People: Megan Fox is new ‘New Girl’ filling in for Zooey Deschanel
Jake Johnson admits to being worried when he found out his Fox comedy “New Girl” would continue filming episodes while the show’s star, Zooey Deschanel, was on maternity leave.
“I thought it was really weird,” he said. “At first I thought it was really jarring that Zooey wasn’t going to be in some episodes. … I wasn’t sure if the show worked without her and I was pleasantly surprised that the ‘New Girl’ voice and tone is more about the writing and the ensemble more than any one person.”
Not only did production continue, they brought in a new character, played by Megan Fox of franchise films like “Transformers” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” to fill the void while Deschanel was away.
“I thought ‘How does Megan Fox, international movie star. … fit into this world?’ ” said Johnson. “And the wild part is she just fits in.”
If you’ve been watching, Deschanel’s character, Jess, has been sequestered on jury duty. In Tuesday’s episode, her roommates (played by Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone) decide to rent out her room to Fox’s character, Reagan, while Jess is away.
“To bring in somebody new who didn’t know all of the backstories and didn’t know everything about the show, those characters were forced to defend themselves in new ways; to sort of bring somebody else up to speed to their own weirdness was really fun,” said showrunner Liz Meriwether.
“She’s phenomenal,” Johnson said about Fox. “I didn’t know her at all (prior). She is one of the easiest people to work with. She’s kind, she’s funny. She’s also crazy and loves talking about aliens and lizard people, which makes work so fun,” he laughed. “She’s genuinely fun.”
Deschanel returns for the show’s 100th episode, which also happens to be the final episode in Fox’s arc.
“I don’t view it as Megan replacing Zooey, it’s just adding Megan,” said Johnson. “So when Zooey came back it was great because (the characters) Jess and Reagan are really funny next to each other.”
Red Lobster enjoys sales surge after mention in Beyonce song
Red Lobster says it’s feeling the “Beyoncé Bounce.”
The seafood chain known for its cheddar biscuits says sales surged 33 percent on Sunday, compared with last year’s Super Bowl Sunday. The increase came after the release of “Formation,” in which Beyoncé says she took a man to Red Lobster after sex. It’s hard to imagine hordes of people rushing to Red Lobster after hearing the song, but the chain said it’s sure the mention is responsible for at least part of its sales jump.
Other factors also likely helped. Red Lobster notes this year’s winter wasn’t as harsh, meaning people were likely more willing to head out to restaurants. And the chain is running a “Lobsterfest” promotion that it didn’t last year.
The pop culture spotlight from Beyoncé is nevertheless a welcome change for Red Lobster, which was sold by Darden Restaurants in July of 2014 after it suffered ongoing declines in sales. The chain, which is now privately held by investment firm Golden Gate Capital, says it has posted sales gains every quarter since the separation.
And after the mention by Beyoncé, it said it was also a trending topic on Twitter for the first time.
“It’s clear that Beyoncé has helped create some Red Lobster fans, and we are very grateful to her for that,” Red Lobster CEO Kim Lopdrup said in a statement.
Erica Ettori, a Red Lobster representative, said she could not “confirm or deny” whether the chain has reached out to superstar, but noted things were “moving fast.”
Regardless, the chain is already trying to make the most of its moment, noting that lobster is considered a romantic food. The chain also tweeted that, “Cheddar Bey Biscuits” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” The tweet had more than 14,000 retweets as of Tuesday afternoon, but some mocked Red Lobster for taking several hours to respond, only to come up with something they deemed underwhelming.
Red Lobster, based in Orlando, Florida, has more than 700 locations in the U.S. and Canada.