Wednesday, July 11, 2012

New Comedic Webseries Lovin' Lakin, Starring Step by Step's Christine Lakin, Premieres Monday on Hulu, Watch Her on Melissa & Joey Tonight

We briefly mentioned before that actress Christine Lakin (Step by Step) is launching her own webseries, but now we have the full story for you on how it happened! Comedy/sitcom fans and reality show fans will rejoice! Lovin Lakin, a new online comedy series starring Christine Lakin, premieres on Hulu and YouTube this coming Monday (July 16, 2012). Ten episodes have been produced for your enjoyment. And you don't have to wait every week to watch a new episode! All ten episodes will be available on the premiere date and for people to watch on-demand! Now that's cool! And it even has its own catchy theme song..."she's Lakin!"

If you don't know, Lovin' Lakin is an original webseries "mockumentary" following former child TV star Christine Lakin and her comeback to show business. She will be playing a fictional version of herself, because of course we know she never left show business. She has been a very steady and well respected working actress since the sitcom ended in 1998. This webseries will be a hilarious look at another version of Christine Lakin. The webseries chronicles the former Step by Step actress as she attempts to provide insight into "how to make it" in Hollywood, with episodes featuring some of her cool friends Kristen Bell, Patrick Duffy, Staci Keanan, Kyle Bornheimer, Kristin Chenoweth and Seth MacFarlane. Christine says "they will be playing a 'kind of' version of themselves. Like for example, Patrick Duffy couldn't be a nicer, sweeter, more lovely amazing human being and in his episode, I don't want to give too much away, but the entire focus of his episode is that I think he is really family and I always go to him with my problems and he can't stand me... and everybody on that show couldn't stand me and I was always so annoying, which of course is not the case, I mean he wouldn't come do the show if we didn't have a good relationship! To me, that's what's funny and that's the character I built, and the fact that everyone knows this girl, this Christine Lakin, and everybody hates her (laughs)! It makes me laugh endlessly because there is so many ways to go with it because she is just so oblivious to the fact that nobody really likes her very much!"

We talked to Christine Lakin in detail about her "mockumentary" web series and how she came up with this idea, "I was sitting around with my friend and fellow producer Dave Mahanes, and he does quite serious documentaries, and he looked at me and said, 'I would love to do something just for fun.' So he said if you ever have an idea to film something, he said he would love to work together and do something silly and I've been kind of knocking around this idea in my head that I love The Office and I love that idea of sort of a fake documentary...the device of a documentary I think is really fun and I think it provides a lot of commentary on what's happening for the actors. So I sort of had this idea and I didn't know what it was and I pitched it to him and he liked it and it just kind of blossomed from there. I knew I wanted to do a brand of comedy that was uniquely my own and sort of a storyline that is uniquely my own. So using a page from my real life, people always say that if you're going to write something, write what you know. So I went to the place I knew best, to take my real life and to completely turn it on its head and make myself a caricature and to say, 'what if this girl is someone totally different from me but lived all the same experiences that I lived?' And having left the business and wanting to make a comeback and just having no real knowledge what the business is actually like anymore and having a complete sort of over inflated view of herself. And I think that's what makes Michael Scott, the character on The Office, makes him so funny that he is so likeable but he is such a daft idiot! And I just really enjoy that sort of humor and I love that character and I follow that model a little bit for what I made myself in this webseries. And we were able to make ten episodes in several weeks because they were like five minutes a piece roughly."

She also said "I was really lucky that I have very talented and funny friends who were great improvisers so we sort of used the scripts as a template but really everybody was allowed to go sort of off the page and a lot of the greatest stuff we got was from improv. So I was really lucky in that regard." She added, "if you're going to make a documentary, there has to be a journey. I think as a mockumentary it makes it more pertinent for the character of Christine Lakin to be returning to show business because I think there has to be a sense of discovery for any character. You have to have a goal at the end, you have to have a want, a drive, that's what drives the motivation for any story. So having made it that she left the business and now she is making this grand comeback and she think it is going to go really really well and we all know from the get go that it's probably not. Given the fact that she is not very self-aware at all and times have kind of changed and the fact that she actually thinks after 10 years being out of the business that she still is America's sweetheart is hilarious because as we all know, you could leave for six months and no one would remember you, sadly. I also did this because it's sort of a tongue-and-cheek nod to the fact that I was in real life on a TV show as a child and since then I have done a lot of different things. Making this web series was definitely a chance for me to have more control and more creative autonomy, and that was probably the biggest reason I did it. I did it for me, and if other people like it, man that's the cherry on top because I love to make other people laugh."

There are ideas to bring this to television as well (like a sitcom?), depending on how this goes, but Christine says her goal was always to make people laugh and if there is a second season on television or the web, she doesn't care where as long as she can make people laugh. She says it was fun to film and she loves producing it. Christine also would love to have her Step by Step mother Suzanne Somers on the second season. She does however have some footage from that day she reunited with Suzanne Somers and Patrick Duffy at a TV dads event that she will use as easter eggs, bonus footage and bloopers for this season. She would also love to have her other co-stars from Step by Step on the show if there is a second season. She tells us there is an annual Step by Step pot-luck reunion in August at one of the producers' house and she will definitely try to recruit some of them to join her if there is a second season. And she has a few episodes already written if there is indeed a second season, such as an episode on a "child actor support group" with stars like Melissa Joan Hart, Kellie Martin, Danielle Fishel, Jaleel White and Shannen Doherty dropping by. Melissa and Kellie for sure would do it. Let's hope we get to see a second season so we can see this! Spread the word and watch the first season starting this Monday!

Lovin' Lakin is created by and produced by Christine Lakin and Dave Mahanes. The series is executive produced by Andy Fickman and Betsy Sullenger of Oops Doughnuts Productions. Christine Lakin wrote the series with additional writing on some episodes by Ross Patterson. We have a video trailer below, so please watch!

And Lovin' Lakin is not all for Christine! She will guest star on TONIGHT'S episode of an all-new Melissa & Joey airing at 8:00pm ET/PT on ABC Family. She made an appearance on the sitcom last season as well, but this time her character returns and wants to have a baby...and wants Joe's (Joey Lawrence) sperm! See the hilarious video promo below. In addition, she is also on another webseries, Internet Icon, which is very popular and generating traffic. Lakin also tells us that she hits the stage this fall in the Los Angeles premiere of Silence! The Musical. And if that's not all, she says she is choreographing on a Disney Channel sitcom pilot Bits & Pieces and working on more shows for Worst Audition Ever, which she created and we absolutely love. Everybody is certainly lovin' Lakin, and she deserves it!

Lovin' Lakin trailer:

Alternate trailer from The Insider.

Melissa & Joey promo:


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Wednesday, April 23

The Conners - "Exercise Bands, Money Plans, and Faraway Lands" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Ahead of the deposition, Dan gets support from Jackie, Becky and Darlene. Mark is presented with an opportunity which leads to a major life decision. Meanwhile, Becky and Tyler consider the next step in their relationship – joint finances.

The Conners - "The Truck Stops Here" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Jackie prepares for a series of physical tests in an effort to rejoin the police force; Darlene confronts the insecurities in her marriage with Ben; Dan’s deposition stirs up feelings, and final farewells are made in true Conner family fashion.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 21)

Wednesday, April 23

  • Jenny Slate (The Great North/Big Mouth/Married/Bob's Burgers) - Watch Jenny on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Amanda Peet (Brockmire/Togetherness/Bent) - Amanda appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
  • Vinny Thomas (Platonic), Paul F. Tompkins (The Great North/BoJack Horseman/DAG) and Aparna Nancherla (The Great North/Lopez vs Lopez/Corporate) - Vinny, Paul and Aparna are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Casey Wilson (The Righteous Gemstones/Black Monday/The Hotwives/Marry Me/Happy Endings) - Casey stops by Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 3:30am on Bravo.
  • Rita Moreno (One Day at a Time/Happily Divorced/9 to 5) and Ayo Edebiri (Big Mouth/The Bear) - Rita and Ayo are guests on Everybody's Live with John Mulaney at 10pm on Netflix.
  • Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/Final Space/The Game) - Tika talks about her new children's book I Got It From My Mama on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
  • Bowen Yang (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens) - Bowen talks about The Wedding Banquet and Saturday Night Live with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Cheech Marin (Rob/The Golden Palace) and Tommy Chong (That '90s Show/That '70s Show) - Cheech and Tommy talk about their documentary Cheech & Chong's Last Movie with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
  • Ricky Gervais (After Life/The Office) - Ricky talks about his upcoming tour on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Anna Camp (Perfect Harmony/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt/The Mindy Project) - NBC's Today catches up with Anna in the 9am hour.
  • Tiffany Haddish (The Last O.G./The Carmichael Show) - Tiffany co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
  • Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Crazy Ones) - NBC's Today Food has Sarah in the 10am hour.
  • Anthony Mackie (Twisted Metal) - Anthony Mackie talks about Captain America: Brave New World on a repeat of Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • David Arquette (In Case of Emergency/Double Rush/Parenthood) - David and Danny A. Abeckaser discuss their film Mob Cops on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.


New on DVD and Blu-ray

I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray) The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series Frasier (2023) - Season Two

11/05 - I Love Lucy - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/12 - The King of Queens - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (2024 Release)
11/19 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fourteenth Season
11/26 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 4 (Blu-ray)
12/03 - Angel (1960-1961) - The Complete Series, Volume 1
12/17 - Seinfeld - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (4K UHD)
01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
03/11 - Frasier (2023) - Season Two
04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season

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