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With Lauren Ash and Nico Santos
for NBC's "Summer Press Day"
Beverly Hilton hotel, Beverly Hills,
March 20, 2017 |
This past Monday, NBC held a soiree in Beverly Hills to
preview the network’s upcoming summer series.
Throughout the day, we critics saw clips of new shows like
Midnight, Texas, and previews of
upcoming seasons of
The Wall,
Hollywood Game Night and
The Night Shift. Then that night, the casts and producers of
many of the shows mingled on the rooftop of the Beverly Hilton hotel. And although I did talk a little about the
new stuff coming up, I was most excited to see two stars of NBC’s hilarious
comedy
Superstore.
Tonight, we get to see an important episode of this second
season, as Mateo (Nico Santos) deals with the repercussions of the revelation
of his relationship with Jeff (Michael Bunin) – which includes being forced to
transfer to a different store. The episode,
titled “Mateo’s Last Day,” is also notable in that it was directed by that
series’ multi-faceted star, America Ferrera.
I spoke with Santos and with Lauren Ash – aka Dina, although
in her glam blue hostess-pant outfit, you’d never see the resemblance – about tonight’s
episode, the future of Superstore in
season three, and what they’d like to see happen for their characters.
Must-Hear TV: How does life at
Cloud 9 change now that Dina and Mateo’s secrets are out?
Nico Santos: We’re
out of the closet now! As you saw from
the end of the last episode, Mateo has to transfer stores for the romance to
work. So this next episode – which America
directed, and is a lot of fun – is titled “Mateo’s Last Day.” To what capacity, the audience will just have
to wait and see. But there’s a lot of
drama that happens with his undocumented status, and with Jeff, there’s some
drama.
MHTV: I’ve been fooled
by the show before, like with the walkout at the end of season 1.
NS: Well if you
thought the season 1 finale with the walkout was crazy…
Lauren Ash: …You’ll
have to wait for the season 2 finale. Which
we can’t give details about, but…
NS: …It makes the
season 1 finale look weak!
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The cast of NBC's Thursday night comedy
Superstore |
LA: What I will say
is I don’t know how they’re going to get us out of it, and I don’t know that
they know how they’re going to get us out of it. Which is amazing.
MHTV: I wrote a book
about Will Grace, and those
writers used to say that every season they deliberately painted themselves into
a corner with the finale, because the fun was figuring your way out.
LA: Absolutely. That was also Dexter. That constantly
happened at the end of seasons of that show, where it was like, “Now what?!” Not that we’re a murdering type show, but… Who knows!
MHTV: Would you think it
was unusual if you found out Dina had a closet full of bodies?
LA: I feel like she’s
too much of a rule follower to actually commit a murder, but….
NS: Mateo would totally
have bodies.
LA: Yeah, he would bury
a body for sure. But there’s great stuff
coming up. Obviously the Dina/Garrett
storyline is so much fun. Yes, they know
that they are sleeping together, and that they like sleeping together – but they
also hate each other. So it’s pretty
fun. I think it’s a great metaphor for
modern romance and dating, in the app world that we live in, where people date
a bunch of people at the same time. It’s
kind of a different world than it was even like 10 years ago. So there’s some really fun stuff coming. And the other thing we can tease is that this
season’s second-to-last episode does not set foot in the store. That’s a first. Because we’ve seen us outside the store, but we’ve
never had an episode that’s completely out of the store. Fans are going to go crazy.
MHTV: Is it set at some
kind of retreat?
NS: We’ve said too
much!
MHTV: How does Dina and
Garrett’s relationship change now that everyone knows? And how does it change life in the store?
LA: It’s somewhat
business as usual, but now that the other characters know, their awkwardness is
a fun thing. We explore that [tonight’s]
episode for sure. How does this define
them in the workplace? Because they’re
not in a relationship, they’re not married, they’re not engaged, they’re into
even dating – in fact they hate each other.
But they do have this existing connection which has to be
acknowledged. But how do you acknowledge
it? There’s really fun play with the
human resources aspect of what that would look like.
MHTV: Yes! If Mateo has to leave because of Jeff, then…
LA: Exactly. So what does that mean? And Mateo and Jeff is a real relationship,
but we don’t know what this is [with Dina and Garrett.]
MHTV: But this is almost
worse, because it could go wrong in so many different ways.
LA: That’s right! And the other great thing about tonight’s
episode is that America directed it, which I don’t feel is getting enough
press. I think that should be out there
more! Because she did a fucking killer
job! She was great! It was amazing. No one knows the show better than us, and so
what a gift, to have somebody who knows and has been there literally from day
one be your director!
MHTV: Comparing the show
to The Office, I think it’s pretty
clear that Dina is very similar to Dwight, the weird rule followers. Would you say that, Lauren? And Nico, who would be Mateo’s Office counterpart?
LA: I have to admit something,
and I don’t normally do this because I feel bad about it, but I actually didn’t
watch The Office.
MHTV: You were in
Canada!
LA: But I did watch
the British Office, that’s the
thing. So people often bring up “you’re
the female Dwight.” And I love the
comparison, because I know he was a beloved character and he’s so funny. But any similarities were not
deliberate. I don’t really have a frame
of reference for him.
MHTV: I would think some
of it comes from the writing.
LA: I think some of
it is, certainly. But I think
ultimately, we all know somebody like that. There’s always somebody in our lives who is
that stick-in-the-mud, for lack of a more modern term. So there’s something relatable about that
archetype. I think some people think I’m
doing an impression of him, which is not the case. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. But any comparisons to that show are
amazing. That show was so successful and
had so much heart, and people loved it.
So that’s a great statement.
NS: I’m also not that
familiar with a lot of characters from the Office. But in season 1 of our show, people were
asking, “Is Mateo like a Dwight-esque character as well?” And I don’t think so.
MHTV: I don’t know who
he would be.
NS: He’s Pam!
MHTV: I was thinking
maybe Angela. They were both uptight,
but had a romantic side.
NS: Okay, I’ll take
that!
MHTV: Angela also dated
a gay man!
LA: But Parks & Rec I think is another
comparison you can make. A show which I
loved. And again, there’s Ron Swanson. He isn’t necessarily like Dina or Dwight, but
is. It’s still that kind of
character. The really strong, confident,
bold type.
MHTV: But completely out
of touch.
NS: That’s the thing
about our show. You watch it, and you
see somebody like Dina and somebody like Mateo or Garrett, and you realize, “Oh,
I’ve worked with them before!” We all
play somebody who people have worked with before.
MHTV: Why is everybody
so mean to poor Sandra?
LA: For the most
part, it’s Dina being mean to Sandra. People
often ask me why, and my answer is always to say that I think Dina just smells
weakness. If Sandra were
super-confident, Dina wouldn’t mess with her.
But because there’s a vulnerability there, she doesn’t respect her.
NS: It’s so crazy,
because Kaliko Kauahi, who plays Sandra, is so not her character. She’s amazing. She’s from the islands, very low-key. She’s got a very laid-back, Hawaiian
attitude. So it’s so funny to see her portray
Sandra, and people expect her to be that meek person, but she’s not.
LA: She’s so sweet,
too. I feel bad screaming in her face.
MHTV: Superstore did something great, which
was adding more secondary characters over time as they proved themselves popular. Was that the case with Sandra, and Marcus the
warehouse guy, and Myrtle?
NS: Somebody like
Johnnny Pemberton who plays Bo, Kaliko as Sandra, Jon Barinholtz as Marcus –
these three actors have really added so much to our show. From the moment they were on the show for
their first appearances, they meshed well.
I’m excited for them to get more into the show, and for other additions
in the near future.
LA: Because the
reality of those stores is that people come and go like crazy. You have some people who have been there for
30 years, and some who have been there for 3 weeks. And there’s a lot of turnover. So it’s great, because it opens up the
writers to trying different people and characters. Certainly, a character like Sandra, the
audience responded to right away. So it
would have been silly for them not to pursue that. And she’s become a huge storyline this
season.
MHTV: Lauren, has any of
your real-life experiences at [Canadian retailer] Zellers been pitched as
storylines?
LA: So many have been
pitched…
MHTV: Has any landed?
LA: No! They love them but they haven’t done any of
them yet. So I’ve got to keep
pushing. There are some good ones that I
feel like we’ll get into the show for sure eventually.
MHTV: What do you hope
happens in season 3 for each of your characters?
NS: I really hope
that we get to meet some members of Mateo’s family. We almost never see a Filipino family on
television. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the first time. And just like with any other family,
Filipinos are just kind of crazy. So I would
love for our audiences to be introduced to them.
MHTV: Who do you want
your parents to be?
NS: America is
actually really trying to pitch me portraying my own mom! Which I would do!
LA: Nico Santos, Nico
Santos and Nico Santos!
NS: We’ll do a Nutty Professor thing. I would love it!
MHTV: How about for
Dina? What would you like us to see in season
3?
LA: Dina’s birds! This is the thing that the fans are crying
out to see on social media. And I have
been pushing to Justin, so we’ll see. We’ve
talked about them so much, and what is it they say – “if you’re going to pull
out a gun, you have to use it”? So I think
we have to see the birds.
MHTV: What do you think
Dina’s birds have been trained to say?
LA: They pledge
allegiance to the flag. I think she runs
them through military drills. I just
think it would be such a gift to see that.
There have been people on twitter who have also been pitching that
Camryn Manheim should play my mother on
the show, and that’s actually awesome!
Not that I’m suggesting that she looks old enough to be my mother at
all, but I think she’s amazing.
MHTV: She’d be a young
mother, which would explain a lot about Dina’s upbringing.
LA: Exactly! And I think it would be great to see Dina’s
mother, somebody in Dina’s family who makes Dina look like Sandra. I would like to see the person in Dina’s life
who makes her shut down, whoever that may be.
Someone from her past. And, the
other thing that I’ve forgotten to say earlier:
America and I are pushing so hard that Dina and Amy knew each other in high
school, and we want to see a flashback. This
is our dream. We have been pushing this
with [executive producer] Justin [Spitzer], and he keeps giggling and saying “okay…” But I love the idea that they went to high
school together! My opinion has always
been that Dina would consider Amy to be her best friend, even though there’s no
basis for that. We never see each other
after work.
MHTV: I can’t imagine
Dina has a lot of female friends.
LA: She has no
friends! But in her mind, she thinks Amy
is her best friend. Which I always improv
into different things, “Well, she’s my best friend, so…” So I’d love to see what that dynamic was.
