‘It’s a man’s world,” says Fran Drescher, when asked why it’s more acceptable for older men to date younger women than the other way around. But even as far back as the Founding Fathers, the idea of Mr. May loving Ms. December was not beyond consideration.
Ben Franklin wrote a whole treatise on the virtues of romancing an older woman, whether it’s her greater knowledge, wisdom and practical skills (“Every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement,” he observed), or the last reason, “They are so grateful!”
It’s also a situation that Drescher (“The Nanny”) knows very well, having spent four years with a man 16 years her junior, who helped her recover from the trauma of uterine cancer. After writing about the relationship in her 2002 book, “Cancer Schmancer,” Drescher was busy developing a TV show based on the romance. Coincidentally, actor-producer Jamie Kennedy was developing a similar show at the same time.
The two came together, and the result, “Living With Fran,” premieres Friday on The WB Network. Drescher plays Fran Reeves, a recently divorced, 40-something interior decorator who’s fallen for her hunky, mid-20s contractor, Riley (Ryan McPartlin, “Passions”). Fran’s daughter, 15-year-old Allison (Misti Traya, “Joan of Arcadia,” “Huff”) is coping fine with the new arrangement, but the unexpected return of Fran’s 21-year-old son, Josh (Ben Feldman), upends this cozy domesticity.
After a mental breakdown that caused him to chase a male nurse with a bone saw, Josh has been kicked out of medical school and ordered to return to the nest. He’s none too happy to find his mother with a big, blond beau only a few years older than he is — and to top it off, his old room is now a gym.
With her chocolate Pomeranian, Esther Drescher, tucked in her lap, Drescher takes a break from filming in Culver City, Calif., to talk about the show, with some help from parents Sylvia and Morty Drescher, who are guest starring in the episode currently in production. Morty previously appeared in “The Nanny,” and both appeared in that show’s recent reunion special on Lifetime.
In a dressing room that’s a riotous combination of leopard print and pink, Drescher says, “Jamie’s idea was a little further along with The WB than mine. I wasn’t exactly sure whether I wanted to do another sitcom, but I thought this was a good area to explore if I did.
“I have a lot of ideas for stories, because I lived it. I’m really liking it. I get to hug and kiss that beautiful man every week.”
“He’s so delicious!” Sylvia chimes in. “He is beautiful.”
“I think it’s very timely,” Drescher says. “It’s a relationship that has not been explored in sitcoms.”
Ironically, Feldman was the first one cast, “which was exciting and nerve-racking at the same time,” he says, taking a break in the audience bleachers. “They had all these ideas who was going to play my mom, and some of them scared me, to be honest. I was hoping and praying from the second I heard her name that they were going to go with Fran.”
