Joey Lawrence Compares New ABC Family Role to "Bruce Willis In His Prime"

Former teen idol Joey Lawrence is getting ready for his new ABC Family sitcom with co-star Melissa Joan Hart, and the Blossomalum hopes the two can "tap back into the same magic" from the duo's recent hit television movie My Fake Fiancé.

Melissa Joan Hart, Joey Lawrence reunite for sitcom

"When the movie worked, ABC came to us immediately after that, like literally a week after, and asked if we would be into doing a series together," says Lawrence. "I hadn't done a half-hour series in a long time, but I said I like Mel and would do it if we could do something that's really good. And they wanted it on the fast track because they want to cash in on the heat of our movie, so everything has seemed to fall into place."

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Based on the extremely detailed plot description of Melissa & Joey and the excitement in his voice during a TVGuide.com interview, it's clear Lawrence is quite eager for his new role as an ex-commodities trader who loses everything in a Ponzi scheme and winds up living with the daughter of a politician and her teenage niece and nephew.

"You could really see someone like Bruce Willis in his prime playing this role. It's that arrogant guy that you should hate, but for some reason is really likable," he says.

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The premise of a man moving in with a single mother of two children has been compared to Who's the Boss?, but Lawrence says this guy is no Tony Danza.

"He's not doing any cleaning or anything like that," says Lawrence. "In his mind, he's only doing this very temporarily and is always on the Internet looking for jobs. It's a pit stop for this guy — or so it seems."

The closest the 33-year-old Hart (Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina, The Teenage Witch) and Lawrence ever came to working together before was burying a time capsule together at Disney World in 1993 with videos of their respective shows — on VHS tapes. Remember those?

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"When it comes up on the 20-year mark, they're going to want us to open it, and that's coming up in three years. It's crazy to think that was '93," says Lawrence, 33. "It's so bizarre to think that 1990 was 20 years ago. I hate it!"

Other than his new sitcom gig, Lawrence has another ABC Family movie on the way titled My Mr. Everything — and a new music album, his first in 10 years.

"Music is a passion of mine, and we had a lot of success on it 15 years ago," he says.

Lawrence says the pop album is inspired by a diverse group of musicians including George Michael and Michael Jackson. It's being shopped to different labels.

In the meantime, let us all take a moment to look back on Lawrence in his 1993 music video for "Nothin' My Love Can't Fix." Click here to watch it.