Blessed From The Beginning: Exclusive Tour And Interviews Of The Kids Are Alright

Thanks Disney and ABC for inviting me on an all expensive paid press trip and giving me an opportunity of touring the set and meeting and chatting with actors Caleb Foote (“Eddie Cleary”) and Michael Cudlitz (“Mike Cleary”), production designer Michael Whetstone, set decorator Claudette Didul, costume designer Susan Michalek, line producer Kris Eber and last but not least: the show’s creator, showrunner and executive producer Tim Doyle from “The Kids Are Alright” show on ABC.

 

 

“The Kids Are Alright” is an American sitcom television series created by Tim Doyle for ABC, inspired by Doyle’s own childhood. The series is a single-camera comedy about an Irish Catholic family in suburban Los Angeles circa 1972, navigating the trials and tribulations of the era starring Michael Cudlitz as Mike Cleary, Mary McCormack as Peggy Cleary, Sam Straley as Lawrence Cleary, Caleb Foote as Eddie Cleary, Sawyer Barth as Frank Cleary, Christopher Paul Richards as Joey Cleary, Jack Gore as Timmy Cleary, Andy Walken as William Cleary and Santino Barnard as Pat Cleary.

 

 

 

I had a great time touring the set.  I think I’ve shared this a few times but I have always dreamed of being an actress.  Seriously, I could not pass up the opportunity of posing as if I were I an actress on the show.  SO MUCH FUN!

 

 

The Wardrobe 

They really did a great job on the set and wardrobe.    They nailed the time period.  As I walked through wardrobe, I was thinking how many of the items I would wear today.  LOL! Seriously, have you seen the show? The clothes are retro vintage and super cute.   When we met with costume designer Susan Michalek, we asked about vintage clothes being in, so does that make it easier to find the items they need for the show.  She said,

“A little bit but the volume we need it’s so much that what we really get most of it from the rental houses in L.A.  ABC has a costume house, Warner Brothers has a costume house and then there’s some private ones too, about eight or ten in L.A.  Their buildings are the size of football fields and really high with racks of clothing where we go get most of it.”

 

 

The Set

What was so fascinating about the set was the attention to detail.  I mean, there were so many things in that house that made me feel like I was at my grandfather’s home where nothing had changed in years.  During the tour Claudette said, “we actually lucked out with a couple of estate sales” when discussing the furniture, fixtures, and wall art.  It was fascinating.  When we finally met with Tim Doyle the first thing out of his mouth was about the set. He said,

“You saw the set? This is the weirdest thing in the world!  Michael did an amazing job. When we shot the pilot, we shot it at a house in Sherman Oaks.  And then we came here, and Michael built the house in Sherman Oaks on our stage.  And now we have a very good recreation of the backyard, but much more room and much more verisimilitude over here behind our stages.  It’s all kinda magical!”

 

 

The Message

You all know how I look for the positive message and or lesson so that we can share with our children or be empowered ourselves.  Well, I was beginning to see a pattern here on this set.  I mean, things seemed so easy for them.  The wardrobe, the set décor, the set design….it was “magical” according to Tim.  And I was in total agreement.  And then I understood why.  As we were leaving the set, we finished with a short chat with line producer Kris Eber about the show.  When asked “how was the approval process to get this on the air?  Did you have a lot of hiccups?  Was it fairly easy?” Kris confirmed the secret sauce for show.  He said, 

“The Kids Are Alright” for me, he said, “No.  Very smooth.  This show has been really blessed from the beginning.  There’s a lot of firsts.  It was the first script picked up to be written as a pilot.  Tim pitched the idea to ABC.  ABC pitched the idea to the network.  They asked him to write a script.  Off the back of the script they asked us to shoot a pilot – which we did back in March.  That’s the first episode that you saw.  So, it’s really gone very smoothly.  And they’ve really believed in it.”

 

 

I have to say it was magical and a tremendous blessing.  The cast and crew were amazing.  Everyone was so kind and friendly…truly refreshing.  Teaching our children to be grateful, thankful, and to beleive in the magic of their dreams is certainly a take-a-way from my experience at the set of “The Kids Are Alright.”  I always say “passion makes complacency uncomfortable” and that was truly the case here.  Tim was very passionate about sharing his experience and it was blessed from the start!  If you have not watched “The Kids Are Alright” yet, please do so. 

The episode airing tonight is “Peggy’s Day Out” – To hide a mess Eddie made, his girlfriend, Wendi, tries to distract Peggy by insisting she take a day off with a fun day out while they take care of the housework. To everyone’s surprise, Peggy accepts the offer and requests Wendi tag along, with the ulterior motive of teaching her a lesson. Meanwhile, Eddie enlists the help of his brothers to clean up and keep Mike out of the house while Wendi and Peggy are out. Elsewhere, Pat introduces Timmy to his secret dog on “The Kids Are Alright,” TUESDAY, NOV. 13 (8:31-9:00 p.m. EST), and every Tuesday on The ABC Television Network, streaming and on demand. 

If you are looking for a family friendly show, tune in and watch “The Kids Are Alright” with me on Tuesday evenings.  I would love to chat about the show with you. 

You can also follow “The Kids Are Alright” on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram or using #TheKidsAreAlright and #ABCTVEvent.

 

 [latoyia]