Meaghan Rath Says ‘The Line is Fully Blurred,’ But The Comedy Stays Sharply Focused in CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede With two small kids of her own, Meaghan Rath admitted that her home life and her work life kind of fuse together while she’s filming CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING. Rath’s kids are quite a bit younger than the two oldest kids on CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING, which kicks off its fourth season, Thursday, Oct. 17 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. But one can still imagine Rath taking notes on set about what to do, and what not to do. “Oh my God, yeah – I have a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and absolutely it becomes exhausting, because my real life blends into my work life when I’m shooting the show,” Rath said. “And we have a toddler on the show, played by twins, and the twins are the same age as my oldest boy. What the twins were going through developmentally at that stage was exactly what I was dealing with at home. So the line is fully blurred.” It certainly would be easier for Rath to keep her worlds separate if she were starring in a superhero show, or a gritty procedural, or something like that. “We did 16 episodes this year, and it was exhausting – we do them in three and a half days, which is so wild for a television schedule,” she said. “So being completely burned out, and coming home and dealing with basically the same stuff that I was doing on the show, I was like, ‘okay, I think my next show is just going to be a drama, with no children involved, so I can just escape a little bit.’” Joking aside, Rath went out of her way to praise the two oldest kids on CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING – Logan Nicholson, who plays Felix, and Mikayla SwamiNathan, who plays Viv – for how much they have developed as comedic actors through four seasons. A running theme in Season 4 is how Felix has reached the nascent rebellious stage where he isn’t quite finding his parents charming or wise anymore, with predictable results. “What makes (Nicholson and SwamiNathan) so great is there’s not really a performative quality to them – they’re not kid actors, they’re real actors,” Rath observed. “I don’t know if our show would work if they had that usual kids-show style of sitcom acting. It’s really what makes the show sing, because you believe us as a real family. A lot of that is because these kids are capable of being real. And you know, (creator and executive producer) Kurt Smeaton knows how to talk to them. That allows us to capture these really beautiful moments of theirs.” Often when kids start pushing back against parental rules, the parents can turn against each other. But according to Rath, CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING hasn’t gone in that direction, partially by design, and partially by circumstance. “Sometimes in real life it’s frustrating having children, and you need to put that frustration somewhere, so you put it on your partner,” Rath said. “But what feels right for Astrid and James (played by Aaron Abrams) is that they’re on the same page. Any time we try to wedge in something where you think they should be having a fight, or a moment when they fundamentally disagree, it usually doesn’t make the cut. It almost doesn’t feel believable that we would disagree fundamentally. I don’t know if it’s the writing, or the kind of chemistry that Aaron and I have. But that’s the sweet spot, when it’s the two of them versus everybody else.” If only all parents could stick together like that. “Yeah, one of the reasons our show is special, and people connect to it, is because it’s aspirational in a certain way,” Rath said. “Now, Astrid and James are also complete disasters and lunatics, which can’t be forgotten. But they have a beautiful relationship, with a real sense of humour. A lot of that comes from Kurt (Smeaton), who has a special way of looking at things. That’s not to say there isn’t any conflict on the show. There’s plenty of conflict with the other characters. But Astrid and James are our heroes.” Some would say that all good parents are heroes. Meaghan Rath is in the thick of it, both at home and at work. “I will be the first to say, I don’t know anything,” Rath said with a laugh. “I mean, I’m looking to people with older kids who have been through it, friends of mine who can give me some advice. But all kids are different, too. I’m figuring it out as I go along, just like everybody else.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv