Timothy Busfield says he draws on his own personality in playing Elliott Weston, the yuppie jerk, in ABC's ``thirtysomething.'' ``That's who I am,'' Busfield said in an interview in the March 17 edition of TV Guide. ``I'm a jerk, first and foremost. I don't know the answers. I'm an idiot. I make mistakes. I stick my foot in my mouth. I'm insensitive when I don't want to be.'' But Busfield said he has more than an emotional identification to Elliot. Elliot has a failed business behind him and two small children he struggles to know. He chases other women and at one point separated from his wife. When the role was offered to him, Busfield was in the throes of his own failed marriage, had trouble connecting with his own young son and had watched his children's theater project go under. This season, Elliot has reconciled with his wife, is back working with his old partner and has reached an understanding with his children. And Busfield has remarried, has a second son and his children's theater company is thriving. He said he people he meets recognize him as Elliot. He gets Bibles in the mail from those offended by the character's philandering, and one time a woman walked up to him in a supermarket, said ``Oh, it's you!'' and slapped him. People are ``emotionally disturbed by Elliot, yet they're completely enthralled by the character,'' Busfield said. ``He gets under their skin.''
