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:NecessarytoughnessUSA kicks off dramaseries based onLl sports therapist

BY IRAI{K TOVEGSpecial to Newsdcy

I t may be filmed mostly inI Georgi4 but there areI reasons the lightheartedI drama series "NecessaryI Roughness,"premiering

tonight at l0 on USA, takesplace on Long Island - andnot iust because its real-lifeinspiration, sports hlpno-therapist Donna Dannenfelsdr,made her career here, workingwith the New York fets. Asstar Callie Thorne puts it, thepsychotherapist is "definitelyLong Island.,She has that in-credible, gorgeous energy ofLong Island, that tough butgorgeous energ,y, and that's gotto be in the show as well."

Which begs the question:Why not shoot on Long Island?"Fortunately or unfortunately,Georgia is giving tax credits,"says the real-life Dannenfelser,whom Thorne portrays as Dr.Danielle "Dani" Santino. Mostof the aerial shots were fiImedhere, says Kevin Dowling, anexecutive producer and direc-tor of the pilot episode, whoassures that he'd have filmedhere if he could have. Asidefrom anything else, the subur-ban-Philadelphia native spentyouthfirl summers in Sea Cliffand had a weekend home inAmagansett during the 20 yearshe lived in New York City."But it became clear that forfinancial and other reasons," hesays, "that we were to shoot inAtlanta," at the EUE / ScreenGems Studio Complex.

"Necessary Roughness," norelation to the 1991 collegefootball fi.lm, follows a fictional-ized Dannenfelser as in-housetherapist for the New YorkHawks football team. It takesplace in an dternate-world proleague since, as Dannenfelsernotes, "You can't use the word'NFL"' without paying dgarly

Sports psychotherapist QonnaDannenfelser grew up on L.l.

for the rights and obtaining ahost of approvals. Nor, she'says, does the show take direct-ly from her life. Unlike thecharacter, she's not divorced(through she was separated fortwo years before reconcilingwith her husband of now 34years), and she has thiee kidsinstead of two. She also stress-es she in no way slept withanyone to get the real-life job.

A Long lslander (mostly)The show also doesn't say

where on Long Island thecharacter lives. Dannenfelser,who is "in my 50s," was bornin New fersey but reared inCommack, then lived in DixHills and'East Northport be-fore moving to Los Angelesfive years ago. She attendedDowling College and got hermaster's degree and EdD inpsychology from Hofstra Uni-versity. She later became themental-health clinician for the|ets, she says, declining to givespecifics for confidentialityreasons, and went on to treatpro athletes in a variety offields.

The seed of "NecessaryRoughness" sprouted on a tripDannenfelser made to L.A. tovisit her brother, foe Sabatino,an actor who's played a milli6ncops on TV, including OfficerMackey on several episodes of"\[YPD Blue." "I went withhim to the set of a show,"

Callie Thorne plays Danielle Santino, a character based onDannenfelser, in "Necessary Roughness" on the USA channel.

utes" associate producerMarley Klaus. She was huntingfor an apartment for her par-ents, and Sabatino, in his otheriob as a real-estate agent, washelping her. As director-pro-ducer Dowling recalls, "I haddirected him several times,and he said to her,'Wait, Iknow your husband. Do youthink he'd be interested in amovie about my sister's life?"'

Dowling was. Another hus-band and wife, Liz Kruger andCraig Shapiro, created the show.

Thorne, who's simultaneous-ly staning in the final season ofFX's "Rescue Me," premieringIuly 13, spent a long lunchwith

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Dannenfelser says, "and thedirector, making conversation,asked what I did for a living."When she told him, "He said,'Wow, there's a TV show!'AndI told my brother this and hesaid,'Donna, everybody thinkstheir life is a TV show."'

A long trip to a showRegardless, the siblings spent

sevenyears pitchingthe idea "Itstarted out as a half-hour come-dy," she says, "then a one*hourdrama, and then a roller-coasterride [of screen formats] until weran into Kevin Dowling."

Or, more precisely, Dowl-ing's wife, former "60 Min-

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Shooting onhome turf

A tlanta's GeorgiaA Dome stands in forI \ the New YorkHawks'Empire Dome.Otherwise, "when it cametime for the aerial shots,"says Kevin Dowling, anexecutive producer for"Necessary Roughness,""l knew we'd have toshoot on Long lsland. lt'sunique - the relationshipbetween land and water,the look of autunin there."

He hired the renownedAl Cerullo, whose Syosset-based company, Hover-Views Unlimited, hasshot New York City andenvirons for movies from"Saturday Night Fever" to"Superman Returns." Lastfall, Dowling says, "Weshot over Sea Cliff andManhasset and the FiveTowns, along Long Beachon the South Shore, andmid-island near Hemp-stead. I asked him to staywest of Hicksville."

The prize shots,Dowling says, are thoseof stadiums. "Since hewas flying on a Saturday,there were college foot-ball games," allowing foraerial crowd scenes, "andhe ajso found a bunchthat were empty," forpractice-day establishingshots. "A few were col-lege stadiums, but a fewwere very substantial highschool fields." Look close,and you may see yourtown's. - FR lt{K IOVECE

Dannenfelser after being cast. "Irnting was nervous," says the actress,par- "since that's no ioke, going toother meet the woman you're quote-

, was unquote playing. She was wait-pro- ing for me on the corner andhad . . . her aura just immediately]s, relaned me. She came to shakeI myhand and I threw my armsfou around her. . . We got alongn a like a house alire immediatelr,"ife?'' Whether the show {Ll ''rus- viewers will do likewise is upand in the air. But fust as withshow. football, wheie it's said thatreous- any tearn can beat any otherson of team on:u-ry gtve.n Sunday, all:ring involved are hoping for a winrwith on any grveq.\Vednesday.

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