Miriam Shor Talks TV Land’s ‘Younger’: It’s A Fun, Timely and Edgy Series

Miriam Shor stars as Diana Trout in TV Land’s Younger which premieres tonight at 10pm eastern. We had the chance to talk with her recently about her role on the series, what attracted her to the project and her thoughts on female competitiveness in the workplace.

Check out our full interview with her below!

What attracted you to project?

Miriam Shor: You know, there’s a couple of things, the main one being Darren Star, who I had worked with before. Before I had even read anything, he just asked if I would come in and be apart of this and I loved working with him, so that was sort of a ‘yes’ before I even read it. Then I read it and I read the character, and it’s a pretty fun character, and then on top of that it was shooting in New York City, so that was sort of, like 1, 2, 3. I mean seems like a no-brainer, right? You do have to think about who you’re going to work with and what you’re going to be doing and where you’re going to be doing it and all those things just seemed to fall into place.

How would you describe your character (Diana Trout)?

Miriam Shor: She’s just the sweetest woman (laughs) No. Lies! You know what? I love her but she is not a piece of cake to work with. She is pretty much the worst boss you could imagine. With that said, I also find her kind of hilarious. She’s someone you love to hate, and then there’s something else going on there that every now and then we’ll sneak in, that just makes it fun to watch her. I had a blast playing her.”

How will Diana and Liza’s relationship evolve as the season progresses?

Miriam Shor: What’s interesting is that it’s peaks and valleys, my friend. I think that Diana kind of thinks the worst of people, for whatever reason. Whatever pain she’s in, caused her to believe that about people, right? And so she treats people like sh*t. I find it interesting to try and figure out why someone might do that, but she also speaks her mind. She has these moments of like brutal honesty, which I also find interesting, and Sutton’s character Liza is whip-smart, and you can’t help but respect that. Especially in a world where my character doesn’t expect people to be smart.

There’s a hard-won respect that starts to form there and a friendship. But then what is it that causes Diana to go back and treat Liza like crap again, is also interesting to me. They have this interesting friendship, and I really love the relationship that’s forming between them because it’s complicated. It’s never just one thing and it has a lot of places to go.

Let’s talk about the role of fashion in the series

Miriam Shor: I’m pretty different from the character I play, I would hope. (Laughs) Part of what really helps me become her is what Patricia Field and I work together to come up with. You know, those outrageous necklaces – her idea of good fashion is fascinating. It’s like an armor that she puts on to sort of intimidate people, and it helps me get into character. It’s also so, so fun to do. These aren’t things I get to wear in my daily life. I have two small kids, I’m lucky if I’m wearing pants.

I think that Pat is really good with working with each of us. The whole wardrobe department is really good at working with us, to help us come up with whatever’s going to help us get into that character. Whether it be me becoming this woman or Sutton pretending she’s in her 20’s… It’s amazing to get to work with Pat. She just has such a great point of view and so many tricks up her sleeve and just such a great sense of style. She’s really great at collaborating with the actors on character creation. She loves that and she’s wonderful at it!

Which article of clothing did you put on that made you feel the most like Diana?

Miriam Shor: There was definitely this necklace. We called it the Flava Flav. It was like this ginormous, gold ring,
and I just remember when I put that on it just took me to a place like ‘who is the person that gets ready for work and then goes ‘yeah, this necklace’?’ The necklace that Flava Flav would be like, ‘Don’t you think that’s too much?’ and why? Why does she do that?”

Why do you think women are vicious to each other in the workplace, and what do you think needs to happen to change that?

Miriam Shor: I think there’s a couple of things going on. I think that women have to fight really hard for a spot in the working world. It’s not just given to them. So particularly I think about this with my character. She’s a boss, and she worked damn hard to get there and it’s not easy for a woman to get to those positions. They’re not given the benefit of the doubt. They have to work twice as hard, and then they’re told to stop whining about it. So I think there’s a bit of that going on.

Then I also think that that’s the story we’re told. Which is ‘women don’t like each other in the work place.’ I think we’re told that story over and over again that women compete and women are catty, so that may not even necessarily be true but it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy that we’re just kind of fed from a young age…when the truth is the relationships I’ve had with my female friends are the best and most important ones to me. How wonderful women can be to each other is rarely talked about.

Then I just think that work can stress people out and when people are stressed they aren’t their best selves. So I think there’s a lot of reasons why that happens.

What 3 words to describe the series?

Miriam Shor: Fun, for sure. I binge-watched it myself and had a great time watching it. Timely. I think age and ageism, especially in the female world, is really being talked about right now. As opposed to being an issue, it’s being talked about. And edgy. I think it definitely takes you to a place, and it certainly takes TV Land to a place, that is risky and I love that. I love that about them as a network.

Younger Trailer

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Photo Credit: TV Land