Parenthood is a new drama (yes you read that right) coming to NBC tomorrow night at 10 pm. Based on the movie by the same name, and Executive Produced by Ron Howard and Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights), it is a new spin on an old favorite. The show has an incredibly talented cast of TV veterans, and one of my favorites, Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls) in a starring role. I will have an advance review and some video previews tomorrow, so be sure to look out for that. However, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with Ron Howard, Jason Katims, and Lauren Graham. They talked about the new incarnation, Lorelai vs. Sarah, and even Friday Night Lights.
I wanted to ask both the guys I was really impressed with how much you got the pilot film to be kind of lighter and more fun in the second try. And how’s that gone on since then in the future episodes? Are you getting more comedy into the episodes as it goes? And there’s a lot of serious things you’re playing with too so how’s it going so far?
Jason Katims: Yeah, I mean, I think – this is Jason. I think that we have tried to, you know, really, you know, anytime you start a show you’re sort of trying to find that balance and figure out, you know, sort of discover the tone of the show and, you know, how that – what the show wants to be. And one of the things that I’m so excited about – about what I’ve seen as you were saying, you know, the second version of the pilot and then as we’ve gone into episodes is we’ve found more and more humor. But it’s really the humor of life, you know, it’s the humor that you find…in – when you’re, you know, dealing with parenthood and family and being both, you know, a, you know, dealing both with, you know, your, you know, your kids but also in the context of being a, you know, a son or a daughter as well. And, you know, what I like about, you know, that’s what I like about the humor that we’re finding it just feels very relatable and real; it doesn’t feel like – to me it doesn’t feel like it’s too broad or trying to – or going into a place that, you know, is in any way sort of not really relatable.
And just wanted to ask Ron in retrospect I think parenthood is often very funny. We don’t realize it sometimes at the time but we laugh about it afterwards. You’ve done a lot of parenthood in your life; overall is there a lot of room for humor in it?
Ron Howard: Well it’s unavoidable. You know, like Jason was just saying, I mean, it might not feel funny in the moment, you’re right, but, you know, gratefully more often than not, you know, there’s, you know, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and, you know, and you can personally look back and find the humor in it. Others, you know, can always see the, you know, how ridiculous other people’s lives are. They might not tell them right to their face but, you know, they could see it. And it’s that – it is that sort of elevator ride that is, you know, I think makes stories on the subject of parenting and being a part of a family so relatable and so entertaining. And I’ve loved what Jason has been doing, you know, with the sort of the family that we started 20 years ago. Ever since our first conversation and, you know, from the first script onward, you know, the just has such a fantastic contemporary take on the whole thing that I’ve been, you know, nothing but proud of it.
Question for Ron, what is it about parenthood, the premise, the title, the franchise, that keeps you coming back?
Ron Howard: Well the interesting thing – and I’ve got to include Jason in this because, I mean, I’ll just say that, you know, we – Brian Grazer and I are intensely proud of, you know, the film Parenthood. You know, our friends Ganz and Mandel, did a brilliant job writing it. And it, you know, it remains a movie that people compliment us on. We tried a television series a couple years after it and it couldn’t capture the sort of the – I don’t know the scope of the family; it was a half-hour sort of sitcom approach. And it was frustrating in that way. And we thought that was sort of the end of Parenthood. We would even toy occasionally with trying to do a sequel. But we just – we felt like, you know, another two hours on the subject was not going to be particularly more informative. A series would have allowed the characters to develop but just another movie would probably not, you know, not be, you know, a good creative idea. And then Jason came to Brian and I and of course we know Jason from Friday Night Lights where he does a spectacular job and said, you know, I want to do a one-hour dramatic version of Parenthood. And, you know, and we were thrilled, Brian and I, very open to the idea because of Jason and his talent but – and our experience with him. But also we frankly said in that first meeting, you know, you’re a pretty creative guy why don’t you just make up your own family? And at the time I wanted to take this because at the time the said well, you know, it’s like a book or a play or anything that you can make a strong adaptation from, there’s something in the DNA of those characters and the family dynamics that I think I can build upon. And, you know, lo and behold he has, he’s given every character its own contemporary voice and of course the actors are now going even further with it. But I’m just, you know, incredibly sort of gratified that those characters – that situation, the DNA of that family can evolve. And now I know it’ll continue to in the right way where, you know, you can really understand so much about what it is to be, you know, a family member or a parent. But, Jason, talk about that because, I mean, we had the…
Jason Katims: Right.
Ron Howard: …quick conversation and then we just took yes for an answer and we’re glad. What were you thinking?
Jason Katims: Well, yeah, well, I mean, I think sort of going back and looking at the movie again I felt that, you know, truthfully I felt that it was so rich and that the, you know, that it was – the world was – not only was the movie so wonderful, but the world that was created in that movie was so rich and so ripe with possibilities. And I kept thinking, you know, I want to see more, I want to know more about them, I want to live with these people. And that to me is the key to, you know, it seems like, oh yeah, come up with a TV show it seems like an easy thing to do. But it’s a very hard thing to try to figure out, you know, the ingredients that would make a good show. And I felt like not only was it a wonderful movie but in the movie I just was sort of the perfect sort of foundation for what could be a really wonderful show. And, you know, honestly the show that I would want to watch. That’s why I was really drawn to it; this is the kind of TV show that I would want to watch. It’s the stuff that, you know, sort of most compelling to me right now, it’s the stuff I’m, you know, thinking about most right now in my life. And I think that’s always the thing that you should try to let, you know, let guide you as you try to figure out what you want to write. And of course, you know, the other side of it is I’ve had such a wonderful experience with Ron and Brian and everybody at Imagine on Friday Night Lights. You know, I – you know, also thought this would be – it would be, you know, a good thing for me and hopefully for everyone to sort of, you know, find something else to do, you know, together. And this, you know, the combination of those two things made me feel like this was just too good of a thing to not pursue. And even though it was – I had to, you know, sort of go into Ron and Brian, you know, it was a – I felt kind of humble going into them saying I want to, you know, because I know there had been a show that had been, you know, that had been done already based on it. And, you know, but I was so kind of excited and passionate about the idea of trying to do it that that’s what made me sort of talk to them. And what got me really excited was once I did talk to them that they were really interested in only doing the show if we could re-imagine it. You know, not do to the – not do something which is a copy of the movie but to, you know, to look at, you know, you know, to let the movie inspire something that is new.
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