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English is still recovering from the mad dash to finish the show. "There was not an iota of room for a mistake, a misstep, for losing a day or even half a day," she says. After all the pressure, she had a "momentary freak-out" half an hour before the first taping. "I was pacing around in my office and expressing tremendous anxiety. It all just came out. I was exhausted." The stars, too, sound relieved that the ordeal is over. "From the beginning, we poured our heart and soul into this," says Steenburgen. "Diane's biographical work on who these people are feels much more right to us."
The question is whether it will feel right to the audience. "Shows are not hatched; they develop and evolve," says Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks, the program's producer. "The fact that Ink wasn't there out of the box is not atypical." What is atypical is the spotlight the show is under--as one of CBS's most highly touted fall series and a high-profile vehicle for two very expensive stars. At least now the vehicle seems in shape for the long haul.
--Reported by Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles