David Alan Basche has spent the last few years on quirky character dramas on both network and cable programs alike, but the veteran actor has his roots in sitcoms, so finding himself back on one at this stage in the television landscape, and his career, might just be perfect timing. Though he has been calling the east coast his home, he jumped at the chance to come out here to Los Angeles to star in The Exes for TV Land because of how funny he found the script-- and his co-stars.
“You know, when I first read the script for the pilot, I peed a little, and I thought that was a good sign, so when something makes you laugh out-loud, when you’re reading just the first episode, that’s a good sign,” he told LA TV Insider Examiner.
We can’t help but agree, so we wanted to find out even more about this new project, which is sure to take the traditional TV Land demographic, as well as the current state of sitcoms, by storm.
You can read LA TV Insider Examiner's advance review of The Exes' pilot here.
LA TV Insider Examiner: Were you specifically looking for a sitcom when you found The Exes?
David Alan Basche: For many years I shied away from sitcoms. I started on television, and on sitcoms, and loved them, but then they sort of seemed to be going through sort of an ice age, and they started dying off one by one, and I recognized that, and my representatives recognized that, and we said ‘Well, let’s look at dramas and other things like that.’ So for awhile I was doing single camera stuff like The Starter Wife and Lipstick Jungle, and that all went very well, but then last year I’m looking at some of the other comedies on television, like Hot in Cleveland, like The Big Bang Theory, you know, there are some great half-hour sitcoms on the air and doing well. They seem to be coming back. They’re making a comeback, and I think with the economy, there’s two reasons. One they’re cheaper to make and easier to syndicate, and the other is because things sort of suck for so many people that they really need a chance to laugh. So this year I sort of said ‘Let’s start to look at sitcoms again’ and I was very fortunate that one of the first scripts that came to me was from TV Land and was The Exes.
In a show about three guys living in an apartment together, the chemistry is going to be just as important as, if not just the catalyst for, the comedy. Was there a lot of reading with different pairings until the show found the perfect roommates in you, Wayne Knight, and Donald Faison?
D.A.B.: In terms of the casting, they asked for me here in New York, and I put myself on tape, and then they liked it, so I flew out to LA and met with the producers and got along and I loved the character they wrote, and they obviously liked my take on it. There wasn’t a real chance to meet any other cast members; it was kind of like ‘You’re the last piece of this puzzle, bing, bang, boom, we’re done.’ Literally I tested on a Friday, got back on the red-eye Saturday morning, they called and said I got the job, turned back around and flew out on Sunday, and we started shooting on Monday.
That’s insane! It’s literally that situation where everyone better hopes you all either actually like each other or that any dislike can translate into different kind of laughs.
D.A.B.: With classic sitcoms like MASH, the characters all drove each other crazy, and that’s what you loved to see. Even more recently, like Frasier and Friends and Seinfeld, they all pissed each other off, said the wrong thing, drove each other nuts, but in the end, it turns out they’d do anything for their friends. TV Land has really found that formula.
Do you find yourself relating to Stuart, or are there times when one of the other guys will have a moment that you feel may be more in tune with who you are personally?
D.A.B.: I do. I mean, we’re very different in that Stuart is divorced and has no idea on how to keep a relationship going, and I’ve been married for fourteen years to a spectacular woman, happy to say…In real life I’m much less neurotic than Stuart, but I am sort of a neat freak, and I do end up cleaning up around people, and I am very much the nice guy who wants everyone to get along.
We assume you don’t give your wife a chore schedule.
D.A.B.: I do have a chore schedule-- in my mind. I don’t tell anyone I have it, but it’s in my mind.
Did they get that from you, then? Are they starting to write more to your own real life relationship situation or to you as a performer now?
D.A.B.: You have to be careful what you say in front of comedy writers because they will absolutely make fun of it in the next episode. Stuff like that starts to happen, and it’s fun when the writers start writing jokes to you that are from getting to know you and stuff like that, but also it’s fun when the writers will come to you and say ‘Hey, listen, we’re working on this story and we need to know if you speak any foreign languages.’ And I said ‘No, I don’t. I speak a little Spanish, but I have a really good ear, and I can learn a foreign language.’ And they go ‘Okay, do you think you can learn Portuguese?’ And I go ‘Yeah, whatever it takes. If it’s funny, I’ll do it.’ So of course I start looking online and learning Portuguese, and as it turns out, I get the script and it’s now Serbian.
Which could not be more different.
D.A.B.: They said ‘Look, you said you could do it, and we believe you.’ Half of the episode was in Serbian, and it was a long week of studying, but I think it came out incredibly funny in the end.
So if you had to have a roommate, which The Exes character could you actually stand to live with?
D.A.B.: I would want Kelly Stables because she’s the hottest.
Well, we meant out of the guys. Even Stuart, could you stand to live with Stuart?
D.A.B.: Oh no, he’d drive me crazy. Or I should say I would drive me crazy. The world doesn’t need two Stuarts. The world doesn’t need two David Alan Basches! God no! … I think the good thing about rooming with Stuart would be that the apartment would always be clean; the bad thing would be that Stuart would always be telling me to put away my socks. The good thing about rooming with [Wayne Knight’s Haskell] would be privacy; no one would ever really bother you, but the bad news about rooming with him would be that you probably would never, ever see him, and you wouldn’t get to sit on your couch. Ever. The good news about rooming with Donald’s character…you’d get to see a constant parade of beautiful women that would sort of be like a Victoria’s Secret calendar, and that would be wildly entertaining, but the bad news is you probably wouldn’t get a lot of sleep at night because of the noise.
And of course he would be good for setting you up with these women.
D.A.B.: Let’s see what happens! I can almost guarantee it won’t [go well] because there is an episode that is based on that, and in fact, it’s the one in which I speak Serbian, so you’ll want to take a look.
Stuart seems pretty hung up on his ex-wife right now, though, which seems to scream for a chance to actually meet her.
Ah, Lorna! Well, it would be a spoiler alert if I told you yes or no, but I will tell you that we hear a lot about all three ex-wives, and we are going to meet at least one of them. But you have to tune into find out which one.
So there will be a bunch of dating anyway?
D.A.B.: It’s a little of both. What’s great is that it’s a show about three guys, but we have these two spectacular women involved. Kristen Johnston plays our divorce attorney, and she’s handled all of our divorces and kind of taken us under her wing, and we’re all living together right across the hall from her. So she’s kind of a catalyst to say ‘You’ve got to get back out there!’ And there’s also Kelly Stables who plays her assistant at her law firm, and she’s, like, just a little spitfire, who’s confident enough but just incredibly sarcastic, and she’s also saying ‘You’ve got to get back out there.’ Interestingly enough, she’s saying that to Kristen’s character…That really opens up the storyline because we can meet all of these other guys-- meet their dates. Even Haskell, who says all he does is sit on the couch, even Haskell has some dates, and that’s really fun to watch.
Are any of the guys going to start to fall for either Kristen or Kelly’s characters, then?
D.A.B.: Intrigue! By season three…I don’t know, you know. I don’t know. You have three guys, two girls; there’s a myriad of combinations, as I’m sure the folks on Jersey Shore will tell you.
But that won’t happen in the first ten episodes you’ve already shot?
D.A.B.: No, not yet. And also, I’ve done enough series now that I know our director, who’s spectacular, knows that when you do a first season that’s ten episodes, kind of half a season, you’re not just making a pilot and nine more episodes. It’s sort of an introductory season; you’re making a pilot and then nine more pilots. You really need to make sure that viewers who tune in in the middle who don’t know the characters can figure out what’s the situation, who they are, and why it’s funny, and that’s something else that the writers have done really well with the show. You really can tune in a few episodes in and still figure out what’s going on, but if you’ve been watching all along, then you’ll be even more invested because you’ll really get to know these guys’ quirks. I think the deck is stacked in our favor.
The Exes airs on TV Land on Wednesday nights at 10:30pm.
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