BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Bounce series “Act Your Age” is being compared to comedies such as “The Golden Girls,” “Girlfriends” and “Hot in Cleveland.” The comparisons are natural as it deals with a group of very close female friends who end up living together.
Those friends are played by Kym Whitley, Tisha Campbell and one of the hardest working people in Hollywood, Yvette Nicole Brown. The new season of “Act Your Age” begins at 8 p.m. June 3 on Bounce, the sister station to ION. When the series launched in March, it became the most-watched half-hour series in Bounce history.
“Alyson Fouse wanted to create a new ‘Golden Girls’ for this age. She wanted to make ‘Golden Girls’ with golden brown girls starring in it,” Brown says.
The half-hour comedy focuses on three successful Washington D.C./Northern Virginia-area women in their 50s who are each at a personal crossroads. They decide the best way forward in life is together. Whitley plays Bernadette, a successful, no-nonsense real estate developer while Campbell plays Keisha, the wild card of the group.
Brown’s character, Angela, is the former First Lady of Norfolk, VA, who is looking to redefine her life after being widowed by her husband, a revered career politician. Fouse specifically cast Brown to be the more buttoned up member of the group.
“I am not an elitist or boujee – as Black people call it – so it is fun to get to play a real persnickety, tight person because it is not who I am in real life,” Brown says. “The thing that is most like me is that I am very prudish in dress. And, I am very clinically minded.”
Brown quickly points out that while the series is built around the three close friends, there is a strong multi-generational aspect to the comedy with Mariah Robinson (“The Wrong Valentine”) and Nathan Anderson (“black-ish”) as the 20-something children of Angela and Bernadette, respectively.
The moment Brown, Whitley and Campbell arrived at the set, they knew their chemistry would be strong. Part of that comes from the fact they have been friends for years and often worked on the same projects.
“We have all celebrated each other’s works over the years and knew each other socially, so it was amazing to get there and find out the chemistry is as palpable as it is,” Brown says. “It makes the acting so much easier because we almost have shorthand with each other.
“We can almost tell what silly thing Kim is going to do or what crazy thing Keisha is going to say or what weird face I am going to make. We kind of know what is coming and then leave the space for the other person to shine. It has been a joy to get to create with these two women.”
Such a perfect acting rhythm comes from the cast knowing each other so well. The odds were high that Whitley and Campbell had worked on a project with Brown in the past because the Ohio native has amassed more than 150 credits.
Many of those have come in the last few years with “Big Shots,” “Alice’s Wonderland Bakery,” “Firebuds” and “Disney’s Summer Magic Quest.” She’s best known for playing Shirley Bennett on the comedy “Community,” but her other credits include “The Odd Couple,” “The Mayor” and “Lady and the Tramp.”
She jokes that the key to being able to work so much is giving up on the idea of sleep. Brown’s more serious answer is that her belief is that if she is being asked to be part of a project, she should say yes.
“For me it is just the fact that I like working. I like being creative and I especially love being part of positive PG-13 entertainment. That’s my jam. So, all of the invitations from Disney are easy yeses for me.”
Brown has bounced between being an on-screen performer to working as a voice talent. This was how she would keep working when one type of work would dry up.
If she wasn’t getting acting jobs, Brown would look for work doing commercials or appearing on a game show. The fact that she loves all aspects of entertainment made this broad approach possible.
Her love of working comes from those she would watch when she was younger. She points to Betty White’s work on “Password,” Phylicia Rashad on “The Cosby Show,” Oprah Winfrey and – most appropriately – the entire cast of “Golden Girls” as being big influences on her broad appreciation for different kinds of acting jobs.
If you miss the Saturday airing of “Act Your Age” on Bounce, the episodes will be added to Bounce’s streaming service, Brown Sugar, on Sunday mornings. Bounce can be seen over the air in Bakersfield on channel 23.5.