When John Owen Lowe began writing on “9-1-1: Lone Star,” which stars his dad, Rob Lowe, he couldn’t resist venting to members of his team. His complaints about going “stir crazy” were so funny that they told him to pitch it as a show. With that, Netflix’s “Unstable” was born: The sitcom, which premieres March 30, stars the two actors and co-creators as estranged father and son Ellis and Jackson.
The comedy is fictional — but rooted in reality. “Jackson’s estranged from his dad. It never got that bad between my dad and me,” Lowe, 28, says. “[Jackson is] a little more socially awkward and lost than I am. I did experience pockets where I didn’t have an identity, because of what it was like growing up with a father who sort of sucks the air out of every room you’re in with him.”
As for his dad’s role, “Ellis is a little less tethered to reality than my dad, but it’s not as far off as he would have you think. We would have these moments on set where his character would be complaining about my posture or what I’m wearing. They’d call ‘cut’ and he literally — without breaking concentration — would go, ‘Are they chiseling your chin? I feel like they’re lighting you too harshly. You need more definition on your chin.’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, we’re not doing this here, in front of everyone.’ It was very funny, cathartic, but also a little meta at times.”
For Lowe, the blurring of fact and fiction led to “a ton of hesitation” about doing the series.
“The show is about a son who wants to get out of his father’s shadow, and I am literally a son who wants to get out of my father’s shadow,” says Lowe, who is an executive producer on the series. He noted that he never imagined he’d work as closely with his dad as he is now. “I have adopted a new perspective on that, which is, when you’re lost in the forest, sometimes the only way to get out is to go deeper into the forest.”
The term “nepo baby” isn’t lost on him — he is “the first person” to point out that he’s had doors open to him because he’s a Lowe. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t work to get where he is. “I interned in writers’ rooms when I was 18. I was a PA for two years. I got lunches and coffees on two different shows. I was studying at Stanford, and I really, really gave everything else a shot except entertainment because my parents pushed me away from it for so long,” he says, joking that now his goal is to be on New York Magazine’s next “nepo baby” cover.
Lowe is grateful that while he resembles his dad, he didn’t “inherit the full facial physique” —something he’s been reminded of many times.
“I like to tell him sometimes that he has a punchable face — and I don’t have one of those because my jawline isn’t quite as chiseled.”
Netflix’s “Unstable” is now streaming on Netflix. Read PvNew‘s full review here.
