THREE’S COMPANY

’90s ’tween stars spoof their ‘Hollywood’ lives

I T’S sure to tickle those who grew up in the ’90s to know that Stephanie Tanner, Lucy Camden and Al Lambert are all friends in real life.

At least the actresses who played those respective characters — Jodie Sweetin (“Full House”), Beverley Mitchell (“7th Heaven”) and Christine Lakin (“Step By

Step”), certainly are. And now the three 30-something pals — who grew up together as child stars in the business — are taking their friendship to the screen in the new comedy series “Hollywood Dar

lings,” premiering Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Pop.

“Our extracurricular events as kids were upfront events, acting class. We’d see each other at charity events,” says Lakin, 38. “As we got into our 20s, we all went off in different directions. I was involved in college and started doing a lot of theater, Beverley was getting married and having babies, Jodie had her kids.

“We came back together in our 30s and it’s been really nice. It’s like the friendship that you don’t have to explain.”

In the eight-episode comedy, which was created by Jimmy Fox, the stars play exaggerated versions of themselves (a la “Curb Your

Enthusiasm”) and episodes are loosely scripted, with dialogue improvised within the scenes.

“We wanted it to have the feel of a sitcom. We wanted people to realize this is not our real life, it’s not reality,” says Sweetin, 35. “We wanted it to be very fun, ridiculous, over-the-top-silly.”

Some plotlines are drawn from their current lives as mothers, like when Jodie is forced to choose between her dream of owning a sports car and a minivan to cart around her daughters Zoie, 8, and Beatrix, 6. Others are self-aware about having one’s fame peak as a child, like when Christine tries to redo her high school prom and Beverley plans a slumber party. A recurring bit throughout the series sees fans approach the three wom- en to ask for a photo, then inevitably ask Lakin to take it — a snub she says happens “pretty much every time” the stars hang out in reality.

“[‘Step By Step’] has obviously been off the air for a long time and I’m not wearing a backwards hat anymore,” Lakin says. “It’s something that has happened to us in real life that I really have no ego about and I think is very funny. So we decided to put it in the show.”

The ’90s nostalgia of “Darlings” reaches a fever pitch with its guest cast, which reads like a table of contents from an old issue of Teen Beat — Andrew Keegan (“10 Things I Hate About You”), Andrea Barber (“Full House”), Tamera Mowry (“Sister, Sister”), Jaleel White (“Family Matters”), Lance Bass (NSYNC) and Soleil Moon Frye (“Punky Brewster”). After scour- ing their collective Rolodexes for names to recruit, the ladies say the former teen stars were more than happy to come poke fun at themselves with three actresses who share the same unique childhood.

“[They knew] that we were never going to put them in a compromising position where they felt uncomfortable with their characters,” says Mitchell, 36. “It was really fun and it brought back what we all got into this business for in the first place.”