[IMG:L]Has the 21st century marked the end of the family sitcom? Not if you ask Bill Engvall (Blue Collar TV, The Jeff Foxworthy Show). Following in the endearing footsteps of The Bill Cosby Show and Home Improvement, The Bill Engvall Show on TBS has set out to prove that the multi-camera production, filmed in front of a live studio audience is here to stay.
The Bill Engvall Show introduces viewers to the kind of TV family we’re already somewhat familiar with. Dad (Engvall) is a psychiatrist, and mom’s (Nancy Travis) job is to raise three promising – some more promising than others – offspring. No one in this family has attitude or tattoos of skulls and snakes. They are not The Sopranos and there is no War at Home. This is middle class, middle road, middle of America. And that’s exactly where Engvall hopes to find his audience.
Hollywood.com met with Engvall after a studio taping of his new show and talked about the importance of family – on and off screen.
Hollywood.com: Why the departure from the raunchier material?
Bill Engvall: I’ll tell you what I have learned in my 25 years of stand up. I learned that dirty, raunchy material is going to find its niche. But I don’t want that. What I want is never to hear “I love your show but I can’t let my kids watch it.” Because then you’re dead. [After] the first show we shot I was signing autographs and this lady, unsolicited, probably 70, came up to me and hugged me. And she said, “Thanks for bringing the family back to TV.” And that’s what people want. Is there an audience for Married with Children? Probably, but it’s not my audience. What I want for people is to go, “Oh my God, that’s my family. This is what we do!”
HW.com: How long have you guys known each other? Watching the cast feels like watching a family.
BE: We gelled so fast. I knew the minute Nancy walked in that this was her. And when we had our first cast dinner and she drove up in a minivan, I was like, “This is my wife.” I hate to say, there is not a whole lot of acting going on. It really just is organic. We are the all-American family. Jennifer [Lawrence, Engvall’s daughter on the show] had a young man come to the set to see the show. We didn’t know if he was a boyfriend or if he was just a friend, but I became “Dad” and I said to the guy, “You know she’s got two dads now.” I love these kids.
HW: How much of your own kids are in this?
BE: Oh, there’s touches of stuff in there. What I’ll do is I’ll say, “In our house this is the way we would do this.” And I have to give credit to my family because they put up with it.
HW: They haven’t threatened to write books about you?
BE: No, but my daughter came home from school one day and said, “That’s enough.” And I said, “What do you mean?” and she says, “I’m walking down the hall,” – she was a senior in high school – “and some kid goes, ‘I heard your dad talking about your underwear.’” So yeah, there is a lot. Because we’re the American family.
HW: What is your own life like at home?
BE: I’ve summed it up in one 24-hour period; Blue Collar was nominated for a Grammy. My wife and I went to the Grammy’s. We’re dressed up, we have a limo, we’re at the Grammy’s – had a great time. The next morning I’m picking dog mess up from the back yard. It’s like, when we’re home, it’s home. Business we can leave behind. Our kids have chores and they have to pick their stuff up because we want to keep all this separate.
HW: Why did you choose Denver as the setting for the show?
BE: It’s not south, it’s not north, it’s not east, and it’s not west. It’s in the middle and this is a Middle American family. I think sometimes we forget that there are 200 million people between LA and New York. And when they come home from work I really think that they are begging for a show that they can just sit down and feel good about. I gotta tell you something; One of my favorite things about this show so far is that we said grace. It was a joke, but we sat down and said, “We’re going to say Grace.” When was the last time a family did that on TV?
HW: Or during TV…
BE: But you know, that is going to make America go, “Oh my God, these people believe in the flag, they believe in God, they believe in principles and morals.” And I don’t think you can go sappy if you stick with those things. I just think that’s what the Pearsons do. Like the joke about “Are we going to have a female president?” I would love for this show to deal with issues that every family would deal with, like the election.
[IMG:R]HW: How important is the live audience?
BE: One of my favorite lines ever came from a guy who actually gave us a great review. He said, “The only thing I wish is that they’d tone down the laugh track” and I wanted to write him and go, “There is no laugh track. That was audience.” I love having a live audience. There is an energy that you get from it, that you can’t get on one-camera shoots. You want that interaction.
HW: Has Jeff Foxworthy given advice about having your own show?
BE: You know it’s funny, when I was on Jeff’s show he said, “Why do you want this?” I said, “Because this is the dream.” With every dream there comes work. Sometimes you have to deal with things you don’t want to deal with. And I think I did learn by just watching. Jeff was very nice with everybody. What I learned from Jeff is that you get involved enough to warrant your executive producer credit. But then you step back when you’re in the field. But I feel like my job, and I did learn this from Jeff, is to make that set the funnest place you can be at.
HW: Were you nervous?
BE: When we shot the pilot on that first week, I guess it was Tuesday, it kind of all came in on me. And I started to look around at all these camera people and I went, “Oh my God, all these people are counting on me for a job.” Michael [Wright, Senior Vice President of Turner Entertainment Networks] walked up to me and said, “Are you all right?” and I said, “Yeah, I’m good.” And he goes, “Have fun.” Jamie [Widdoes, the director] was great on the pilot. He saw what was happening. We were walking from the office down to the set and he goes, “Hey, you got the job. Now let’s do our work.” And I was like, “You’re right. I got the job. My name’s up, I’ve seen it. Now I gotta be an actor.”
HW: How do you feel being paired up with Everybody Loves Raymond?
BE: It’s a treat. Ray [Romano] is a friend of mine. I love what he did. He is very talented. My only thing with Raymond is “Just enjoy the audience because I’m going to be taking a bigger share. Enjoy your spot because you can’t have mine.” But I think that it is such great pairing. I mean his show is a classic.
HW: What comes after this?
BE: I would love for this to be my last project. I would like for this to run long enough and go “I’ve achieved every goal I’ve set out.” This is the last goal, to have my own show. I’ve done a movie, I’ve done stand up, I’ve done theater and I’ve been on sitcoms but to have your own show… I’m like that school kid who just got his first kiss on a prom date. When we shot the pilot they said, “What song would you get as an opening credit song?” And I go, “You gotta do Walking On Sunshine. That’s what I’m doing right now.”
The Bill Engvall Show premieres July 17 on TBS.
