TVLINE | The premiere has this great symmetry to it, with everyone keeping secrets and going behind someone else’s back. It’s a classic sitcom construction, but when it’s done well, it can be incredibly satisfying. Was there someone in the writers’ room thumb-tacking character photos to a board and connecting them with red string just to keep track of who was lying to whom?
We do have character photos on the wall of everyone! [Laughs] But it really is trying to make sure each of those lies feels real and grounded, and you understand why they’re doing it so it doesn’t feel like you’re doing this for the sake of the comedy.
It was always in the story that Mandy was going to take CeeCee behind Georgie’s back. And then as we’re writing, we’re like, “Oh, it’s funny if Jim takes her because he’s watching the game.” And we’re like, “If we can get Audrey there, that would be amazing.” It’s like, “Well, why would Audrey do this? Why would Audrey go and be on Mary’s side?”
Then it started to feel like, well, if someone took CeeCee away from Audrey, how would that feel? And her relationship with Mandy is so fraught that it’s not implausible [that it] could put her sort of reluctantly on that side. Once we found that piece, where it felt like there’s a real reason why she would do this, then it was great to get her there. Because then, like you said, you had everybody falling into this lie.
TVLINE | Might Georgie and Mandy’s mothers actually find more common ground moving forward? Or was this more of an anomaly?
It’s a thing we play with this season. Obviously, when you can put those two actresses in a scene together, it’s so much fun to watch them go head-to-head because they’re both such powerhouses and they’re both so funny. But it is also fun to find some unexpected moments of common ground.
I think one of the dangers of any long-running sitcom is falling into the trap where you repeat yourself, and it’s difficult not to. There are a lot of episodes and character growth tends to be steady, but slow. But going into Season 3, it’s been fun to find unexpected pairings, or [ways] you can put people on a different side of this feud than you would expect. That’s been really fun to write and explore.
But look, they’re never going to be best friends. These two characters are just very different people.
TVLINE | Georgie ultimately realizes that CeeCee shouldn’t be used as a bargaining chip, as Mandy puts it, but he’s still very much opposed to this whole Fagenbacher business. Where does that leave mother and son going forward? Is this something Georgie is capable of eventually accepting?
It’s going to be difficult for him. At the end of Episode 1, like you said, he doesn’t want to use CeeCee as a bargaining chip, but he still is not going to speak to his mom as long as this is going on.
For us, it’s a [new] dynamic. We’ve never seen Mary and Georgie at war in this big a way. I think mother and son are similar in that they’re both incredibly stubborn, and neither one wants to back down from their position. For us, it was like, “Well, why would we put this to bed in Episode 1? We’ve got a whole season to write.”
I think this is an interesting storyline to play out. And can Georgie accept it? Is there a moment where he can wrap his head around this? That’s been the fun of the season so far.
TVLINE | Connor’s attempt to hide his arrest from Audrey blows up spectacularly before he even gets home. What kind of fallout is waiting for him when he does return?
Obviously, the parents know now and, as you would expect, [they’re] disappointed. But I think in Episode 2, you see, hopefully, an unexpected turn in the relationship — especially between him and his dad.
Our thought was, this was a fun, dramatic cliffhanger for the show. It’s funny, but also we can use this as a way to push Connor forward. He did this thing and it blew up in his face and it went badly, but the world didn’t end. Realizing that might give Connor a little more agency to go out in the world this season and a little more agency to try new things.
Again, it’s small growth, but if we can use these moments as a way to push these characters forward into new situations, then that’s exciting for us.
TVLINE | CeeCee is talking now, which gives you a whole new tool to play with — and in the premiere, she’s already accidentally exposing her parents’ secrets. How does having a more verbal CeeCee change the kinds of stories you can tell with her and the family? And how careful are you being about how much you use twins Isabelle and Zariah Booko, who share the role, now that they can be more active participants?
Careful, obviously. We’re still mostly a live-audience show. You can’t expect a 3-year-old to go in front of a live audience and hit their marks and say their lines. So we have to be careful. There’s also a limited number of hours you can shoot with them.
But it’s also been great, as the kids get older, [that] we can ask more of them. In Episode 3 this year, CeeCee starts preschool and we asked a lot of the kids. They’re in a lot of scenes, and we honestly weren’t sure how it would go or if they would be able to do everything we were asking them. [Series co-creator] Chuck [Lorre], when we were breaking [the episode], was like, “Let’s see. Let’s see what they can do, and we’ll pull back if they can’t do it. But let’s put this to the test.” And they’ve been fantastic.
They seem so excited to be on set. When they were 1 and 2, they were obviously very clingy to their parents and they’re like, “Why are you giving me to this stranger?” But now they call Montana “Tana,” so they love Tana and Emily. They love Rachel Bay [Jones]. They’re always excited to be on set. And it’s cute to watch one of them watch her sister on camera and be like, “When’s it my turn?”
Obviously, we want to be careful about how we use them. And there’s a danger of writing small kids that it can get precocious or cutesy, so we’re always trying to make sure we keep them grounded and real. But it does give you another arrow in your quiver of stories to tell and things to go to.