Hallmark, the comfort food of TV, is serving up a fresh series that revolves around the real-life comfort food of fried chicken — and you’re definitely going to want to dig in. Based on the bestselling novel The Chicken Sisters by KJ Dell’Antonia, Hallmark’s new show of the same name has all the ingredients to become your favorite cozy fall show to stream: family drama, small-town charm, midwestern wholesomeness (and maybe meddlesomeness, too?), and a star-stacked cast bringing to life complicated, colorful, and irresistible characters.
The eight-episode first season will introduce the generations-old rivalry between competing fried chicken restaurants Mimi’s and Frannie’s in the fictional town of Merinac, Kansas. Each restaurant has a matriarch at the helm, with Gus (Wendie Malick) fronting the more rustic hole-in-the-wall that is Mimi’s and Nancy (Lea Thompson) running Frannie’s alongside her son Frank Jr. (James Kot) and daughter-in-law Amanda (Schuyler Fisk).
Making things even more complicated? Amanda is actually Gus’ daughter, and once she reaches out to a reality show that could give one of the restaurants a chance to win $100,000, her sister Mae (Genevieve Angelson) returns to town to help their mom.
To get the scoop on what makes this show so special, Scary Mommy hopped on a Zoom with #TeamMimi’s Malick and Angelson. Here’s what they had to say about working with a cast of (almost) all women, their best advice for nipping feuds in the bud, and why fans should keep their ears peeled for a musical cameo.
Scary Mommy: This show is so sweet and special. What really drew you to your roles as Mae and Gus, respectively?
Genevieve Angelson: It was everyone involved in it. When you see that the people who are making a show are from Shrinking, Girls5eva, Schitt’s Creek, and Younger, you don’t say ‘no.’ You say, ‘Yes, I want to be a part of… That’s the Cool Kid Club, and I want to be in it.’
Wendie Malick: And for me, it was the women involved — because it was mostly women, both in front of and behind the camera — and the chance to play a character that I’ve never gotten close to playing before. It was just a chance to stretch and be in the room with people I really like.
SM: Wendie, you also starred in Hot in Cleveland, another show with four female leads. What do you love most about this type of dynamic?
WM: There is just a different vibe. I love men, but there’s something so unique about getting to tell stories from a woman’s point of view. It’s so rare to be on a set where it really is about the women. And even the men who came and played with us — there were a few good men on our crew — all had a really highly developed feminine side. I mean that in the best possible way; they just really supported us.
It was like a social kind of thing. Even though we all took it seriously enough to do our jobs and bring our best to the dance, it still was just incredibly celebratory and joyful. And I think it was because we realized it’s a rare thing to have a female-driven show and one that is this rich and juicy where we invite men in to visit, but they don’t get to stay.
Genevieve Angelson: Yeah, I have to say this was not one of those shows where you disappear to your trailer on your lunch break. We ate together; we hung out on the weekends. It’s the most sincere admiration club, truly.
SM: Genevieve, it goes without saying that Wendie and Lea Thompson are legends. What do you feel like you’ve learned working so closely with them?
GA: I honestly just so appreciated it. Apart from their body of work and their crafts as artists, they have these full lives. They are totally in love with their significant others; it seems like these decades-long romances are still boys they have crushes on. They’ve got families they’re involved in, charity work they have. I mean, it’s just-
WM: Animals. I have animals.
GA: Animals. They both have ranches. (laughs) It’s just their lives are so cool. And I think it really makes a difference when you see someone doing the thing actually in the flesh, and it’s not an idea in your head of what you want. It’s incredibly comforting to know that it can be so.
WM: And these youngins, I have to say, they really brought it and were so professional, so prepared, and so much fun to be with. It was like before you go and join a cast and know you’re going out of town for three months, you never quite know how that’s going to be … and it was such a wonderful, pleasant surprise to just see that they just are familiar. We became a family really, really fast.
In fact, Schuyler’s mom, Sissy Spacek, who was there helping her out with her kids, had rented a house on the water. We were all there every Sunday. We’d all show up and make a salad or bring something over. It just became this extended family in the best possible way.
SM: Has this been a nice mental palate cleanser from your character in The Handmaid’s Tale?
GA: Find yourself a girl who can do both. You know what I mean? (laughs) Yes. I mean, on the one hand, 100% it’s a mental palate cleanser. Living in that world was challenging. Although I think that that set does a very good job at finding levity when they say cut.
But, listen, I came to do this show from New York, and going to spend several months away from the people you love in Vancouver could go a number of different ways. And making this particular material, which was so funny, with these artists who are so gifted and so smart and so kind, was really just, yeah, dope.
SM: As we’re reminded in The Chicken Sisters, families are complicated, and tiffs happen. Wendie, what’s your advice for burying the hatchet, so to speak?
WM: I have a friend who’s really taught me a lot because she’s been the cautionary tale for me. For her, it’s more important to be right than to be happy. And I think you have to, at some point, go, ‘You know what? This is where this person is in their journey. I’m not going to change them. So, do I have it in my heart to forgive them and to accept them where they are?’
That’s a huge leap for a lot of people, but once you make it, you realize you’re free — you don’t have to hold on to old grudges and blame. In the course of this series, we really see how people begin to heal, and that love eventually will conquer all of this insecurity and shame and stuff that goes on.
I think the most wonderful thing they did in this series was to allow us to go deeper into some of the hurts and vulnerabilities of these characters to see why they’re damaged. And then, through humor, join them on this journey that’s going to take them toward the light and toward forgiveness.
SM: I’m going to internalize that advice! Well, people obviously love shows like this that feel nostalgic. Is there any chance we’ll ever get a Just Shoot Me reboot?
WM: We’ve actually talked about that because we’re all still friends, and I don’t know if it would make sense to revisit that without George [Segal] — that would be a huge hole in that he was our fearless leader in a way. But I adore-
GA: What you’re saying is, ‘Yes. Yes.’
WM: Who knows? I think sometimes people try to find lightning for the second time in the bottle, but that sometimes it’s better to hold on to what was so wonderful about it and that you actually brought it to an end and to let that be. That didn’t really answer the question. (laughs)
SM: That’s fair. I’m just going to then hold on to hope that Schuyler and Genevieve will do some music together since Schuyler hinted at that!
WM: Oh, I think they’re going to do that anyway.
GA: Yeah, that’s the plan.
WM: Maybe you’ll sing a little song for us next season.
GA: Maybe sooner.
WM: Maybe sooner.
The first episode of The Chicken Sisters is streaming now on Hallmark+, with new episodes dropping every Thursday starting on Sept. 12, 2024.
This interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity.
