Before Jay Leno interviewed Fran Drescher on The Tonight Show, they shared scenes in American Hot Wax together. How much fun was it to see the 27-year-old actor act with the 20-year-old actress in that 1978 movie?
Tonight at 9:30p on NBC, Fran Drescher and Steven Weber play a married couple, who are forced to move in with their son and his family, in Indebted.
Dave (Adam Pally) and Rebecca (Abby Elliott) are looking forward to being done with parenting. However, that all changes when his amorous parents come for a visit. They blew through all of their money, and now they need a place to stay.
Debbie (Drescher) and Stew (Weber) are like two kids who never grew up. Their son, on the other hand, has. Now, he will be stuck raising them and getting them out of trouble. How much trouble can they get in? It is a sitcom, so the answer is a lot.
How much of their antics with Dave and Abby take? They have no choice, they are Dave’s parents, and you cannot throw your parents out. Even if you really want to do it.
That is why this comedy is so great. As we get older, our parents become our children. At least on this show, it is because they are irresponsible.
Something the show’s creator Dan Levy knows all about. He loosely based the show on his life. A few weeks ago, he and the cast talked about Indebted at the NBC Winter Press Day during the TCAs.
Here are seven things they talked about:
How did the Indebted come about?
DAN LEVY: My parents are funny, obviously funny, and ridiculous people. What happened about a year ago, we were sitting in my living room, and I was asking them sort of what is your plan, what is your retirement plan? Because I was reading/panicking that most baby boomers don’t actually have, like, a true plan, and a lot of them don’t have long term healthcare or whatever it is, and I was sort of asking them, “What are you guys going to do?”
And my mom was like, “Oh, we’ll come to California.” And I was like, “And live where?” “We’ll come live with you.” And I was like, “Oh, no. This is not a good idea. I realize that you guys have no plan.” And my dad’s like, “No. I’ll umpire.” And I was like, “That’s not something you pick up at 70.” He’s like “I’ll umpire in Topanga.” I was like, “No. We need to figure something out.” Then I started meeting with different people to help sort of organize their finances so they didn’t have to come be living with me, and then I went to Doug, and I said, “This is a really stressful situation I’m in. Should we go pitch it as a TV show?” Then we took it to Meyerson, who was at the podium, and here we are.
Dan Levy’s parents went to at least one taping of the sitcom, so what do they think of the show?
DAN LEVY: My parents are happy with whatever they see. They really are the #1 fans of the show. Even though that originally is based on loosely based on their situation,
Do Dan Levy’s parents have as much sex as Steven Weber and Fran Drescher characters do on the show?
DAN LEVY: That part is not based on my actual parents.
Weber and Drescher’s characters will get jobs, what will they be doing?
DOUG ROBINSON: They are also not afraid to work. There are parts where Steven’s character wants to make money, and he will drive Uber. He will do whatever he can to keep them afloat and get them out of this situation. So it’s not like they’ve accepted it and they are just going to live off of everyone else the entire time.
DAN LEVY: Yeah. In another episode, Fran decides to become a life coach to try to make some money for the family. So they are constantly trying. It’s just, they are not so great at it.
How is the character than Fran’s other ones?
FRAN DRESCHER: I think this is the first show I’ve not been called Fran for many, many years.
What type of roles does Drescher seek out?
FRAN DRESCHER: I like to play characters that are not mean spirited. I like to play people that are positive and loving. When I first started off my career, I was always kind of the hooker with the heart of gold. I don’t like to be mean. I like to be self deprecating, so that’s sort of my brand of comedy, and I think that my fans have embraced that. That’s what they’ve come to expect, and I like to give them what they anticipate and as much bang for their buck as possible.
What previous role are musicians starstruck over Fran Drescher for?
FRAN DRESCHER: With “Spinal Tap,” in particular, there are people in the music business I’ve had the privilege of really getting to know because they come to me wanting to introduce themselves because that movie is so meaningful to them when they’re on tour, and the role of Bobbi Flekman resonates so much to them with some of the executives that they come into action with.
I’ve been in an elevator with Bruce Springsteen, and I’ve been in a restaurant, and Chris [Martin] from Coldplay came over to me, and it’s a lot of fun. I love live music, so it’s a lot of fun that these people are a little starstruck.
