Parkview High grad Lennon Parham talks about ‘Accidentally on Purpose’

April 7, 2010, by Rodney Ho

Lennon Parham

CBS is practically the only network left stilll doing old-school three-camera sitcoms. Some work well (spirited, smart “The Big Bang Theory”), some not so well (painfully pedestrian “Rules of Engagement”)

Jenna Elfman's "Accidentally on Purpose" falls in the middle. After at two-month break, the sitcom returns tonight for three more episodes.

The premise, in case you missed it: Thirty-something single gal Elfman has a one-night stand with a younger, immature man, gets pregnant and decides to have the baby and maintain a relationship with him. It’s a bit like “Knocked Up” meets “Cougar Town,” relying heavily on the effortless charm that is Elfman, who had a successful track record with “Dharma and Greg” a few years back. l

Parkview High School grad Lennon Parham is part of the support team, playing Elfman's younger, more uptight married sister Abby. An improv expert, this is her first big scripted TV role.

“I’ve been really lucky,” Parham said in a phone interview last month. “From the pilot to now, my role has really grown. I’ve had some really fun and funny story lines.” The second-to-last episode, which airs April 14, features Abby comically subbing out for Elfman’s character Billie at a film screening and overdressing for the modest affair as if it were the Oscars.

Abby, she said, wants Billie and her boy toy to get married. “I think it’s destiny,” she said. “I always try to stick my nose in their business.”

The sitcom, she admits, is “on the bubble.” CBS will decide whether to keep it for a sophomore year based on its final three episodes, which air starting tonight at 8:30 p.m. after “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”

Placed in the cushy spot between “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men” on Mondays from September through February, “Accidentally” did okay. It averaged about 8.5 million viewers. holding more than 80% of the “How I Met Y our Mother” crowd. It won’t draw that many viewers on Wednesdays but if it can hold “Christine’s” numbers, it has a shot.

Parham, 33, was born at Northside Hospital, grew up in Lilburn and graduated from Parkview High. Her father Tommy Parham taught at the high school and is also an active local bluegrass musician. Her mom Leslie is a social worker.

In high school plays, “I usually got cast as the weird, funny one. Or the old woman,” she said. She was Frenchie, for instance, on “Grease.” She started doing improv senior year and fell in love with it.

After getting a degree at the University of Evansville (where she learned comedy with Conyers native and "30 Rock" star Jack McBrayer), she spent two years teaching via Teach for America in Greenville, Miss. "I would find inventive ways to get the curriculum into bite-sized or more digestible form. I would write songs. I'd do verb conjugation to TLC songs." She remains in contact with some of the kids who are now adults. "They still remember the songs," she said.

She moved to New York City, waited tables and worked at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre with its improvisational troupe. More recently, she auditioned and got the CBS role.

Naturally, Parham is very respectful of Elfman.

“It’s intimidating to work with someone who has been doing it so long,” Parham said. “She lives a life I’d like to have one day. She was immediately open and very warm and welcoming to me. There’s a nuance to the way she says her lines. She can take something that otherwise would be boring and making it funny.”

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