Melissa explains it all - Hart co-stars with pal Joey in new ABC Family series

Melissa explains it all

Hart co-stars with pal Joey in new ABC Family series

By MAXINE SHEN

Last Updated: 5:05 AM, August 14, 2010

Posted: 1:18 AM, August 14, 2010

Good chemistry is im possible for TV net works to pass up -- just ask ABC Family.
The network scored big by casting '90s teen stars Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence in last year's TV movie "My Fake Fiance," which premiered to nearly 4 million viewers (solid numbers for the cable channel) -- making it a no-brainer to find another project for the duo.
According to Hart, she and her mom -- they produced the TV movie together -- were at ABC Family pitching some show ideas for other actors, when network execs said that they wanted Hart to star in a series for them, one involving a nanny and co-starring Lawrence.

Melissa Joan Hart, and with co-star Joey Lawrence (inset).

The former "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and "Blossom" stars jumped at the opportunity -- "we were talking about working together again," Hart says -- and contributed ideas to what would eventually become "Melissa & Joey," a sitcom premiering Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Taking a page from the "Who's the Boss?" playbook, Lawrence plays Joe, an unemployed finance guy who moves into busy local politician Mel's (Hart) house to look after her live-in, and temporarily parentless, niece and nephew.
Unlike "Boss," the kids "are not our children, so in that sense you have a whole other level of comedy where neither of us knows how to be a parent. . .we're trying to figure it out as we go," Hart says.
"We don't really like each other. . .we bicker -- it's all about me and Joey fighting."
When it came to crafting Mel, Hart says that after years of playing the "tough and cutting-edge" title teen on "Clarissa Explains it All" and a virtual straight man on "Sabrina," she wanted "to play somebody wild, somebody crazy and kooky."
"This is my first adventure in sitcoms playing an actual adult, so I was like, 'What kind of a woman do I want to be?' " says the 34-year-old mother of two.
Ultimately, Hart decided that a smart cookie with a boy-crazy, drunken, party-girl past was the way to go.
Having a character like that leaves plenty of room for ABC Family to follow in the footsteps of other network sitcoms that have grown raunchier each season.
The decision to play it mildly risqué instead of wholesome was made "on the part of the network, probably as well as us wanting to play certain characters," Hart says. "We wanted to do something more grown up."
After all, "we are grownups," she says. "We're much more grown-up now than our audience is used to. I love being on the border -- they're really letting us push the envelope and that's been great."
One of Hart's favorite eyebrow-raising moments happens in the third episode when she wakes up in bed with a guy.
"I've got a really funny line that I say to the guy in bed and people can't believe they're letting us say it," Hart says. "That's definitely [the scene] I don't want my mother-in-law to see."
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/hart_series_stars_with_pal_joey_R2bmc0gJMHMk3KrEzAuXAL#ixzz0wibHamic