Kristin Davis says 'Labor of Love' aims to be an adult version of 'The Bachelor.'
Kristin Davis is opening up about hosting the highly anticipated show Labor of Love, a bold new take on the dating reality series genre.
ET's Lauren Zima spoke to the 55-year-old actress on Wednesday about Labor of Love, a dating series following Kristy Katzmann, a 41-year old successful career woman who's ready to start a family and have a child but hasn't found the perfect man. Katzmann is matched with 15 attractive and like-minded suitors on the show who are hoping to start a family as well. The series premieres Thursday on Fox.
Davis shared that it took a year and a half to find Katzmann's suitors, which makes sense given the extremely high stakes of the show -- having a child together.
"They had cast a really wide net because obviously it wasn't our regular reality show -- 25-year-olds -- that Kristy wanted," Davis says. "And we were just trying to please Kristy. ... She really wanted an equal, so we had to find someone who was really successful, and getting those people to leave their jobs was a whole thing. It took a lot."
Davis said the series aims to be a more adult version of The Bachelor. Each week on the show, the aspiring fathers-to-be face challenges that put their parenting and partnership skills to the test. If they prove worthy, they advance to the next week, and for those who don't, Katzmann lets them know that she doesn't see herself starting a family with them.
"The idea was to open up this conversation about people waiting in life to have babies and get married, it inherently meant we needed to have a different base of people, and because Kristy was so successful," Davis explains. "To find someone equal to her meant that we had to go outside of the normal parameters in terms of what we were looking for, and I think that's what makes us different, and also our challenges are super different. ... They bring about really funny and extreme behavior, which is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, which I'm pleased about currently, especially."
ET also spoke to Katzmann on Wednesday, who shared why the show was a perfect fit for her.
"At the time the show had crossed my path, I had just turned 40," she says. "I felt like my dating pool really shifted dramatically at that time. Talk about dating with pressure, right? I obviously was up against a biological clock that just is what it is. I still wanted to be a mom and I had to figure out a way to make that happen. I was looking into pursuing motherhood on my own, but I hesitated because I really wanted to have that experience with someone. I really wanted to fall in love and start a family with that person, so when the show crossed my path, it really seemed like the perfect solution. It really fit seamlessly in my life, and I thought, here's an opportunity to date a group of amazing men that have been handpicked for me and vetted and they're ready to become fathers too. Why wouldn't I do it?"
The challenge on the premiere episode is the suitors all submitting their sperm for testing. Katzmann says that the jaw-dropping challenge actually set the tone of the show perfectly.
"Talk about awkward first date, I mean, this really is the king right here," she jokes. "But, you know, even though it was uncomfortable, secretly, I was so pleased because we needed to set this tone right off the bat. These guys said they were there and ready to become fathers, but what better way to test them than put them through something like this? Any man who was willing to do this right after meeting me on TV, he's pretty serious about the process. So in a weird way, it actually like, calmed any fears I had about these men not being here for the right reasons."
"I did expect half of them to leave. I really did," she continues. "I was waiting for them to start running down the driveway. They didn't. You know, I think we consistently saw them step up week after week, and it was really impressive, so they definitely got my attention with the kind of grace that they handled this situation with and their, just, willingness to go for it."
Davis admitted the logistics of the first challenge were hilariously awkward, as they waited around for the men to submit their sperm.
"I didn't realize that we were gonna stand there, like, I think I was supposed to leave, but they were talking to Kristy and Kristy really wanted to see them," she recalled. "She'd been so looking forward to meeting them and they didn't wanna leave her there, so I was just standing there and I didn't realize like, we were gonna stand there and wait. So, I'm talking to my producer like, in my mic, like, 'Help us, help us.'"
"I didn't wanna shake their hands when they came out of the trailer," she also cracks. "I didn't know what to do. I was like, I'm gonna step back. There was Purell because our producer and I asked that question. It was intense."
Meanwhile, despite some epic television cast reunions happening during the coronavirus pandemic, Davis also tells ET that there are no plans for a Sex and the City reunion. She did, however, comment on how the famously fashionable cast would handle wearing masks.
"We'd have some special masks," she says. "They would be bedazzled or, you know, whatnot. I don't know what would happen. They'd be special."
She also joked about how her beloved Sex and the City character, Charlotte York, would react to the current health care crisis.
"Charlotte would be like, an ace at the quarantine," Davis says. "She would've been ready. She would've had everything stocked and everything would be like, bleached down. You would be safe if you were around Charlotte. Let me tell you."
RELATED CONTENT:
