Lake Bell writes, directs and stars in 'Bless This Mess' on ABC

ByJennifer Matarese KGO logo
Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Lake Bell writes, directs and stars in 'Bless This Mess' on ABC
Jennifer Matarese interviews Lake Bell about her new comedy on ABC.

NEW YORK -- If you've ever dreamt of quitting your job and moving to a beautiful farm in the country, that's just what city slickers Rio and Mike (Dax Shepard) decide to do on ABC's Bless This Mess.

"They play out this fantasy and this romantic ideal that they will live a natural life of feeling dirt between their toes and the reality is that to work a farm is a highly skilled rarified thing, you know existence, and there's no weekends and time off, and there's a lot of fodder in comedy for that," Bell said.

They are overworked and have a few of their own personal reasons, but the newlywed couple decides to move to rural Nebraska.

Reminiscent of the 80's movie The Money Pit there are things wrong with the house, on the inside and outside.

"It's one of my favorite films and we definitely have some fun with that," Bell said. "But we get into farming, we get into it a little bit. We have a writer's room full of people from the Midwest we have farming experience and farming consultants."

The farm's one saving grace...a community of oddball neighbors and townspeople that are there to help save the day.

The casting is incredibly strong with Ed Begley Jr., Pam Grier, and JT Neal rounding out the cast.

The show is a labor of love for Bell who not only stars in the series but co-wrote it with Elizabeth Meriwether and directed the pilot.

"She had just come to the end of New Girl and I had two babies and had been doing indie films and we sat down and had some coffee together and I said, 'Hey want to make a TV show together?' And she's like, 'Hell yeah, let's do this!' And cut to now and there's billboards everywhere. It's kind of surreal but very exciting." Bell said.

Don't miss "Bless This Mess" Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET | 8:30 p.m. CT on The ABC Television Network, streaming and on demand.