I was invited on an all expenses paid trip to cover the ABCTVEvent. All opinions are my own.
Have you seen ABC’s The Real O’Neals? If you haven’t, you can catch up on ABC.Go.com or on the ABC app. If you have seen it, then you know that it is ABC’s hilarious new comedy. I am loving this show! So funny! It airs Tuesday nights on ABC at 8:30/7:30c. Besides being funny, I love that this show is handling hard topics in a light and fun way while also showing how family’s can stick together through it all.
When I was in LA I was so very fortunate to be able to watch 2 episodes (one of which was tonight’s episode, more info below) and talk with some of the cast of the show. We got to chat with Noah Galvin (who plays “Kenny”), Jay R. Ferguson ( who plays “Pat”), Matt Shively (who plays “Jimmy”) and Mary Hollis Inboden (who plays “Jodi”). We also talked with the shows creators, stay tuned for that interview post on 5/3.
We sat down with Mary and Matt first, and they told us they both just got dogs. Matt said. “We both went and got dogs, we were so bored. We went- we bought a dog on the same day. I sent her a text and a picture, and I was like, ‘I got a dog’, and she’s like, ‘so did I’.” We of course, had to know what kind of dogs they got. Matt said, “I got a Maltese Terrier.” And Mary said, “King Charles Cavalier Poodle. And he’s a regular teddy bear.”
Speaking of her character Aunt Jodi, Mary told us, “I love her. You know, it’s a show, clearly about this five person nucleus, but in the beginning, my character was a woman named Maureen who lived next door. I was not a family member. When I auditioned for this, I was not a family member. I was a next-door neighbor with a fifteen year old son who’d gotten a girl pregnant. That was the original role. And then I came in, and I guess I just knocked it right out of the park. So they said, let’s change this up and let’s make her part of the family. My mom always said that in times of tragedy, you might not know what to say but just being there is important. If you ever had a friend pass away or any trauma, really I feel like the O’Neals are going through this- a traumatic event, and the family’s kind of imploding a little bit. And so Aunt Jodi is the one who’s there, but actually can’t keep her mouth shut.” she said laughing. She continued,”So constantly trying to help, and I just think that that’s so much fun. I love that.”
Speaking of the show Mary also shared, “Obviously we’re very fortunate to be, just working. It’s just nice to get a job in this business but, it’s really cool to get on a show that you really like, and we really like the show. We really like the message of the show. We think the show is not preachy in any sort of way but really inclusive in an interesting way. And we all have such a good time with each other.
I mean, we really can’t stop hanging out. We’re so fortunate all the way around, we can’t stop hanging out.”
Mary then said, speaking about Matt, “But let me tell you something about this guy. This guy is our all-star improviser; most hilarious person- goes off the cuff the most; makes us all laugh.”
When asked about how he wears his hair differently on the show, Matt shared how he doesn’t like it, “That was my mistake. That’s the worst- that was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. That is how I was doing my hair for awhile. It was shorter on the sides but, all my friends were doing it, so I was like, you know what? I’m gonna try this out. When you look back at in a picture, because always, like, from ten years ago, you’re like, I shouldn’t have dressed that way, and so I thought it was cool to do that, and I did that, and then I realized that it was not cool, and they were like, but that’s one of the main reasons why we loved you [in the auditions].” He continued, “They refused to change it. I’m like, give me a makeover episode where Kenny gives him a makeover. There’s so much product in that hair, it was really a helmet.” After speaking with the creators of the show, it doesn’t sound like they are planning to change his hair anytime soon. Sorry Matt, looks like the hair is here to stay.
Next we sat down with Jay & Noah. And an interesting fact I learned when chatting with them was that all of the cast were child actors. “Something I think Martha and Jay figured out, not deep into the process is that we are all or were child actors.” said Noah. He continued, “We all really know how to do the work and leave the work at work, and be able to have relationships with each other that don’t bleed into the relationships on the show.” Jay added, “If anything, they enrich the relationships on the show.”
I liked hearing how close the cast is. “Because of how tight we all are, and the bonds that we form very early on, we stay with each other in between takes. We don’t go back to our rooms, really. We kinda have a common area where we like to hang out and play games and talk.” Jay told us.
Speaking about the rainbow cake Noah shared with us. “The cake- I was excited to eat that cake. Like, all week, I was so stoked, and then of course, me and Martha didn’t film the tag which was, us on the porch eating the cake until, like, 3:00am on Friday. And it was, after three meals, they brought in pizza for the first time ever, and I was like, yes. I went a little too hard on the pizza; but the time, at like 3:00am, they’re like, now eat three slices of rainbow cake.” Jay chimed in “Man, that’s tough.”
When asked about his favorite scene, Jay said, “I don’t know if I have a favorite scene. I mean, I probably do if I thought about it, but I definitely have favorite lines. Mine’s more about the moments that made me laugh while we were working, and those are always the ones that I look back on with the most fondness, and the ones that inevitably crack me up the most once I see it on TV. I don’t know if you guys saw the camping episode where we all go camping, but when he pulls out the Luna Bar and, and he says he saw the moon like on the package, and I thought- camping. And the way he said it, but I mean, I was dreading it before we even shot it- I was dreading- just off our table read, I said to myself, oh boy, that’s gonna be one of those that’s gonna be really challenging for me to keep together. And, and I mean, the first take, and it’s on me, and I just immediately crack up. And, it took a while to get as it does usually with me most of the time.”
Noah said of his favorite scene “Yeah, favorite scenes are hard to pinpoint. I don’t know, anytime we were, like, together as a family in, like, the breakfast scenes were always my favorite.”
It was so much fun being able to sit down and talk with this cast. I liked seeing how well they get along and how much they truly care for each other, it’s very cool.
They were so nice to take a group photo with us.
Did you know, if you watch the show live or on your DVR within 3 days it helps boost the shows ratings? Which in turn helps it get picked up for a second season. So if you don’t watch it live, please watch it off your DVR within 3 days!
Tune into ABC tonight at 8:30/7:30c for The Real O’Neals!
Tonight’s episode is: 104 “The Real Book Club”
“Eileen faces her book club for the first time after her family’s “outing,” but things take a surprising turn when instead of shunning her the ladies begin opening up – way too much – about their own problems. Kenny’s first trip to the “gayborhood” coffee shop is everything he’d hoped for, until Pat tags along with him to a gay dodge ball match.“-ABC
