We've known for a while that Jessica Simpson’s best-selling memoir Open Book is getting the TV series treatment with a half-hour scripted pilot. The project gained even more bandwidth after scoring Fuller House’s John Stamos. Now, after wrapping up the memoir TV pilot, Simpson praised Stamos while reflecting on stepping back into her past.
Simpson clearly seems to be taking her executive producer role seriously as she shared photos from the final day of shooting the new project. One photo featured an honestly barely-recognizable Stamos giving rockstar vibes of a vein that's a little different than what we expected from Jesse and the Rippers. His look was only surpassed by his performance as the fashion mogul did nothing but heap praise on the TV actor as the pilot wrapped up.
The television personality’s praise for the Full House alum came up on her Instagram and came withe a lengthy caption in which Simpson heaped nothing but praise on the actor. In fact, she claims he "DOMINATED" -- yes that's all caps -- the role.
Viewers might get to see a different side of the Uncle Jessie actor. His entire look alone paints Butch Thorne as a gritty and grungy rocker or over-the-top figure, which follows the character’s persona. His messy tresses, leather pants, and endless jewelry seamlessly channel the character. This new transformation shouldn’t be too surprising, though, as Stamos has tackled differing roles from ER to Scream Queens to his current series Big Shots.
The pop singer called filming the TV pilot “a week of pure magic.” Simpson mentioned her past incidents from her best-selling memoir wouldn’t have been “remotely comfortable without the genius of our entire cast and crew,” including Stamos. She proceeded to shout them out for allowing her to smile and laugh on the set while bringing her life story to the small screen.
Looking back at her past through the pilot allowed Simpson to review a transitional phase during her mid-twenties. She praised Big Time Rush’s Katelyn Tarver for playing her younger self in the half-hour pilot. Filming the pilot pushed the TV personality to think about the advice she would give her younger self.
Going backwards in time of self discovery to 25 yrs old has moments of intense emotional vulnerability. Hot dang I knew next to nothin’ way back when, but I was ready for the discovery even inside my shyness and innocence. On the EP side of watching someone else, [Katelyn Tarver], play your younger self come of age there is no way to not feel certain things all over again as if it were yesterday. You know when people ask the question, what advice would you give your younger self? Well, for me that answer changed this last week from 'you are beautiful and enough' into 'SADDLE UP BUTTERCUP! BE FEARLESS LADY'
Her advice seemed to align with the note Wonder Woman’s Lynda Carter gave her. It will be nice to see if the pilot leads to a series order. Audiences may get to see the potential series deal with the series lead confront the woman who sexually abused Simpson, her feelings about ex-husband Nick Lachey moving on after her divorce, or the former couple's MTV reality series.
The semi-biographical series will see Tarver play Sadie Sparrow who’s on a journey to "self-discovery," per early press on the series. Sparrow will deal with personal issues and the entertainment industry. Stamos will play Butch Thorne, an aging musician whose relationship with Sparrow transitions from professional to romantic. There is no current development on who else will appear in the upcoming series, though it's interesting that Simpson is involved, simply because she hasn't been that stoked about doing more TV in the past, particularly of the autobiographical variety.
It is currently unknown when Open Book hits the air, which will premiere on Amazon Freevee. Until a premiere date is announced, there are still TV premieres to check out in 2022.
