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CLIFF LIPSON/CBS ©2017 CBS BROADCASTING, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

All I n

The

F amily

J

Mark Feuerstein

developed, writes

and stars in his new

sitcom — based on

his own life.

TIMOTHY KURATEK/CBS

SUZANNE CHESSLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Mark Feuerstein

TOP: Feuerstein, Liza Lapira, David
Walton, Linda Lavin and Elliott
Gould star in 9JKL.

details

9JKL premieres at 8:30 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 2, on CBS.

osh Roberts
Roberts, a recent
divorcé and out-of-work
actor, recently returned to
New York City after 12 years liv-
ing in L.A.
Mark Feuerstein may not be
able to relate to those exact
details in the character he por-
trays in his new sitcom, 9JKL.
But there are plenty of others.
For a time, Feuerstein lived in
a New York apartment exactly
in between apartments occu-
pied by his parents on one side
and his brother’s family on the
other side.
“When I shared with a pro-
ducer how I was living, he said,
‘That’s a TV show,’” Feuerstein
recalls. “I said, ‘You’re right,’ and
I was so grateful when he called
me and said, ‘Let’s make it.’ I
was even more grateful when
my wife agreed to come on
board.”
9JKL, which debuts Oct. 2
on CBS and is named after his
apartment number, is a takeoff
on his own experiences — par-
ticularly his parents. Feuerstein
developed and is writing it with
his wife, Dana Klein, a writer
and producer for Friends.
Also on board is Linda Lavin
as his mom, making for a
reunion of sorts — Lavin played
his mom in the 1998 sitcom
Conrad Bloom. In that show, she
was a widow; this time, Elliott
Gould plays her husband. (Actor
Matt Murray, who plays the
doorman, is from Detroit.)
Feuerstein’s more recent TV
credits include Royal Pains,

Break and Nurse Jackie.
Prison Brea
Among his feature film credits
are Defiance, In Her Shoes and
Abandon. His Broadway debut
cast him in the starring role
for Alfred Uhry’s Tony Award-
winning play The Last Night of
Ballyhoo.
Feuerstein, who grew up in
New York, entered Princeton
thinking he would study inter-
national relations but found
acting. The son of an attorney
and teacher of teachers, he
auditioned for a play and got
caught up in theater. Feuerstein
went on to win a Fulbright
scholarship and studied at the
London Academy of Music and
Dramatic Arts. As his career
progressed, he describes his
parents as shepping nachas
(deriving pleasure) from watch-
ing him perform.
“There are things in the
pilot that are absolutely real,”
Feuerstein explains. “My father
really did make me develop a
viral video for his law firm in
which we acted together, and I
hope to show it on a talk show.
In the pilot, I have a date, and
my father shoves a piece of
melon down her throat. That
really happened on a date with
a girl I brought to our country
house; it was mortifying and
guaranteed that I wouldn’t get
that far with her.”
The family’s Judaism also is
brought into the show.
“We’re so obviously culturally
Jewish that when it comes to
[winter] holiday time, there’s no

question that we’re going to be
doing the Jewish version of it,”
he says. “We haven’t pressed the
issue of religion because it’s hard
for a new show to be that explicit
about religion.”
Away from the screen, and at
a difficult time in the family’s
life, the Feuersteins found hope
through the rabbi at their spiri-
tual community, IKAR (meaning
essence) in Los Angeles. The
couple has three children, and
the youngest, now 7, needed
heart surgery.
“The rabbi just showed up at
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles,
and we sat on the grass lawn in
front of the hospital and said a
prayer,” Feuerstein says. “When
things are completely out of your
control, you can turn to faith for
sustenance.
“The rabbi was there, and
Judaism was there; and God
smiled down on us. That’s why I
get to visit my daughter’s school
and look at her self-portrait. She’s
doing fantastic, thanks to the
brilliant surgeon, who also oper-
ated on Jimmy Kimmel’s son.”
With this new series,
Feuerstein gets a little stressed
splitting his time on roles beyond
the character he is portraying.
He thinks about how lucky he is
to reduce tension.
“I’m creator, writer, director
and executive producer, and my
wife and I are constantly edit-
ing the episodes that we’ve been
making,” he says. “The show
follows in the tradition of shows
like Arrested Development and

jn

Everybody Loves Raymond in
telling a truthful and grounded
approach to the complications
of family.
“On the one hand, everybody
wants what’s best for themselves,
but, on the other hand, we can-
not live without each other. You
navigate that line, and when
you’re a very enmeshed family,
like mine is, you’re very close,
and it becomes tricky.
“My character is trying to find
the woman of his dreams and
get another job in television or
movies, and it’s very hard for him
to do all that with the family con-
stantly interfering. “
Feuerstein’s experience beyond
acting was gained with Royal
Pains. He wrote and directed rap
videos that promoted the show,
and he directed episodes.
While so many actors do a
series and then fall out of the
limelight, Feuerstein, 46, maneu-
vers ways to keep appearing in
the spotlight.
“I know if I sit around and
wait for someone else to create
something for me, I won’t be
able to rely on the kindness of
strangers,” he explains. “I try to
[be instrumental in making]
my own good luck.
“I have a few projects carved
out of my deal with CBS
because I wanted to preserve
the right to develop projects.
One idea is based on profes-
sional wrestling, and another is
connected to Hollywood agent-
ing. I’m always trying to keep
an iron in the fire.” •

September 28 • 2017

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