- Hey, Melissa Joan Hart here
and I am in the studio with The Hollywood Reporter.
- Thank you so much for stopping by.
- Absolutely. - Now I have to tell you,
when I was little, ye little Brian,
my dream interview was you.
- No way.
- No, seriously, you're making dreams come true today.
- Oh that's awesome.
- I really mean that.
Growin' up watchin' you,
it's a dream come true.
- Thank you.
- I used to always think of it as-
- Had magic in your finger? - Yeah.
- Yeah, me too.
- Now you're here to talk all things No Good Nick.
For those who haven't seen it yet,
what would be your quick pitch for the series?
- No Good Nick is a hard to describe for me
because it's such a unique show.
So it starts off very situational comedy.
Very traditional family sitcom.
Little girl knocks on the door.
She becomes our foster daughter
and basically, she's scamming us the whole time.
So actually, in reality, it's very much a dramedy.
Very much a family mystery,
but it's also serialized
and we lay little Easter eggs throughout the whole thing.
So there's little things if you watch it back.
It's meant for binge watching.
It's built for binge watching.
So when you watch it back, if you watch it again,
you'll see all the little hints that are already in there.
- [Brian] Can you go to talk about that dynamic
of it being a comedy but it having that serious layer,
which is her-
- Yeah, so it's an interesting show
'cause especially the very first episode
seems very typical comedy family.
And as the show develops and these layers unfold,
you find out what she's doing
and that she's actually this anti-hero,
that while you're rooting for her,
you're also not.
She's doing wrong.
She's doing bad things to this family.
And you don't quite understand it
but as you start to understand her reasoning,
you start to...
Each episode, I feel like you change your alliance
with who you think is in the right on each episode.
I like to say it's like This Is Us
with elements of Game of Thrones.
That's not true. (laughs)
Maybe a little more House,
like the way House was like the anti-hero.
You knew he was like not necessarily a good guy
but he had good purpose.
He was doing good things
but not necessarily in a nice way.
So it's just interesting to watch her
and watch the whole story develop.
And my character is really fun to play, Liz,
because she doesn't want Nick around,
she doesn't think we should take this kid in.
We have enough on our plate.
Like why should we have to take care of someone else's kid?
She doesn't have a whole lot of heart,
but she's very level-headed, business-minded,
career driven, and so it's really fun
because I always play the sweet girl next door
and now I'm gettin' to play the selfish,
I take care of my family and that's about it
kind of person.
- You've been directing since Sabrina.
That's correct?
- Yeah, I started on Sabrina,
I started directing my first television show
and then I did a bunch of Sabrina
and then I did some other shows for Nickelodeon
and Disney Channel and a short film.
- [Brian] And Goldbergs recently.
- I did Goldbergs last year, that was really fun.
I was supposed to do a few this year.
- [Brian] Okay, I was wondering.
- I was supposed to do Goldbergs and Schooled,
but I couldn't 'cause I was on a Netflix show.
- Were you interested in directing No Good Nick
though at all?
- Yes, I do.
They have a funny rule about first season,
nobody crosses over jobs.
So I'm an actor this season.
Next season, I can direct.
But not yet.
- Going back to the younger actors on this show,
you posted this sweet message on Instagram recently,
when they're all at the Kids' Choice Awards.
- Oh they went to the Kids' Choice Awards.
- What were the conversations like on set with them?
Did you give any advice on the journey they go on-
- Yeah, a little bit.
As things come up, I'll just...
Sean and I are like the old folks on the set now.
It's so funny 'cause he and I the other day,
literally maybe a few days ago,
said to each other "Is it weird that we're like the old ones
"on the set now?"
Even amongst the crew.
It used to be that we were always the young kids on set.
- [Brian] Is it weird?
- It's so weird still.
That we're the mature ones leadin' the way.
Supposed to be the good example.
Sean's over there,
like he comes up with a handshake for everybody.
He's constantly doin' the
"Oh you've got somethin' on your shirt" thing.
He's got all the dad jokes.
- [Brian] It's the best joke, yeah.
- Yeah, and so it's funny
because they're really, really sweet and very respected
about like our jobs and our careers
and the paths we've taken to get here,
and they listen.
They really take in our experiences
in a way that our own kids would never do.
And we listen to them about trends and what's cool
but we're also teachin' them about like 90's music
and 80s and movies and classic movies.
Their homework this weekend
was to watch a Winona Ryder movie
so we'll see if they did it.
When I get to work tomorrow, I'll find out.
- Now looking back to Clarissa Explains It All,
is there advice you would give yourself back then?
- There's advice.
I would like to have been a little bit more protected
maybe on the show. (laughs)
As far as get more rest, not so much work.
It was a grueling schedule.
To be goin' to school and to be working on that show
with 70-hour weeks.
We were working six days a week.
The amount of schoolwork and the amount of work
I had to do, the amount of memorizing for the monologues.
If they could've just broken up the monologues a little,
I probably would've had an easier life
if I didn't have to start memorizing the monologues
on Sunday to film on Wednesday.
But I had these four-page monologues
about three or four times an episode
and I would do it all direct to camera.
But actually, I just watched an episode the other day.
I put a piece up on my Instagram,
just a piece of an episode, and it's a monologue,
and I noticed I looked from camera to camera,
so they could've totally cut.
I didn't have to memorize the whole thing in four pages.
But you'd better believe that if I messed it up,
we had to start again.
And the long pauses in between takes and stuff.
I just wish I could've been like
"Let's move things along a little bit."
I always got strep throat.
I wasn't allowed to go home.
It was my show.
I had to keep goin', power through it.
So it was a little tough.
But it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot on that show.
And I learned a lot about production on that show.
One of the guys came in and looked at the lights and said-
- [Brian] You said you learned about directing on that show.
- Yeah, I did.
'Cause I learned about camera shots,
'cause back then, you had to do a line cut.
Basically, you had to edit while you were going.
So I look at the director's scripts and I would see that.
One of the lighting electricians walked on the set
one day and said "I need a single half double."
I'm like, "What's single half double?"
and so they taught me.
And I learned how to use the lighting board
and I learned how to run a boom and all that stuff
so it was fun.
- And when directing Sabrina, you said that you were
a bit more pushy than you are today.
Can you talk about that?
- On Sabrina? - Yeah.
- I might still be pushy.
I was anxious to always get done with work.
There's a lot of downtime on set
and it kills me when there's just like dead space
and there's nothing to do.
So I always tried to move things along
and I'm always yellin' at the ADT
and goin' up the cameras, "Did we get it?
"What do we need?"
Go to the writers, "What's the matter?"
I still do it today on this show a little bit
where I'll be like,
"Hey guys, can we get our notes quickly
so we don't wait 20 minutes?"
- [Brian] I'm picturing you yellin' at someone.
- I did a little bit of like "Can we do this?"
Now I'm a little more respectable.
I walk up and I'm like, "Hey, what's takin' so long?
We good? Can we move on?"
So it's hard as an actor too sometimes
when you are doing a scene and you take a 10-minute break
to get those notes
and then you have to get back into the scene.
It's like "Can we just do it a few times over
"and if you don't get what you want,
"just tell us that one or two thing that you missed
"so we can go back?"
So it's a little hard when there's a lot of downtime.
- You were at the Netflix headquarters recently,
which is this magical world.
What has been your experience working with Netflix
for No Good Nick?
- It's been great.
I mean I love that the company in general,
with their television production especially,
they allow producers to produce.
They allow creators to be creative.
Instead of tryin' to think that they know
everything about how a show should be put together,
they hire creative talent
and they allow them to be creative.
They don't really have that much say in who they cast
or how they do the show.
They come in with their notes for sure,
but they don't try to...
It's not the minutiae, the micro-handling of everything.
They really allow the collaboration
of the creative people to happen,
and then they just weigh in on it.
And their headquarters are so cool.
I just spent the afternoon over there.
- [Brian] Did you just get lost there?
- I might've stolen a pillow.
- Did they have a No Good Nick name for a conference-
- They don't yet.
I don't think so, no.
Not that I saw. I saw a ton of others.
I saw the Fuller House one.
And all the windows have the pictures on 'em
and outside, right now, there's the Sabrina,
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's all over the walls,
like they have projection on the walls.
And there's Eleven from Stranger Things.
There's the Funko Pop! head thing.
I tried to steal that from the lobby
but it's very big and heavy.
Couldn't get that out of there.
I did steal a pillow.
- They're going to find the pillow
after watchin' this interview.
- I fit that in my purse.
Yeah, they might come after me for that one.
And a few bananas and cashews from the lobby.
But otherwise, we're good.
- Speaking of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,
also on Netflix, did you watch the part one?
Part two is out now.
- I didn't.
So I did a social media thing with Netflix
where I watched it for them.
I watched it and they videotaped my reaction.
That's about as much as I've seen of it.
But it's just different.
It's different than the way our show was.
I'm glad it's different.
- Would you ever want to join the show-
- If it was done in the right way maybe.
Yeah, I wouldn't say no,
but I don't see it happening.
- Well looking back to your days on Sabrina,
what are some of your favorite memories
from workin' on it?
- Oh there's so many.
We took the whole crew to Animal Kingdom when it opened
in Disney World,
and they flew the entire crew down there.
We had a blast.
The park stayed open late for us.
We were filming.
I actually got stuck on a ride instead of filming
and the sun was going down
so we were freakin' out about that.
I was stuck on a safari ride
when they needed me on set.
But we just had such fun.
The cat was a great co-star.
Always knew his lines.
Always hit his mark.
So no complaining there. - I was going to ask you,
who do you miss more?
Workin' with Salem or Elvis the Alligator?
- Elvis was rarely around, believe it or not.
They probably brought him in once every four episodes.
And I wasn't allowed to touch him.
It was this whole thing.
If he bites you, he's got baby teeth.
You pull your finger out.
All his teeth'll come out and he'll die.
I'm like oh, okay,
I'm not going to touch the alligator.
And he was only like this big.
But I did love it when it came to set.
But the closest I could get was a few feet away,
lookin' down like oh cool.
But Salem, the real live cat had to have cat food
all over the set, so the set always smelled like tuna fish.
It was gross.
But we had such fun.
I have such great memories of everything,
from playing Rapunzel
and workin' with Phil Fondacaro
and running through fields of flowers
with him, holding hands.
He played... what's Rapunzel's,
the guy who locks her in the tower?
Can't remember his name.
But he was in numerous episodes.
But with Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea,
and we all still keep in touch.
The years with Soleil Moon Frye
and Elisa Donovan and the College Years.
Just a blast,
and all my boyfriends were on the show,
all my best friends, all my sisters.
I watched an episode the other day
that my husband was in,
and I realized my little sister was in it too.
So it was fun.
- What has it meant to you to play these two iconic
characters that have shaped so many childhoods?
- It's awesome.
I mean look, I watched shows like Bewitched
and I Dream of Jeannie on re-runs on Nick at Nite.
- I dying to do this with you.
- This?
But it's funny 'cause I watched
Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie on Netflix.
Not Netflix, oh my gosh.
Nick at Nite, right.
So I wasn't of that generation
but my generation watched it.
And those were shows when Barbara Eden came on our show
and of course, Samantha, Elizabeth Montgomery
was already passed away.
But we had Barbara Eden on our show, on Sabrina,
and we had all these iconic characters,
and to know that now, I'm one of those
makes me feel old but also, it's awesome.
It's what everyone wants.
It's funny 'cause everyone wants,
just like every band wants that one hit,
but then they hate that one hit
and they never want to play that one hit,
every actor wants that one role that's iconic
but then also,
you play against that the rest of your career.
But I'm lucky 'cause I've had numerous.
And now audiences are just finding Melissa & Joey,
like it's just going international.
So even though it was on in the States for a while,
it's now having another resurgence overseas.
And now I got this one coming out.
So I get to keep goin' so it's nice.
- That's so great.
I can't believe I'm talking to you still.
For No Good Nick, it ends Season One
with a bit of a cliffhanger.
Where do you think Season Two will go?
- Well I know.
- Where does Season Two go? (laughs)
- The writers are really brilliant, I'll just say that.
This show has so many spoilers,
I really can't give away too much.
But the show really does develop
and it starts to unravel and I think Season Two,
you might find it to be a little bit more serious
and a little bit more intense,
and some emotional stuff comes out.
What I like about the show is it's real.
It's really got a lot of other layers to it.
And in a family, you have funny moments
and you have sad moments
and you have heart-breaking moments,
and you have like huh, what, and you have confusion
and you have bad communication.
I feel like we have all of that in the show.
So I think that 15-year-olds will love to watch it
with their 42-year-old parents.
- Make sure you watch it, now streaming on Netflix.
Thank you so much for being here, seriously.
- Yeah, thank you. - This is great.