Mae Whitman OF ‘GOOD GIRLS’ ON NBC

What was your first thought after reading the pilot script for “Good Girls”? I was amazed at how much was packed into that pilot episode, but I really felt like I knew all the people. I understood the people. I felt like I understood their histories together. The chemistry was there. I didn’t need all this extra setting-up or babying. (Creator and executive producer Jenna Bans is) able to build a world that is so full and deep while also having it be this crazy, action-packed situation. To me, it felt almost like a family show that you have already watched for years and you know all the people and you’ve seen them grow, and then it takes this crazy action turn. Just the layers that Jenna is able to achieve, and the way that she puts words in our mouths, literally ... I feel (she knows) my voice better than anybody. You had a long run on “Parenthood,” so did it take a lot of thought for you to sign up for another series? Absolutely. You’re essentially signing yourself into a new family, possibly, when you sign on to do a show. And especially on a show like “Parenthood,” I went from a petulant teenager to a petulant adult. It was a full life lived in a very sensitive and delicate way. I wanted to go on, and it was a personal promise to myself that I when I did move on to another show, I would want to be somewhere that was that honest and that complex – and where I could tell a genuine story that would help people and that people could relate to, and that it would communicate a message that was important and empowering. Over the years with “Parenthood,” we were given so much love and understanding and freedom to tell stories honestly, so I was so happy to come back home to NBC.