In overcast Seattle, a coven of vampires live peacefully as an extended family with droll day jobs. What is a marriage like after 500 years? And what happens when your daughter’s brand new boyfriend joins the coven?
Audiences will find out Thursdays with Eternally Yours, a comedy on CBS from the minds behind Ghosts.
Joe Mort, Eternally Yours co-creator, sold the pilot to CBS 11 years ago. The sale led to more and Joe Wiseman adapting Ghosts for CBS. At long last, the pilot was filmed this year in March. The cast is now filming the tenth episode. Wiseman and the cast were at New York Comic Con (NYCC) last week to promote the new comedy.
The original story didn’t need to be tweaked much from the original after more than a decade, Wiseman said, though Max was originally going to be hit by a car. In the pilot, Max is accidentally hit by a heavy bust and almost dies, leading to his invitation to his new girlfriend’s coven. Because the pilot was filmed in Montreal, it was too cold to film outside, so minor details in the plot were changed.
The cast took a trolley ride around the city before eating pizza in Manhattan and watching the pilot with the public Thursday night during the show’s premiere. Allegra Edwards, who stars as Liz, told the sold-out crowd she was relieved the show had finally premiered.
Ed Weeks, who stars as Charles, told the audience he read the script seven years ago and begged his agent to audition when he saw the show was picked up in Deadline.
Other cast members were drawn to their characters. “I really just wanted to be on TV in my real voice,” said Rose Abdoo, who plays Phyllis, a human who has no idea her sons and husband are vampires. Abdoo has appeared on Ghosts and is well-known for her roles in Gilmore Girls and Hacks. She said her dialogue is similar to how she speaks to her husband in real life. “I often forget things,” she joked.
“I was drawn to Jesse as such a goofball,” said Parker Young, who often plays similar roles, and is a beefcake trainer married to Abdoo. He noted that Jesse is a devoted Dad before pointing to his young daughter in the audience; at his audition, he arrived with a SpongeBob SquarePants water bottle. He credited getting the role to auditioning in person, which allowed him to show more of his inner life to Wiseman and Mort. Wiseman agreed: “It was incredibly helpful.” Seeing the water bottle helped them see Young as Jesse.
The cast as a whole had to adjust to drinking fake blood. “It’s like drinking cake,” Jaren Lewinson, the newest vampire in the coven, said.
Like Ghosts, which is known for its holiday episodes, Eternally Yours will air a Halloween episode Oct. 29. A Christmas episode will reveal Jess is “crazy into Christmas,” which may explain some of his backstory. Fans can also look forward to meeting a vampire dentist, played by Tim Meadows, Wiseman said.
Eternally Yours airs Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. on CBS.
