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A quickie with “Exes & Ohs” creator Michelle Paradise

Writer-producer Michelle Paradise is one smart, funny and patient lady. Her lesbian series, Exes & Ohs, first aired on LOGO in 2009, and fans promptly fell in love with Jen, the single girl looking for love; Sam, the player who never met a hot girl she didn’t like; Crutch, the babydyke with a guitar and a dream; and Chris and Kris, a couple who share a name, a home, and a love of animals bordering on maniacal. After a two-year wait, Season 2 finally airs tonight, so we caught up with Michelle to ask her what’s up with Jen and the girls, where has the show been, and how are things at the Beever Café?

AfterEllen.com: What are we going to see this season? Michelle Paradise: Absolutely nothing. [Laughs] There is nothing to see.

AE: Good to know! MP: No, no. I’m kidding.

AE: The end. MP: The end and the interview is done. Thanks a lot. [Laughs] No, it’s going to be a great season. We pick up Jen [played by Paradise] with her dating woes. She’s back in the dating pool and she’s trying to find Ms. Right but she’ll have to take on a few new obstacles this season. There are some exes that reappear and possibly a sex tape of some kind. We’ll see how that goes.

Sam (Marnie Alton) is doing her best to explore relationships, potentially monogamy and Chris and Kris (Megan Cavanagh and Angela Featherstone, respectively) will be starting a family, so it’s pretty much picking up Season 1 where we left off, and taking this gals to the next places in their lives. Season 2 has all the fun that everyone came to expect from Season 1.

AE: Yeah, yeah. Did you say sex tape? MP: [Laughs] There may be. There may have been an accidental sort of thing. I don’t know, you’ll have to see. AE: Very intriguing! Do you think Jen will ever find love? MP: I sure hope so. That would be sad if she doesn’t. That’s kind of her journey. She really wants to find Ms. Right and hopefully someday she will. Will it be this season? I don’t know. You’ll have to find out.

AE: Why are you never helpful? MP: [Laughs] Tune in and find out.

AE: What kind of parents do you think Chris and Kris will make? MP: I think they’re going to be great parents. You know, they’re a little bit older, so they’re prepared. And as we saw last season, they really want to have a baby, and they’ve been trying. That’s what this season is going to be about for them. Well, it will be them, getting ready for that, and some hilarity will also ensue because they are Chris and Kris.

AE: Heather Matarazzo, who played Crutch in Season 1, isn’t in the show this season. What gives? MP: We love Heather. The schedule was a bit wonky in terms of when we were going to be able to finish writing the second season and shooting everything. When it came time to shoot, she was working on films and her schedule just didn’t work out for us. We felt really lucky to have her for the first season and were bummed that she couldn’t come back, but we’re really excited we have a new character named Devin, played by Jennifer Spence, who is absolutely fantastic. We love her and we feel really happy that we got her. She fits right into the gang. Hopefully people watching the show will like her as well. AE: Devin’s the sassy one? MP: Yes, she is.

AE: Why did Logo wait so long to air Season 2? MP: Good question. I think it’s a timing thing. They were going through things internally, with their audience changing, and that sort of stuff. Ultimately, when we finished the show, it wasn’t the right time for them to actually air it. They were expanding the network and the brand, so they waited until they would have more viewers and more reach. That time seems to be now.

When the show didn’t come out immediately, we were initially disappointed but they did a really good job of keeping in touch with me about it. I’m very appreciative that the viewers have stuck around. It’s been a really long time and the fact that there are still people aware of the show and still interested in the show and excited for it to come back is amazing.

We’re all so proud of the work that we did and we’re excited that it’s out there and the people can see it now.

AE: Will there be a Season 3? MP: I think the answer to that is Logo won’t be able to decide on a Season 3 until they see how Season 2 goes, which is what happened with Season 1. With Season 1, there was a bit of a delay from the time we finished and the time they aired it. They waited until it aired to see how it would do and to see the viewers’ response.

I would imagine the process would be the same with a possible third season. They would want to see how people respond before making any kind of decision.

AE: Exes & Ohs is based on your The Ten Rules film. If you were going to add rules 11 and 12, what would they be? MP: Oh, my gosh. That’s a good one! Wow. [Laughs] There are new rules in this season so maybe they would be added as rules 11, 12 through 20. There are definitely new rules this season. I have to say, “Stay tuned to see the new rules.” AE: Seriously, you are never helpful! Fine. What have you been doing while waiting for Season 2 to drop? MP: I’m working on a new show right now it’s called Hart of Dixie (premieres Monday, September 26 at 9P/8P on the CW!) and it will premiere on The CW in September. I’m writing on that show and continuing to work on a bunch of other things. So at the very least folks can see the new show I’m working on this fall and hopefully more stuff beyond that.

AE: Can one still buy a Beever Café t-shirt? MP: I don’t know! Last time I saw them, they were available on one of Logo’s web pages. I don’t know but I hope so.

AE: Actually, Karman just told me you can still get beever online. Thank god for the internets. MP: They are great shirts. I have one!

If reality lesbians are not your cuppa, than you’ll definitely want to catch Exes & Ohs. It’s funny, it’s sweet and no one OD’s. Imagine that. Want to watch the show along with Michelle? She’ll be tweeting live during the premiere tonight at 7:30PM, PT. Use the hashtag #ExesAndOhs if you want to participate.

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