Yvette Nicole Brown, Tisha Campbell, Kym Whitley, Mariah Robinson and Nathan Anderson took ET around the set of their new sitcom.
There's a fun new trio on TV, and it stars some familiar faces.
Kym Whitley, Tisha Campbell and Yvette Nicole Brown are the leading ladies of Act Your Age, a new sitcom on Bounce TV. The half-hour comedy tells the story of three vibrant, successful Washington D.C. women in their 50s who are each at a personal crossroads and who decide the best way forward in life is together.
Whitley plays Bernadette, a successful, no-nonsense real estate developer, Campbell plays Keisha, the wild card of the group who is always up to something, and Brown plays Angela, the former First Lady of Norfolk, Virginia, who is looking to redefine her life after being widowed by her husband, a revered career politician.
Mariah Robinson and Nathan Anderson round out the cast as the young adult children of Angela and Bernadette, respectively, who can't get away from their mothers' parenting no matter how old they get.
ET joined the cast for their last day of filming, which starred more than a few teary eyes and emotional farewells.
"The cast and the crew have been so incredible and in these two and a half months, it has truly felt like a family," Robinson shared, likening her time on set to "a home away from home. And it feels like this dream and I'm not ready to wake up from it. So it's been incredible every step of the way."
Anderson described this show as "a family reunion," sharing that working with his co-stars felt like "people coming together that haven't seen each other in a long time, but when they do get back together, they realize how deep that friendship is. And it's really cool because in real life they're friends and that really comes out in the show. And I'm so lucky to be with Mariah because we really became friends too. So our lives cross over into the show that way. So, I think it's really cool."
"I think it's Golden Girls with a lot of melanin, that's the way I would describe it," Brown added. "I think it's high time that we have another show about women in this age living their best lives and how they love each other, take care of each other, find love out in the world, take care of their kids, deal with parents or spouses that have passed away. It's all the middle, in-between stuff that you love. And it's just in brown skin this time."
Robinson shared a similar sentiment, saying that she finds the show's concept "awesome," especially to have it centered on a trio of Black women. "To have a show for Black women, that is centered around black women... We don't have shows like that, so I think [The Golden Girls] is an awesome comparison," she said. "The women from that show are legends. These women are legends. So, I think it's great."
Campbell attributed the cast's close bond to their work environment, sharing that she felt like her "soul was being fed every day that I came to work."
"It was a lot of work, but I felt like my soul was being fed because everybody was so like-minded. And spiritually I just felt like it was just a different experience," she said.
Brown agreed, adding that there was no jockeying for power on the set. "Sometimes you're on set and they decide who's important and usually it's the people in front of the camera. And on this set, everybody's important, and there's no hierarchy." she explained, saying that "Everybody here matters. Everybody here is bringing their A-game. Everybody here is loving and kind and tries to do what they can to get the show done."
"We say it comes from the top," Whitley said, praising Alyson Fouse, the show's creator, showrunner and executive producer. "What happens is that when you work with like-minded people, it really gave us a space to be creative, I think. Some freedom. And that's what is special about this show."
The trio claimed their friendship as part of the show's charm, calling it "television magic" and saying their real-life bond allows them a "shorthand."
"And let me say this, I've been fans of these two women my entire life and we're all around the same age, but they started before me in the industry. They were babies starting, and I got to be at home in Cleveland watching each of them shine," Brown says of her co-stars. "And so I remember when I found out I'd get to work with Tisha for the first time, I called her crying because, for me, that was little Yvette from East Cleveland getting to work with one of her heroes. One of the reasons I wanted to be an actor is this woman right here. As a kid watching her, just a few years older, she was out here shining. And I'm like, 'I want to get there. I want to be like Kym Whitley.' So I'm working with two people that helped me get in the business."
And while the trio was excited to work with one another, it was Fouse that got them to say yes to working on a sitcom. Campbell admits that she believes sitcoms can "be so dated," but joined because she "knew [Fouse] would keep us current."
"So this is going to be a show that people are really going to laugh at and get some relief from," she added. "And it's going to be funny. And it is of women of a certain age, but we kill it."
So what can fans look forward to if they decide to check out the new series?
"The heart of the Golden Girls with delicious melanin infused within," Brown promises. "It's a younger, hipper, browner Golden Girls."
Act Your Age airs on Saturdays at 8 pm, next day on Bounce's streaming service Brown Sugar.