IKE ALL GOOD grandparents, Spotsylvania County residents Terri and Dean Viventi are eager to see their grandson, who lives in Hawaii.
And so, for the past few weeks, they've joined the 19 million viewers tuned in Wednesdays at 9 p.m., to watch Matthew David Viventi play Aaron Littleton (better known as Claire's baby) on ABC's "Lost."
"It cuts down on all those picture-taking moments that they have to send to the grandparents," said Terri Viventi.
The Viventis' son, Tony, is stationed at Honolulu's Hickam Air Force Base. He and his family live about 30 minutes away from television drama's filming location.
Their daughter-in-law, Lisa, knew another mother through a play group whose newborn had the part. When the friend's baby got too old for the part, she recommended Matthew David.
The young thespian, born on June 2, started playing Aaron in November without so much as an audition.
Naturally, "he has no speaking parts," laughed Terri Viventi.
"His only part was just to look cute."
But that didn't keep Matthew David from taking a lead role in a January 25 episode that saw recovering junkie Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) trying to steal the youngster from the unwed Aussie bombshell Claire (Emilie de Ravin), in order to baptize him.
Terri Viventi said her grandson was portraying Aaron about half the time during that episode. The crew keeps at least two babies on hand during filming. The one who cooperates gets the screen time.
But either way, the infants get paid, and parents get to watch the action from 6 to 8 feet away.
"I thought to keep things kind of hush-hush they wouldn't let them see too much of it, but that wasn't the case," she said.
Viventi said she and her husband have been glued to the series since its first season. Though they tried grilling their son for insider information, he couldn't say what would be happening in future episodes. Nor did he have the dirt on "Lost" stars' recent brushes with the law.
Viventi can't even be sure how long her grandson will be able to keep the job, since he's fast outgrowing the role of the roughly 1-month-old Aaron.
But if a trailer following the January episode was correct, Matthew David will grace the silver screen at least once more. (Claire and an unidentified baby made a very brief appearance in last Wednesday's new episode.)
"If that trailer is part of the next episode, he was in it," she said. "You just never know what they're gonna include."
Like all grandparents, the Viventis want the best for their grandson. So whatever happens, you can bet they'll be closely following his onscreen mom's romantic entanglements.
"We kind of hope that Claire will see that Charlie is doing his best," said Viventi.
"We're kind of hoping that they'll get together I don't know that 'happily ever after' is going to happen on that island."
And so, for the past few weeks, they've joined the 19 million viewers tuned in Wednesdays at 9 p.m., to watch Matthew David Viventi play Aaron Littleton (better known as Claire's baby) on ABC's "Lost."
"It cuts down on all those picture-taking moments that they have to send to the grandparents," said Terri Viventi.
The Viventis' son, Tony, is stationed at Honolulu's Hickam Air Force Base. He and his family live about 30 minutes away from television drama's filming location.
Their daughter-in-law, Lisa, knew another mother through a play group whose newborn had the part. When the friend's baby got too old for the part, she recommended Matthew David.
The young thespian, born on June 2, started playing Aaron in November without so much as an audition.
Naturally, "he has no speaking parts," laughed Terri Viventi.
"His only part was just to look cute."
But that didn't keep Matthew David from taking a lead role in a January 25 episode that saw recovering junkie Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) trying to steal the youngster from the unwed Aussie bombshell Claire (Emilie de Ravin), in order to baptize him.
Terri Viventi said her grandson was portraying Aaron about half the time during that episode. The crew keeps at least two babies on hand during filming. The one who cooperates gets the screen time.
But either way, the infants get paid, and parents get to watch the action from 6 to 8 feet away.
"I thought to keep things kind of hush-hush they wouldn't let them see too much of it, but that wasn't the case," she said.
Viventi said she and her husband have been glued to the series since its first season. Though they tried grilling their son for insider information, he couldn't say what would be happening in future episodes. Nor did he have the dirt on "Lost" stars' recent brushes with the law.
Viventi can't even be sure how long her grandson will be able to keep the job, since he's fast outgrowing the role of the roughly 1-month-old Aaron.
But if a trailer following the January episode was correct, Matthew David will grace the silver screen at least once more. (Claire and an unidentified baby made a very brief appearance in last Wednesday's new episode.)
"If that trailer is part of the next episode, he was in it," she said. "You just never know what they're gonna include."
Like all grandparents, the Viventis want the best for their grandson. So whatever happens, you can bet they'll be closely following his onscreen mom's romantic entanglements.
"We kind of hope that Claire will see that Charlie is doing his best," said Viventi.
"We're kind of hoping that they'll get together I don't know that 'happily ever after' is going to happen on that island."
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