'Carlos' goes hairless

LOS ANGELES -- The Guthrie is messing with "Desperate Housewives."

The theater and ABC have worked together to make sure that cast member Ricardo Chavira can keep performing in Minneapolis as Stanley Kowalski in "Streetcar Named Desire" and still fly into Los Angeles from time to time to shoot scenes for the upcoming season. But "Housewives" creator Marc Cherry was thrown for a loop when the Guthrie had Chavira shave off his facial hair.

"Ricardo asked if I needed him to wear a fake goatee, but I said, 'No, no. We'll just have your character [Carlos] be clean-shaven,'" said Cherry from the Wisteria Lane set. "Well, I hadn't seen him in a while and when he showed up on set he looked 14 years old!"

Eva Longoria Parker, who plays his TV wife, was equally thrown: "It's just so not Carlos."

Speaking of chins, I was sure there was rib meat on mine when "Parenthood" star Monica Potter stopped by my table during a barbecue on her set. "Thought you might need some extras," she said, laying a small stack of napkins by my plate. Don't worry, Mom, I wasn't slobbering sauce. Turns out the gracious actress was dropping off napkins at all the tables.

njustin@startribune.com • 612-673-7431