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'Love Bites' finally premieres: 'We thought this show was never going to air,' says star
When NBC announced that it had picked up the one-hour comedy, "Love Bites," for the fall 2010 schedule, anticipation was high among the media and viewers.
It boasted a stellar cast including "Ugly Betty's" Becki Newton and "My Boys" actress Jordana Spiro, a unique premise in its anthology-style format, and the creative promise of Emmy-winning "Sex and the City" executive producer Cindy Chupack. Yet, the series has hit a few bumps in the road to our TV screens. Since then it was pushed to mid-season and then finally to the summer schedule premiering Thursday, June 2 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
Since its original pick up announcement, the series lost Spiro, who was still on contract with TBS, and Chupack suddenly demoted herself from EP to writer citing personal issues and the show's workload among her reasons. And news of Newton's pregnancy and casting in another pilot seemed to indicate that the show was in danger of losing her, as well. Not only did the media and viewers begin to believe we would never see the show, the stars admit they had some worries, as well.
"Heroes" star Greg Grunberg, who was promoted to a regular after shooting the pilot, has made it known that he grew tired of waiting for "Love Bites" to air. In January, he even signed on to "Big Mike," another pilot for A&E, which is still waiting for a pick up order from the network.
"I booked ["Love Bites"] right after my Bar Mitzvah, I was 13," Grunberg, who plays married tattoo artist, Judd, jokes. "I mean, let me just put it this way, I had to go and refresh my memory on some of this stuff. This is the nature of TV..."
"We shot through December of last year," Constance Zimmer, who plays Judd's tough-as-nails wife, Colleen, adds. "So, you know, we're like six months delayed. But, you know, for us, we thought the show was never going to air."
Thankfully for them and those of us who have been waiting impatiently to see this unique experiment, "Love Bites" is finally making its debut. The one-hour show explores its characters' tussles with love and dating in three separate and what we found to be entertaining vignettes with a thin line that connects the stories in some way. The series employs a parade of guest stars to help tell the stories, including Jennifer Love Hewitt, Craig Robinson, Lindsay Price, Charlyne Yi, and Michelle Trachtenberg.
"What's nice about the show is everybody is dealing with love in different ways," Zimmer says. "So whether it's the love of a father and son or a mother and son or whether it's the love of sister and brother or whether it's the love of, you know, a couple that's been together for 50 years or a couple that's been together for six months..."
"Or a woman and her vibrator," Grunberg interjects. "There's that love too."
Indeed one of the three vignettes in the premiere deals with a woman's newfound love of her sex toy. Will you be checking in to "Love Bites" to see what all the buzz is about?
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Photo/Video credit: NBC
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Jethro:
It's Grunberg.... you had it right first and then added a "d" for the remaining mentions (Grundberg). What is up with your so-called editors? Do they start smoking that medical maryjane before their shifts are over?
Thanks, Richard. Fixed.
Duh I'll be watching! Been missing Becki Newton FOREVER!!
So is this just a run-off of the episodes already made, or if its a success, will it have a chance?
Can't tell if I should bother investing myself in this...
Who I am I kidding?!?! Becki Newton and Greg Grunberg?!?! I will totally give it a go.
This is another example of not wanting to get attached -- if the network doesn't have faith in it, why should I. It's like going on a great date, having a crush and not knowing why they disappeared.
Miss Becky and if it isn't this show, I hope she's on something else again soon.
Whatever happened to "Friends with Benefits?" Is NBC going to put that on sometime this summer?
thanks for the info about the "sex toy" -- not interested -- and so will not be watching tonight or ever. Does not sound like something that will stay around anyway. Starts on June 2 -- that's a lot of confidence!
I'll check to see if it looks any good. So far, I'm not sure. I'm not a fan of Sex and the City, but I did like Traffic Light enough, and that sounds somewhat similar, so I'll see . . .
I watched the show, and I have to say, I really liked it. I found the characters pretty likable, entertaining, and cute. Now - knowing that it has a limited shelf life and probably no hope for future eps - will I continue to watch as they burn off the episodes? TBD.
I’m not entirely sure what to think of Love Bites so far. At times it’s really not very good but then there are moments that are great and show just how much potential the show actually has. So I hope they’re able to bring out that potential. Although, to be honest, now that I’ve switched from Comcast to DISH Network (and paying considerably less), I wonder how that’s effected my view of the shows I’m on the fence about. Before I felt ripped off if I show didn’t live up to what I was paying every month to watch TV. Now that I’m working for DISH I also see all the work that goes on behind the scenes to make the customer service great too. If you’re trying to figure out what provider might be best for you I found this site www.BestTVForMe.com that details the pro’s and con’s of each company. It’s definitely worth a look.