Nina Dobrev is already a TV veteran at 30, from Degrassi: The Next Generation to The Vampire Diaries. But now she's starring on a sitcom, Fam, and that's an entirely different bundle of nerves. Fam is taped before a live studio audience. It's basically like putting on a play over and over, and then another one for a new audience, and then another one in quick succession. That's totally new to Dobrev, and it stressed her out so much she almost had to take an actual chill pill before taping.
Nina Dobrev revealed her anxiety during a fan Q&A held while Fam Episode 2 was airing on CBS. She replied to a fan who was skeptical that the show really taped before a live audience.
Not only was it terrifying, at first, to perform in front of a live crowd of strangers, the pacing of a sitcom versus a drama also took getting used to. Nina Dobrev said that was the hardest thing for her to learn:
Nina Dobrev spent nearly a decade filming The Vampire Diaries, and she's segued into filming movies with xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Flatliners, Dog Days, and more. But it sounds like now that she's used to Fam's live performance sitcom style, she's hooked:
It has to be a rush to hear the audience laugh after you deliver a funny line, and applaud at the end of a successful taping. But also -- you couldn't pay me enough. Good for Nina Dobrev for stepping out of her comfort zone to do something that scared her, but I am happy to stay on my couch. At least when it comes to live performing.
Nina Dobrev may be happy in her new sitcom world, but she hasn't forgotten her vampire roots. She recently celebrated her 30th birthday with a mini Vampire Diaries reunion. Her fellow TVD alum Candice King also appeared as an alien on The Orville while Dobrev was debuting her new sitcom. Fam had a strong start, doing better in the ratings than previous timeslot holder Murphy Brown. So far, so good.
However, Fam is a timeslot competitor with The Vampire Diaries/The Originals spinoff series Legacies, which airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on The CW. So, starting this week as Legacies returns from winter break on January 24, TVD fans will have to choose Legacies or Fam. Or, technically, they could watch Legacies for half an hour and then switch over to Nina Dobrev's Fam at 9:30 p.m. on CBS. We'll see how that goes. It's a busy busy busy time for TV, so keep up with everything in our 2019 midseason schedule.
