Q&A with Splitting Up Together Cast & Creators

ABC TV’s new series, Splitting Up Together, rises above the stereotypical story of divorce with a new comedy that will have you laughing out loud. The TV series premieres tonight at 9:30/8:30 central and stars Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson. I had the opportunity to screen a few of the episodes before tonight’s airing and interview some of the cast and creators of the show. Read on to see why you’ll want to add this new show to your weekly TV line-up!

I was invited as media to cover this event. All opinions are my own.

Splitting Up Together Q&A

Included at the roundtable were Oliver Hudson who plays Martin on the series, and Lindsay Price who plays Camille, as well as Creator and Exec. Producer Emily Kapnek and Exec. Producer Dean Holland.

When asked how Splitting Up Together will portray divorce in real life, Emily shares the main goal of the series is to tell a story about divorce that isn’t toxic, but more optimistic. Kids typically long for their parents to work it out when in this sort of situation, and she wants to show that glimmer of hope in the new series. Emily added, “I know many couples that have good relationships, even if they didn’t reconcile with their exes and they’re co-parenting happily, and I just don’t think you see a lot of that represented.”

While the show is titled Splitting Up Together, which clearly speaks to divorce Oliver shared, “At the end of the day there’s so much you can find in this show from every walk of life, especially if you have children. You don’t have to be divorced to relate to this thing because it’s about co-parenting. As individuals coming from different backgrounds and families, we have different ideas on how we wanna raise our kids. My wife has an idea and I have an idea. Now there is a meet in the middle, but what I found actually, which was amazing casting, is Jenna is very much like who she is on this show, and I am very much like who I am on this show.”

Lindsay added, “I have two little boys at home [and] it’s so nice to go to work and just be light and not carry anything home that’s like heavy or exhausting. I get to go to work and it’s fun and it’s also a topic that is relatable. So, it’s kind of a sweet spot. This job keeps you feeling hopeful and happy.” Oliver concurred by saying, “This is my favorite job I’ve ever done in my 20 plus years. And I mean that. I mean I’m supposed to say that, of course, but I actually mean that.”

The onscreen parents have three kids and Oliver mentioned the close relationship he has with them off-set too, especially the youngest. You’ll see them goofing around in one of the episodes, and it’s all natural because that’s how he really interacts with them. Emily mentioned, “I think one of the things that is so great about Oliver in the show is that Oliver has three kids in his real life. And watching him deal with these kids, it’s so authentic…..you can tell he’s dad.”

We asked the actors what made them want to apart of this show in particular. Lindsay said, “This script in and of itself captivated me, and I loved the characters because they’re real. They’re real people.” Oliver added, “What I loved about it initially, I mean when I read it, it felt different. It felt different than your network, single-camera, half-hour comedy, which as we know has a certain sorta tone to a lot of them. I felt we did just as many dramatic scenes as we did comedic scenes. And the comedy comes from situation. It doesn’t come from these punchline type of jokes.”

Small spoiler alert! There are a few dance scenes with Oliver, so of course being an ABC Network show, I asked the only appropriate question – Is Oliver gearing up for Dancing with the Stars? He chuckled and said, “maybe.” He shared that he had a lot of fun training for the dance moves, and Emily added that they kept all of the scenes because they really liked them.

A big thanks to Oliver, Lindsay, Emily and Dean for chatting with us about their new TV series! Don’t forget Splitting Up Together airs tonight!

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