TV Week TV Week

By Jacqueline Cutler © Zap2it

In the midst of fall’s usual frenzy of self-promotion, ABC’s “Nashville” is the one show justifiably generating great buzz.

In the opening scene of the soapy drama premiering Wednesday, Oct. 10, Rayna James (Connie Britton), hair in pin curls, playfully chases her daughters at home. In the next scene, she’s a country star performing at the Grand Ole Opry.

The “Friday Night Lights” and “American Horror Story” actress really is singing, and quite well, as is co-star Hayden Panettiere (“Heroes”), playing the nasty ingenue, Juliette Barnes.

Granting Zap2it their only individual print interview after a press conference, the two actresses sit in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton and reflect on singing and why they wanted this show.

In the pilot, Rayna is finishing her set, and Juliette is going on, which sums up their careers at the moment. Though Rayna is more talented, Juliette’s star is on the rise. Juliette will stop at nothing to get what she wants, and she wants precisely what Rayna has.

“You have to respect her to a certain degree,” Panettiere says, “even though she is a little bitch at some times. She is running from a very dark past.”

Juliette’s mother is an addict who constantly begs for money.

“It’s important as part of her, as she can be rough round the edges,” Panettiere says.

Expect comparisons to “All About Eve” in that there’s an older woman and a younger woman, both after the same career, both wanting to be queen. Of course, there is only room for one at the top.

Rayna’s at a crossroads; the record company boss demotes