Secrets From The Set Of Single Parents On ABC

They say it takes a village to raise a child, but sometimes you have no option but to be your own village. A single parent’s journey is not just hard, it can be really lonely. 

Today actually marks the 14th anniversary of that time I started my life over as a single mom. After a few weeks of nothing but tears and fears, I moved into a little apartment with my two daughters and started looking for a job. 

When I heard that ABC would air a series called Single Parents, I couldn’t help but be excited, because we were in desperate need of representation, and when I found out I was going to actually visit the set of Single Parents over at Fox Studios in Los Angeles, I just couldn’t even believe it!

The series is from 20thCentury Fox Television and ABC Studios. JJ Philbin and Elizabeth Meriwether are creators and executive producers, and Katherine Pope and Erin O’Malley are executive producers. 

In Single Parents, Will Cooper (Taran Killam ) is a 30-something guy who’s been in the “parenting vortex,” you know, when you’re so focused on raising your child that you lose sight of who you are. How does the saying go…? 

Honey if Bob didn’t build it, Dora didn’t explore it or Blue didn’t find it, then I have no idea what you are talking about!

Will Cooper meets Angie D’Amato (Leighton Meester), Poppy Banks (Kimrie Lewis), Miggy Park (Jake Choi), and Douglas Fogerty (Brad Garrett ), the other single parents at the elementary school, and when they see just how far down the rabbit hole of PTA, parenting and princesses he has gone, they band together to get him out in the world and make him realize that being a great parent doesn’t mean sacrificing everything about your own identity.

I had to learn that the hard way. And on my own. And today, 14 years later, I am celebrating by watching Single Parents! 

 “Single Parents” airs on Wednesdays at 9:30|8:30c on ABC, and can also be watched via streaming (ABC app/ABC.com/Hulu) and on demand.

Tonight’s episode will be amazing and it is unbelievable to me that I was on the set and not only saw scenes being filmed, but I actually got to meet the adult cast of Single Parents. Just look at this photo!

I wore my Moana-inspired skirt to the set visit because, well, even though Single Parents is a comedy and my daughters and I laugh like crazy watching each show in the series, there was a particular scene in which we all bawled like babies.

The show is relatable to anyone and you don’t have to be a single parent or have a single parent to get it, but I have to admit that we get it on a different level.

Visiting a TV show set is always fun, but when the Executive Producer of the series is your tour guide, it makes it extra special. Jason Winer, who also directed the pilot.

During the set tour of Single Parents, Jason Winer and Jake Choi dished out a lot of fun facts and insider details about Single Parents and I am sharing them all with you!

Single Parents has a lot of sets, more than normal for a comedy. Jason Winer said it keeps things fresh and that “it’s really fun for the writers to be able to set things in different environments and rotate in different houses.“

Building every environment allows them to do the whole show moving from environment to environment without stopping.

Exec. Producer Jason Winer took this cross-shooting style concept from his days at Modern Family (he directed the pilot and many early episodes).

Having all these sets helps the Single Parents cast and crew shoot as many episodes as possible, given that there are so many kid stars on the show: Marlow Barkley as Sophie Cooper, Tyler Wladis as Graham D’Amato, Devin Trey Campbell as Rory Banks, Mia Allan as Emma Fogerty, Ella Allan as Amy Fogerty .

When shooting Single Parents episodes, the cameras are firing both directions at once, and it requires the actors blocking to be really specific to avoid getting the other camera on screen. They trust the kids to do this well and they can handle it!

 We’re saying, you literally can’t move an inch that way. And they get it, you know what I mean? They’re amazing like that.

When we were posing for pics at Douglas Fogerty’s kitchen, Jason Winer told us that they actually had to build a set with ceilings because Brad Garrett is so tall.

Remember my picture next to him where I’m wearing super high heels (and he clearly isn’t) at the Christopher Robin premiere? 

The fun thing is that Eeyore has a cameo in Ralph Breaks The Internet, so the premiere came up in conversation when we were chatting with him on the playground set of Single Parents.

For Douglas’ house in Single Parents, the creators picked a house locally with an interesting A-frame architecture that they could imitate on stage. They create sets that go well with exteriors nearby!

And if touring the set weren’t cool enough, Jake Choi (“Miggy Park”) also joined us as a tour guide and my verdict is that I officially adore him.

What I most admire about him is that he’s an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and does media representation for all marginalized communities. He’s so fun, friendly, and great with kids- oh he’s bilingual, too!

Jake Choi chatted with us about how filming the show gives him baby fever. Baby Jack is actually played by twin baby boys and he said he just loves them.

Jason Winer was bragging about the connection Jake Choi has with the babies when they play together! MELT!

It is obvious that Jake Choi is quite popular with all the children on the set. He told my friends and I that he started out young babysitting his mom’s friends. He’s a natural! 

He was so excited to show us the sauna in Douglas’ home. A fun fact you maybe didn’t want to know is that I actually would like a sauna in my home. I have actually bought a gym membership just to use the sauna before. LOL

But the rooms at Douglas’ house are sometimes swapped out completely. The study is used as his twins daughters’ bedroom sometimes because they want to utilize the space as efficiently as possible and there just isn’t enough space to do every environment at once.

They have photos to remind them how the space looks so when it’s time to redress or switch things around, they can do it faithfully.

I also learned that if one room isn’t being used for shot, it’s often used as storage space. That’s very smart!

The big magic trick on the set of Single Parents? Will and Angie actually share bedrooms, depending on what scene they need to shoot in there!

Another secret from the set of Single Parents? Poppy’s house is also Miggy’s house! They live in the same apartment building, after all.

And Miggy loves his shoes! He was doing silly poses for us.

And then we melted when we saw Baby Jack’s shoe collection and the nursery!

When it was time to tour Angie’s house, we were stunned. Leighton Meester was literally there and she’s so causal, like “Hi! Are you guys the bloggers? Hi!” Oh my gosh. Really? 

She showed us “her home” and “her kitchen” and joked that she actually lives there. 

Jason Winer told us how Liz Meriwether, one of the creators, wanted Angie’s house to really feel like a single mom who is juggling a lot of things lives in there.

So one of the things they have to work very hard to make sure their dressers do is to make Angie’s house messy.

We’re like: ‘more stuff, more stuff, more mess, stop cleaning it up. Stop, we’re trying to make it feel real and lived in.

Jason Winer insisted that the walls at Angie’s house stay almost white, which you rarely see on television, because they’re always painting it colors to look pretty.

But Angie is renting the place, she doesn’t get to paint it whatever color she wants. This tugged at my heartstrings, because I remember how excited the girls and I were to get to paint our walls when we finally got a home of our own. So we’ve worked really hard on that. 

We’re doing our best to just be ever so slightly more realistic with the struggle.

And the struggle is real. Laughter is a worthy pursuit on its own, but Single Parents has us laughing with a purpose: to be a bit more understanding, more mindful, more compassionate to single parents everywhere. It really does take a village, and it’s so easy to be a part of it – just a little less judgment and a little more love, and you’re in.

In tonight’s all-new episode of Single Parents, titled “The Beast,” written by Lamar Woods and directed by Josh Greenbaum, Will encourages Angie to rediscover her passion for heavy metal music by taking a guitar class, and in turn, Angie insists that Will get back in the field covering weather by driving both of them into a storm.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang explore their romantic passions as Douglas pursues his crush on Big Red (guest star Rebecca Creskoff) with the help of Miggy, and Poppy feels an instant connection with a dreamy musician. I can’t wait!

“Single Parents” airs on Wednesdays at 9:30|8:30c on ABC, and can also be watched via streaming (ABC app/ABC.com/Hulu) and on demand. 

This ensemble comedy follows a group of single parents as they lean on each other to help raise their 7-year-old kids and maintain some kind of personal lives outside of parenthood.

You can follow my Single Parents Adventures with #ABCTVEvent and #SingleParents and stay connected with @SingleParentsABC on Twitter @SingleParentsTV on Instagram @singleparentstv.

Founder of the Positive MOM® and creator of the S.T.O.R.Y. System: a blueprint to craft and share powerful stories that will transform your results and help others do the same. Dr. Elayna Fernández is a single mom of 4, an award-winning Storyteller, Story Strategist, and Student of Pain. She’s a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, and 5x TEDx speaker. She has spoken at the United Nations, received the President’s Volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award, and was selected as one of the Top Impactful Leaders and a Woman of Influence by SUCCESS Magazine. Connect with Elayna at thepositivemom.com/ef and follow @thepositivemom. To receive a gift from Elayna, click HERE.

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