Clever Characters Played By Lea Thompson and Stacey Farber Create Their Own Jobs in THE SPENCER SISTERS

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede The first thing to know about THE SPENCER SISTERS is that the two lead characters aren’t sisters, but rather mother and daughter. “Everyone says we look like sisters,” says Victoria, the mom, played by Lea Thompson. To which Darby, the daughter, played by Stacey Farber, replies in exasperation, “your agent, who you pay money to, said that ONE TIME!” Origin of the term notwithstanding, THE SPENCER SISTERS make their debut – as a series, and as a fun and feisty detective agency – on Friday, Feb. 10 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. The story focuses on Victoria, who is a best-selling mystery novelist, and her daughter Darby, who is running into unfair roadblocks in her career as a police officer. When Darby gets frustrated enough to quit, she reluctantly moves back home with her rich but lonely mom. Victoria and Darby have a complicated history, but when they unexpectedly join forces to help one of Darby’s old friends who has been the victim of wrongdoing, suddenly Victoria has arranged for “The Spencer Sisters Detective Agency” to be printed up on business cards. On a recent visit to Toronto to promote THE SPENCER SISTERS, Thompson (Back to The Future, CAROLINE IN THE CITY), and Farber (VIRGIN RIVER, SCHITT’S CREEK) were asked a simple question: is working with family a good idea or a bad idea? “I have worked with my family a lot, and I think it’s both,” Thompson said. “I think the shorthand is useful. But the fact that you can make each other so mad is difficult.” Farber added, “yeah, if some of the deals, or something business-y, goes south, that doesn’t turn out great for familial relationships.” Victoria is more keen for the professional partnership to continue, as she’ll do just about anything to keep her daughter close. But Darby spent much of her childhood feeling as if she existed in her mom’s shadow, and isn’t keen to step back into that role. THE SPENCER SISTERS is a light-hearted procedural, but Victoria and Darby are kind of hard on each other, in that special way that only family members can be. And yet it’s obvious that they love each other deep down. “I’m glad you could feel that they really care about each other, even though they’re quipping with each other, because I think they’re worthy adversaries, you know?” Farber said. “They’re both really smart, they’re both ambitious, they’re both hard-working, they’re both adventurous, and I like that it was written that way. They probably do have more things in common than they think.” And as Thompson pointed out, the fact that Victoria is an independent woman who bucked the traditional mother stereotype – to Darby’s apparent chagrin, even though it clearly impacted her own independent streak – informs the situation as well. “I think sometimes women get put into a box when they become mothers, and Victoria fights against that,” Thompson said. “She wants to be her own person, too. She’s trying not to be apologetic about having a career, and being who she is. I relate to that a lot, because my mother was like that. My mom was like, ‘I can’t be the perfect mom, making lunches and driving you to school, I just can’t do it, I’ll die.’ And you know, there’s a lot of pressure on moms to do that, to conform. So I kind of relate to that, and I appreciate that about Victoria.” By design or circumstance, Victoria and Darby basically create new jobs for themselves in THE SPENCER SISTERS. Have Thompson or Farber ever done that, or dreamed about it? “My degree is in writing, so I actually do freelance copy editing and writing, and really enjoy it, branding, that kind of thing. I still do it,” Farber said. “So when you asked that question, I flashed back suddenly to a short little story that I wrote when I was probably under the age of 10. It was about an idea that I had for a business, and it was called Cold Cuts, where you could get your hair cut, and a deli sandwich. I thought it was genius, with the play on words. And then I grew up and realized, that’s disgusting. You’d have your own cut hair in your pastrami. So I haven’t launched that. But I still may pursue the Cold Cuts dream.” Thompson chimed in, “you know, I have a similar dream. We could put them together. Mine was a suit and cheese shop.” “Did it have a catchy name? A pun?” Farber asked. “No, just suits and cheese,” Thompson said. And they both laughed hard. What a combination that would be! “It could be a great opportunity for men getting ready for a wedding, or an event, where they could get their hair cut, and grooming, and a suit, and a great sandwich, and some awesome cheese on the sandwich,” Farber said. “It’s not a bad Plan B for us. It could be lucrative.” So be on the lookout for Cold Cuts, Suits, and Cheese. “Look, someone said TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, and it happened,” Thompson said. “I don’t know what they were smoking, but it worked.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv