Leighton Meester Talks Good Cop/Bad Cop’s Quirky Gilmore Girls-Meets-Twin Peaks Vibe, Adam Brody’s Guest Spot
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Good Cop/Bad Cop’s series premiere.
Former Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester has spent several years now making viewers laugh in TV sitcoms such as the beloved ABC comedy Single Parents, Hulu’s How I Met Your Father and Fox’s far too short-lived Making History. So at first glance, a one-hour series titled Good Cop/Bad Cop might seem like a departure for the actress.
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But as those who tuned into Wednesday’s series premiere found, there’s a lot of humor in the quirky police dramedy — a co-production between The CW, The Roku Channel, Australia’s Stan and ITV Studios — not to mention plenty of messy family dynamics.
“Because it is a detour a little bit, giving myself a little bit of something different is always a really great challenge for me,” Meester tells TVLine. “But at the same time, I really was excited to take on a comedy again because it’s just such a fun space to live in. And when I read the script, I, actually, was really laughing and excited to say the lines as they were, and then also collaborate and enjoy playing with it. So that’s kind of the best of all worlds.”
Meester stars as Lou, a small-town detective in the Pacific Northwest who is forced to partner up with her socially-challenged brother Henry (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s Luke Cook). And the police chief handing down the order? That would be their father, Big Hank (Dexter: New Blood’s Clancy Brown). There are plenty of hurt feelings between the trio: Henry wrote a critical editorial about their dad, then left town after Hank only hired Lou out of the police academy. Plus, Henry reveals to Lou that Hank brought him in to offset her weaknesses, like how she’s too nice.
All those elements combine to form a unique series that’s “a little mixture of, like, Gilmore Girls with Twin Peaks,” Meester describes. “It’s family, fun, quippy sitcom dialogue that’s very heartwarming, and then you’ve got the police station, small Pacific Northwest town with quirky townspeople and the detectives on the scene. So that mix kind of makes sense to me, even though those two things don’t necessarily seem like they go together.”
Below, Meester talks about her character’s sibling dynamic, her husband Adam Brody’s guest spot and whether she might visit his Netflix comedy, Nobody Wants This.
TVLINE | One of the things that sets this show apart is, usually, you would see a central partnership or relationship with some sort of will they/won’t they element, but here, it’s a sibling one. What does that dynamic allow you to explore as the season progresses that’s different and maybe more enjoyable for you?
Well, the really nice thing about this dynamic is that, obviously, we’re the odd couple, but we have a common goal, and while we’re very different, and we have different expectations of each other than a regular two-detective duo would normally have, we have a lot of baggage coming into the relationship. At the same time, there’s a relationship that we both really care about making work and a deep connection with a lot of history, and we get to grow and learn from each other, and it’s a really fun dynamic both in the comedic and then heartfelt sort of pieces.
TVLINE | Did you and Luke immediately have that sibling chemistry, or was that something you had to work at?
Honestly, from my point of view, it absolutely was pretty much instant. I think we both have a similar sense of humor. He brings a lot of really good energy and really good feeling to a set and to a scene. He’s just really so talented and quick, really fun and funny, and I think we’re very much on the same wavelength. So I didn’t ever have, like, a sort of adjustment period to being brother and sister with him.
TVLINE | And Clancy Brown is playing your dad, who is a fantastic actor with a long resume. What was it like establishing that father/daughter dynamic with him?
It was quite nice. He definitely comes in [and] makes you feel very much like a collaborator. He’s got a good sense of humor. He’s very warm. He wears his heart on his sleeve and is very open with his heart and his emotions. He’s super funny, and I feel like he gets me, which is a nice feeling, and he just can absolutely carry a scene. He’s a really great person to work with and to know.
TVLINE | There are a lot of complicated family dynamics here. Once things are more out in the open in the premiere, about their dad only hiring Lou out of the academy and him bringing Henry on because Lou’s too nice, does that create a space for understanding and conversation? Or does it just cause more tension between the three of them as the season progresses?
I think it’s a little bit of both. It ebbs and flows. There is some resentment and, obviously, some humor that we have to bring to it, which is really enjoyable, trying to play the sibling rivalry a bit. My character is close to her dad, and has always stayed close to him, and works under him directly. So when her brother comes in, she sort of gets her feathers ruffled, and her imperfections or her shortcomings are being pointed out to her more because a sibling will definitely do that, maybe more so than a parent. So she has to kind of stand her ground and defend herself a little bit more than she’s used to and be called out, and then she also has to be the boss over her younger brother, who doesn’t want to be bossed around.
TVLINE | Lou is a woman working in a male-dominated field, with her father as her boss and her brother as her partner. What kind of challenges does that present for her?
I think she’s learned, for better or worse, that she has to kind of put her emotions, her personal feelings, on the back burner a lot. Things that she never really worked on or figured out from her past. When they were growing up, their mother left and kind of never came back, and she became, instantly, as I think many young women do, sort of the mother of the family and felt the automatic placement as the caretaker, and she took on a lot without really exploring how she felt about it. So it really was a joy to uncover that and explore, just as an actor, throughout the season, that particular piece of history for this character that was so well-written and just really dig into that. But I think she also has, by default, become almost like the son her father never had. She has to kind of be perfect all the time, and they get along very well, naturally, and all of their interests and tastes and methods kind of align. So when her brother comes in, and he’s so different from her, I think it reflects back on her just what her shortcomings are, and she’s sort of forced to face them.
TVLINE | When we posted the trailer for the show, I spotted your husband, Adam Brody, in there. What kind of character does he play?
In one of the episodes, he comes in as a very quirky, odd duck, and he’s a doctor who has become a vet. Don’t ask me to make it make total sense, but that’s kind of the fun of the show. He helps us, maybe unintentionally, to solve a crime, and we get to interview him and track him down.
TVLINE | This isn’t the first time the two of you have shared the screen. What do you enjoy about acting together?
Well, he’s my favorite actor, and he’s my favorite person. So the two of those things just make for a wonderful day at work. I get to be with my best friend, who I love and look up to. I always forget that I’m watching him when I am, and whenever I work with him, it feels very secondhand, and there’s so much love and trust. So I’m just grateful every time I get to be on set with him.
TVLINE | When I was doing the press junket for Nobody Wants This, I asked creator Erin Foster this, and now I get to ask you: Could we see you on Nobody Wants This Season 2? Is that something you’ve talked about with Adam?
Oh, that would be really fun. I’m a big fan. So, yeah, that would be awesome. [Editor’s Note: The day after this interview was published, it was announced that Meester will guest-star on the Netflix series.]
TVLINE | Kristen Bell said that her husband, Dax, had a very visceral reaction to watching her and Adam, and was really rooting for their characters to get together. How did you feel watching the show, and watching that first kiss that was so hyped and them falling in love?
Like I said, whenever I watch him onscreen, I just forget it’s him, really, and this show is no exception. I just am a huge fan of the show and of his work, and so, I, like most of the audience, was really rooting for the two of them, and I loved how deeply developed both the characters were and how they got to be these imperfect people, finding each other.
TVLINE | Do you have a favorite scene or moment from the show?
Honestly, all of it’s pretty good. I liked watching all the basketball stuff. I thought that was pretty funny.
TVLINE | This is not TV-related, but I was so happy to see people talking about your music on social media recently, because I love Heartstrings. It’s a great album. Do you have any plans to get back into music?
I do. I have been a little bit more focused on acting, but I think in the next year or so, I’ll be putting a little bit more energy into music, and whenever I have time, I enjoy writing and recording. So, hopefully, I’ll be able to put some new music out, but I have no concrete plans for it.
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