The reviews are rhapsodic, the ratings are aces, and the demographics are ideal. So it’s no surprise that the folks at Fox recently green-lit production of nine more episodes to fill out a full season of the adventures of genetically revved-up Max (Jessica Alba) and cyber-crusader Logan Cale (Michael Weatherly).

So what’s the secret of their success?

“It’s Jessica’s hair,” Weatherly jokes. “It just wins every time. The Farrah Fawcett flips are great.

“Really, though, that plays into one of the elements that’s very successful, I think, which is that it has a sense of humor without necessarily being ha-ha funny,” Weatherly adds more seriously. “It’s a strange blending of genres, where you’ve got this sci-fi world and the crime-solving element.

“Logan is very earnest and sincere and kind of locked onto what he’s doing,” the actor says, “while Max’s whole crew is much more playful. They lend the show a little bit of ballast, a bit of air for the dead weight of Logan in his wheelchair, crusading for right.

“The show is layered, and it’s not `Three’s Company,’ where you just have Jack falling over the couch every week and Larry coming in with a bad shirt on,” he adds. “I think the laughs and the payoffs on the comic side are matched by what’s happening on the dramatic side.

“Sometimes it’s hit-and-miss,” Weatherly admits, “but we’re trying to make something that’s different and special, and worth coming back to every week because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know if Jack is going to fall over the couch or not.”

There’s no couch to speak of in “Cold Snap,” a sweeps-period episode that will air on Nov. 28. Instead, the hour introduces a third genetically enhanced being.

“Is it a trap, or is it the beginning of a new, little underground army?” Weatherly says teasingly, speaking by telephone from his “Dark Angel” trailer in Vancouver, British Columbia. “Are Max and her siblings going to get together and be a force to be reckoned with? And who’s going to control that force?”

He laughs.

“That’s one of the big questions you have to ask about the show,” the actor adds. “If there are 12 genetically engineered kids who are now adults and they get together and form a kind of vigilante team, what would happen?

“That’s not specifically `Cold Snap,’ but that’s the beginning of that idea,” he says. “In `Cold Snap’ there is a rogue weapons seller who’s trying to sell engineered human killing machines over the black market.

“It’s fascinating,” he concludes. “I think it’s a good one.”

Born in Manhattan and raised in Connecticut, Weatherly dropped out of Washington’s American University to pursue acting. Early credits include appearances on “Guiding Light” and “The Cosby Show” on television and the films “Trigger Happy” and “The Last Days of Disco,” as well as the sci-fi saga “The Colony.” More recently Weatherly played the recurring role of Christina Applegate’s ex-husband in “Jesse” and appeared in “Charmed,” “Gun Shy” and the sci-fi spoof “The Specials.”

By the time the 32-year-old Weatherly arrived for his “Dark Angel” audition, Alba had already been cast as Max. In fact, writer/producers James Cameron and Charles “Chic” Eglee had designed the show to fit the actress as snugly as one of Max’s leather outfits.

“They really built the concept around her strengths, which are that she’s a very willful, strong-minded, sassy, brassy and occasionally somewhat abrasive young woman,” Weatherly says. “So I had no idea what she was going to be like.

“I thought she might be a little, waifish 18-year-old,” he recalls, “but, when we first read together, neither of us knew exactly what the other was up to - and that’s good, and that’s the way we still relate to each other now on the sound stage. I love working with Jessica.”

The buzz, of course, is that Weatherly and Alba really, really love working with each other. In other words, they’re reportedly dating offscreen.

So what’s the scoop?

“It’s completely understandable that you’d ask,” Weatherly says. “But the less I say, the better, which leaves you with nothing. You can add that, parenthetically, I laughed maniacally. I hate to be coy, but it’s truly one of those things where the less you say, the better.”

Couple or not, Weatherly and Alba could be together as Logan and Max for a long time to come. Unsurprisingly, the prospect of a long run for “Dark Angel” appeals to Weatherly.

“Things change so radically from week to week in this business,” he says. “I would be the luckiest guy in the world to get to continue to play this character in whatever incarnation Chic and Jim and everybody else dreams up.

“I’m very realistic about what happens in this business,” he concludes. “Given the opportunity to do `Dark Angel’ for years, I’m all over it like a rash.”

Source: Entertainment news daily - Eyes Only.