ShareThisBy TERRY MORROW
Thursday, November 02, 2006
With "The Class," Jason Ritter is facing one of his fears.
For years he resisted doing a sitcom because he anticipated comparisons to his late father, John Ritter. When your father is a sitcom legend ("Three's Company," "8 Simple Rules"), expectations are high, he says.
"My agent sent me the script for 'The Class' and I was very nervous about it," he says. "I had auditioned for other sitcoms before, but I always messed them up. I would get so nervous I would choke."
Before many auditions, well-meaning casting directors would approach him and whisper, "I just want to tell you before you start (acting for us): Your father was a genius. Everything that came out of his mouth was comedy gold."
Then an anxious Jason would perform a scene for them, knowing his next job depended on their opinion of what he is doing. Afterward, "there was a palpable sense of disappointment," he says. "You know how they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree? Well, you could tell they thought this apple fell from a tree that was on the side of a hill. The apple rolled downhill to a stream where it was eaten by a cow that walked a couple of miles away."
When he auditioned for "The Class" (8:30 p.m., EST/PST, Mondays, CBS), the atmosphere was different. For one, Ritter was calmer. And he actually liked the script.
He plays "ultra-sensitive" Dr. Ethan Haas, who is reunited with classmates from the third grade on the night his girlfriend dumps him. Unlike the personable Ritter, who grew up amid the bright lights of his dad's Hollywood career, Ethan the character is socially awkward.
The 26-year-old Ritter, however, says he and Ethan do have one thing in common: They are both nerds. "To be cool, you have to be aware of it," he says. "(Ethan) gets very excited about things that other people might not care about ... I have always been accused of being oblivious.
"I am very easily distracted. My friends and I will walk down the street. They will turn around and say, 'Where's Jason?' I'll be several feet behind them, staring at something shiny."
Despite his pedigree, Ritter says he has not been a big fan of the sitcom format. "They all try to be so witty. It's usually set up (the joke) and (deliver the) punch line. That's all the scripts do," he says. "This one was different."
"The Class" is the brainchild of David Crane ("Friends") and Jeffrey Klarik ("Mad About You"). Ritter found the jokes to be smart and the characters fully formed.
"On this show, the jokes have room to breathe, and there is some humanity in them," he says. "The comedy cares about the other characters and not just about the person who's making a joke."
He's not sure if doing a sitcom was his destiny, but he's sure doing "The Class" is the right thing to do.
"In my life, I have always tried to face things that scare me," he says. "If (my fear) is all about my own ego, I force myself to do it anyway. It's very, very scary. That is what I am doing here."
