(This interview was originally published on Examiner.com on January 29, 2014.) — FOX’s very funny rookie comedy, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” fresh off its Golden Globe win for Best Comedy and a Best Actor win for its star Andy Samberg, joins fellow comedy “New Girl” in the coveted post- Superbowl slot on Sunday. The show follows the detectives of the Brooklyn squad, namely hotshot Jake Peralta (Samberg) and his quest to be the best detective in the precinct. His goal is threatened by rising detective Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero). As they continue to cross paths professionally, will their unresolved personal feelings for each other get in the way?
Daytime TV Examiner caught up with actress Melissa Fumero to get the scoop on the upcoming Superbowl episode and to also get her thoughts on working on “One Life to Live” where she played Adriana Cramer and met her husband, actor David Fumero (ex-Cristian).
Phyllis Thomas: Congratulations on the show winning the Golden Globe.
Melissa Fumero: It’s been crazy. I mean a year ago today I was unemployed, I didn’t have a job and now I’m at the Golden Globes. It’s so mind-trippy, it’s crazy but I’m so happy. I love my cast so much. I love our crew. I love the show that we’re doing,we’re all so proud of it and we’re having so much fun. I think to myself all the time I can’t believe that this is my life right now.
Phyllis Thomas: You guys work so well together. It’s such an ensemble cast and it must be so much fun day in and day out. What are rehearsals like?
Melissa Fumero: The rehearsal process is pretty quick. We’ll sort of run a scene a few times before we roll to sort of feel it out. Then we start shooting it, and shoot it, shoot it shoot it…and we play. We experiment and try new lines. We ad lib… it’s a great way to shoot the show. You just do it over and over again. It could be well over 15 takes or something. And we play a lot and try lines and find out what’s funny. The cast, we frequently talk about how lucky we feel that we all get along so well. Everyone has a very similar energy and personality. We all text each other all the time, it’s really great right now. It’s amazing. I love going to work.
Phyllis Thomas: How is it to transition from a soap? Can you relax a little bit with less dialogue and a less hectic dally schedule?
Melissa Fumero: It’s a little bit more intense. I work for much longer than I did on the soap opera. The soap is a lot more work, a lot of memorizing so it’s kind of using that part of your brain because things go so fast. You can do like 10 scenes in 2 hours, so the day is our little shorter. And because the cast on the soap is so big, unless you’re one of the shows principal characters, you don’t work every day. But you work all year round, there no downtime. It is kind of weird. Here, there can really be 14 hour days. You’re saying less words, there’s less scenes, but also experimenting and ad-libbing. They are like polar opposite worlds. It’s great.
Phyllis Thomas: Not that you would ever need to because I feel the show is going to be very successful but would you ever do a soap again?
Melissa Fumero: I like to believe in “Never Say Never.” I have no idea no plan of what the next few years have in store for me, so right now I’m just so happy on the show “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and hopefully we get to make more shows and keep making people laugh. Yeah I don’t know.
Phyllis Thomas: Can you preview the Superbowl Episode?
Melissa Fumero: The Superbowl episode, we’re really excited about it. I don’t know how much I can say about the plot but it is some Jake and Amy antics. There’s action, there’s amazing guest stars. It is a really hilarious story going on, both the A and B storyline. It’s really a fun episode. We worked really really hard on it and we’re really excited about it.
Phyllis Thomas: Because I’m a “One Life to Live” fan, and I have to ask about David. I love him.
Melissa Fumero: ( Laughs) I love him too.
Phyllis Thomas: How is he doing?
Melissa Fumero: He’s great. You know, he’s just had shoulder surgery. He was at the Golden Globes in a cast, so he’s kind of dealing with that right now. He’s on the mend and doing good. He’s looking forward to going back and auditioning and going back to work. Right now he’s trying to take care of himself, but he’s great. Besides that, he’s wonderful. He’s the best husband ever.
Phyllis Thomas: Do you chance to see some of the “One Life to Live” cast? I know you guys are pretty close with some of the cast.
Melissa Fumero: Yeah. A lot of them are out here [in Los Angeles]. It’s funny how we all keep tabs on each other. Some people that I don’t get to see, I hear about. We see John-Paul Lavoisier (Rex). We talk a lot. We’re very close with Mark Lawson (Brody) and his wife and their two beautiful babies; Kamar [de los Reyes] (Antonio) and Sheri [Saum] (Keri)… and Kassie [DePaiva] (Blair), she’s in New York but we keep up with her and Renee [Goldsberry] (Evangeline). I mean Kathy Brier (Marcy), everybody. We all love…even people I didn’t necessarily get to talk to, we get to hear from through John-Paul.
Phyllis Thomas: I know you’re so busy but you get a chance to watch any soaps anymore?
Melissa Fumero: I am so behind on all TV and I love TV but I literally I get home so late and when I get some time I’m trying to catch up on my DVR. Even that night I try to watch this one thing that was on that night so I need to adjust my TV schedule. It pains me but hopefully I can work it out
Phyllis Thomas: I understand. I struggle with that myself. The network sponsoring Super Bowl. Are you planning to go? Do you follow football at all?
Melissa Fumero: I don’t follow football but I always watch the Superbowl. it’s so much fun to watch so no plans to travel or go but I don’t know the Superbowl party I may have to go and definitely hang out and watch. Maybe I’ll head out after Superbowl and just make sure that I watch the show. It’s a cool thing to be able to say at a party, “Hey my show’s coming up after the Superbowl. Do do you want to watch some TV?”
Catch “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Tuesdays, and catch a special episode on Sunday, February 2nd after the Superbowl on Fox.
To read more articles with actors from your favorite shows and movies, check out my pages atDaytime TV Examiner, Classic TV Examiner and Animation Examiner. Also, follow me on Twitter at@Phyllis_Thomas
