Keeping Busy

THE ACTRESS REFLECTS ON BEING PART OF THE NEW GIRL GROUP THAT FANS NEVER KNEW THEY NEEDED

- SARA TAPIA

Take one look at Busy Philipps’ résumé and you’d see she’s a dab hand at starring on the small screen. From her days on the beloved series Dawson’s Creek to working alongside Friends favorite Courteney Cox in Cougar Town – and even making a guest appearance on Aussie classic Kath & Kim or hosting her own talk show – Philipps clearly has an affinity for TV.

So when she was approached by comedic great-turned-producer Tina Fey to star in her new series, Girls5eva, Philipps, 41, leaped at the opportunity. “I read the script and loved it,” the mum-of-two admits. “I was actually so lucky because I had literally just moved with my family from Los Angeles to New York, Tina had my number and it all just fell into place.”

Here, Philipps chats about girl bands, pandemics, and why she’s got a soft spot for the ’90s …

Girls5eva is about a ’90s girl group getting back together years after they split up. Is the group based on any real girl groups from that era?

Not specifically. There are a lot of manufactured girl groups from the 90s who maybe came from talent shows, had a hit, did one album, and then split up because it just didn’t work out the way it was maybe supposed to. This show is about a group of girls like that, who have gone on doing very different things but then find themselves suddenly back together in a way that has happened to groups from that time in the real world.

What can you tell us about your character, Summer?