We wanted to try to see if we could take something as traditionally structured as a half-hour TV comedy format and actually bring improvisation to it.

We wanted a half-hour comedy that was not joke-driven in the traditional sense. You're laughing because you recognize the characters as people you're possibly related to yourself.

I?m not quite as neurotic.

The casting process wasn't so much about them being a character, which is the normal way. The character had to become them.... You've got to bring 70 percent, 80 percent of yourself to the party. And an actor's either willing to expose themselves like that, or they're not.

But it's also a bottomless pit for story ideas.

Where I come from and where Nick comes from, there are a lot of divorces. People are giving it a second go-around on a bunch of different levels.