OHSOGRAY recently visited the set of the NBC comedy Undateable and talked with stars Bianca Kajlich (“Leslie”) and Rick Glassman (“Burski”) about what’s ahead in season two.
Undateable returns March 17th at 9-9:30pm ET on NBC.
In season 2, in what direction are we heading?
Bianca: Love, it’s the season of love.
Any serious relationships coming up?
Rick: Yeah, you get a…
Bianca: I get a boyfriend, who’s played by my actual husband (Mike Catherwood) in real life.
Rick: Stiff competition for my character.
That’s not going to go well for you.
Rick: No, it hasn’t. But I get to wear a suit.
Bianca: Yeah, you do. You get very spiffy.
Rick: There’s some dating, more so than last time when there was one main relationship. In this, in most of the episodes, even if it’s just a date, we’re kind of all getting out there and amongst ourselves talking about our successes and/or failures and/or worries. So it’s a lot about how we deal with what we’re doing within the group, which is kind of a nice thing.
What are some of the challenges they face in having relationships as opposed to just dating?
Bianca: Personal flaws.
Rick: Some of them…there’s just some shallow people. Some people actually want to sleep with us and/or Ron, but don’t want a relationship. So it’s kind of the reality of what you would think. There’s a lot of stereotypes of guys wanting to f-ck around and not be in relationships, but the roles are kind of reversed with some of these situations. You see how a guy who wants to be in a relationship can’t and how we deal with that.
Is it like what we saw in season one: be careful what you wish for?
Bianca: I think it’s more…this year feels a little bit more like everybody kind of helping to push each other’s self confidence. It feels like the group is starting to come to champion each member to go out there and get somebody or date somebody. I think it is the season of self-esteem.
Rick: It’s not like one of our regulars says they want somebody and then doesn’t anymore. It’s actually we say we want something and go for it, we get it and the other person takes it away from us. If you’re not in control of it, it makes it harder. But it means we did everything we could.
Is there a strategy to keep building the audience in season 2?
Rick: I think let everybody, specifically the writers and the actors, play to their strengths, which the network is not only allowing us to do, but encouraging. We do some silly shit that is earned, but you don’t see that on multi-cams too much.
Any exciting guest stars besides Mike?
Bianca: The live episode will have a lot. The live episode has a lot of very familiar faces stopping in, so that’ll be a lot of fun.
Rick: Almost as if you said, “No one, in any episodes…save it all for this one.”
How far into the season is the live episode?
Rick: It’s going to be May 5th. I don’t know when that would be…it seems to be like maybe week 8?
Bianca: It is week 8, you’re right cause then there’s two more episodes after it. It’s an hour long, which is going to be crazy.
Rick: It’s the first hour of scripted comedy live, which is cool.
How did you feel when you found out that was going to happen?
Bianca: Excited.
Rick: If it works, I want to do a season of live sitcoms. I think it would be so fun.
Bianca: But it would be so hard with these guys because they’re so good at improv. The poor producers and the editor, they have to cut out so much good stuff every episode. That’s why I always tell people you should come to a live taping, because there’s so much that we can’t fit into the show that airs. It’s a little comedy show in and of itself when we film.
How are you feeling coming into season 2?
Bianca: I’m excited, obviously. I’m so grateful and happy that we got another chance. And a chance where the network is so behind us and pushing it. You can’t look without somewhere seeing some advertisement. Also, I think it helps having Bridgit here who has a huge fan base. We got to do a music video and all this crazy stuff. The difference between last season and this season is really like…
Rick: Even the people I haven’t seen in 15 years, the way they’re messaging me on Facebook now, just from billboards, versus last year. It’s like, come on man, you don’t like me. [Laughs]
Bianca: I think also as one of the two, Bridgit’s also an actor, but there’s the four comics and what’s hard as an actor who’s not a comic is just to not feel…they’re so good at improv and so quick at that stuff, that you have to feel comfortable in your skin doing the acting thing as opposed to doing the comic thing. I’ll be like to Rick, “I feel so untalented.”
Rick: I’ve said this before, but I don’t like [when] you and David say that you aren’t comedians because the four of us are stand up comedians, which is a specific type of comedian. But you’re a professional actress with more experience than anybody else on sitcoms. I’ve also said this before, there’s no one on the show that delivers a joke more consistently than you. You always hit it. For what you lack in wanting to improvise, it doesn’t matter if your job is to go up and hit a double every time, you don’t need to improvise.
Bianca: Thank you. That’s very sweet of you.
Rick: The truth is that yes, I am a lot funnier than her, but less consistent.
Bianca: It’s true.
What would you like to tell the fans or people who haven’t checked out the show yet?
Rick: The same message I have to all my friends…follow David Fynn on Twitter.