By Jamie Ruby

Thursday night Fox premieres its new comedy series Surviving Jack. In preparation leads Christopher Meloni, who plays Jack Dunlevy, and Rachael Harris, who plays his wife Joanne, talked to the media on Monday about their new series.

The two talked to SciFi Vision about how they became involved in the show. Meloni said, "For me, it's just kind of the usual - a lot of scripts sent my way. I responded to this one, because I thought it was the best written. I knew Bill Lawrence both personally and professionally, so I trusted his taste and his ability to give this project the best shot of seeing the light of day. And then after that, I met Connor [Buckley] and Claudia [Lee] and then Rachael came on board. So, it all just fit in rather well for me."

Harris added, "For me, I came into the project later, and what attracted me to it was I had worked with Justin [Halpern] and Patrick [Schumacker] before on another show. I had met them and they were lovely and collaborative. But really, when I knew Chris was attached, I thought that was a very big draw for me just because I had loved his work in so many other things."

They also talked to the site about their favorite parts of working on the show. Meloni loves the relationships. "I would have to say [it's] how they've written the characters and their relationship to one another, the parent's relationship, Rachael and me, and the parent's vis-à-vis the kids. I just think they're well written relationships."

Harris added, "Yes and I can say yes to that and then also, my favorite thing is just rehearsing and trying to find the best things that we can. I find the rehearsal process for the show has been really fun and really collaborative...The fun part is making it work. You're not in control of the outcome or what other people think, but I know we've had a really good time making it. So, that's been the best part so far."

FOX Conference Call
Surviving Jack
Christopher Meloni & Rachael Harris

March 24, 2014
2:00 p.m. ET

QUESTION: Chris, this is your foray into a sitcom. Were you nervous at all, or did you have any trepidation when you first began taking on this role?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: No. No, trepidation. I love comedy and I have confidence that—well, I know it’s funny. Maybe it doesn’t translate that it is in fact funny, but yes, no trepidation.

RACHAEL HARRIS: It’s funny, Chris.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Thank you. Thanks for backing me.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Oh, yes. That’s not a worry.

QUESTION: A husband and wife always have to stick together.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Yes.

QUESTION: And social media has become a big part of our society. Will either of you be live tweeting the premiere episode, and are you looking forward to the fan feedback you’ll be receiving instantly after the episode airs?

RACHAEL HARRIS: I’m going to try to live tweet it with Claudia Lee. So I know that I’m going to do that. I think the gals are going to handle that part of the thing. But yes, I love the instant feedback from fans. It’s really fun.

SCIFI VISION: Can you talk about how you became involved in the show?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: For me, it’s just the usual - a lot of scripts sent my way. I responded to this one, because I thought it was the best written. I knew Bill Lawrence both personally and professionally, so I trusted his taste and his ability to give this project the best shot of seeing the light of day. And then after that, I met Connor and Claudia and then Rachael came on board. So it all just fit in rather well for me.

RACHAEL HARRIS: For me, I came into the project later and what attracted me to it was I had worked with Justin and Patrick before on another show. I had met them and they were lovely and collaborative. But really, when I knew Chris was attached, I thought that was a very big draw for me just because I had loved his work in so many other things.

SCIFI VISION: What is both of your favorite part overall working on the show so far?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I would have to say how they’ve written the characters and their relationship to one another, the parents’ relationship, Rachael and me, and the parents vis-à-vis the kids. I just think they’re well written relationships.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Yes and I can say yes to that and then also, my favorite thing is just rehearsing and trying to find the best things that we can. I find the rehearsal process for the show has been really fun and really collaborative.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Good answer. Damn, I wish I thought of that.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I know. I know. I know. But really, the fun part is making it work. You’re not in control of the outcome or what other people think, but I know we’ve had a really good time making it. So that’s been the best part so far.

QUESTION: So, we are covering this show by profiling Claudia Lee who’s an Indiana native.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Love her.

QUESTION: So I’m hoping you guys can tell me what it’s like to work with her and what some of her strengths as an actress are.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Wow.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I mean there’s so much, but do you want me to—you go.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Okay. I will say that it’s the best thing. It’s like she’s very professional and can still maintain being a 17-year-old. I think also she’s just very—without being affected or trying too hard, she’s just a very smart gal and I’ve always said I want to be Claudia Lee when I grow up. She’s more mature at times at dealing with different situations than I am, and I just find her very kind and generous.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Right. I’m kind of in line with that. She’s smart. She’s savvy. She’s unaffected. She has a very—there’s a clarity about who she is, what she wants, what she’s doing and on top of that, she’s very kind to my daughter and takes her out to do “girl” stuff. So that’s pretty cool.

QUESTION: That’s great. I hate to put you guys on the spot, but do either of you have a favorite Claudia story either on set or off set?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Well, I have a couple, but I’ll just stay with one. One on of the episodes, she is berating Rachael, her mother, Rachael Harris. She’s berating Rachael Harris, her mother, about cooking little pigs in a blanket, frozen pigs in a blanket and her line is, “Mom, really? Be better.”

Well, that made me laugh so much, as well as my daughter who was on set that day that my daughter actually made up sweatpants for Christmas for each of us which on the back, on the butt says, “Meloni” and on the front panel, it says, “Be better.” She inspired that Christmas gift for the Meloni family. So we always have her around the house, basically.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Oh, my gosh. I love that. I love that story. Okay. Mine really quickly is in a similar vein though, but I was concerned about the way that I looked in something and she just grabs my arm and she says, “Rachael, just stop. Just stop. You look great.” It was like, “Thank you, Claudia.” It was in that vein of like “Just don’t, just don’t do that. Just don’t.” That’s just very much her. She’s like, “Just don’t worry about that.” I don’t know. Very strange. Very mature or I should say wise. Wise is probably better than mature.

QUESTION: So, Chris, first off, can you talk a little bit about the American Gladiator scene in episode two and having the fun with regard to the physical comedy?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: That was a lot of fun to do. It was pretty precarious to be tethering on top of furniture while hurling broomsticks around with pillows attached to the ends. Those three guys, my son and his two buddies on the show, are always grab-assing around anyway. So it gave me a nice, fun opportunity to get in there and basically play with the boys. So that was a lot of fun.

QUESTION: And then as a follow-up for either one of you, I actually had one of those heat sensitive t-shirts in the ‘90s.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: We’re sorry.

QUESTION: Yes, I know. I am too. Any fashion or pop culture stuff from that time period that makes either of you cringe?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: This is all yours, kid.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Thank you. For me, it would be acid wash jeans, but it wasn’t just acid wash. It was the fact that they were like regular jeans and they had a flap that came up like as a cinch. Like a belt that went all the way up to the bottom of your rib cage. They were like stylish mom jeans and we all wore them and thought that they were amazing.

And the other one would just be—I think it would be self-belts where you have a belt that’s the same pattern as the dress. I know. I know.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I’m sorry for both you guys.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Thank you. Thank you, Chris.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: You’re welcome.

QUESTION: How did working with younger actors, actors who were born later in the ‘90s, how did you help them understand more about the ‘90s because obviously you guys lived through that era and these younger actors were born later. And so they might not know a lot about the fashion or the video games and stuff like that. So how did you help them understand stuff like that or give them details about that?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Well, very slowly because, first of all, we’d break them to the news that there was a time in history where cell phones and computers were not there and they really couldn’t wrap their heads around that. So, we pulled out a PowerPoint presentation for them. ...Rachael?

RACHAEL HARRIS: No, that just made me laugh. Yes, we did do that, but then also, they didn’t recognize a lot of the music from the ‘90s. Like the makeup and hair people, we’d be singing songs from the ‘90s and we’d be like, “Oh, that’s so amazing” and we would just get blank stares from Claudia Lee. Connor’s pretty hip. Connor, I feel like, kind knew the music, but the other boys, Kevin Hernandez and Tyler Foden, their eyes would glaze over, like, “Yes, look at these old folks talking about the ‘90s,” which was hard.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Very difficult. Very difficult.

QUESTION: Chris, just a specific question for you. We see your parenting style in Surviving Jack as more I guess you’d say blunt, you just kind of say it how it is. Does that relate at all to your parenting style in real life?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: One hundred percent accurate and the same. I mean, I don’t change. I leave the house and arrive with the same skills and my little bag of tricks and I go home, same skill set.

RACHAEL HARRIS: He’s not really like that.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask how does your characters' marriage differ from other marriages we’ve seen on TV sitcoms before.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Do you want to take it or do you want me to take it? Go ahead.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Well, just steer me in the right direction if I start to meander. Well, first of all, I think what’s different is no eye rolling and I never put my hands on my hips, like, “Oh, Jack, what are you doing?” because obviously, he’s taking up parenting as I go back to law school. But I think the thing that’s great about our relationship is they really love each other. They don’t feel put upon by each other. I’m not the ball and chain and he’s definitely not this man that I don’t respect.

I think what’s different is we have a deep respect for each other. We both really like each other and we both have each other’s backs when it comes to parenting. We may differ as far as how we would go about things, but at the end of the day we’re both really glad to be parenting together. We really like each other. How’s that?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I like that. Yes, I think that one of the marching orders was how deeply—and it comes from the pilot episode. Jack, my character, deeply, deeply loves this, not needs Rachael’s character, Joanne in his life. He voices that without compromise or anything. He loves his wife deeply and unashamed to admit to it.

QUESTION: One of the things I noticed is that you have great chemistry with each other and that the relationship really does feel like you’re married. Was that something that you just naturally clicked? Did you work together to develop it? I don’t know how much of a back story you do for a sitcom, but I’m just curious.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Yes, you know what it was is we met each other, hated each other, and really said—I was like, “She’s so overbearing” and she’s like, “Oh, he’s Mr. Know-it-all” and then we bumped into each other and she dropped her schoolbooks. I picked them up and the whole time we really secretly liked each other. It just happened that way. Right, Rachael?

RACHAEL HARRIS: Yes. Exactly. No, I think we genuinely have—I know that I really, really like Chris and I love the way that he—I admire him. I like his work, but I also like the way he talks about his family and I love the way that he talks about his kids and for me, that was really appealing. So I think that when you genuinely like someone, you—I think ... chemistry with them.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: It’s easier to please them.

RACHAEL HARRIS: What? What did you say?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Go ahead. I’m interrupting. I apologize.

RACHAEL HARRIS: No, no, no.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I’m an interrupter today. I apologize. Go ahead.

RACHAEL HARRIS: No, me too. No, but I think that we knew that chemistry—I think we knew what kind of relationship they have, but I think you can’t just materialize chemistry. I think it’s there or it’s not.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: And I’ll also say this if I can throw this in; I still feel like our angles of how we go about getting to what’s funny to each of us is different, but we both understand “funny.” What tickles our funny bone is in the same area. It overlaps, but it’s also a little different and I found that very appealing. The bottom line was she’s obviously very funny and understands what funny is and has great timing. Does that make sense to you, Rachael?

RACHAEL HARRIS: It makes perfect sense, yes. It also helps in the sense that we’re both each individuals, but that come together really well. How about that?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I like it. I mean....

RACHAEL HARRIS: A little bit.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: ...watch it as much.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I know...

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Are we interrupting you? Don’t interrupt us mumbling to each other.

RACHAEL HARRIS: We’re just talking. We’re just talking. People can jump in if they want. We’re just going to have a conversation.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Yes, just get crazy.

QUESTION: So, Chris, I don’t think a lot of people know that your early TV career involved a lot of sitcoms, right? Or several, anyway.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Someone’s done their homework. Continue.

QUESTION: I find it funny that you’re still playing off this tough guy persona here. Jack is funny, but he’s also kind of scary. Was that part of the appeal, and were you actively looking for a comedy after Law & Order?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I was leaning towards a comedy and the threatening Jack thing, I didn’t intentionally make it thus. I guess all I did—it’s just how the script struck me and I think possibly my physicalness kind of lends itself to that in combination with how Connor plays his part. He seems like he’s a kid who seems perpetually uneasy in his own skin. When you compare that to a guy like Jack, who seems to me perpetually absolutely calm and comfortable in his skin, it really then makes my character a little more threatening or whatever.

QUESTION: Yes, just enjoy that you scare the shit out of him every day.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Well, maybe he deserves it. Have we thought of it in that way?

QUESTION: Maybe. Well, I know this is based on Justin’s book, I Suck at Girls. So I’m wondering at what point did the adaptation shift to focus more on the dad character? Did either of you meet Justin’s dad and get some blunt advice from him?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I haven’t met him yet. I look forward to it. I think he’s the kind of guy who’s like, “Yes, I’ll meet him when it’s a success.” If it’s not, he doesn’t want to be—

RACHAEL HARRIS: Exactly.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: But I always thought that it’s seen through Justin’s, Connor/Justin’s eyes, the son’s eyes and Justin’s book really is all about his dad, how his dad influenced his life with his aphorisms and his pithy statements. If anything, I think the show has caught up everybody in the swirl, meaning Rachael and my relationship, how important that is, the strength of that. That’s how I feel.

RACHAEL HARRIS: And I have never met Justin’s dad.

QUESTION: I wanted to go back to one of the previous questions about the era that the show is set in. I really love that the show takes place in the ‘90s. Is there a particular aspect from then that you wish was still around, or maybe it’s the whole no cell phones and Internet.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I wish they’d bring Grunge back.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Yes. I wish that we could have it both ways. I wish that we could have like six hours, six to eight hours of Internet and cell phones and then for six or eight hours we have no access. So we have to actually just use a land line and call people and wait for calls and things like that. How about that?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Yes. Don’t you wish we could have self-discipline now and not—yes.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Yes. I guess I could do that, right, Chris? I could just say, you know what?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I guess so. It’s difficult. It’s hard, Rachael.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Yes. It’s really hard.

QUESTION: As a quick follow-up, I’m calling on behalf of my university. So if the two of you could teach a college course of your creation, what would you teach?

RACHAEL HARRIS: College course of your creation, what would you teach?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Adapting books to film: the decisions that must be made. I just find that fascinating. They have to take a book and figure out what to cut, what to condense.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I think my college course would be just on the premise of saying “Yes and…” instead of saying no. It would be more like philosophical as far as saying “Yes and…” to live.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: The power of positive thinking?

RACHAEL HARRIS: Probably, yes. Maybe that is a college course already being taught. That would be my own like spin on it.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I can’t wait to see that in print by the way, Chris. I can’t wait.

SCIFI VISION: Was there ever a scene that you filmed where you couldn’t quit laughing because it was really funny? You had trouble filming because you kept breaking up.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I feel like there were several.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Yes, but she wants an example.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I know. I know.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I think she wants one now.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Yes, I know. I get it. I get it. I remember laughing a lot in your face.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Yes, but that was usually because of my acting.

RACHAEL HARRIS: No. No.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Yes, choices I made.

RACHAEL HARRIS: No. No.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I’m over it, Rachael, really.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I’m trying to think. Wasn’t it like that you had said something? I remember you were doing one scene and you couldn’t [get the emphasis] right on one word.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Damn it.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Remember? And you were losing your mind. You were in the bedroom and you’re folding laundering.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Oh, that’s right.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Yes. Remember?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Oh, nuts. Yes, I became marble mouth.

RACHAEL HARRIS: Yes, that was amazing. That was amazing, and I know that’s really vague and not specific.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: You know something? You get two more questions because we blew that first question.

SCIFI VISION: Did you guys ever play pranks or anything on set, anything like that that maybe was funny?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: No, because—well, I don’t think so only because we have Connor and his two school buddies and they’re always doing boy prank stuff. Like if you look where they have their finger, then you have to drop and do 20 pushups or they get to give you a wet willy or just this weird—or they mag tag each other.

SCIFI VISION: Well, how about this? How do you guys most feel that you’re similar and different from your characters?

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: I’m taller than Jack in real life, but past that, our parenting styles are exactly similar.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I don’t have kids in real life and Joanne has two. I’m really just not old enough to have children that age in real life, and I’m kidding.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Joanne wouldn’t do that.

RACHAEL HARRIS: And then, I think that Joanne likes to rock a lot of shoulder pads on the show and I don’t.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Oh, Rachael. Really?

RACHAEL HARRIS: All right. I do. I do wear them.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: Make peace with it. It’s time.

RACHAEL HARRIS: I know.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: It’s okay.

CHRISTOPHER MELONI: She’s wearing stone washed denim right now.