‘Are We There Yet?’ interviews with Ice Cube, Terry Crews, Essence Atkins

The new sitcom takes up where the first movie ended, about six months into the new marriage of Suzanne and Nick. Suzanne’s two kids are trying (sometimes reluctantly) to accept the new daddy in their lives as the newlyweds struggle to merge their lives.

“It’s when things are starting to get real,” said Crews. “The honeymoon period is over and he has numerous complaints about that.”

Essence Atkins ("Half and Half"), who plays Suzanne, said she thinks a lot of people "will relate to maintaining a full-time job and being independent and managing your kids and your life and now you're not sure how to incorporate the new person."

“They’re a family and I wasn’t,” Crews said. “That’s a whole different dynamic. That takes trust and it takes time. I’m trying to rush it a little bit.”

And Crews will take advantage of his penchant for physical humor.

“When all else fails,” Crews cracked, “fall down!”

Ice Cube did not want to be tied down as the lead character as he was in the movies. So he is executive producer and shows up as Suzanne’s protective older brother. (In one episode where he pops up, the applause is huge when he shows up, so much so that he has to wait several beats before he says anything.)

How important is Ice Cube to the project? His face – not those of Terry and Essence – is on the billboards in Atlanta.

Effectively, TBS is creating a night of sitcoms geared to African Americans that Fox did back in the 1990s and UPN and the CW this past decade. Tyler’s first-run sitcoms regularly draw 2.5 to 3 million viewers a week. Placing “Are We There Yet?” in between Perry’s two hit shows is about as strong a position as a sitcom can get.

And Perry is on board with the project, Ice Cube said. Perry invited his crew to come to his Atlanta studios to see how the Atlanta mogul puts his show together in a much quicker fashion than typical sitcoms (and naturally, much cheaper.). “He’s been really helpful putting this together,” Ice Cube said.

Cable budgets are far smaller than broadcast so the trick is to make it look just as good. “Be smart,” Ice Cube said. “We do a lot of pre-planning. If you do it right, you can pull off miracles. The comedy is in the writing and the interactions with the family. It’s not in the locations or amount of locations.”

“It’s an escalated pace,” Atkins said. “We love that. It’s more money quicker!”

The first ten episodes will feature a few cameos, including comic Charlie Murphy as Suzanne's ex.

“I’ll try to get all my homeys to come through and sprinkle the show every now and then,” Ice Cube said.

Oddly, people think Murphy and Crews look alike although Crews said he weighs “200 pounds more.” “Suzanne,” Atkins said, “likes it bald. She has a type.”

Ten episodes is definitely a test. But Ice Cube hopes if it gels, he “can imagine getting into a 30-episode groove where we can really have fun. TBS gets a chance to test drive us before they really commit. And we get a chance to make sure it’s a quality product before we commit.”

Ice Cube acknowledges “Are We There Yet?” isn’t cutting edge. “It’s family fare. I’m going for the cheap seats so to speak. To me, it’s a situational comedy where you’re really dealing with a real-life situation that I believe is funny. We’ll see what the audience thinks.”

Here’s the video interview with Essence and Terry at Turner Studios last month before the pair taped “The Mo’Nique Show.”

And if you really like Terry Crews, check him out in these wacky Old Spice commercials. “That’s my humor,” he said.

He also recently aired his “Family Crews” reality show on BET, which did well and should be back for a second season.

And we all love him as Julius on ‘Everybody Hates Chris,” Mr. Cheapskate:

Here’s the original “Are We There Yet” trailer:

And the trailer for the TBS sitcom:

ON TV

“Are We There Yet?” on TBS at 9 p.m. Wednesdays