Josh Zuckerman plays “Nate” in the upcoming CW comedy Significant Mother, which makes its series premiere this Monday, August 3 at 9:30PM ET. Fans of The CW would probably best remember Josh from his role as Max Miller on 90210 — the one character who AnnaLynne McCord’s Naomi never seemed to be able to resist.
On this new show, he is joined by two other CW veterans — The Vampire Diaries’ Nathaniel Buzolic and Krista Allen of The L.A. Complex and numerous other projects — as they play his best friend and his mom… a best friend and mom who happen to be getting together.
We spoke with Josh earlier this week about his new show and his new role.
KSITETV’s CRAIG BYRNE: How did Significant Mother come about?
JOSH ZUCKERMAN: Initially, it was a show that was pitched by Alloy Entertainment to The CW. The CW really liked it, but my understanding is that they thought it would fit in with their incubation website called CW Seed, where they put shows on to see how successful they are, and then they determine whether they want to order more episodes for the internet, or potentially bring it to series on the network. That was the pipe dream when we shot. We shot three episodes initially, about a year ago, in Portland. It never really made it onto CW Seed because it stayed within the network, until the network ultimately decided “hey, this is really good. We want to order more episodes, and we want to put it straight on to the network,” which everyone was more than elated with, because that was even greater than the greatest dream of what could happen. So, I’m very excited about it.
How did you become involved?
The story goes that my manager saw on the breakdown for the show – which at the time was called Mother F-er – she saw on the background for the character, that they’re looking for a “Josh Zuckerman type.” Of course, my name is Josh Zuckerman. She called up the casting office and said, “well, do you want Josh Zuckerman?” [Laughs] They said “oh my gosh! Would he be interested?” So it’s one of those rare wonderful instances where I guess your career catches up with you and people want to work with you again, so it was an offer for this lead role in Mother F-er which ended up becoming Significant Mother. It was an incredible, fortuitous circumstance.
For those who are familiar with your work, would you go so far as to say that Nate is cooler than Max was on 90210?
I would say no. Well, I think Nate is hipper than Max. Max may have been cooler than Nate, I think. Nate is a little more, I would say, straight laced… in the most lovable of ways. But, he’s very much about his career. Max was as well, but Nate is very, very particular, and neat, and together. Mind you, at the same time, having a flair for the Portland hip, in his wardrobe, at least. And a little bit in his spirit.
Would you say Nate is a little OCD, or do you think anyone would be in those circumstances, where his mom is having sex in his house?
He absolutely has that, so the fact that this is all unraveling him, and he’s getting thrown into the mix of this love triangle in a way… it just makes it so much more uncomfortable, and that much more funny, because he has trouble with a little bit of disruption of his daily schedule. The fact that his whole life is thrown into the mix because of his best friend and his mom trying to form a relationship makes it so much more unpalatable.
You mentioned that you shot three episodes in Portland. Are the rest of the episodes filmed there as well?
Yeah. We were really lucky enough to have Portland behind us, and then to go back up there and use a lot of Portland locations, and then of course having a Portland crew… that’s another good thing about the show, is that Portland becomes kind of a character in our show, and it has a lot to offer.
What can you tell me about Sam, and will that relationship develop throughout the series?
That’s the big “what if.” Nate has a huge crush on her, and she would be so good for him, because she’s so smart, but she’s also so laissez faire, and she’s cool, and she’s comfortable with herself, and he’s kind of the opposite: Completely uncomfortable with himself and career-driven. She gets out and enjoys life.
Of course, the conflict is that she’s in a relationship with another great guy, Atticus played by Jay Ali, who is the farmer who supplies Nate’s restaurant. That relationship will constantly come into play, but there’s a lot of obstacles for it to come to fruition.
Will we be getting “Jimmy Banged My Mom” on iTunes?
[Laughs] I would hope. If there’s any justice in the world, it will be available to everyone and anyone, because it’s a wonderful song. You’ll be singing it for hours.
Emma Fitzpatrick – Sam – actually wrote that song. She wrote a few songs for us throughout the season, and she did such an incredible job with that. Every single one is catchy and adorable.
Will we find out anything about Jimmy’s family in Season 1, and does he have an attractive mom, too?
This season, you’ll find out a little bit about his family, but I don’t think we get to meet them.
Is Nate eventually going to be more okay with this new arrangement with his mom and his best friend?
I think — without using the cliche — there is a roller coaster of emotions in terms of how he reacts. The thing is, as he might begin to adjust that which he has no control over, things in the relationship change, and he has to readjust. So he’s constantly readjusting to like a moving object. He’s adjusting, and then he’s got to readjust. He’s trying to do what’s best for these two people that he loves dearly, but they are also disrupting his life in a most uncomfortable way.
Will Nate’s dad try to get his help in breaking them apart?
That is definitely a possibility. Nate’s dad Harrison, played by Jonathan Silverman, is dead set on absolutely ending this relationship, and making sure that it fails, and he’ll go to any length to that end. If that means using Nate as a pawn, that’s definitely something that is within his toolbox.
Growing up, did you ever think you would have Jonathan Silverman or Krista Allen playing your parents?
Not in the least. You tell me now, and I could not be more thrilled. When I found out, I thought it was perfect. It’s cool, everyone said “oh my god, you guys look so much alike” [with Jonthan] and then Krista and I worked together for a film called “Feast” a couple years ago, which was actually the third Project Greenlight, or maybe the fourth. It was kind of a cult following film, which we had a lot of fun on. I think we were two of the only survivors.
What do you hope viewers get out of watching this show?
I hope they have fun. That’s really what it’s about. I think that’s what everyone set out to do. To have as much fun as we had making it. I really feel like there’s so much of a punch packed in here, in terms of inventiveness. It has so many elements of comedy in one little package, and it’s just, I think, delightful. Every single episode is very different. We introduce this premise, and it would be so easy for our showrunners to have rested on the premise of “this guy finds out his best friend is in a relationship with his mom,” but our story evolves and takes that to hysterical places, and everybody delivers.
It’s a lot of adventure, it’s a lot of fun, and I’m just really excited for people to see it.
Significant Mother premieres Monday night, August 3 at 9:30pm on The CW. Take a look at a preview below:
