I love that Baby Daddy season 6 is about to begin. The cast is perfection. They are not just friends on-screen, but off as well. This gives them the kind of chemistry that I can only compare to “Friends”, and that is saying a lot in my world.
TAHJ MOWRY, CHELSEA KANE, JEAN-LUC BILODEAU, KAYLEIGH AND SURA HARRIS, DEREK THELER, MELISSA PETERMAN
I had the chance to screen the season opener with the newly pregnant couple, Danny and Riley, search for the perfect doctor for their baby. If you remember last season when Ben finds his dream girl, well that quest continues.
The cast.
Having the opportunity to sit down and chat with Chelsea Kane (“Riley Perrin”), Derek Theler (“Danny Wheeler”) and Tahj Mowry (“Tucker Dobbs”) was a treat. The first time I met the cast was just over 2 years ago. We hung out on the set along with the other cast members and crew. This time after we screened the hilarious season opener, we had a baby shower lunch. We played some games with the mentioned cast including charades. It was such a fun afternoon.
Baby Daddy Season 6
What can we expect besides pregnancy in season 6?
Chelsea: Yeah, that was a big one for me. I mean it was so fun to be in the belly the whole time but I think it’s a big season for us. For anyone that’s been sticking with us these last one hundred episodes. I mean to find, I think a lot of storylines that were there from, you know, the pilot, are really wrapping up this season in such a beautiful way. So, I think the fans will enjoy it checking it out.
Tahj: Yeah. Yeah and I think we kind of dive a little bit deeper into each character. For Tucker, specifically, we find out a little bit more about him and his in a different space mentally than he normally is. He’s not his upbeat self.
Derek: Yeah, Danny, I mean, he’s trying to handle his pregnant girlfriend, which is challenge enough for most people especially Danny. But and then Ben is kind of searching still for his love that he happened to cross at the end of the last season. Yah, so that’s in a moment throughout the whole season and the Melissa is, she’s basically trying to.
Chelsea: Well, yeah, Brad’s in prison. Brad goes to jail and I’m defending him. So, that’s also a big storyline for Riley this year, is, not only is she hormonal and trying to hide her pregnancy, which I also think is, you know, a hot button issue. She is worried that once her boss finds out that she is pregnant that she’s just gonna look like one giant case of maternity leave. So, she’s trying to hide her pregnancy and on top of that defend Mrs. Wheeler’s husband in court. So, she’s kind of an emotional train wreck for most of the season.
How is it working with the twins on the set?
Derek: But it’s cool this season especially because we have in the past gotten new babies when it’s time to start another season. These babies have been with us now for three seasons I guess. And so, they got, they get to grow with us and they’re given lines.
Tahj: They have a lot of lines this season. It’s cool, I think that gives the, I think that there’s a new life, so to speak to the show.
Chelsea: You’re really on your toes, you can’t sort of hone it in because they won’t answer you or walk, just walk off the stage.You must be very, very present at all times.
Derek: They don’t know what they signed up for.
Potty Breaks
Tahj: And they figured out that if they say that they have to go potty, they can maybe escape set for a little bit. So, I’m always like, do you really have to go potty or are you just fibbing?
Chelsea: Yeah, they figured it out. I do the same thing.
Tahj: It doesn’t work for me, though. They don’t believe me.
Chelsea: No, we love our girls so much and we’re super close with their family. Yeah, I think, yeah, every season we’ve had a new baby because I think we wanted to be able to carry them all the time and kind of be in control of the situation a little more.
Derek: And for four years we wanted them to be small enough for the title of the show.
Tahj: We kind of left off where the previous season, we’d pick up right where the previous season ended, so we’d have to get new babies.
Chelsea: And our little girls just really became such an integral part of the show. I mean, they started talking and doing all these things and it’s like we cannot find another baby that does this. Says hello or goodbye every time you walk in and out the door. We, yeah so, we really fought to keep them. It’s very, I’ve already been, they turned four yesterday and I just feel so close to them and it’s like can’t wait to watch them go to high school and graduate and yeah, I love them.
We just interviewed The Catch and they had said that they contributed to some of the script and a few changes with their input, do you have any input with what happens with the show?
Chelsea: Well, we always kind of make the joke now that the lines between our characters and our real selves have been completely blurred at this point. We’ve been so lucky to have pretty much the same set of writers all six seasons and we’re really good friends with them too. So, after the show on Friday night, we all like go into the bar to celebrate or having dinner with each other over the hiatus. Often times we’ll come in on Monday morning, you know, sit and having lunch with the writers and the crew. Telling some wild story that happened and sure enough, two weeks later, it’s in the show. So, that I guess we input in that way by default. They’re very generous with letting us improv. Of course, working with Melissa Peterman, who’s kind of the queen of improv.
Derek: Third take, whatever she wants.
Chelsea: But usually on Friday nights when we’re shooting in front of the live audience, once we get it one time the way it is on the page, we kind of cut Melissa loose and then it’s like everybody just brace yourself.
What’s something that you wanna see your characters do before the show eventually, hopefully in a long time ends? Obviously, give birth.
Chelsea: Yeah guys, that does happen.
Derek: We see the baby.
Chelsea: So, that was something that I definitely wanted this season, once we established that Riley was pregnant. I wanted to see it through and not leave it on a cliffhanger. So, you do get to meet our baby and yeah and that was a really emotional day on set.
Derek: It was a super emotional scene for sure. And we had a thirteen-day-old baby.
Chelsea: Which was the scariest thing ever. I was, you know, the head thing and I was like oh god, so those were real just tears because I was so nervous. But that was something I definitely wanted to see happen.
Tahj: For Tucker, I guess, you know, a lot of people are always like when’s he gonna find love, you know, when is he gonna meet that girl and this season that might happen. So, that’s something cool. I think fans are really like that.
Chelsea: Obviously, you don’t see it coming.
Will they get married?
Derek: For my character, I was hoping that Danny would like to tie the knot with Riley. So, that’s something that I’m hoping for in the future, yeah.
Chelsea: Yeah, it’s a good one. And also, you know, I love the relationship with Bonnie and Riley. It’s that great mother-in-law like she’s so hard on her. And Melissa and I have talked since season one, of really wanting to have that breakthrough, where she’s, the reason she’s so hard on her is because she really loves her. So, that was something that Melissa and I got to have this year.
Tahj: And I think that what’s so special about this season.
Chelsea: The stuff we’ve always talked about wanting to do, we finally decided to.
Tahj: And it’s, even though it’s like, and I’m not just saying this, I think it’s the funniest season we’ve done. It’s also like the most grounded I feel.
Chelsea: And heartfelt.
Taj: And heartfelt and I think you don’t get that in a lot of MultiCam sitcoms nowadays.
Chelsea: It’s not just setups and jokes. For a comedy, I cried a lot. On screen and off. It was just a lot was going on. I felt like I was really pregnant because I’d just fall apart at the drop of a hat.
Tahj: And I kind of thought you were also, cause she was wearing it, you know, the whole suit, at all times.
Chelsea: At all times when we were shooting.
Tahj: Even in rehearsals sometimes.
Wearing the pregnancy suit.
Chelsea: I would wear it in rehearsals once it got really big and what Kat, our costume designer and I discussed at the beginning of it. Well, first of all, it was a dream, it was an 11-week pregnancy. But, you know, you look at Derek, his 6.5 / 6.6, and we wanted to make the joke that Riley is having a giant baby. And so, the last prosthetic belly that we ordered is actually what someone would wear if they were having twins, so we thought that and I asked her because, I don’t have kids and I also am not really around anyone that’s pregnant.
So, all of my bellies were weighted. So, the last belly was like fifteen pounds, which was great, I loved it. I mean, I kind of thought I would have a core at the end of it, but it didn’t work out at all, it was kind of a pull on my back. But it really changes the way you walk and you could hear me grunting every time I was changing.
Derek: There was the one scene to where I had to pick you up and run you out of a bar, out of the bar and that scene.
Chelsea: You almost fell over.
Derek: I almost killed us, yes. Cause during rehearsal she’s, you know, sixty-five pounds and I can just throw her over my shoulder. But when we actually had to shoot it, she had this belly on and it’s basically a backpack full of water. And I don’t know what had happened, I was, I don’t know, I was tired or something. And so, I heaved her up and started running and by the third take, it was like, we’re going down. Like I basically like ran myself into the wall and tried to make sure nobody died. We’re okay.
Do you guys have any input on the wardrobe that your characters wear?
Tahj: I’ll say with Tucker, I’ve had more and more input but it’s always been that kind of put together, not afraid to tuck his shirt in, which I don’t. It’s not my favorite thing. And it’s pretty funny. All the props to Kat, she’s amazing and she makes it work and I get that all the time. So, I’m going to tell Kat next time I see her cause I know she’d love that. But if you came on set, you’d probably hear somebody come up to me a couple of times and tell me to tuck my shirt in. Cause I’m trying to get away with it, like maybe they won’t see me and I can like have it out in this scene, but they always see me.
Chelsea: Well, if you think Tucker’s wardrobe is busy, you should just go to Tahj’s house because his whole closet is just a dream. I would go in there and pick out something to wear. Can I wear this sweatshirt home?
Tahj: She has been cold at my house a few times and she’s borrowed sweatshirts. Can I borrow one of your sweatshirts?
Chelsea: I think you have some of the best wardrobes. We always joke that like most of our wardrobe budget goes to like Tucker’s shoes and ties, it’s like oh my god.
Tahj: It’s just Tucker, you know, he likes looking good.
I really like the relationship between Bonnie and Tucker, I always think that they’re hilarious together.
Tahj: Yeah, we always say they secretly love each other. Oh yeah, this season you definitely get to see a lot more trouble. They’re always in trouble. So, yeah definitely some more Tucker and Bon-Bon shenanigans.
Is any of that you or is it really scripted?
Tahj: Like we were saying a bit earlier, like if we, after a couple of takes, if they feel like they’ve got it written they’ll let us go for it, you know, and they don’t yell cut, they’ll just keep.
Chelsea: I don’t know if you saw the episode where Tahj is trying to run away from Melissa and on take 3, they’re coming back from the airport and she picks up a full-sized suitcase and just hits at Tahj. So, it’s stuff like that happens on the third take.
Tahj: Whenever we’ve been with Melissa specifically, you’ve gotta be ready. You’ve gotta be ready because it could also be painful. She’s also known for just making out with extras. Just make out with you.
Derek: Every season, it’s almost like three times a season. So, make out with a stranger that’s not expecting it. She just grabs them and start kissing them.
Riley is a career woman, will she continue to work after the baby?
Chelsea: Yeah, that’s like one of the things I loved so much about some of my storylines this season. Riley is dealing with the fact that she’s worried that she’s not gonna get a promotion and be treated differently because she is pregnant. And she is a lawyer and loves her job. She is good at her job and there are conversations that are happening between her and Danny. With her boss that she’s so worried that by being a working mom, that she’s just gonna screw it up. I mean, Danny is gonna be the best dad, his so prepared and reading all the books and so, Riley is really emotional about the fact that.
His not reading books, he was playing games.
Derek: His giving it his best shot.
Chelsea: A lot of picture books. So, yeah. I don’t know if she would want, I think she wants to be a career mom, that’s where we left it. So, who knows. But and we’ll see maybe Mr. Mom over there, we don’t know. Dan Berendsen, our show runner, we got to have a great conversation, where he said, “I know this is a comedy and there are jokes like throughout here but this is big. It’s an important subject that you shouldn’t take lightly.” I’m so glad he said that to me. Because I realized how many women go through that. So, we’ll see.
Congratulations on hitting 100 episodes and the People Choice Award win!
Derek: Hitting a hundred is just, it’s hard to come by these days, so that’s an amazing feeling for sure for all of us. But I think the People’s Choice Awards specifically was an amazing night. Like we got to be surrounded by all these extremely successful people in this business and people we look up to, we had to get to work the next day but we had like such a great time as a family.
Chelsea: I slept in my dressing room.
Derek: We lived it up, we had a really good time and it was such a special night because we were all together and we won this award from our fans and the people who voted and we just had an amazing time with all these people that we truly look up to. It was cool.
Tahj: Yeah, it’s crazy like this business is crazy. TV shows they come and go, like you’re lucky to get picked up from the pilot stage, you know, and we’re in our sixth season. That’s just like, it’s crazy and to hit a hundred episodes is a TV milestone. So, it lets you know that people really do love us and we’re really doing this.
100 Episodes
Chelsea:Yeah, it’s such an elite club to be a part of and I remember when I saw we were gonna hit that I started Googling different shows that had hit that milestone and I was like oh my god, I can’t believe we get to kind of be a part of this and it’s you know, and the same with People Choice. I think with everything that’s happened with the show was so unexpected. When you’re talking about the relationship with Bonnie and Tucker and all that, I remember shooting the pilot.
And you know, we had been figuring it out all week, but something happened when we had the audience. And when we were looking at each other, none of us really make sense together. Like I don’t think our paths would have crossed in maybe the real world. But for some reason, we all worked so well together. But never in a million years did I think we would be at a hundred episodes and that happened and the same with People’s Choice. We were kind of used to that well, it’s just an honor to be nominated. When they handed us the award it was like oh my god, we did it. So, yeah, it’s been a lot of things to celebrate this year.
Tahj: And to hear your fans say like you guys deserve this, you know, like finally or about time. You know what I mean like it’s like damn like these people really are rooting for this show.
Chelsea: Yeah, it wasn’t just my grandmother voting.
Tahj: Yeah, like people are really tuning in each week and watching us and that’s, you know, it’s amazing.
I think because you guys are all on social and you guys are really friends in real life and you can see that, I think that is part of it too. That is one of my favorite things because I followed you guys on social media like years ago. It’s just awesome to see that you’re growing together but also succeeding together.
Derek: You’re absolutely right to, it’s like the chemistry that we all have, the love we have for each other is the reason we, well part of the reason.
Chelsea: That we still like each other five years on and we have so much of our same crew. I mean, I wish we could get everyone on camera. So, many of the group got to celebrate a hundred episodes with us. You know, from the prop department to wardrobe to sound, it’s just, it really is such a family.
Derek: Everyone loves coming to work and that’s something special.
BABY DADDY Mondays at 8:30/7:30c on Freeform starting 3/13
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