By Jenny (This Week on TV)
I recently had the opportunity to talk to Bill Engvall (BLUE COLLAR COMEDY TOUR) and Nancy Travis (BECKER) about their new show THE BILL ENGVALL SHOW. Both are incredibly likeable people, with Nancy saying that with Bill, “What you see is what you get.”
The new show, co-written by Engvall himself, is set in a Denver subarb and revolves around a Bill Pearson (Engvall), a family counselor, his wife Susan (Travis), and their three kids. Their teenaged daughter Lauren, who in one episode wants to get her belly button pierced, their teenaged son Trent, who gets to play one game as quarterback of the varsity football team (much to Daddy’s delight!) and their youngest son, Bryan, who is smart, musical and has a pet that his parents don’t think much of: a snake. Tim Meadows (Saturday Night Live) and Steve Hytner (Roswell & Seinfeld) round out the cast as 2 of Bill’s best friends.
Bill & Nancy both said that the cast and crew have great chemistry, that it was apparent from the beginning. They all feel like they had been doing this for a long time, even feeling and acting like a real family around the set. And that chemistry shows on camera. I’ve seen 3 episodes and I loved each one. It is definitely as close to a normal American family as you can get on tv. Bill stressed that they aren’t trying to find a big issue to deal with like a lot of sitcoms nowadays. They just deal with everyday family issues, such as teenagers and their boy/girlfriends, bad grades, piercings & problems with family pets.
This show stars an amazingly talented, funny cast and will make a great edition to your Tuesday night lineups, so check it out! It premieres tonight, 7/17, at 9/8c on TBS. 