While browsing HuluPlus a couple months ago I ran across the Trophy Wife TV show and I had to click to find out more. I think the name of the catchy title of the show is what first caught my attention. Once I started watching the first episode, I was hooked.
For me, the show Trophy Wife first reminded me just a little of Julia Robert’s character on Stepmom which I LOVED and I wanted to watch more. I am a stepmom myself, so it is interesting watching shows that portray the role of a stepmom. After watching episode after episode, I really began to LOVE her character.
My favorite episode was episode #2 when Kate is trying to get Bert to go to bed by reading him a book and Bert didn’t want to fall asleep. I will have to tell you though, I seen the newest episode that airs tonight “Wedding Part #2” and it is really good. I think I might have even shed a tear in happiness at the ending. While I won’t share with you any of the details, I am going to highly suggest watching it.
Last week I had the opportunity to visit ABC studios and meet the Executive Producers of the show, Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern. Not only did we get to meet these wonderful ladies, we got to sit down and ask them some questions about the show that I know you might want to know if you are a Trophy Wife fan like me.
If you haven’t seen the show, take a peek at the trailer:
For me getting to interview the producers was a great experience. But what was even more exciting was I got to meet Malin Akerman that plays the role of Kate, the trophy wife prior to meeting the producers. For me this was SUPER cool! I have been watching the show and to meet this TV mom in person was EXCITING. I am not going to share the details yet of that experience because I have a whole post coming soon dedicated to it, but I do want to show you the picture of Malin Akerman and I that I was able to have taken with my iPhone right before I left the studios.
Malin Akerman “Trophy Wife” and I at ABC. 03/12/14
Now back to the show because I know you want to know what I got to find out. For those of you fellow Trophy Wife fans, here are some of the questions that our #ABCTVEvent group was able to ask the Executive Producers Sarah Haskins and Emily Halpern during our Q&A last week:
How did you come up with the idea for Trophy Wife?
Sarah Haskins: We’re the creators, so we came up with the idea together. It’s very loosely based on my life. I married an older man who’d been married a few times before and has children from those different marriages. Kind of like Malin Akerman’s character, without rocking the short shorts.
It’s a situation that while unique and highly specific, is also very universal. People have dealt with divorce and co-parenting. It’s very common and we thought has a place on TV.
The characters have very good chemistry. How hard was it to get who you wanted?
Sarah: We filmed the pilot off cycle and we didn’t appreciate it at the time. That wound up being a huge advantage because we weren’t competing for all the exact same actors as all of the other pilots at the same time. And a lot of that had to do with Malin. She was really the first piece. ABC had actually passed on Trophy Wife the first year we developed it and ultimately it was given a second life when Malin read the script and ABC really wanted to work with her. And so did we.
Why do a wedding episode now?
Emily: We were kind of trying to think of a big episode idea. Honestly, we knew this was gonna air in March. It was a 2-parter. In a comedy, we can’t shoot the president [Laughs] so how big can we go? A wedding felt good to us.
What’s next for Trophy Wife?
Sarah: Hopefully season 2!
Emily: We just finished editing our season finale and our fate is in ABC’s hands. But we hope we get to come back to do some more.
Sarah: Yeah, and appropriately, our season finale is a Mother’s Day episode. It helps wrap up Kate’s arc all season of “Am I a mom in this family’s eyes or am I just a trophy wife?”
How did you come up with the specific characters? Who were the influences?
Sarah: We talked about my emotional reactions to meeting my husband’s exes. His first wife is super intimidating. She’s French and she’s a lawyer and she went to Brown and blah blah blah. So she was so intimidating that we took that intimidating factor and made that Diane. I think everyone probably has an experience with an intimidating ex who you don’t want to hear about.
And then the Jackie character came out of dealing with the boundaries of a blended family. No one in particular. It’s just hard to say where your nuclear family ends and your everybody family begins. And Jackie is someone who is strongly on the everybody is family portion of the spectrum. That’s just a fun character to have.
Do the ex wives know it’s about them?
Sarah: I wouldn’t say it’s about them. One of them watches it and one of them doesn’t. The intimidating one does watch it.
Emily: And she has notes every week! [Laughs]
I do think we consciously try to write all three women as strong characters. And once we sort of had whatever the stereotype was, we really worked hard to try to make sure that they felt like complete characters and strong women and had their own independence.
What’s the writing process like?
Sarah: There’s a lot of diverse life experiences in our writer’s room, so people would pitch stories. The Lice Story came from a writer who just had a super embarrassing lice breakdown with her kids at school. They had to take home all the pillows in school and wash them. It sounded horrible.
And just issues like The Punisher, was actually from one of our male co-Executive Producers who was just like, “How does she learn to do that? How do you do that?” And I think that’s just his anxiety about being a parent some days. So that’s where The Punisher episode came from.
Emily: We also try to think of what’s the funniest one line story we can think of. And then just build a bigger story on top of it. If the premise is funny, the story is funny. We can make that work. We have an episode coming up where Warren joins the girl’s field hockey team and that idea made us laugh and we built a story around it.
Sounds like a fun show. I loved stepmom the movie so your review makes me think i’ll like this too. Will have to give it a try.
Sounds like a fun show.
It was so much fun meeting Malin! That show is so much fun 😀
I loved the Wedding parts 1 & 2. What a fun show, meeting Malin made it even cooler. Love the photos of the two of you. Glad to have shared this experience with you, how cool!!!
I loved her in Rock of Ages.
I definitely want to check out this show now. I love funny shows and hope it’s on Netflix so I can catch up.
I’ve been hearing all sorts of wonderful things about this show.. I’m always up for a good new one to add to my queue! Thanks for the heads up..I think it’s time to watch!
Just from the name of the show, it does sound like something I would enjoy. I’ll add this into my DVR now!
It’s always interesting to learn how a show came about, right?
This sounds like a fun show. I’ve never seen it before…but I happen to love Bradley Whitford!
I’ve seen the trailer before and it does look like a fun show. Will have to give it a try, who know, it might make it to my “to watch” list (which is small because I barely watch TV).
Great Q&A. I haven’t seen this show yet, but I want to check it out now!
Watched last night and loved it! Megan Mullally killed it! 😀
I have never heard of this show before but it looks like a show I would be interested in watching…..lots of fun! Gr8 Q&A
Ive seen this before advertised. Another show to add to my list!
Just watched the trailer, this looks hilarious and different than shows I cannot miss right now. I really want to see this!
I really want to see this now! When I first heard of it, I thought it was just another “Real Wives” kinda show and that didn’t interest me. But the trailer looks great!
How awesome that you got to meet them!
Oh that is so cool you got to meet her! And great interview! This show is one I’m trying to find streaming online; (since we don’t have TV service). But I really want to see it. It looks hilarious.
need to see this. like now. i have to figure out how to watch it in the tub!
I have never seen this show before but it does sound interesting. I like strong women characters. I will have to check it out soon.
I keep hearing about this show! So many recommendations! I must succumb to the pressure and watch it! LOL
We’ve been watching the show since the pilot and love it. It’s a great mix of characters and they’ve actually done a really great job of amending the characters to fit better. I hope to see it live on for multiple seasons!
sounds like a great interview, i haven’t seen this show.
That is so awesome that you got to meet Malin! I watch her show, Trophy Wife, and think it’s really cute!
I haven’t seen trophy wife yet but I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about it.
Malin is fantastic and the show is hilarious. A new one to watch!
What a great interview! She sounds so real and open. I will have to watch the show 🙂
Definitely gotta tune in, I made a mental note, glad I came back to remind myself to watch! Looks like an awesome show.
This looks like a fun show. What a cool experience!!
You are a lucky lady – this sounds like it was an awesome experience. I haven’t seen the show, but it sounds awesome.
Hope you had a blast!!! I have watched the show a few times and it’s funny.
Sounds like an interesting show. It’s not really my genre of choice, but I might give it an episode or two of my time.
I loved learning a bit more about the show. This is one of my new favorites!
I LOVE this show! It is one of our favorites. I hope they get a season 2.
How have I not heard of this show?! I’m going to watch it tonight now, thanks! 🙂
I’ve never heard of this show, but it SO sounds like something I would watch. I’m going to check if it’s available on any of my channels!!
I haven’t seen this show yet. I wonder if I can catch up online.
that’s my hope too, because it looks awesome. hopefully we can see it soon
Great picture of the two of you.
I haven’t had a chance to catch this show, either.
This sounds like a great new show to watch. I’ll have to give it a try!
Great interview! I enjoy watching this show and love the dynamics of the blended families. I also like that was created by 2 women.
I think it is so cool that you got to interview a main star! I would be interested in watching this show myself!
Network TV is so hard to be cast in. Just look at each of those people. Even if you are crazy talented but don’t have straight teeth, you’re out! I need to look in to this show!
I have never seen this show, but now I might have to check it out! Love the pictures!
I have never seen this show, but now I might have to check it out! Love the pictures!
You’ve got me interested. I love the pics!
I saw the previews of the show and thought it looked really fun. I’ll have to start watching it.
I’ve heard of this show, but I haven’t watched it yet. Definitely going to see if I can stream it this weekend. Looks fun!
I have heard really good reviews about this show. I will have to check it out! Sounds funny!
I have not seen this show. I enjoyed the backstage/back office information you brought to your readers here.
I’ve never heard of this show (I don’t have cable). So cool that you got to meet her though!
This show is hilarious. I love it! Great post
I really need to sit and watch this show. It sounds like it is a funny show!
Jackie is my favorite. She is hysterical! The Christmas episode with the mulled wine was the best.
I love this show. Burt is my favorite! lol
I’ve heard a little about this show, so I am excited to watch it. Comedies are my favorite!
I’ve never heard of Trophy Wife! I’m going to have to check it out now.
I love comedies, and this sounds like a funny show. I’m going to have to check it out now.
I keep hearing about Trophy Wife, but haven’t seen it. I really need to make time to start watching.
We’ve watched this show several times. HOw funny! I love the interview.
I’ve never seen it but I really like her as an actress. Hope I get the chance to tune in
This show look like such a fun show. I hate that I missed the start of it, I’m going to have to catch up on it when it comes to Netflix.
I love Julia Roberts in Stepmom too. How cool that you got to meet Malin as well. Looks like a cool show, unfortunately we don’t have cable but love that ABC airs online a couple weeks after the premier of the episode.