All Photos: Alan Mercer Lighting: Eric V.
Peter Marc Jacobson was born in Flushing Queens, New York. He met his future wife Fran Drescher while they both attended Hillcrest High. In the 70‘s, Peter moved out to California with Fran to pursue a career in acting and modeling. Careers he was never that comfortable with. Together, the pair did many small movies like ‘Gorp’ and others. They married in 1978, when they were both 21 years old. Peter appeared in shows like ‘Dynasty,’ ‘Facts of Life’ and ‘Matlock.’
Peter wrote a spin-off for ‘Who’s The Boss?’ in the late 80‘s called ‘Charmed Lives’ that starred Fran Drescher and her friend, Donna Dixon. Unfortunately the series was not picked up by the network. Still determined to make it, Peter and Fran eventually co-wrote the pilot for 'The Nanny’ which became a very successful series. Peter wrote, directed and produced for the series. By the 6th season, he had become the resident director and even made a few cameos on the show like Romeo in ‘A Star is Unborn’, a bar patron in ‘Pen Pals’ and a man exiting the bathroom in ‘Ma'ternal Affairs.’
The couple divorced in 1999 after a long separation. He came out as gay to her after their marriage ended. The couple developed the 2011 television series 'Happily Divorced’ for TV Land based on their lives. The third season starts Wednesday, Nov. 28 and promises to be star studded with guests like Joan Collins, Debi Mazar, Cyndi Lauper and Florence Henderson.
AM: Peter, you are such a good writer. How do you so consistently do this?
PMJ: Thank you I can do it because I have a lot of other great writers that work with me. Television is a collaborative art form and I have many writers who have been working with me for the last 25 years who are comic geniuses. Fran Drescher is also a brilliantly funny writer. My name is up there first but it’s also who supports you and makes it happen. That’s what makes me look better.
AM: So you’ve worked with these writers for a long time.
PMJ: Most of them I’ve worked with since the beginning of ‘The Nanny.’ I do try to bring new and young people on that Fran and I think are talented so that we can nurture them and let them fly to do their own thing too. Television is so quick. You have a week to put up a show. It’s so much work you need to be with people who know what they’re doing. When it’s Wednesday and you have to tape a show on Friday you really need people who can pull things together quickly.
AM: That sounds very stressful!
PMJ: It is! (laughter)
AM: How do you handle all this pressure?
PMJ: I leave my office at 10:00 at night and I try to turn that switch off. There were many years when I didn’t and I’d go home thinking about it and lay in bed thinking about it and then come back to work early the next morning. You get so burnt out this way. I try as much as I can to turn it all off and I tell myself I will deal with it in the morning instead of all night. This way I can focus on other things and relax to go to sleep.
AM: Were you always wanting to be a writer?
PMJ: No I wasn’t. I was planning on being an actor and model. I did do a lot of TV and films but I discovered I was always more comfortable behind the camera. I did a lot of commercials and sitcoms but it came hard for me. I never felt comfortable acting. I was always asking if I was good enough or if I was going to get fired. I remember doing an episode of ‘Murphy Brown’ and I kept thinking they were going to write me out. Then I thought to myself, “Why am I doing this?” I already got the job and I couldn’t even enjoy it. That’s when we sold 'The Nanny.’
AM: What was life like for you at this time?
PMJ: Fran and I were fighting a lot because I was miserable with what I was doing. She told me I had to get out of this or we don’t have a chance. She also said, “You are always depressed because you’re not working and then when you do work you get worried you’re going to get fired.” I really had to look at it and I said, “You’re right.” That night I had dinner with Dan Akroyd about pitching a show that we sold the next day and a week later we sold 'The Nanny’ so I thought about it more and realized Fran was right. Maybe I was on the wrong side of the camera. I was booked to do a “Matlock’ that week and a modeling job across the country. I wasn’t ready to give up acting yet. Then Fran said, “You have a meeting with the head of CBS. Why are you modeling?” (laughter) I said, “Yeah, I think you’re right.” I’m going to call my autobiography ‘One Last Matlock.’
AM: Did you settle in to producing and writing easier?
PMJ: Yes, I was much more comfortable and secure with my choices. I felt more at home. I didn’t feel the pressure of everybody staring at me and judging me. Even if they were I still felt more secure. I never had to wonder if maybe I should have done something another way.
AM: So are you done with acting?
PMJ: During the last writers strike I got a call from David Rubin, who is a very big casting director, and he told me there was a part in an Ashton Kutcher film that was perfect for me and would I be interested in doing it. I said, “Yeah, it could be fun to do that again.” Then they said I had to audition for it. So I told myself just to do it and I go to the audition and I see 30 other ‘me’s’ in a line. I did the reading and made them laugh but the second I left I thought maybe I should have done it another way. I wish I could do it again. I hope I didn’t embarrass myself. It was all the old thoughts that I used to do to myself all over again. I ended up getting the part and filmed it. It was interesting to go back. I had a small part as an actor. When you’re done you’re done. Just being on the other side of the camera again was very interesting for me. Some people would look at me and say I looked familiar.
AM: You’re recognizable. People know who you are.
PMJ: I never think I am but then I’ll be out and people will stare at me. I still don’t think I’m famous. I do hear people whispering “Fran Drescher” in bars! Then I hear more whispers, “Husband...gay!” (much laughter)
AM: Who’s idea was it to do ‘Happily Divorced?’
PMJ: Fran and I decided we had been divorced long enough that we wanted to take a vacation together. We hadn’t been to Paris in years so we went there and immediately went back to these old married habits we had before. I remember we were supposed to go to dinner and I knocked on her door and she answered with no make-up on. I told her we were supposed to be at the restaurant in 20 minutes! We got into an argument about how she was always late. We looked at each other and said this would be a funny movie about a divorced couple who end up going on vacation together and we knew we would call it 'Happily Divorced.’ Then Keith Cox, the head of TV Land asked her if she would do a show that she starred in what would it be? She said, “That would be easy. It would be me and my gay ex-husband and my boyfriend.” They bought the show right away. Then she called me up and asked me if I wanted to do the show with her. I said, “Of course I want to.” We decided to use the movie title of 'Happily Divorced’ so we wrote the script. The rest is history.
AM: Are you and Fran soul mates?
PMJ: Yes, we are definitely soul mates. I always say to people, “Whoever I end up with will have to be happy watching old reruns of 'Happily Divorced’ and “The Nanny’ in between me and Fran in bed. In my community that isn’t going to be so hard! (much laughter)
