It’s a busy, baby life for “Not Dead” star

It was a maybe-typical day for Gina Rodriguez.
She laughed, she cried, she hugged Charlie; she seems to do all of that a lot. But ths was different because:
— It happened to be 8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday (Feb. 7). While she was at work, her show, “Not Dead Yet” (shown here with Rodriguez, right, and Hannah Simone) was airing its season-premiere on ABC.
— The Television Critics Association was there to visit the show’s set.
Reporters viewed the bedroom of her character Nell (messy, lived-in) and her landlord Edward (obsessively tidy). They also saw a newspaper box (you do remember newspaper boxes?) for the paper where Nell writes obituaries. Then they met the actors plus Charlie (almost 1), who cuddled her and ignored them. “He doesn’t like to perform,” she said. “He’s not his mother’s son.”
Charlie seems to be a fixture at the set. “We have a playroom for all the parents to bring the children,” she said. “And there are playdates (with) the kids of cast and crew.”
Plus, of course, lots of help. Her husband, actor Joe Lo Cicero, is usually there, as he was on this night – wearing a shirt that matched Charlie’s. Sometimes a grandma helps.
Stiill, much of this is on Rodriguez. “It’s shooting a scene and breastfeeding,” she said. “And shooting a scene and making turkey and beans and peas, because he loves turkey and beans and peas.”
Everything about “Not Dead Yet” has shifted.
The show started wth a gimmick: Ghosts would show up, helping Nell write their obits.
Rodriguez, fresh from “Jane the Virgin,” would get big laughs. What “blew us away was Gina’s physical comedy,” said producer-director Dean Holland.
Then came the pregnancy. “I was growing exponentially,” she said. “And I was pregnant for two years and just like a small elephant.”
Since Nell wasn’t pregnant, Rodriguez had to spend a season behind furniture. Now, Holland said, “we’re unleashing her – literally seeing her do somersaults.”
Another change involves bringing in the paper’s owner, who is the father of its editor, Lexi (Lauren Ash). This Gen-X cast adds Brad Garrett, 63, who stands 6-foot-9 (18 inches above Rodriguez, has three Emmys for “Everybody Loves Raymond” and brings a dry humor. “It’s just great to see these young people with their hopes and their talent, before it’s beaten out of them,” he said.
Another key change has Lexi sleeping with Edward. That puts Nell “in a living, breathing hell,” Ash said, “because (her) boss is now in her very close personal space.”
Rick Glassman, who plays Edward, sees this philosophically: “If I’ve learned anything from show-biz, it’s that if your boss tells you to kiss your co-worker, you’d better do it.”