'Single Parents' premiere: 5 things to know about the new ABC comedy
One of the most promising new comedies of the season is said to be "Single Parents," the ensemble starring Taran Killam, Leighton Meester, Kimrie Lewis, Jake Choi, and Brad Garrett as a group of unattached mothers and fathers who rely on each other for support.
The series, which premieres tonight on ABC at 9:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. CT, is one of the first of its kind, as few, if any shows have ever focused on single parenthood.
"You see these single parents and they're cool," Lewis told "Good Morning America." "They're the cool kids. They're not the ones you feel sorry for, they're not the ones getting left out. They're the ones that created this village, this family, this troupe that do things and have fun and can be silly and great. It's great."
Lewis added that as a child, who grew up with a single mother, seeing her experience reflected on a TV show would have "meant the world."
"You felt a loss," she said. "If you have a single mom, you don't have the total parental unit and you feel like you're without. You feel less than. Seeing this show, it normalizes just having one parent in the household and makes you feel included."
For more about the series, see below.
1. The pilot focuses on the group learning to accept Taran Killiam's character: As evidenced by the trailer, Taran Killiam's Will is new to the school district, and his overly-enthusiastic nature is a turn-off to the group, which has gelled around their commitment to helping each other balance their careers, parental responsibilities, and social lives.
2. The series' creators have hit shows under their belts: "Single Parents" was created by Elizabeth Meriwether and J.J. Philbin, both of whom have extensive TV resumes. Meriwether is perhaps best known for creating "New Girl," and Philbin, whose father is TV personality Regis Philbin, has worked on "Saturday Night Live," "Heroes" and "New Girl."
3. Comedy is central to what will make the show work: While the show's stars hope that audiences connect with the characters' lives, Choi told "Good Morning America" that the jokes are vital, too.
"The comedy's important because people can digest a lot of things that might be painful, being a single parent," he explained. "I have a lot of friends on social media who just comment, 'Jake, I'm a single parent and I would love to see this show because there's nothing like this on TV that dives into the specifics of people -- a single parent.' And it's on [a] network, so a lot of people can see it."
4. The cast's real-life experiences could find their way into scripts: Meester, who has a daughter with her husband, actor Adam Brody, jokingly told "Good Morning America" that she has to watch her words around the series' writers, for fear that some of her personal stories could become plot-points.
"I think just the experience of being a mom is very unique," she said. "It's a total rollercoaster, no matter what your situation is so I see myself as lucky that I get to put that into my work. I make a joke about my kid sits on the toilet while I take a shower which is absolutely true, and every mom knows that. And it must be a million times harder if you don't have one other person there to volley back and forth and to download experiences with. I salute and bow down to single moms."
5. Off-screen, the cast is very close: Lewis and Killiam told "Good Morning America" that after shooting the pilot in March, the cast got together a dozen or so times to go out to eat, or sing karaoke. "This is the king of karaoke," Lewis said of Killiam. "Any genre, this guy can do it. I'm talking classical, I'm talking hip-hop, I'm talking pop. You name it."
