Yes. I was the first female colonel. I enjoyed being that kind of role model for young women watching the show. A woman can be a colonel! A woman can be in charge! Those were new ideas then.

When I first started acting, I had all these ideals about the kinds of roles I wanted to play, but the reality is that when you do television - and I do a lot of television - you get cast for qualities that you have as a person. So I look for qualities that I like to portray.

I think I'm in the best place I've ever been in so many ways. I've just come out of five years of very difficult times for numerous reasons and yet at the same time it's lead to such growth. It's very exciting that way.

I think there's been a major shift in grass roots media because of the Internet and because the geeks and nerds rule the world. They are in control in so many ways.

If you don't have a child, you're not a real woman. I know the ERA people will kill me for saying that.

We have three centers: the emotional center, the intellectual center, and the physical body center. Each one of them has its own intelligence. How much better would we be if all three were working in unison?

A woman can be in charge!