Kyle Howard will always hold a special place in my heart for being one of my first TV crushes.
I first saw him on the short-lived, snarky WB show “Grosse Pointe,” a show-within-a-show in which he won fan’s hearts as Dave the Stand-In who has a crush on the show’s mousy star, Kim Peterson (Lindsey Sloane).
You’ve probably seen Kyle Howard, too, even if you don’t recognize his name. Besides having been a cast member of WB’s “Related” and “Run of the House,” he’s done multiple guest appearances on “CSI,” “The Drew Carey Show” and “Boston Public,” as well as a guest spot on “Nip/Tuck,” “Friends” and “8 Simple Rules” among others.
That busyness helped him land a cast role on “My Boys,” a TBS original comedy series.
“Within television, I guess I’ve gotten a little more known over the last several years that I’ve been doing shows so I at least get in the door on the things that I really want to get in on,” Howard said. “It’s nice just knowing people already, going straight in to meet them instead of sort of starting at the first step every time, but I still have to audition every pilot season.”
“I knew Betsy Thomas [creator of “My Boys”]. Her and I did another show, three seasons ago, ‘Run of the House.’ We did that for almost a full season so I knew her pretty well.”
“When [“My Boys”] came along, I read it and loved it. I wasn’t actually convinced that I was right for Bobby when I initially read it and I talked to Betsy about it later and she said she wasn’t convinced of it either. They had me come in anyway to read and I read with Jordana [Spiro, star of “My Boys”]. We had really nice chemistry together so they got a little more excited about it and so did I. And then of course, I had to go read for the network and it ended up working out.”
Airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m., two half-hour episodes at a time, “My Boys” stars Jordana Spiro as P.J., a Chicago sports writer whose friends are mostly male. The gang hangs at her place for poker and sports watching.
Kyle plays Bobby, a sports writer at another newspaper and a newcomer to the group, which includes P.J.’s brother Andy (Jim Gaffigan), P.J.’s best friend Brendan (Reid Scott), sports memorabilia store owner Kenny (Michael Bunin) and Chicago Cubs employee Mike (Jamie Kaler).
In its premiere and second episode last Tuesday, both of which can be seen on the TBS website, Bobby and P.J. almost hook up. When Bobby tries to comfort P.J. about what they’re doing, he’s taken aback when P.J. isn’t fazed at all.
“You don’t need to give me the speech, that we’ll be friends anyway speech. I know we’ll be friends.”
Kyle admits he’d be freaked out as well.
“It’s always nice to be with a girl that you know is into it, and there’s something to be said for a girl who will take charge and not make you do all the work,” Howard says. “But I think there’s a line to be drawn somewhere with that. She sort of crosses it a bit in that scene with the way that she’s acting. I think if I were truly in that position, it would definitely creep me out a little bit. I’m not saying I would never re-visit that thing with that girl, but, as it does on the show, it would scare me off temporarily.”
Luckily, “My Boys” isn’t really about the hook-ups or romantic failures of P.J., but about her and her boys. The best thing about the show is its realism. There’s an easy flow between the characters. This is how people talk and interact with one another. The cast obviously has chemistry and likes one another, and Kyle couldn’t point that out enough.
“I love working with the cast,” Howard says. “Without sounding like everybody [else], it really has been such a treat. We really lucked out on having great chemistry together, acting-wise and life-wise. We all really click when we’re working and we all totally hang out aside from work also.”
As someone whose shows seem to always be on the bubble (a source of frustration for his fans), Kyle assured me I would probably see “My Boys'” entire 13-episode season.
“It’s very likely because TBS only has us and one other show, “10 Items or Less,” in terms of original programming is concerned. They don’t really have anything to replace us with like on other networks that have tons of other shows that are waiting in the wings to be mid-season replacements. [TBS] has already invested money in producing the 13 so I think the chances of them giving them all a shot to air is fairly good. That’s not to say how the ratings will be, but I have fairly high hopes for it because it’s just really clear that they’re backing it all the way. They’re clearly excited about it, and they’re spending the necessary money to make sure that everybody knows about it. They’re doing a great job of that so far, so I’m excited.”
When I asked him about playing a character out of college with a job, Kyle thought it was a great question.
“I think it’s the first time I’ve played a grown-up,” Kyle said. “I’ve grown pretty used to doing the sort of more charactery, goofy best friend, or goofy roommate guy or goofy stoner guy over the last couple of years, so it’s been different being the sort of 9-5 mature guy who sort of brushes his hair and wear button-up shirts and stuff because that’s been so not me. But it makes it kind of fun, too, playing somebody that’s different from a lot of the characters I’ve played before and be really different from who I actually am. It keeps it interesting.”
And it’s interesting for his fans as well. Catch Kyle Howard on “My Boys” Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on TBS.
