BLOOD MONEY TOM EVERETT SCOTT RUSHES TO SCENE IN `SAVED'.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

Though Tom Everett Scott stars as a tart-tongued underachiever battling his type-A father, his own demons and his ex-girlfriend's new beau on TNT's new paramedic drama ``Saved,'' he has a bit of a sentimental streak, as well.

He arranged for this interview to take place at Swingers, a West Hollywood diner with a hip clientele and a staff adorned with tattoos. It's adjacent to a motel, ``the first place I ever stayed in L.A.,'' a dozen years back, he explains.

``I was doing an after-school special,'' he recalls. ``After work, I came down here, every single night, sat at the counter, I would smoke -- I smoked at the time -- and read John Irving and get to know the entire wait staff. I played a guy who gave his girlfriend chlamydia.''

Ah, the memories.

After that, Scott appeared in a string of movies, most notably as the drummer Guy in ``That Thing You Do,'' Tom Hanks' directorial debut, as well as ``Boiler Room,'' ``An American Werewolf in Paris,'' ``One True Thing'' and ``The Love Letter.'' He has also appeared in a number of TV series, such as ``ER,'' ``Will & Grace'' and ``Grace Under Fire.''

Today, when not shooting ``Saved'' in Vancouver, Scott lives with his family in Encino. ``I love it,'' he says of his Valley home.

``We had a tough transition at first, but once we stopped trying to make L.A. New York -- `well, we can't walk anywhere' -- we were fine. We do walk. We stroll our neighborhood, it's so nice to do that at sunset with the kids. There's a movie theater right there, we can get a baby sitter, we can walk, get sushi, get ice cream.

``I love it. I never thought Encino would have such cool stuff, but it does. It'd take a lot to get us to move out.''

Paging through TNT's press materials for ``Saved,'' Scott comes upon a press release describing him as ``boyishly handsome,'' and laughs.

``Well, well, well,'' he says, amused. ``Aren't I?''

Snacking on a banana-nut muffin and a coffee, Scott discusses his latest project with a fervor even he concedes is rare for him.

Q: How much did you explore the life of the paramedic before shooting?

A: I sent out an e-mail to a lot of people asking if they knew any paramedics I could talk to. I don't want to bore you with the process and all that crap as an actor, but one of the great things that I get to do is meet people and learn about other ways of life.

I got an overwhelming response -- I swear, almost everyone knew a paramedic. It gave me a great place to start -- it also meant that there were a lot of people out there, and that representing them -- it took on a new challenge. I'm gonna hear about it (if it's not accurate).

They set us up for some ride-alongs. My very first time in the back of an ambulance, and here we go -- lights and sirens, we're heading off to an accident. My stomach jumped; it was exciting, and it was just some guy who was OK.

That's the great thing -- what makes this great drama is, you never know what's on the other side of the door. All the paramedics say: ``You get a call for something, it's rarely what they say it is. You get a call for troubled breathing, you go in, it's a gunshot wound.''

You just never know.

Near the end of the shift, they said: ``It's the curse of the ride-along; nothing exciting ever happens.'' ... They're about to drop me off and they get a call, and say, ``OK, this might be something.'' A guy fell 50 feet down an escalator, completely drunk, overweight, bald head. The teeth of the escalator stairs had done this (with his hand, he stretches his fingers wide and puts his hand just under his nose, then lifts, as if to imitate removing a mask).

Perfectly spaced, deep, gushing gouges all the way to the top of his head.

The attending paramedic is sitting in the jump seat and this guy's head is right in my lap. Bleeding. This guy's got major lacerations.

He's drunk, speaking in broken English. The paramedic said to him, ``Listen, man, when you're better and you're all stitched up, you're going to have some stories to tell. And I want you to tell people that you were attacked by a tiger and not that you were drunk and fell down an escalator.''

Q: How much dramatic license does the show allow itself?

A: Someone asked me about the backlash we're already getting -- we weren't even on the air yet. My character doesn't wear gloves, which is a big no-no. He was going to wear gloves, but the director and I did a ride-along with a paramedic who didn't wear any gloves.

He was a real cowboy, but an excellent paramedic. His bedside manner was really, really something -- I really gravitated toward his manner.

We asked him why he didn't wear gloves and he said, ``I don't like anything to come between me and the patient. If the patient's bleeding, I will absolutely glove up, but if it's chest pain, or a child, I don't go in with gloves. I want that person to be touched by human skin.'' And we wanted my character to be that way, and the writers said, ``Sure.'' But it was interesting to get a little bit of backlash. I want to know what we can get away with and what we have to stay close to.

Q: It sounds like you've gotten into the world of paramedics. Do you do that with every character, or is this one particularly interesting to you?

A: When I did ``That Thing You Do,'' I really got into drumming and the music, and I was drumming every day. With ``Boiler Room,'' we did a lot of stockbroker research. Whatever I do, I try to find something compelling.

This one just happens to be, I could really talk about this. I could go on and on and on about it and read more and more about it.

I'm kind of into it. It gives me a bigger bang. More interesting than being a lawyer -- sorry, lawyers.

David Kronke, [phone]

[e-mail]

SAVED

What: Tom Everett Scott stars as a paramedic more adept at attending to others' needs than his own.

Where: TNT.

When: 10 p.m. Mondays.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

(color) no caption (Tom Everett Scott)