It’s time I admit something to you all – I love the show GOOD LUCK CHARLIE.  I don’t have kids, my cousins don’t visit that often, and yet, there it is, on my DVR.  There’s something about the fun of the Duncan family that keeps me coming back.

The show is returning to the Disney Channel Sunday night with back to back all new episodes, and to celebrate, Amy Duncan herself, Leigh-Allyn Baker, took some time away from her Parisian vacation to discuss what’s coming up, why she loves the show, and how it’s really not that different from MODERN FAMILY.

I love this that you’re doing this from Paris, that’s dedication!
I know, right, isn’t that fantastic?

I have to say that I’m not in the “Disney demographic” but I can’t help but love the show!  What was is that initially got you interested in the show, and is it that same thing that keeps you interested in continuing with it?
Yeah, I have to be honest, I wasn’t interested in doing kid’s programming.  It was no where near my list of top 100 things to do in life, but when I got this script, they talked to me about it being focused on family, and bringing back the family sitcom. At the time when GOOD LUCK CHARLIE came out, the family sitcom was really dead. There was no multi-camera for family.  Gone were the days of FAMILY TIES and COSBY SHOW, and the likes of that, so I thought, well, gosh, if it’s about the whole family, and if I’m not going to be one of those Disney parents that kind of sits on the sideline, then let’s do it.  They stuck to their promise.  It’s a very new format for Disney, and it’s been very successful!

Like you pointed out, you’re not just a parent sitting on the sideline; Bob and Amy are involved in just about everything that they can be on the show – with the pregnancy, and the baby, and the new Duncan, at what point in the story did that come about – did you get pregnant, and say, hey, let’s write it in, or did they have idea?
They had the idea first!  It was not in my mind, really!  We had talked about when would be a good time to possibly have a second child, and then we found out that they were making the movie, and that Amy was going to be pregnant in it.  So we thought, let’s see if we can time is so that when I’m through shooting season three, I can have the baby. And so that’s how it kind of timed out.  Unfortunately, Amy gives birth way before me, so I am wearing a fake tummy in the beginning of the series, and then my real tummy, we’re trying to hide as much as possible now!

What can you tease about what we’re going to see in the premiere and the episode that follows, and then what we’ll see for the rest of this season?
Well, the premiere, I’m super excited about.  It’s a really great episode.  Our show, really, we’re based on humor, and we like to make people laugh; that’s the goal of our show. Every now and then, there’s a sweet, realistic moment, and you’ll find the first episode to be full of those!

I love how each of the Duncan kids are so different, but all come together as a family – how does this new baby affect everyone, and how does planning for the baby affect everybody’s dynamic?
It’s really funny because it affected our family both on screen and off.  “What do you  mean a new baby?  We don’t want any baby, we’re fine with our family the way it is!” [laughs] But now that we have the new baby, it’s exciting.  I believe that Disney really just wanted to grow our show, and it’s certainly keeping it interesting for our characters. I can tell you for one that Amy Duncan decides with two [young] kids, it’s just too hard to be a working mom, that she thinks both of the babies really need her at home.  So unfortunately, she stays at home and makes everybody’s life a little bit miserable.

Like I said, I’m not who Disney is targeting, but I love the show – what do you think it is about GOOD LUCK CHARLIE that attracts such a broad audience?
I think there is something in it for everybody because most everybody is a member of a family; you fit in somewhere.  Whether you’re a sibling or a mother, or a father, or a granddaughter, someone fits in that demographic somewhere, so there is always something for someone to identify with.  Our show, I think other than keeping it really as clean as we possibly can for our main demographic, it’s a show that could carry on network television.  The stories are all really good stories.  If you follow MODERN FAMILY  at all, I watched one the other day, and it was like, we did that last season, we did the episode of the mom trying to friend the kids on Facebook, but ours is just a cleaner version!

What kind of feedback do you get from fans of the show, both in and out of the “demo” so to speak?
I’m getting great feedback!  I’m in Paris right now, and I was just walking down the street, and I usually keep my sunglasses on, well, because it’s been sunny [laughs], but I took them off, and this girl just started screaming, and about 20 French teenagers and their parents come rushing on the side of the street, screaming Amy Duncan and “Bonne Chance Charlie, Bonne Chance Charlie!”  It’s really great, because you get reactions of people all over the world of all different ages!

Great, I can’t wait to see more and to hear what the baby actually gets named!
Oh yeah, 25 million people voted!

GOOD LUCK CHARLIE airs at 8/7c, Sundays on Disney Channel. For more information, check out DisneyChannel.com!