Funny Debra Messing is going back to her roots. With her current show ‘Smash’ hanging on by a thread, Messing has already moved on.
She spoke exclusively with PARADE.com about how she feels about Smash and its move to Saturday night…and her new sitcom.
The comedy actress who had mega-success years ago with comedy ‘Will & Grace‘, has been rumored to be leaving ‘Smash’ for some time and headed to CBS for a new comedy show- a yet-to-be-titled show about a Park Slope mom trying to balance work life and home life.
Here are the highlights :
Smash, in which Debra Messing, 44, stars as Broadway lyricist Julia Houston, has headed into its second season with disappointing ratings, and NBC has responded by moving the show from its choice Tuesday night time slot to a not-so-prime Saturday evening spot.
The news doesn’t bode well for the show’s future, though no official announcement about whether Smash will return for a third season has been made yet. Still, the warmhearted actress has plenty to look forward to.
Not only will she sing her first solo on Smash this season, she has also signed on to film a pilot for a new sitcom on CBS, which begins shooting next week. Is she excited to get back into comedy? “I am,” she said. “I’m ready to laugh again.”
On Smash’s move to Saturday nights.
“It’s sad. I think that everyone involved in Smash has loved the concept and the world that we’ve been playing in, and we all wish that it performed better than it has. But it’s the business of television. It’s erratic and it’s something you can’t control at all. We still don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’re all really proud of it.”
If Smash is cancelled, what she’ll be most proud of.
“Bringing song and dance and the world of Broadway musicals into people’s living rooms, who, for many different reasons don’t have the ability or the access to the fantasy and the thrill that is Broadway musicals.”
On the pilot she’s filming.
“I have signed on to do a pilot for a half-hour comedy, and it shoots next week! It’s in second position to Smash, so it all depends on whether or not Smash is coming back. But it’s a comedy that is based on a successful show in Israel right now, and it follows a woman who is a mom and she works, and she tries to balance her whole life. You see her going through her life in Brooklyn and trying to survive. It’s absolutely something that I identify with.”
Read on for full interview where she talks about her favorite Smash guest stars, motherhood, and more.