After portraying maternal throwback Kitty Forman for eight seasons on Fox's That '70s Show, Debra Jo Rupp is thankful to go back to the present. In ABC's comedy Better With You — about a family dealing with the youngest daughter's pregnancy and quickie engagement — the actress plays a decidedly more modern mom.
"I think [being a] matriarch is in the stars now, given my age, but this is a different kind of role. Kitty was ever cheerful, but Vicky, not so much. And she has a nice hairdo," says Rupp.
When That '70s Show ended its run in 2006, Rupp took time off ...
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What is JoAnna Garcia most excited about for Better With You's first season?
"I can have ice cream sundaes because I'm pregnant this year on TV!" she says.
Best new fall shows: Our editors' picks
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We've watched the pilot episodes of all the new fall shows and made our picks for the best new comedies and dramas.
Better With You (ABC)
Premise: Sisters Maddie (Jennifer Finnigan), a high-strung attorney, and Mia (Privileged's JoAnna Garcia), a free-spirited "inventor," are fundamentally different. Maddie lives with, but has not married, Ben (Josh Cooke), her boyfriend of nine years. "It's a valid life choice," she repeats throughout the pilot. Mia, on the other hand, has just agreed to marry Casey (Jake Lacy), her boyfriend of seven-and-a-half weeks. Kurt Fuller and Debra Jo Rupp play the girls' quirky parents.
Why We Like It: The chemistry among the six leads is fantastic, and the snappy dialogue is very funny. The show was created by Shana Goldberg-Meehan, one of the big brains behind Friends.
But ... Both sisters are...
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Matthew Perry and Michael Imperioli are among the stars returning to TV as ABC picked up six more new series this fall, Variety reports.
Friends star Perry will return to the small screen in Mr. Sunshine, a comedy about a sports arena manager facing 40. Perry will executive-produce the series, which co-stars...
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Supernatural fans, get ready to make a pilgrimage: CW cutie Jensen Ackles returns to his home state to headline a revival of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men at Fort Worth's Casa Mañana Theatre, June 5-10, says TheaterMania.com. Ackles nicely fills out Tom Cruise's uniform as a naive Navy lawyer, while Lou Diamond Phillips gets to chew the scenery in the Jack Nicholson role. Can you handle that truth? TheaterMania.com also reports that Debra Jo Rupp will go from That '70s Show matriarch to Mrs. Cleaver as The Butcher of Baraboo, a dark comedy about a butcher with a missing husband, running off-Broadway starting May 24. — Reporting by Raven Snook
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