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Good Girls' Retta and Mae Whitman on Their Show's Unexpected Timeliness and Becoming Fast Friends on Set

Stars of NBC's latest hit dramedy discuss its reception and the "sleepaway camp" experience of shooting season one.

By Billy Nilles Mar 12, 2018 7:31 PMTags
Watch: Retta & Mae Whitman Talk "Good Girls" Premiere

Good Girls is finally here and its stars couldn't be more relieved.

The NBC dramedy, which debuted two weeks ago in the plum post-The Voice timeslot on Mondays, has pulled in solid ratings, outperforming its previous time slot occupant, The Brave. And the series, which tells the story of three women who've grown fed up with the men in their lives and the world at large holding them back, has connected not only with audiences but with the #MeToo and Time's Up movements that are currently demanding change across the globe.

Societal timeliness (which we'll get to in a minute) aside, stars Retta and Mae Whitman couldn't be more thrilled to just have the series generating as much excitement amongst fans as it's generated with them.

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"This was something that, again, it's such a specific tone and such a specific show that we've worked so hard on it and it's just such a wonderful release to actually be able to have something to show for it and share it with everybody because when you're working in that little bubble, you never know how it's going to be received or what's going to happen with it," Whitman, who plays single mom Annie, told E! News. "So the fact that it came out and people are really seeming to like it is just very exciting."

"And I like it," Retta, who plays married mother of two Ruby, added. "I didn't know exactly what to expect, you know, with music and just how things were going to get together and I was pleasantly surprised."

The pair admitted that they and their co-star Christina Hendricks became fast friends, turning their home-away-from-home in Atlanta, where the series films, into something a little more manageable. "Yeah, it's weird. You move away from home for six months, it's kind of a strange, isolating experience sometimes," Whitman said. "But in this case, it sort of felt like sleepaway camp. We were able to just totally focus on each other and our friendship and the project we were doing, so it was actually kind of great."

As for the coincidental connection to #MeToo and Time's Up, both of which took hold in the public consciousness long after the show was conceived or ordered to series, Retta believes the show will provide something for proponents of the cause to relate to.

"I keep saying that the oppression of disenfranchised people is like the new black, it'll always be, you know, the hot thing. It just so happens that women are finally getting a voice, that people are finally getting a voice, and so because the show is coming out now, there's a spotlight on it because it happens to coincide with what's going on," she said. "I think it resonates because it may feel empowering for some women. It may feel like a breath of fresh air to see three female leads who are bold and who are self-empowered and who are no longer feeling like they're being ruled by the men  in their lives. So in that regard, I feel that viewers will find it refreshing and nice."

For more from Retta and Whitman, be sure to check out the video above!

Good Girls airs Mondays at 10 p.m. on NBC.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)