ABC Family announced today they picked up Baby Daddy, Switched at Birth and Melissa and Joey for another season along with ordering the back eps for Bunheads, but Jane By Design was missing from that list. The reason why is because ABC Family opted not pick up the darling show about fashion for another season. I for one think the network made a huge mistake because Jane is a million times better than Bunheads. The title makes you think the show is going to be about ballet dancers, but all it is about is an unlikable Lauren Graham clone whining about everything in her life. Hopefully when that shows come back, it will be more about the teens and a lot less about the whiner.
When it comes to Jane, I know that Erica Dasher will be fine and we will see her on TV again really soon. Here is how she reacted to the sad news on Twitter, “Thank you so much for everything!!! It was incredible and you all are the best part of that experience. Love love love”
Now when it comes to the other renewals, I am so happy that ABC Family is bringing back the very funny Babby Daddy and the touching Switched at Birth.
ABC Family’s hot new comedy is Baby Daddy, a show where a young guy finds out he is father because his ex-one night stand left their baby at his doorstep to raise. Now along with his brother, childhood friend and his BFF, they are going to some how bring up his baby daughter with some help from his mom.
A few weeks ago I sat down with the cast of ABC Family’s Baby Daddy that airs Wednesdays at 8:30p and Melissa Peterman made a joke that turned out to be a great question for her castmates. She said working with the twins, “Either it is going to be the best birth control for them or they are all going to get knocked up season 2, I don’t know.” So I had to find that out from them.
Chelsea Kane was up first and she told us what it was like to work with the baby girls. She said “Behind the scenes, I’m the only cast member who never held a kid before we started shooting. I don’t have any siblings or anyone in my life…I was terrified because everyone else has little sisters or nieces or nephews. I was a total mess, I was like I am going to break her. I don’t want to do the wrong thing. I think they could smell my fear because I was thrown up on more than anyone else in the cast.” So now that she has gotten used to working with babies, does it make her want to have one? She answered that by saying, “It’s maternal, unfortunately. It’s scaring everyone in my life cause I come home from work like, ‘I want to have a baby.’ And everyone is like, ‘Noooo!’ But yeah it is pretty funny how much it changes you.”
Her co-star Tahj Mowry, who recently became an uncle, had a different answer than her. He said, “No! It is making excited to be one in the future, but I’m not like I need a baby now. Ladies, where you at? Call me, I want to be a dad.” He then got serious and said, “Not so soon. But I’m very excited for that to come in the future. I feel like I’ll be very prepared. More so than other dads because who does a show with a baby? It’s fun. Me and the guys are learning different things every day. The twins get more used to us everyday on set. They light up when they see our faces. So it is really cool to come to work and to be working with such young professionals.”
Derek Theler actually had some experience with kids before he became an actor. He told us about how his past jobs prepared him for his current job, “I was really comfortable with kids. All the jobs that I have had before I moved to Los Angeles were with kids. I used to work with daycare when I was in college. I ran sports camps when I was in college for little kids and things like that. So going into this I felt completely comfortable. But the problem is my character is terrified of the baby so whenever I am on set, the first few episodes especially and I’m holding her, I’m supposed to be afraid and she kind of gets that nervous energy. So every time we hear cut, it’s like OK we have to comfort her. It’s funny, I have to pretend I am so afraid of her and she kind of responds to that. And then she thinks I am crazy cause I keep changing my mind as soon as we on camera or off.” So now that he is working with just two kids, does that make him want to have one? He said, “I’m not ready at this point. I definitely want kids, but right now it is the last thing on my mind. I get to work with twins so much that will fulfill me for a while actually.”
And then there is Jean-Luc Bilodeau, does the baby daddy want to be a baby daddy? He said, “It’s good training, I think. I work with them three days a week. I’m holding them just about the whole day. It’s good to see how to balance emotions. They start to get cranky, and you have to figure out how to make them happy again. It’s good training but I am definitely not ready to be a father any time soon. It’s going to come later in life, for sure.”
So now that we know how the younger actors feel about working a baby; how does Melissa Peterman, the only parent in real life, think they are doing? She said, “They’re pretty good. I think for Jean-Luc this is his first real baby experience and he seems to be quite natural at it. Tahj’s sister has a little one, he’s been an uncle and stuff and been around one. He is pretty natural. Derek, I mean he is just gigantic so I am sure the baby feels real safe there. I mean he is enormous. Chelsea, she just got that great vibe too. So they were pretty good. I’m the only mom on the set in the cast, I was kind of worried, but now they seemed to be OK.”
So now that you know how they reacted to working with the cute little girls, you can see how they really do when the cameras are rolling.
Tonight’s hysterical episode of Baby Daddy on ABC Family at 8:30p is all about Ben going out on his first date since baby Emma came into his life. A few weeks ago I spoke to the cast and we talked about love, some talked about their character’s feelings while the others talked about their real life ones.
Chelsea Kane who plays Riley had this to say about who the audience could root for, “Right now it is still up in the air and literally in every episode everyone is constantly missing each other. Right as Riley starts to give up on Ben, Ben starts to kind of look at Riley a little bit. Right at Danny starts to give up on Riley, he starts to notice her a little differently. Everyone keeps missing each other, so you never know who they will root for just yet.” She then added, “It’s hard, I as character and even as a woman reading the scripts change all the time.” So who would she choose if this was real life? She replied by saying, “It is so hard because both boys, this answer is so cliche, they are so different and so great on their own. I think in life, Chelsea would chose Danny because I think that Ben has the love of his life with his daughter. I think his time and affection should be put into his little girl.”
So what did the man who Kane thinks Riley would choose have to say about it? Here is what Derek Theler who plays Danny told me, “It’s a big love triangle. The funny thing is that Ben is pretty oblivious to everything and she talks to me she likes him while on other side I am in love with her. I think Riley is the right guy for Riley. That’s what I think. We’ll see what happens.” He then went on to tease a lot of stuff will be coming out in the open in the next few episodes, so we better keep watching to find out.
Now there is a third person in the mix and I had to know if he ever had a Riley in his life, as in a girl who is a friend who wants something more. Jean-Luc Bilodeau aka Ben laughed as he told this story, “Sort of in high school, I had a friend who was a girl…It turned into that a couple years later, she started to like me and it was kind of weird, a little awkward. It didn’t go much further than that. Yeah, it’s just a weird situation.” As weird as that situation was I had to find out if any of exes had dropped a baby on his doorstep; and he said nope.
Now there are two other characters on the show who are not part of the love triangle and they gave me some spoiler information about what is coming up for their love lives.
Tucker played by Tahj Mowry revealed this, “At the beginning of the season Tucker has a girlfriend that basically owns him and he is very whipped, but there may come a time when Tucker is a little free man again. So he may go a little crazy trying to pick up women, which is hilarious. Tucker think, actually he has some game going on. He’s very classy in his vests and skinny ties. Tucker has some free man syndrome there and he ready to go on the prowl.” Purrfect.
And what about the sexiest person on the show? Melissa Peterman revealed the TV grandma will be getting some. She shared that Bonnie “is single, ready to mingle. Wants to date. Maybe I date inappropriately sometimes, like maybe my son’s hockey coach.” I can’t wait for that episode because you know will be laughing so hard you will pee in your pants.
But before we get to that episode, we still have tonight’s show to get through. Here is a little spoiler, a big part of it is about Danny’s hockey jersey that he wears during every game and he has never washed it. So when I asked Derek if he had any superstitions, his answer was something I never expected. He said, “When I was in high school I had a jersey for my basketball team and I never washed it either and it was just like it. It was disgusting and destroyed. I don’t know what I was thinking. It was the worst idea ever. It wasn’t really that lucky, my team did really well. I didn’t wash it for a long time, and one of my teammates wound up shredding it and I was pretty upset about it.” He then added that even though he had a smelly shirt back in the day, he really isn’t that superstitious.
Baby Daddy is the best comedy of the summer, so start watching tonight because we need to laugh in the summer too.
ABC Family gives birth to a new sitcom tonight at 8:30p and you are going to goo goo ga ga for Baby Daddy.
Life is normal for Ben (Jean-Luc Bilodeau), but a knock on his door will change everything. A one night stand leads to him getting a little present on his doorstep over 9 months later. That’s right he is now the proud pop of a beautiful baby girl that he didn’t know he had. Not only didn’t know about her, he also doesn’t know anything about how to be a dad and neither do any of his roommates. His hockey player brother Danny (Derek Theler) just got traded to their hometown and has moved in his with his little bro. He is trying to adjust to his new team and being an uncle, but he also doesn’t know what to do with his niece. Tucker (Tahj Mowry) is Ben’s BFF and it is his place. The only thing he know about his female roomie is she is good to attract girls. On that note the boys gets lucky that Riley (Chelsea Kane), Ben’s childhood BFF and next door neighbor, helps them out with the little girl. Her nurturing skills are no secret, but her crush on Ben is. And what she doesn’t know is that Danny has a crush on her. There the one person that none of them want to know about their secret baby is Ben and Danny’s mom Bonnie (Melissa Peterman) and she just found out she is grandmother. Together they make an unusual new type of family, and you know what it works perfectly. So tune in for this darling comedy that equal parts funny, sweet and enjoyable. Largely because the chemistry with this cast is some of the best on TV.
Tonight at 9p Bunheads joins ABC Family and this show is going to dance its way into your lives.
Michelle Simms (Sutton Foster) is a classically trained dancer who has worked on Broadway, but now she is making a living as a Vegas showgirl who keeps her clothes on. One day after a bad audition, her biggest fan asks her to be his bride and move to Paradise with him. She is so drunk and down on herself that she says yes to Hubbell Flowers (Alan Ruck). Before she can have second thoughts, they get married and he brings her home with him.
Paradise is a small town that doesn’t even have a movie theater, so of course she is source of their gossip. So far they are not welcoming her into their town, especially his mom. Fanny Flowers (Kelly Bishop) lives with her son and she has a ballet school in their house with five students. Michelle will try to give those girls a life lesson of what it is like in the real world and they will become her fans. When Fanny catches her dancing with her students, it might be enough to break the ice. But that is all going to change with a shocking ending that you will never see coming.
Bunheads was created by Amy Sherman–Palladino, so if you like that show you are going to love this one. Tune in for a show that is as much about dancing as it is about family, and TV has been asking for that for a while.
