Picture: Bounce TV
The Bounce TV comedy Act Your Age found its way onto Netflix in the United States in the last few days and has propelled itself up the Netflix top 10s to be amongst the current big hitters like Baby Reindeer, Bridgerton, and Tires. We caught up with the showrunner and one of the writer’s on the series to talk about the show’s new found success and what it could mean for the future.
In case you missed it, we scooped the news that Netflix had acquired the rights to the series for release on May 22nd. Headlined by Tisha Campbell, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Kym Whitley, the series follows three girls in the prime of their lives.
Since the show’s addition, the title has staked its claim high up in the Netflix TV top 10s. According to FlixPatrol, the show was number 4 in the US TV top 10s on May 23rd and continued being number 4 on May 24th.
The show currently isn’t available on Netflix in international regions.
Pictured: Alyson Fouse and Myles Warden
We caught up with Alyson Fouse and Myles Warden over email to discuss the show’s newfound success on Netflix:
Congratulations on getting your show in the Netflix TV top 10s. It’s a particularly busy time on Netflix’s release schedule, so it should be absolutely commended! Can you both talk about your roles on the show, how you became attached to it, and a little about yourselves?
Alyson Fouse: Thank you! Well, I got my start in TV on The Keenen Ivory Wayans late-night show, did a couple of Scary Movies with him, and moved on to sitcom when Damon Wayans hired me for My Wife and Kids. More work and sitcoms followed, which landed me here as the showrunner of Act Your Age.
Myles Warden: Alyson is the show’s creator and showrunner. She hired me and my writing partner, Capri Sampson, during the staffing process of the show as staff writers. We were just coming off our first writing job which was an animated show Ava Duvernay was doing for Netflix called Wings of Fire.
At that point, she had the pilot written, and it was already sold to the original network, Bounce TV. When my manager got us the staffing meeting, Capri and I were able to read the pilot script and instantly fell in love with the world and the characters. As an only child raised by a single mother, I particularly related a lot to Jacob and the rest of the characters were all similar to women I grew up surrounded by and had loved my whole life, so I was really drawn in. I’m also the biggest sitcom nerd you’ll ever meet so the whole concept was very exciting to me. Being such a huge TV fan, I knew Alyson’s resume almost as well as IMDB does. Knowing someone who had a hand in so many of my favorite shows, from My Wife and Kids to Everybody Hates Chris and, more recently, Big Shot, would be in charge of a funny, heartfelt show like this full of Black leads, had me extremely enthusiastic about the opportunity. Then Capri and I met with Alyson and luckily, she saw that passion for the genre and the characters as well as our potential and talent based on the writing sample she read, and we were blessed to get the job.
What’s your pitch to anyone reading this who hasn’t checked out the show just yet?
AF: Act Your Age is a show about three friends who decide to make the rest of their lives the best of their lives. There’s laughs, hyjinx, romance, family matters, but at the center of it all, friendship. And if you don’t like it Netflix will give you a full refund. Just kidding. That’ll never happen, but I bet you’ll like the show.
MW: I would say, if you like to laugh and love a good sitcom such as Golden Girls or Living Single, then please check out Act Your Age because it’s the perfect, modern combination of both with the bonus of a Ross/Rachel like “will they or won’t they” side story.
Being among Baby Reindeer and Bridgerton, which dominate the top 10s, is no easy feat—what do you put your early success down to?
AF: Our star-studded cast. Tisha Campbell, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Kym Whitley are legends and veterans in comedy. Who wouldn’t want to see the three of them together? They’ve also been friends in real life for over thirty years, so we get the benefit of that by having instant chemistry and people are noticing. There’s no feeling each other out with them, it’s a cheat code. We get straight to Lucy and Ethel, Carol and Vicki type vibes.
MW: We are definitely in amazing company in the top 10. I’d accredit our quick success to the fact that this show serves an audience that needs more comedies that reflect people they know and a world they relate to.
We also have top-tier talent in our three legendary leads, Yvette Nicole Brown, Tisha Campbell, and Kym Whitley, who show up and show out in everything they are in, and their fans know that, so they support without hesitation. Plus, our two newcomers Mariah Robinson and Nate Anderson add the perfect young flare to the show with their amazing performances and fun “will they or won’t they” plot that makes you want to keep watching. Alyson knew the world needed to see fun, relatable, Black women in their 50s who could show the world how much fun that time of your life is and can be and thankfully the audience pulled up for us. While the show is full of Black leads the comedy and topics are universal so anyone can tune in and appreciate it too.
Picture: Act TV
What has been the reaction to the show coming to Netflix so far? Have people reached out?
AF: The Mayor of LA, Karen Bass, is a huge fan. She’s been reaching out to Kym and Yvette since the show first premiered on Bounce to do a screening and we finally did it last Sunday. That was when you felt the true reaction of an audience who mostly hadn’t seen it. Aside from that, our social media response has been phenomenal. People are very excited about the show, and they are letting Netflix know about it. God bless ’em.
MW: The reaction has truly been overwhelming. The tweets and the texts have been almost nonstop. We knew how much of a joy the show was to make and the audience at Bounce was wonderful, but it wasn’t quite as widespread as Netflix so to see so many people loving the show and saying it made their day better, quoting lines and sharing clips of things we wrote is the most amazing gift. This has been my Christmas lol.
Alyson, you first mentioned the show coming to Netflix last year. Can you tell me how that came about?
AF: It was a good news/bad news situation. There had been whispers of a re-air on Netflix coming from Scripps (who owns Bounce). Then, during the strike, I was informed that Bounce would not be picking up the show, but they told me that it would be airing on Netflix “sometime next year.” It felt like a punch in the gut. I was shocked.
Picture: Bounce TV
I’ve already had a lot of questions about season 2 from those who have blitzed the show – can you talk about the cancelation decision last year and what if any chances there are it could come back? Would you both like the show to come back? Have there been any conversations you can talk about?
AF: To be honest, it didn’t really make sense to me at the time why we were being canceled. We’d over-performed for Bounce, bringing them the highest ratings they’d ever had. We’d even scored as the third most-watched new sitcom of the season behind Night Court and Lopez. So, I was quite surprised, but looking back now and knowing that Bounce may be sold, this is probably the best outcome we could have hoped for because Netflix gives us a much bigger audience. As far as the chances of it coming back? Everyone involved would love that, so I guess it’s up to the TV gods at this point. No conversations have been had as of late, but there were a few inquiries right after the strike, so we’ll see what happens. Fingers crossed.
MW: I will say that it did come as a bit of a shock as the response and numbers did seem to be great. In regards to coming back, this cast and crew are one big family. Due to the time some of us spent on the picket lines with the double strikes and just bonding during that tough period last year, we’ve probably spent more time together off-set than on it. Our work group chat hasn’t slowed down even though the work may have. I’d jump at the chance to dive back into this world, have fun with these characters, and continue telling impactful stories to our audience while making them laugh. If Netflix or anyone else wants to make this possible, I’m sure we’d put the band back together and gladly hit that stage!
Are you enjoying Act Your Age on Netflix? Would you like to see the show return for a season 2? Let us know in the comments down below.