The TV Chick

Switched at Birth was a completely pleasant television surprise this year. What seemed like an overdone premise turned into a show filled with twists, turns, drama and heartfelt stories. The show turned what could have been something mundane and cheesy into something truly unique and interesting. It’s the only show on TV that I’ve ever seen with all silent scenes, where the characters only speak in sign language. It tackles a subject that few dare to, in a respectful and interesting way. I also love that while the show focuses a good amount on the teenagers (that were switched at birth), the parents also play a big role on the show. I recently had the chance to catch up with Constance Marie, who plays Regina Vasquez, Daphne’s mom (and Bay’s biological mom). We talked about the premiere, her ex returning and how we are going to see her relationship with Bay play out.

What can you share about the big premiere?
I can tell you that it has the same cast and drama and love and conflict and beautiful men that we had last time. My ex Angelo comes back and the drama that the girls have to deal with with that is so beautifully complex. And especially since everybody, I think, has drama if you come from a family who has issues. The good thing is that we deal with those issues very honestly and we have the conflict but we also have the love underneath. We have all the sign language and even more of Sean Berdy, who we love, and Marlee Matlin. And we also have a little bit of comedic bits thank you very much to Vanessa Marano and it’s just the same stuff that everybody loves. We’re already on our seventh episode. It’s pretty cool.

What can we expect with Regina’s relationship with Bay? How is that going to develop?
You know what’s funny, we always joke because I never got a chance to deal with the Bay character at all. It was all about the Daphne character. And now I get to know Bay and we’re both artists and we bond with that. And we bond with how much more alike we are than we are different. And that’s exciting, because we went the whole first season without exploring that at all.

What about Regina’s relationship with the Kennishes?
You know what, it’s tumultuous. Because it starts out that we’re together and more drama comes back and my ex comes back and then it gets really [good] — there’s a lot of conflict there. And there’s so much more to explore which is really cool.

Does Regina have any more secrets that we don’t know about?
I can neither confirm nor deny any of Regina’s secrets.

Switched at Birth returns for its big mid-season premiere on January 3rd at 8 PM.