Tim Matheson is a brave actor. It takes chutzpah to show your face after playing the werewolf sheriff on CBS's Wolf Lake! Hey, at least he's still recurring as The West Wing's Vice President John Hoynes. Come fall, expect more drama between him and prez Martin Sheen as their re-election campaign heats up.

"[Creator] Aaron Sorkin [modeled their relationship on] the dynamic that Jack Kennedy had with Lyndon Johnson," Matheson tells TV Guide Online. "Johnson had a bit of an outsized ego and Kennedy had his group of intellectuals, and they were just different. Johnson didn't feel he was being utilized enough; I think Hoynes feels the same way. He was the majority leader of the Senate and like all senators, he feels he could be president and should be!"

Matheson compares West Wing's vision of the White House with the idealized newsroom on his new Bravo drama, Breaking News. "I spent about a week with MSNBC's Brian Williams," he reveals. "My character is loosely based on him. I didn't copy his style, but I must say I used him as a template for the way to dress — right down to his cufflinks or holding a pen. I was impressed by his integrity and how hard he works. He's not just some guy that reads from a teleprompter."

The 54-year-old News star is less affectionate toward cable's other talking heads, though. "I don't admire Bill O'Reilly at all," he asserts. "I think he's a blowhard, a bully and preaching to the choir." Asked what he thinks of CNN's Larry King, Matheson slams King for emceeing a Bush inauguration bash in 2000 and says: "I do find his journalistic ethics questionable." Ouch!

On the lighter side, Matheson doesn't scold the prying paparazzo who snapped those topless photos of Jennifer Aniston. "There's nothing wrong with that," he concedes, laughing. "I think that person should be well paid!"

Could Halloween: Resurrection boost unknown Bianca Kajlich to full-fledged starlet status? So far, she's done perky pom-pom duty as a cheerleader in Bring It On. Plus, she spent a year on Boston Public as Lisa, that high school Lolita who had a secret affair with goofy teacher Milton!

Ah, but can she scream as convincingly as Curtis? "I think in the beginning you definitely feel silly," Kajlich admits. "I am not confident in my screaming abilities. I quite frankly think I sound like a man." After practicing, she adds, "I found that sucking on candies did the trick. Jamie Lee was kind enough to pass me a bottle of Vicks Chloroseptic throat spray to coat the throat. And I also learned that screaming from the diaphragm helps.

"It's Scream 101," the 25-year-old actress laughs. "I could teach it at this point!"

It also wasn't hard to feel afraid when she conjured up her memories of Michael Myers, the "madman who stalks in the night and wields his knife and kills massive amounts of people." Just listening to Halloween's classic theme — composed by horror auteur John Carpenter himself — freaks her out.