Melissa Joan Hart Talks 'Mysteries of Laura' Guest Spot, a 'Clarissa' Reboot, and Her 'Man Stallion' Hubby
While one chapter in Melissa Joan Hart’s long TV career is about to end — her ABC Family sitcom Melissa & Joey will air its series finale in August — she’s jumping into a different kind of role with her guest appearance on this week’s episode of The Mysteries of Laura, where she’ll play an online radio host named KC Moss who runs a website dedicated to solving a 15-year-old case. (So, think the broadcast TV version of Serial podcast host Sarah Koenig.)
Hart talks to Yahoo TV about her Laura role, her beloved past sitcoms Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and her incredibly hot husband.
I was just catching up with your Twitter, and I love that you have such a great sense of humor about the fact that TMZ called your husband a “man stallion.”
Oh, I know, I thought that was hilarious. Everybody was sending it to me as a joke, and he actually got quite a kick out of it, I think. It’s so funny because I look like I don’t fit in with that family. There are all these little caramel-colored children, and my hot husband, and there I am, this blonde and pale little thing walking along the beach. It’s so funny.
But they called you gorgeous, too, so, well played, you.
[Laughs.] I know, thank God, because I had been feeling so bad about myself for a minute there, then I was like, “Oh, OK.”
Tell me about your guest role on The Mysteries of Laura. You play an online radio host named KC Moss who’s described as a “meddlesome amateur detective.”
She’s just sort of a nosy, busybody, obviously unaware of her surroundings. She wants to change who she was [as a teenager] from the sort of dorky, ignored person to, she becomes this sort of loudmouth, “I won’t be ignored” kind of girl. But she was also very goth when she was younger, so it plays into that sort of personality type. It was really fun for me. There were so many firsts for me, too, just silly things like wearing glasses and being knocked out and bruised … that kind of stuff was fun.
What made the producers think of you for the role?
Actually, I’m not sure. It was just an unexpected surprise to get a phone call to be asked to be on the show. I’ve done a few episodic roles and haven’t really enjoyed the experience very much, but I have to say this was a different experience for me. Everyone was very warm and welcoming. The character was so great to play, very outside of what I usually do. It’s such a great show, such a great cast and crew, and Debra [Messing] at the helm of it is just so wonderful. She is warm and lovely and nothing but a professional. We were just gossiping about mom stuff, about [our sons], so we had a really good time off camera as well.
Hart sports a fake bruise in this selfie with Messing, which she posted on her Instagram page.
What didn’t you like about your past experiences as a guest star on other shows?
It can be tricky, walking on a set when people have been working together for many, many years. And they all have their friendships… it’s sort of like high school, because cliques develop. Trying to break into that, and also you’re nervous, you know, “Am I going to do a good job? Do I know exactly what I’m doing?” It’s different than what I come from, doing comedy. I’m very comfortable with that, and stepping outside of that and doing these more emotional, dramatic roles can be a challenge for me.
But sometimes you can walk onto a set that’s just not very friendly, or there are really dark roles, there are dark things going on. Like when I did Law & Order: SVU, I was playing a rape victim and being accused of rape, and just some very dark stuff. Actually, it was because of that show that I decided to go back to comedy, because I didn’t like the way I felt when I went home at night. I really wanted to go back to making people laugh. But [The Mysteries of Laura] has a lighter side to it, and the character I got to play was not nearly as dark and wasn’t nearly as tortured. So it wasn’t as hard to sleep after a day’s work.
The second half of Melissa & Joey’s final season is coming up in June, and I noticed that the series finale is called “Double Happiness.” Is that a little hint about some big news?
I didn’t think anyone ever saw the episode titles except those of us who read the script! Yeah, there’s a lot of happiness that happens at the end, especially with… there is double happiness. I’ll just say that the writers wrapped it up in a really beautiful little way. Some of my favorite scenes in the whole series happen in that last episode, and I’m not just saying that to get people to watch it. The Emmy nominations are coming up [soon], and there was a scene in the finale that I’m especially proud of that, if I get the chance, I’ll submit it for an Emmy. You kind of see the future for all the characters, you see where they’re going. I know in the future people will be like, “Can we have a reboot? Can we do a reunion?” Honestly, this show, just like I think Sabrina, the Teenage Witch did as well, wrapped up in such a nice way that you already feel like you know where they’re going.
OK, speaking of the reboot/reunion trend right now, I know you filmed a pilot for a spinoff at one point, and [series creator] Mitchell Kriegman has the Clarissa sequel novel coming out later this year. Is there any chance that we could see some kind of Clarissa TV reboot?
Clarissa would be a fun one, I think. Sabrina, I think, is a little tougher. I honestly just think we left Sabrina in a perfect place. I think Clarissa would be really fun. I think Mitchell would do a fantastic job with that character, although I do think reboots are always hard, because as an actor, you can only go back to the well so many times. And when you do, if it’s not fantastic, it’s embarrassing. So, I don’t see that being a very good move for me to move forward in my career. I’d rather have a kind of reboot for my career, the way Neil Patrick Harris has done, move on to something new, fun, sexy, adult, grown up. I’ve done so much of that teenage stuff in my past that I think I’m a little beyond it. I played a teenager until I was 27.
Clarissa as a mom, though? The show was so clever… it could be really fun to see parenthood from her perspective.
That show ended kind of abruptly, and I think there was a lot more story to tell [with] Clarissa. I think there could be another version of that. And Mitchell is just so brilliant. I feel like he could do a really great reboot of that for sure. I never say never, but it would have to be the ideal right situation for me and my family right now.
What would be ideal for you right now, with Melissa & Joey ending? You’ve directed, you’ve produced, you’ve created your own projects, you have your children’s clothing line, King of Hearts. If you could create the perfect project right now, what would it be?
I would do another sitcom for sure. I think sitcoms are so much fun. I feel like TV audiences are just craving good old-fashioned comedy television. Everything that we grew up on… I’m still watching reruns of Friends, Seinfeld, Rules of Engagement, How I Met Your Mother, things that are fun to watch at night. And just make you giggle. That’s sort of the way I’d like to go. Unless, of course, NBC wants to do a spinoff of The Mysteries of Laura.
The Mysteries of Laura airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC; Melissa & Joey returns June 17 at 8 p.m. on ABC Family.
