September 9, 2025 • 5 mins
Actress Lea Thompson talks season 2 of her hit Hallmark Channel show 'The Chicken Sisters' and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
On.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's Mario Lopez, Debora Mario Lopez joining me right now
on Zoom. Actress Leah Thompson.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
How you been, Leah?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Excellent?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm excellent. I'm very good, very cool.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Always great to see. Where am I speaking to you
from today? I am in New York, Okay? Is that home?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah? On the beach. Oh nice. I'm on the beach
with my new granddaughter and my daughter and my husband.
It's really nice. I've been working in Canada for five months,
so this is great.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That is great. Congratulations on the granddaughter, by the way,
that's very thank you so much. Season two of your show,
The Chicken Sisters on Homewark Channel just premiered.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
For those who may not be familiar with the series,
what's it.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
About, Well, it's about Well, the first season was about
these two chicken restaurants who ended up in a weird
competition with each other. They've always been in competition for
like one hundred years, these two rival chicken restaurants in
this small southern town of Marnac, and they get caught
(01:08):
up in the reality show which is pitting the two
against each other. And so it's about it's about a
small town It's about a family that's interconnected in really
interesting ways, and mostly about these four women and how
they navigate their lives, their family, their business, and their love.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I've seen the trailers. It's pretty funny too. Now you
can have there's different types of Southern accents, right like
the North Carolina sounds different from Georgia, which sounds different
from Louisiana in Alabama. Which which did you go with?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, we kind of went with a more of a
Texas accent where you hit the rs a little bit us.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
You mentioned that one. Okay, yeah, that's right, not.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
The genteel one. So, and I've done this accent a lot.
I've worked a lot in Texas, Austin, Dallas, Houston, so,
and our show run from Texas, so we kind of
went with that one. Although one of the actresses is
from Virginia, Skyler Fisk, and her mom is Sissy Spasic,
(02:10):
who has the strongest accent.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Oh wow, that's cool. That's a cool connection right there.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I know you're a director. Did you get to direct
any of the episodes? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I directed the first two episodes, which was really fun
because I'd be like, Okay, put the camera over here.
All right, now, I think we're on a forty on
this and a two shot over here then, and i'd
go and action will I think you it'd be finer
than a fox here if you behaved, that's great. But okay,
how did that go? Oh? I like it? Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
So you flip? Do you flip flop? Back and forth?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I like it? I like it flopped and it was
it made everyone a little crazy. Now that's skills right there.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I saw. You're also developing a new series for the
USA Network called An a Pigeon, which you said was
fifteen years in the making. What can you tell us
about that?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Well, actually, I just came from shooting the pilot and
the first episode, and so I'm editing right now. It's
Ann a Pigeon. It's based on these books written by
Nevada bar They're mysteries about a woman who works as
a park ranger and she solves mysteries and murders. And
so we have this amazing, amazing cast and this incredible actress,
(03:22):
Tracy Sparadakis plays Anna Pigeon.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And what was.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Really fun about it was that the very first day
of camera test, the author accidentally was in Calgary. Where
we were shooting, so we got to take her out
to dinner. And since I had owned the books for
fifteen years and every year I was like, I promise you,
I'll get it made. Give me the rights again, give
me the I was so happy to be like, I'm
finally I did it. Okay, I did it.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh, that's the best feeling ever right there. Congratulations on that.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It was very It's a very I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
That's very cool. This is cool too. I saw your
helping out in the search for the famous red guitar
from Back to the Future, one which has been missing
for forty year. I didn't realize it was missing that long.
Have you guys had any luck recovering it.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I don't know. They've left me out of that. I'm
hoping that they find it. I don't know. Probably if
they do find it, someone's gonna want a lot of
money for it.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Right exactly. Then you got authenticated and the whole thing.
And this is also pretty cool and funny. Your first
movie was Jaws three D. I remember vividly watching that
because I was like, oh, three D Jaws. It was awesome,
and your character had a water skiing scene I heard
you lied during the casting about being able to water ski.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I did. I lied, And I also said I could swim.
I couldn't swim, but I did do all my stunts.
If you remember the movie, I climbed up on a
three tier pyramid of water skiers little little girl's shoulder. Wow,
and two you know, like in two tier pyramid and
I was at the top and they put it in
the ocean and they and I did it. Wow. I
(04:56):
was a stunt woman. That's how I started the suffering
for your craft, like I like it.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, so nice to talk to you and hopefully you
get to see you in person sometime soon. Meanwhile, everyone
be sure to check out Leah in new episodes of
The Chicken Sisters Sunday nights on the Hallmark Channel. Lea,
thanks for checking in.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Thank you, it's so nice to see you, and thanks
for having me. Oh you got it.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Nice to see you too.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
With Mario Lopez
On.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's Mario Lopez, Debora Mario Lopez joining me right now
on Zoom. Actress Leah Thompson.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
How you been, Leah?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Excellent?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm excellent. I'm very good, very cool.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Always great to see. Where am I speaking to you
from today? I am in New York, Okay? Is that home?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah? On the beach. Oh nice. I'm on the beach
with my new granddaughter and my daughter and my husband.
It's really nice. I've been working in Canada for five months,
so this is great.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That is great. Congratulations on the granddaughter, by the way,
that's very thank you so much. Season two of your show,
The Chicken Sisters on Homewark Channel just premiered.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Now.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
For those who may not be familiar with the series,
what's it.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
About, Well, it's about Well, the first season was about
these two chicken restaurants who ended up in a weird
competition with each other. They've always been in competition for
like one hundred years, these two rival chicken restaurants in
this small southern town of Marnac, and they get caught
(01:08):
up in the reality show which is pitting the two
against each other. And so it's about it's about a
small town It's about a family that's interconnected in really
interesting ways, and mostly about these four women and how
they navigate their lives, their family, their business, and their love.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I've seen the trailers. It's pretty funny too. Now you
can have there's different types of Southern accents, right like
the North Carolina sounds different from Georgia, which sounds different
from Louisiana in Alabama. Which which did you go with?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, we kind of went with a more of a
Texas accent where you hit the rs a little bit us.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
You mentioned that one. Okay, yeah, that's right, not.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
The genteel one. So, and I've done this accent a lot.
I've worked a lot in Texas, Austin, Dallas, Houston, so,
and our show run from Texas, so we kind of
went with that one. Although one of the actresses is
from Virginia, Skyler Fisk, and her mom is Sissy Spasic,
(02:10):
who has the strongest accent.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Oh wow, that's cool. That's a cool connection right there.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I know you're a director. Did you get to direct
any of the episodes? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I directed the first two episodes, which was really fun
because I'd be like, Okay, put the camera over here.
All right, now, I think we're on a forty on
this and a two shot over here then, and i'd
go and action will I think you it'd be finer
than a fox here if you behaved, that's great. But okay,
how did that go? Oh? I like it? Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
So you flip? Do you flip flop? Back and forth?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I like it? I like it flopped and it was
it made everyone a little crazy. Now that's skills right there.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I saw. You're also developing a new series for the
USA Network called An a Pigeon, which you said was
fifteen years in the making. What can you tell us
about that?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Well, actually, I just came from shooting the pilot and
the first episode, and so I'm editing right now. It's
Ann a Pigeon. It's based on these books written by
Nevada bar They're mysteries about a woman who works as
a park ranger and she solves mysteries and murders. And
so we have this amazing, amazing cast and this incredible actress,
(03:22):
Tracy Sparadakis plays Anna Pigeon.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
And what was.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Really fun about it was that the very first day
of camera test, the author accidentally was in Calgary. Where
we were shooting, so we got to take her out
to dinner. And since I had owned the books for
fifteen years and every year I was like, I promise you,
I'll get it made. Give me the rights again, give
me the I was so happy to be like, I'm
finally I did it. Okay, I did it.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh, that's the best feeling ever right there. Congratulations on that.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It was very It's a very I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
That's very cool. This is cool too. I saw your
helping out in the search for the famous red guitar
from Back to the Future, one which has been missing
for forty year. I didn't realize it was missing that long.
Have you guys had any luck recovering it.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I don't know. They've left me out of that. I'm
hoping that they find it. I don't know. Probably if
they do find it, someone's gonna want a lot of
money for it.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Right exactly. Then you got authenticated and the whole thing.
And this is also pretty cool and funny. Your first
movie was Jaws three D. I remember vividly watching that
because I was like, oh, three D Jaws. It was awesome,
and your character had a water skiing scene I heard
you lied during the casting about being able to water ski.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I did. I lied, And I also said I could swim.
I couldn't swim, but I did do all my stunts.
If you remember the movie, I climbed up on a
three tier pyramid of water skiers little little girl's shoulder. Wow,
and two you know, like in two tier pyramid and
I was at the top and they put it in
the ocean and they and I did it. Wow. I
(04:56):
was a stunt woman. That's how I started the suffering
for your craft, like I like it.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, so nice to talk to you and hopefully you
get to see you in person sometime soon. Meanwhile, everyone
be sure to check out Leah in new episodes of
The Chicken Sisters Sunday nights on the Hallmark Channel. Lea,
thanks for checking in.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Thank you, it's so nice to see you, and thanks
for having me. Oh you got it.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Nice to see you too.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
With Mario Lopez
Host
Mario Lopez
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