“Rules of Engagement” star Megyn Price has a degree in economics from Stanford University. But even she can’t figure out what’s going on with the ratings numbers for her CBS comedy.
“It is confusing. Every time CBS puts us on the schedule, we get good ratings,” Price says during a telephone interview just days before the return of “Rules of Engagement.” The series offers a variety of looks at relationships. There’s the married couple played by Price and Patrick Warburton. Oliver Hudson and Bianca Kajlich are an engaged couple. And David Spade is a bachelor.
It launched in February 2007 as a midseason replacement. The ratings for the initial batch of seven shows were good enough to get it a second-season order. The show returned in September for a writers-strike-disrupted 15- episode run. CBS ordered a third season.
That’s what starts at 8:30 tonight on KCNC-Channel 4.
All 13 episodes for this season have been filmed. Price says the only good thing to come from the long layoff was that it gave the show’s writers more time. She’s particularly happy with the way they have developed her character.
“I think the first two seasons, Audrey was just the wife. But she has blossomed in this very ultra-human character. I think the writers, because they had time to work under the radar, have found my character,” Price says.
In tonight’s season-opener, Audrey convinces her husband they can have separate interests. Hers is theater. His is boat shows. Audrey becomes even more defined next week when she volunteers to read to the elderly.
It took a career right turn for Price to get to this point in her life. She had been accepted after high school to attend the performing arts school Juilliard but opted to go to Stanford. Price loved acting but figured the odds of being able to make a living that way were against her. It took only a short stint working as an investment banker for her to realize she would rather be dealing with situation comedy than the economy.
After a series of guest-starring spots on TV shows, Price was cast as a series regular on “LateLine.” Since then, she’s starred in “Grounded for Life” before landing the “Rules” role.
One thing the writers have gotten right, suggests Price, is how the married couple fights. The two often are at odds with each other. Price likes that they fight, but never go so far as to make you think they hate each other.
“I watch comedies, and the couples fight so much you wonder why they would stay together,” Price says. “Our characters don’t fight mean. The writers have found a way to make them fight without being nasty. The arguments get heated, but you know they still care for each other.” Price sees her role in “Rules of Engagement” as being very similar to her role in “Grounded for Life.” The two shows did not try to paint their married couples as being perfect. Price says each couple “was allowed to mess up.”
