Beverly Hills, Calif. — Bravo’s first original scripted series centers around something about half of people who have been married have gone through: divorce.
Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, which premieres on Dec. 2, stars Lisa Edelstein as Abby, a self-help author who separates from her husband (Paul Adelstein) and must navigate single life in her 40s.
“It’s a mutual divorce,” said Adelstein at the TCA summer press tour Monday. “They love one another; they just can’t stand to be in the same room as one another.
“It’s not about my divorce,” clarified writer-producer Marti Noxon early in the panel. “It’s about divorces.”
Originally developed as a half-hour show, Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce will have 13 hour-long episodes in season one. Noxon said that, with the longer airtime, the network’s notes challenged her to go deeper. She added that the experiences Abby goes through in the show are life lessons that put everything in perspective.
“It ends up more about relationship than divorce,” Edelstein said. “The humor comes out in life stories more than jokes.”
Other highlights from the panel included:
— Guest actors for season one include Orange Is the New Black’s Laverne Cox and Star Wars legend Carrie Fisher. “Talking to her can be slightly intimidating,” said Edelstein, on working with Fisher.
— Edelstein also had a funny line when recounting the story of reading with co-star Beau Garrett during her audition. “That woman terrifies me, I love her,” Edelstein remembered saying.
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