On Tuesday March 2, NBC will finally give fans a reason to tune into the network at 10PM. That reason: PARENTHOOD. The ensemble drama (starring Lauren Graham!) from Ron Howard (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) and Jason Katims (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) that chronicles the very large, very colourful and very imperfect Braverman family. One of whom, Julie Braverman, a successful corporate attorney and not-so-successful Mom played by the delightful Erika Christensen (Traffic) was kind enough to take some time during the recent Television Critics Association Press Tour to discuss what it’s like playing a career driven mom, what brought her back to television and how she successfully managed to avoid the pitfalls of young Hollywood.

Did the fact that Jason Katims was the man behind the genius that is FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHT play a role in you signing on to the series?
Absolutely. I’m a huge fan of Jason Katims. Myself [and co-stars] Dax Shepard and Sarah Ramos are obsessed with FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. Seriously. Greatest show ever. During the huge first wave of press we did for PARENTHOOD our answer to every question was, “Don’t worry about PARENTHOOD, just watch FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.” You can imagine the security I feel knowing that he [Katims] is writing my show.

To read the rest of this interview click the source below.

SOURCE: TheTVAddict.com

Friday Night Lights has the adoration of critics, but it has struggled to find a broad enough audience for network TV. What lessons from that experience can you apply here?

The frustrating thing about Friday Night Lights is I know a lot more people would respond to the show if they saw it. The most common response when I tell people I work on FNL is, “Oh, I hear that’s a great show.” I’ve heard that so many times and it’s frustrating only because I love the show so much. That said, I wish I had the answer to why. Everybody from NBC to DirecTV ( DTV – news – people ) has tried to get the word out there that it’s a football show but you don’t have to like football to like the show and that it’s as much for–if not more for–women than it is for men. I think there might have been some things that were inherent to the show that were just keeping people from sampling it. So will that same thing happen with Parenthood? I don’t know yet. All I can do is try to make a show that’s compelling and hope that this is a world they want to be a part of for an hour each week.

To read the rest of the interview click the source below.

SOURCE: Forbes.com