The executive producer of upcoming NBC show “Parenthood” said Sunday that Maura Tierney is doing well in her battle against breast cancer. “She’s doing well… She’s doing really good”, said Jason Katims, who spoke to reporters at the Television Critics Association panel in Pasadena on Sunday. “She’s in treatment and I spoke to her a few weeks ago and she’s doing good”.
In September, a rep from NBC announced Maura’s departure from “Parenthood” due to the treatment she has to undergo for breast cancer. The production of the show was also postponed previously due to the medical evaluation of the actress. Former “Gilmore Girls” star Lauren Graham was later asked to replace Maura. Graham said that she was called when Maura decided to exit the show due to health concerns.
“I never did see the original pilot. It all just happened really quickly… I knew what everybody knew about what was happening”, said Lauren said, referring to the situation.
She added that the material made it easy for her to fill the shoes of Maura in the show which also stars Craig T. Nelson and former “Six Feet Under” actor Peter Krause.
“It just was as simple as it was so moving, so simple [and] I was so impressed by the [calibre] of people involved”, she said. “It was a very unusual situation, but everybody made me feel really nice”.
As for getting Maura back as guest for the show, Katims said that his team is focusing more on airing the show. He said, “No, we’re at the point where we’re really just launching the show… We’re shooting the first couple of episodes”.
