Fox Reaches for Young Crowd With ‘The Outsiders’

They’re cute, wear tight blue jeans, sleeveless shirts and even sport tattoos.

They’re “The Outsiders.”

And Fox Broadcasting Co. hopes they’ll be the latest teen heartthrobs after the special 90-minute premiere Sunday at 9:30 p.m. on Channels 11 and 6.

Fox is batting .1000 in the teen dream market. The network transformed unknowns Johnny Depp of “21 Jump Street” and Richard Grieco of “Booker” into red-hot idols. Though “The Outsiders” doesn’t begin until Sunday evening, 15-year-old Jay R. Ferguson, who plays Ponyboy Curtis in the series, is already a staple of the teen magazines.

“I’m not trying to be like bragging, but I am literally in every teen magazine,” he said. “I have some friends who are on TV shows that don’t get as much publicity as other people. I have a good publicist and a very nice mom, and mom’s done most of the work. It’s good for the show to do the magazines. They see me in the magazines, and then they’ll see the show.”

The new hourlong drama series, which will regularly air Sundays at 7 p.m., is based upon the characters from S. E. Hinton’s best-selling novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film, which starred such up-and-comers as Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and Ralph Macchio.

Set in 1966, the series focuses on the “Greasers,” a group of impoverished youths, and their constant conflict with “Socs,” the kids from affluent backgrounds. Coppola is executive producer of the series with Fred Roos. Hinton developed the series with co-executive producers Joe Byrne and Jeb Rosebrook.

Before getting the green light at Fox two years ago, “The Outsiders” was turned down by the three major networks, said Byrne, who with his partner Rosebrook, kept the project on the back burner while working on other series and TV movies. During this time, the film version became a hot video rental, and Fox Broadcasting became a viable force.

The young network became interested in their project. “They were very youth-oriented, new kids on the block, and were aggressive and wanted to do something different,” said Byrne. “We had a very nice situation. We had a book that was very successful, a movie that had a lot of big-name actors that came out of it, and then we had the cassette.”

Fox also liked the idea that Byrne and Rosebrook wanted to go with unknown actors. More than 2,500 actors were auditioned nationwide.

“You wanted them to have an edge and be a little different looking,” said Byrne. “We also wanted them to be attractive in their own right.”

“The Outsiders” marks Ferguson’s first professional job. He recalled it was “really neat” to land the role of Ponyboy. “I had done a couple of college student films, but it’s nothing compared to this.”

The 10th-grader, though, doesn’t want to be a teen idol. “I would rather people say, ‘There goes Jay Ferguson, man is he a good actor,’ instead of ‘There goes Jay Ferguson, let’s go get his autograph.’ ”

The series also is the first real acting assignment for 18-year-old David Arquette, who plays Two-Bit Matthews. “I did one commercial for Nestea,” said the brother of actress Rosanna Arquette, “but I just cheered in that, so I don’t count it.”

Growing up in a show-biz family--his father, Lewis, is an actor and his late grandfather, Cliff, was comedian/character Charley Weaver--Arquette knows his life will change once “The Outsiders” hits the airwaves. “People will treat you different,” he said. “Some people will be jealous, and some will be real nice and want to meet me. I have a lot of real close friends I have grown up with all my life, so I am real secure.”

Like Ferguson, Arquette has been doing interviews and photo spreads for the teen magazines. “I don’t look at them as just teen magazines,” he said. “I look at it that most of the people who are watching the show are kids who are reading the magazines. I think a lot of kids today don’t have support, and if they can open up a magazine and read, even if it’s a magazine, then it’s really important.”

Arquette completed filming the 13 episodes of “The Outsiders” last December and is taking three night courses at a Los Angeles community college. “I’m studying cinema now and art, but I want to study literature, business, real estate and stuff like that. You figure, I got decades of life ahead of me, if I live that long, so what’s to tie me down?”

Robert Rusler, who plays tough guy Tim Shephard, is one of the few established young actors in the series. At 24, he’s a six-year acting veteran of such films as “Nightmare on Elm Street II,” “Vamp,” “Thrashin’ ” and “Shag.”

Rusler said it was his performance as a tough guy with a heart in “Shag” that caught the attention of Roos. “He made notes about me,” said Rusler. When he auditioned for Roos, he told the producer the only character he wanted to play was Shephard. “He didn’t have any trouble with that,” the actor said. “Tim’s the most interesting to me. The irony and the loneliness in the character is more of a challenge for me. Tim’s got good intentions, but he seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Despite the fact he’s done some interviews for the teen magazines, Rusler doesn’t think he’s teen beefcake material. “I’m not worried about playing the same roles or worried about being a teen idol,” said Rusler. “I’m not worried about any of that stuff.”

But Rusler is rather cryptic about his future. “My imagination hasn’t hit that yet,” he said. “What I believe I might want today may be not what I want tomorrow. I’m not sure one will ever know.”