She’s still just one of the boys
“My Boys” executive producer Betsy Thomas is taking a soup break in her Paramount Studios office – a minishrine to the Chicago Cubs.
Her collection includes a stuffed Cubs bear, a ball and a tabletop pinball machine in the shape of Wrigley Field.
But her favorite is, perhaps, the white flag on the wall bearing a blue W – a replica of the one that flies at Wrigley after a Cubs win.
“This Christmas, my husband gave me these diamond earrings and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I love them!’ (But) when I opened this (flag), that’s what made me cry,” Thomas says.
It was the perfect gift for a woman who lives and breathes sports – one of the traits Thomas has given to PJ, the Chicago sportswriter in the TBS comedy “My Boys,” returning tonight at 10 with the first of nine new episodes.
When the series debuted in December, critics and audiences alike cheered for PJ (played by Jordana Spiro), an effervescent blonde with a passion for poker and a circle of guy friends – and one ultrafeminine girlfriend.
The show has captured both male and female viewers by using sports, gambling and dating to delve into the differences in how men and women see the world.
“I’ve always been fascinated with the differences between men and women – and the similarities,” says Thomas, an avid poker player who’d rather watch ESPN than shop for shoes.
“Definitely the genesis of this came from a place of being really fed up and feeling alienated by so many women on TV, feeling I had nothing in common with them.”
Although PJ is single and in her 20s and Thomas is a married 41-year-old, she created the character with her own life as a template.
“I would say PJ thinks a lot like me,” says Thomas. “I always put myself in her shoes. I try to use myself as a gauge to keep her emotionally honest.”
Raised in Franklin, Mich., with seven brothers and sisters, Thomas grew up “in a kind of genderless household.
“I never felt any inequality of the sexes,” she says. “It was only when I got out into the world that I learned that.”
In “My Boys,” PJ’s best friend, Brendan (played by Reid Scott), is based on Thomas’ longtime pal, writer Brendan Smith – who inspired the season’s cliffhanger in which Brendan reveals his secret crush on PJ.
“We made out in college,” Smith says of Thomas, “and we threw that out last season because it was sort of one hilarious night and we both have different versions of the story.”
For her part, Thomas is looking forward to a new endeavor: motherhood. She and her husband, writer Adrian Thomas, are expecting their first child in September.
“I’m so excited,” she says, beaming, “and it’s a boy. It gives a whole new dimension to ‘My Boys.’ “
The birthday bunch
Actor Edd “Kookie” Byrnes is 74. Director Peter Bogdanovich is 68. Singer Paul Anka is 66. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is 60. Actress Delta Burke is 51. Country singer Neal McCoy is 49. Actor Laurence Fishburne is 46. Actress Lisa Kudrow is 44. Actress Vivica A. Fox is 43. Director Christopher Nolan (“Memento,” “Insomnia”) is 37. Actor-comedian Tom Green is 36. Actress Christine Taylor (“The Brady Bunch Movie”) is 36. Actress Hilary Swank is 33. Actress Jaime Pressly is 30.