The TV Chick

Life Unexpected, a new drama coming to the CW, premieres tomorrow. I couldn’t be more excited about it! The show centers around Lux (Britt Robertson), who wants to emancipate herself from the foster care system when she turns sixteen. The journey brings Lux to her biological parents, Nate “Baze” Bazile (Kris Polaha) and Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby), and they all wind up with the family they never knew they had. I think this show represents all that is great about the CW, and hopefully a new age of heartfelt dramas. I recently had the chance to speak with Kris Polaha (Baze), and we talked about how he relates to his character, the brilliant creator Liz Tigelaar, and why he thinks you should tune in!

What drew you to the character of Baze?
Oh Baze, Baze. Well, it was Liz Tigelaar’s wonderfully written, well-crafted script. I have been saying — it was a year ago today, I got a script from my agent and I opened it up and started reading it and I couldn’t put it down and there was just a fully comprehended, completely realized world, and the characters were just — it’s interesting — when you are an actor, and you read a script, characters are going to pop off the page, and you sort of imagine yourself as that person, and you can start making choices as an actor for that character — I immediately related to Baze. I started seeing myself as the part, and I started making choices — like I can see this moment and this moment, so I just responded to the material and went in, auditioned, and they felt mutually, sort of excited about me, I guess, and the rest was history. We filmed the pilot last January, and we’re off and running. We’re on our 10th episode right now.

Baze is sort of a guy who refuses to grow up. How do you relate to your character?
(laughs) Do I refuse to grow up? I’m still a child! Don’t give me something I want, and you’ll see, I’ll be like “Come on!” I relate to this guy because here’s the deal, all guys, like every dude in this country wants to drink beer, play video games, hang out with his buddies, and if you were to say…”hey, if your dad were to buy you a building, and you were to turn that building into a bar and then live above the bar, would you do that?” There’s a part of everybody, I think honestly, like even the most ambitious, intelligent, young male American, would be like “Yeah, I could see that being an option.” And Baze took the courage to take the option to live like a bum. But I think a part of that is the fact that well it’s an interesting character — I think that part of that decision to be a bum comes from — he got this girl, Cate, played by Shiri Appleby, pregnant in high school, and he didn’t take responsibility for that. And I think that at that moment in his life, he sort of shut down in a way. He stopped maturing. He sort of stopped this process unnaturally, so I think it’s combination of Baze just being sort of a ne’er do well, Peter Pan like man-boy-guy and then actually, sort of having messed up a little bit, and not wanting to deal with it. And when Lux comes and knocks on his door, he’s forced to deal with it. He does the right thing — like sixteen years later, he takes responsibility.

The show centers around a secret from the main characters’ youth. Do you have any secrets from your youth–obviously nothing as big as that.
Well, I don’t have any kids that I know of, let’s put it that way. I mean, God forbid someone shows up and says you’re my dad, although that’s possible, so…we’ll leave it at that.

(laughs) Fair enough. And you have great chemistry with Shiri. Was it instant when you started filming?
It was instant after all the off screen fighting stopped…you know?

(laughs)
No, I’m kidding. I’m joking. She’s an amazing actress. She is a pro, so when I go on set, she comes on the set, ready to roll, and we have a lot of fun working together. She’s very, very good, because I think she has equal chemistry with Ryan, played by Kerr Smith. She has great rapport with Brittany Robertson, who plays Lux. So I think that’s a testimony to Shiri’s talent as an actress. But she and I actually get along really, really well off-screen. I was telling somebody else, Kerr, Shiri and I went up to Whistler last week to celebrate her birthday, and we have as much fun off-screen as we do on screen. It’s a really fun cast.

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If you read my site, you know that Life Unexpected is a show I have been looking forward to for a long time. It centers around Lux (Britt Robertson) who wants to emancipate herself from the foster care system at age 16. She finds her biological parents (played by Shiri Appleby and Kris Polaha) and through unforeseen circumstances, ends up with the family she never had.

I recently had the chance to chat with Liz Tigelaar, the absolutely brilliant creator of the show, who has put her heart into this wonderful series. Here is what she had to say about her passion project, the casting process, and what we can expect from its freshman season.

What was your inspiration behind creating Life Unexpected?
The show is very close to my heart.  I’m adopted and I’ve always had questions about who my birth parents were and had a fantasy about who I imagined they were.  In a weird way, even though I have the best adopted family any person could ask for, I’ve kind of been searching for them my entire life — going from person to person, wondering “Are you like my birth mom?  Are you like me?  Essentially, searching for someone who’s just like me…”  This pilot is about that search and how you don’t always get the answers you’re expecting — sometimes you get better than you ever imagined, other times you’re disappointed.  The show is also about what it means to be a grown up and in your thirties today.

When I first saw the pilot back in September, I thought it reminded me of the Old School CW/WB at it’s best. What does it mean to you to be on this network?
It means a lot.  My first job was on Dawson’s Creek on the WB.  I’ve always had an affinity for that type of show so it means a ton to be back here, eleven years later.  I feel like I’ve come full circle.  If anyone had told me when I was a P.A. on Dawson’s Creek, sitting around with people like Mike White, Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec that I’d be here, I never would’ve believed it.

The show has also been compared to Gilmore Girls (it reminded me of the show as well). Do you like that comparison? Did you watch the show?
I didn’t watch Gilmore Girls regularly but I watched it enough to know I love the comparisons.  I can only hope we’re a fraction as successful as that show was.  I appreciate being mentioned along side of a show like that, absolutely.

The show has a great mix of incredibly poignant and funny moments. And one thing that really shines through is that it has a ton of heart. Did you draw from any of your personal experiences to create and write the show?
The show is incredibly personal to me.  Each character is a part of me, especially Cate and Lux.  I struggle myself with knowing I’m a grown up but feeling like a kid, knowing I could be a parent now but wishing someone would still take care of me.  All Cate’s fears, insecurities, neuroses and skewed logic come from me so I love writing Cate.  She’s flawed and damaged and authentic and just herself, kind of take it or leave it.  But there’s a lot of Lux in me, too.  I’m not as bold as Lux but what she throws out there, the way she looks at things, the way she calls people on things… I probably aspire to be Lux when I grow up.  I also always pictured Lux to be blond.  For some reason, that was important to me.  Probably because I’m blond too and I just saw myself in her.  Is that lame?  We also have the same taste in music and fashion sense.

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Life Unexpected is one of the best pilots I saw back in September, and a show I have been excited about for quite some time. I was absolutely hooked from the first few minutes. The show centers around Lux (Britt Robertson) who has decided to emancipate herself from foster care at 16. This process leads her to her biological father Nate “Baze” Bazile (Kris Polaha from Mad Men) and her biological mother Cate Cassidy (Shiri Appleby from ER and Roswell). Baze owns a bar and lives above it, and is stuck almost in a state of arrested development. Cate is a local radio star of a show called “Morning Madness” (which Lux listens to every morning) with her partner and off-air boyfriend Ryan Thomas (Kerr Smith from Dawson’s Creek). You can absolutely tell is a well-thought out, passion project. It is quirky, sweet, funny at times, but most of all, it just has a lot of heart. We need more of these types of dramas out there, and I’m so excited for this one. I recently had the chance to chat with Shiri Appleby, about what drew her to the role of Cate, how she relates to her character, and her favorite moment from filming the show.

First of all, I saw the first few episodes, and I love Life Unexpected.

Thank you so much. We’re so excited for people to really get to see it, it’s been such a long time coming.

Tell us a little more about your character, Cate Cassidy.
I sort of like to think that she’s the girl that you see across the room that you would sit and have lunch together, but then when you get to know her, you realize how broken and messed up she really is.

What originally drew you to the role of Cate?
I think the fact that there was a moment where the character realizes that she has responsibilities in life and she has to grow up. And I think that’s a moment that most of us goes through, because I don’t think becoming an adult is something that just naturally happens with age. And I thought she was going to go through a really interesting journey and ride. And I can just really relate to her issues, her being scared to commit to somebody long-term, how do you know if you can trust somebody, and how do you also know that you’re good enough to be there for somebody else.

You obviously are not in the same situation as Cate, how do you relate to the character?
I think it’s something that I talk about with my girlfriends all the time. How do you know that you’re able to commit to somebody for the rest of your life? All of these issues that she has, regardless of the fact that she’s now a new surprise mother, are issues that all my friends and young women are facing and having to grow up and make real life decisions. I think her story and her arc is really relatable.

Cate’s a radio host. Did you listen to any radio shows to prepare for the role?
You know, I didn’t. Kerr was really good, he went on Ryan Seacrest. Once you get to a radio station set, you sort of put those headphones on, and we’re mic’d [sitting] next to each other, we kind of just like let it go. It feels really, really natural. Obviously, I’ve done a lot of radio tours and gone to radio stations in the past for other projects, so I’ve had a little bit of experience in that world, so it kind of felt pretty comfortable.

Just coming off ER’s final season, what made you want to jump back into a TV series? I think the show is really special, but what made it special for you?
Well, ever since Roswell ended about 8 years ago, I was wanting to do another television show. But after that experience, you realize what a commitment it is, so I look for shows that I felt like I would want to spend five years of my life being a part of, and when I read this script instantly I knew that this was a character that I would be excited to go to work to play for years, if we’re so lucky.

Life Unexpected in on the CW, and Roswell was on the WB (its former incarnation). How does it feel like to be back on this network specifically?
It feels really good. I know the way these people at the network work, I knew a lot of the publicists already, and I feel like this network is hungry to us to go out there and do what we can do. They’ve been really, really supportive, and they have been since day 1 of this show which has been a real, real blessing for all of us. But it feels like home — I get it. I know what kind of stories they tell.

Do you still have a fan base from Roswell that you think will come over and watch this show?
Yes! I hope so! They’ve been incredibly loyal, which is such a gift. I hope they’ll come and watch this show. If people like Roswell, there’s a lot of similar themes of being there for each other, and yearning for people, and love and friendship and family. There are some pretty similar themes, obviously set in a different world but I think both of our shows are about being a good person and finding true love.

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NBC Comedies are back! I have missed them! And the shows are full of great guest stars this week. On Parks and Recreation, Amy Poehler’s hilarious husband, Will Arnett guest stars as a MRI technician. I love that this show brings in spouses–first Megan Mullally and now Will Arnett. Who’s next?

Also, Jack Black is guest-starring on Community, as a student who wants to be part of the “in-crowd.” (In other words, Joel McHale and his crew).

And if that’s not enough, James Franco appears on 30 Rock! Check out these video sneak peeks and be sure to tune in tomorrow night on NBC starting at 8 pm for this amazing Thursday night line-up.

Parks and Recreation:

Leslie goes to get an MRI, and Will Arnett plays the MRI technician:

Amy Poehler talks about working with her husband, Will Arnett on Parks and Recreation:

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Lots of TV news coming out of the TCAs! This piece of news, I am particularly thrilled about (besides the Glee news from yesterday of course).

ABC Family has renewed Make It Or Break It for a 2nd season! Sources at the network have informed me that they have been picked up for ten more episodes. It is slated for a summer premiere. In addition, there’s more great ABC Family news! Secret Life of the American Teenager has been picked up for a 3rd season, and 10 Things I Hate About You will be returning March 29th.

So expect more drama, more gymnastics, and more great-ness coming your way next summer!

After a wonderful premiere, Make It Or Break It kept up its momentum in episode 2 titled Follow The Leader. The girls of The Rock are eagerly anticipating the announcement of the National Team coach, and they all expect Sasha to be named. In a shocking development, rival coach Marty is chosen. Each of the girls struggle to accept Marty. Kaylie knows he slept with her mom, Emily feels abandoned by him, and Lauren knows about her dad bribing him. The girls plan on sabotaging Marty, one way or another.

Meanwhile, Razor has returned and Emily finally admits to him that she’s a gymnast. In addition, one of the National Team committee members informs Emily and her mom that she has to get a B in math to remain on the team. In steps Damon, the “mathlete” and new tutor (Emily’s mom asked him). It is clear he has romantic intentions, so I’m curious to see what happens in this love triangle. This episode also explored the interesting relationship with Emily and her mom. When taking her math exam (supervised by Summer), Summer shows Emily all the letters her mom sent to Marty to try and get her into The Rock. Emily slowly comes to realize that her mom has helped with her gymnastics career all along, and has always had her best intentions in mind.  

The other big storyline involves Kaylie continuing to grapple with the pressures of a National Champion. She decides she is going to tell her dad about her mom’s affair, but is unable to go through with it. She calls Carter for support and opens up to him about the pressures and Marty, and feeling like she isn’t in control of her own life. Kaylie starts to kiss Carter and things get a little heavy, but he stops it. He tells Kaylie he’s not giving up on her, and is always there if she needs him. I like that Carter is back in Kaylie’s life. I think he has a lot of making up to do, but in this case, he did the right thing. I hope their relationship will continue to develop.

Because Kaylie couldn’t go through with the Marty sabotage, the girls think up a new plan. They tell the new National team members several petty lies (he’s very hands-y, he has bad breath, don’t look him in the eye) to make Marty look bad. Sasha catches on to their plan, and is clearly disappointed in the girls. In an interesting twist, Kellie Parker reveals to Payson why Sasha wasn’t chosen: essentially because his star gymnast got a career ending injury. Payson goes to talk to Sasha, who reveals that a previous gymnast of his suffered a fall, appeared to be fine and then ended up dying. Sasha tells Payson that the girls look up to her, and she needs to be a leader. Throughout the episode, Sasha (and even Marty) asked Payson to coach, and she said she wasn’t interested. During this talk, it seems as if Sasha finally got through to her. She decides to talk to the girls and tells them they will all be going to the Olympics together–maybe not in the way they anticipated, but it would happen one way or another. Payson may have given in (in a sense) but that fire isn’t gone. While the National Team photo is being taken at the end of the episode, she turns to her mother and tells her she’ll be up there next year, as the new National Champion. (Way to go, Payson!)

I really enjoyed this episode. The return of Kellie Parker was great (she is always a good counter-bitch to Lauren), and I loved seeing Payson step up her role. I hope to see her back in the gym one day, but this was a good start. Also, Emily and her mother’s relationship has always been unique, and I enjoyed seeing this side of Emily’s mother. She seems like the perpetual screw up — always late, always forgetting things — but this episode brought her into a new light. In the scenes from the next episode, the girls hit Hollywood, and there’s more to Damon than we think. I am Damon girl myself, so I’m curious to see what happens. 

Make It Or Break It airs Monday nights at 9 pm on ABC Family.

Southland was canceled by NBC in the whole Leno mess (whew boy), but was picked up by TNT. It’s a great cop drama that let’s viewers get an inside look at the lives and cases of a Los Angeles police force. The show stars Ben MacKenzie (The O.C.), Regina King, and Michael Cudlitz. It really wasn’t given enough of a chance on NBC, so I’m glad it has found a new home. TNT is handling the show in a very unique (and great) way. Tonight they are airing the first season premiere, with about six minutes of never-before-seen footage. In addition, every Tuesday night, TNT will air each subsequent episode from the first season of Southland. This is a great way for the network to gain new fans of the show, and for old fans to re-watch the season or catch up.

And beginning Tuesday, March 2nd at 10 pm, TNT will air six new episodes. So if this was a show that interested you but you never had a chance to watch (the cast is fantastic!), you have the opportunity tonight. And because the fate of the show might be unknown, you might just help it get another season. Southland is a great drama that doesn’t feel formulaic or overdone, so tune in tonight at 10 pm on TNT to see what all the buzz is about.

I figured this news was coming sooner or later, but I’m so happy to share it with you. Glee has been renewed for a 2nd season and there will be a nationwide search for 3 new Glee cast members.

The announcement was made today by FOX at the TCAs (Television Critics Association panels). According to reports, Fox entertainment President Kevin Reilly said: ”We’ve loved ‘Glee’ ever since it was a pilot script, so it’s been an incredible thrill to watch the show take root and see audiences embrace these characters in such a huge way this season. The show is a true and rare gem in television. We couldn’t be more proud of what Ryan Murphy and the ‘Glee’ team have created so far, and can’t wait to see what they come up with for Season Two.”

And about the search for new cast members, Ryan Murphy added:

“Glee has always been about finding new fresh exciting voices. Anybody and everybody now has a chance to be on a show about talented underdogs. No matter who you are — a Broadway talent or a struggling singing waiter with a dream in the Midwest — you now have an opportunity to make that dream come true by posting your talent video and showing us what you can do. All the roles will be chosen form the video audition process, which is exciting and unprecedented.”

I am so thrilled about this news, as you know my love for Glee knows no bounds. In addition to the 3 new Glee cast members, there will be a special chronicling the search. I’m not sure how I feel about this special, but I’m interested to see how the new cast members will factor in, and how they are chosen. But there will be more Glee, and that is something to celebrate!

The 100th episode of How I Met Your Mother (airing tonight!) titled “Girls vs. Suits” is one of the best episodes of the show’s 5 year run. It packs a lot of punches, including a musical number I had to re-watch 5 times (and subsequently get stuck in my head all the time), and many amazing guest stars. Tim Gunn, Rachel Bilson, and Stacey Kiebler, to be exact, who all play a role in what Carter Bays and Craig Thomas call a “celebration for the fans.”

The episode centers around Ted meeting a girl at the University where he teaches (Rachel Bilson), who we think could be the mother. And Barney wants to be with the new hot McLaren’s bartender (Stacy Keibler), but she hates Wall Street guys in suits. He has to grapple with his suit addiction (one can call it that I think), and decide between the girl and the suit.

This is the first episode where get a really big glimpse as to who the mother is. We don’t ever see her, but we somehow get to know her much better than we had in episodes 1-99. How I Met Your Mother is a comedy with a great deal of heart, and this episode showcases that in an incredible way. Ted reveals some memories about the mother, we see a relic from her past…and we come to understand more of what Ted’s love life is in the future. And then there’s the musical number. You have to wait all of 21 minutes to see it (it’s at the end of the episode), but Neil Patrick Harris can do anything, including singing on top of a taxi cab. We knew he could sing and dance but he really takes it to another level. And each cast member plays a part in this amazing suit-centric song. My guess is you’ll be humming it for the next week…it’s that good. I recently chatted with Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, the brilliant creators of the show about the 100th episode, what we can expect in the 2nd half of the season, what their favorite episodes have been so far, and the aforementioned ever-so-talented NPH.

What kinds of highlights we can expect in the 100th episode?

Craig: Boy, there’s a lot — this is about the most we’ve packed in to 20 minutes and change, and that’s saying a lot. I think one of our season finales had like 83 different scenes, and while I don’t think this matches as many scenes, this is just about the most bursting-at-the-seams episodes we’ve ever done. We feel like everybody in the cast gets something fun, but the two big stories are a Ted story and a Barney story. Ted’s story is he meets someone at his university who may or may not be the mother. And I think it’s going to be a real kind of edge of your seat–oh my gosh–is this her? Has it taken 100 episodes to get here and we’re finally here…you know, I can’t say too much about that one, because I will be shot and killed by both network and studio but it’s really great. Rachel Bilson plays the part of the girl in question, and she’s fantastic. So yeah, we have several kind of fun cameos in the episode–we have Rachel Bilson, we have Tim Gunn and we have Stacy Keibler. Tim Gunn and Stacy Keibler factor into the other big story of the episode which is a big Barney story. Barney’s been with almost every type of woman in the world–every type of profession, size or shape of woman except one feather he does not yet have is a hot bartender. McLaren’s has hired a new hot bartender, played by Stacy Keibler, and Barney is driven insane–he must get this girl. It’s driven him nuts that he never got to notch that one off–the hot bartender. So Barney’s job in the episode is the pursuit of this girl, and the curveball is that it turns out she’s dated a lot of jerky Wall Street guys, and she hates guys in suits. So Barney, in his passion to try and land this girl, vows that he’ll give up suits, and it turns out to be sort of like a heroin addict deciding “okay no more of that stuff, I’m done with the heroine,” and it turns out to be pretty tricky. And Barney is faced with this horrible, horrible, horrible question — a girl, or my suits. And that’s a question no man should ever have to be faced with, especially Barney Stinson.

Did the success of Glee have anything to do with your decision to do a musical episode now?

Carter: Craig and I are huge music fans and we love making music. Our creative partnership began in a band, and so music has been something that has always been on the back burner for us for this show–we always wanted to do it–we’ve got two terrific Broadway song and dance men in the cast in Josh Radnor and Neil Patrcik Harris. We’ve got Cobie, who obviously made her mark as Robin Sparkles, and Jason obviously–he writes music for his movies. Music is a big part of the show, whether we’ve actually seen it or not. And we’ve done people singing on the show before but it’s sort of felt like this is the time — as fans of the big splashing movie/musical, we sort of felt like number 100 was a good time to make our foray into that. I think would Pam, our director, would probably kill us if we did it too often. But it feels like something — now that we’ve gotten our feet wet, we’d love to do it again. As fans of Glee, and that show has definitely made it clear that you can do a fun movie/musical type thing on television.

Craig: And ironically enough per your question, the musical number in episode 100 was choreographed by Zach Woodley, the choreographer from Glee, and he did a phenomenal job working with Neil Patrick Harris and our cast and about 65 dancers in suits who all showed up at around 5 in the morning so Zach could kind of put this choreography on them in the dark, before we started rolling at the crack of daylight. It was a pretty impressive feat to watch, it did kind of cross paths with Glee in kind of a fun way.

Carter: And I think we like to challenge ourselves, and do things that are a little bit dangerous. There was a fun moment shooting this where Neil jumps up onto a cab. And there were a few moments where he jumps up onto the cab and does a spin and sings and it’s all in one shot, and there were a few moments on that spin, where it felt like it was like wait, is this maybe the end of the show? Is he going to fall off this cab and that will be it?

Craig: Neil’s incredibly graceful, he just amazing at nailing continuity take-to-take in any scene. But there was a little moment or two, when his shoes were a little slide-y on the top of this cab and we were watching the monitor…

Carter: You realize how fragile a TV show can be.

Craig: Carter and I happened to be watching the monitor with Gary Newman and Dana Walden the presidents of the studio, and you just saw their hearts leap up into their mouths, as one of their stars took a little slide on the top of this cab, treacherously to the edge of the roof, of course being Neil, he righted himself and nailed it. But of course there was this little moment of oh well, 100 episodes, we made it, that’s great, now Neil will die, Neil’s going to land on his head and die. We can’t complain. But it all came out well. Suffice it today, that’s not the final take we used that you’ll see Monday night.

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When the opportunity arose to participate in a Q&A with Jane Lynch, I jumped at it. I adore her on Glee, and any chance to speak with the multi-talented powerhouse was something I was not going to pass up. Lynch guest stars on The Cleveland Show tonight on FOX at 9:30 pm, as Ms. Eck, a new substitute teacher who encourages Roberta to change her appearance. Anything that Jane Lynch does, she knocks out of the park. From Party Down to Julie and Julia to Glee–you name it, she can do it. Her recent golden globe nomination for Glee is just one of the many accolades I am sure she will receive throughout her amazing career. I’ve seen a little clip of Ms. Eck, and even from the small part I saw, Lynch is hilarious. We got to ask her about not only The Cleveland Show, but also Glee (of course), her lengthy career, and what her biggest challenge has been.

What do you think of your animated counterpart, I mean besides the fact that she’s a stone cold hottie?
Well yes she is, have you seen the rendering of her body?

Yes.
Yes, she’s quite something.  I think those guys are just so funny, that whole Seth MacFarlane empire over there on Wilshire Boulevard, and so I was thrilled to do it, and then when I read the script I was just blown away.  I love my character, she’s very bitter, her glory days are behind her, and she’s out to punish of course Roberta for being so pretty.

I love your character on Glee. When you get to say and do things as Sue or as Ms. Eck, things that you probably would never even consider saying and doing as Jane, is it liberating, cathartic, therapeutic for you?
It is.  I always say when I put on that track suit I have a license to say anything I want.  I think it’s probably very good therapy, because I’m a much nicer person at home because I get it all out at work, and that kind of contemptuousness and heinous behavior is just very shallowly below the surface for me so it’s kind of nice.  I don’t have to dig deep for it, but it’s great I can do it there on the set and then I don’t have to do it at home.

Obviously, Ms. Eck and Sue share some similar DNA, but I’m wondering if they were to sort of come face-to-face and throw down the gauntlet who would emerge victorious in a battle of the wits?
Sue Sylvester would rein supreme.  I think that Ms. Eck has a chink in her armor.  I think she’s got a little more sensitivity and is prone to self doubt whereas Sue Sylvester has none of that.

It’s funny because whether it’s these characters or your character in 40-Year Old Virgin or things like that, a lot of them tend towards the acerbic, but then the summer in Julie & Julia we really got to see a different side of you.  Was it fun to sort of play the other side of the coin in that?
Yes, somebody who’s kind of eccentric and joy is the first thing that erupts from her, it’s her first instinct is to find out what’s passionate and wonderful about the situation and I don’t play a lot of those people.  Yes, it was very liberating to just be open and passionate and curious and kind spirited.

Did you have any input into how your animated counterpart would look like?
No, not at all.  The rendering was set when I showed up for the reading, and she’s hilarious looking I think.

Did they show it to you before you started taping?
Yes.  We did a table read, which is really an amazing thing to do, because Mike does all the characters, and to watch him sit there and have a scene with himself is something to watch, it’s genius at work.  But yes, I did get to see the rendering before at the table read.  I haven’t seen the show though, just the rendering of my character.

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