They’re generally very polite, chat a little bit, tell me they enjoy the show and that they’re watching. And I say, Good, glad to hear it. Keep watching. If they stop watching, I’m out of a job!

THE STAR SCOOP:
Desperate Housewives has been going strong for quite some time now, so knock on wood it will continue. You have so many fans and they’ll be excited to hear [this].

KATHRYN JOOSTEN:
I want to also encourage my fans to write Marc Cherry and tell him that they’re fans. I don’t know that the show realizes how many people are out there. ABC Television, Marc Cherry. Desperate Housewives, Marc Cherry at Universal City. Put that in. Tell them to write to Marc and tell him I deserve a raise!