No one was more excited for Eva LaRue to join the cast of "Fuller House" as Danny Tanner's wife than the actress' 13-year-old daughter, Kaya, who helped her mom dig up a little dirt on Danny's last serious girlfriend, Vicky Larson (played by retired actress, Gail Edwards).
"[Kaya] was the one who looked up for me who the girlfriend was before show went off the air," LaRue told Headlines & Global News in an exclusive interview.
LaRue brought her daughter on set all last week as the Netflix show got ready to shoot its first episode in front of a live audience on Friday – and they won't be disappointed. The actress, 48, looks half her age, and she's proved she has knack for comedy with her reoccuring role on "George Lopez" in 2005.
LaRue is set to recur as Danny's new wife, Teri, but any future episodes will depend on the storylines involving Bob Saget's character.
"I don't know what her opinion of me playing Danny's wife is, but me being on the show has been, 'I'm coming to work with you, right? I'm coming to work with you, right?" LaRue said about her daughter's excitement.
An earlier breakdown of the character Teri described her as an African-American woman, but executive producer Jeff Franklin personally called LaRue to join the cast. The two previously worked on the short-lived sitcom "Head Over Heels" in 1997.
"We remained great friends ever since and the role came up and he said, "Hey, you wanna come in and play with us for this week?'" she said. "Nobody's quite sure what the storylines are going to be quite yet or how often the guys are going to be coming and going. I don't know how recurring it will end up being but it's still good fun."
The pilot episode will give Teri a "fun introduction," but with so many storylines and characters to serve, LaRue doesn't know much about her character yet. "There's so many people in the house that weekend - all the kids, the friends, everybody," she said.
LaRue will add some much needed diversity to the show, which she applauded for making the cast look a little more modern. Kimmy Gibbler's (Andrea Barber) daughter will also be half-Latina.
"I think it was a pretty white cast [in 'Full House'] so I think they're just trying to modern it up, which is great," she said. "It's nice that they're showing the whole mixed family."
As for the original family, they have done nothing but welcome LaRue with open arms.
"For a show that went on for so long and had such a tight-knit family, there's always a danger of being an outsider and feeling like the outsider, but it's just the opposite," she said. "They've been welcoming and so inclusive and so funny. I'm just really blessed."
"Fuller House" marks the first series project for LaRue since CBS cancelled "CSI: Miami" in 2012, and her first comedy work since she appeared on "George Lopez."
"Sitcoms and comedies are my favorite things to work on. You just go to work and you laugh all day," she said. "I think the funniest stuff can never see the light of day on air as what happens on set during the day, you're either riffing on things or other people are riffing on things. It's hysterical."
LaRue's only disappointment with "Fuller House" so far is that audiences will have to wait until next year before they can watch it.
"The bummer is that we have to wait so long to see it... But that gives them the opportunity to have one solid season under their belts and get their sea lets and then get it out on Netflix," she said.
