"I think every good dad and husband is part manny. That's part of the job," Joey Lawrence explained on a media conference call this morning for his new ABC Family show, Melissa & Joey.
On the sitcom, for which Lawrence shared he actually wrote the theme song, he plays Joe Longo, a guy who lost everything and ends up moving in with local congresswoman played by Melissa Joan Hart to take care of her house and teenage niece and nephew. The idea for a show about a manny was the network's but Lawrence has no qualms about playing such a character.
"He's [still] a guy's guy. He's sort of brutally honest. I wanted to create him as sort of a throwback because I don't think this kind of guy is on TV right now...sort of a Bruce Willis from Moonlighting who has a swagger," Lawrence spoke of his "a little politically incorrect," complex smart alec role.
Lawrence and Hart have instant chemistry on Melissa & Joey, due in part because they were friends from a young age when they were both growing up in front of the camera on their own respective shows. Their careers have mimicked each other somewhat as they transformed from child stars to adult actors, but so have their personal lives. Both parents of young children, Lawrence acknowledged the difference in playing a parental role to teenagers on-screen.
"I think that's where kind of the comedy comes from," he said. "These people are barely in their thirties theirselves and they have sixteen year olds running around. They're more like an uncle/aunt."
But Lawrence had to point out one very easy aspect of raising teenagers when compared to his own young ones. "You know, when you're sixteen years old...you're who you're going to be," he explained. "It's just about the final touches and maturity and finishing the job, but the crust of your tenture is already there and cooked." So his character can try to guide and steer the kids to the right road in life, but he really doesn't have to worry about molding or shaping them too much.
Which is probably a good thing considering Lawrence considers his and Hart's characters "still kids at heart!"
For that reason and for the fact that their characters-- namely Hart's-- don't really know what they're doing, Lawrence says he feels the youngest audience that should be watching is maybe thirteen year olds. "We're not the Disney Channel, you know what I mean?" He pointed out.
"Mel as a character is not responsible, and I'm sort of there to shed some light on the responsibility, but that's where the comedy comes from," he elaborated. "There's not always the right example set...they're not really parents. I think they're less developed in that area than I am or Melissa is in our personal lives because we are young parents. And that's the give and take because we have these two teenagers who are running around."
Melissa & Joey airs on Tuesday nights at 8pm on the ABC Family channel. Lawrence says the response to the show has been great so far. The response so far has been great and he attributes that to fans who have followed his and Hart's careers since they, themselves, were kids.
"I think our fans are the people who have grown up with us," Lawrence hypothesized, "and I think there's a younger growing fan base who have grown up with the reruns of the show. I know when Brotherly Love went over to the Disney Channel, my fans were probably like nineteen years old but...it was exposed to a bunch of eight to ten year olds who opened it up, [too]."
And if you're a fan of Lawrence who wants to see him in action live in front of you, you can get tickets to a taping of Melissa & Joey through Audiences Unlimited, which Lawrence in particular recommends and loves: "I think for this particular medium, you know, the half hour comedy...it was really sort of intended to be like theater in a box. That's what half hour comedy on TV was intended to be. I miss the sense of the live crowd there to get into the show and move it along. I like that energy, being in this format. It really is about theater, you know, you get that great response when the show works."
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