She’s ready to set sail.
Annie Potts has done nearly everything in Hollywood, but her new Fox comedy “Best Medicine” put her in a new situation.
“It was really different from the things that I played. And I always look for that,” Potts, 73, told The Post.
She quipped, “It is interesting to have as your acting partner a lobster. [I’ve worked with] and all different kinds of animals and people before, but none of them ever tried to bite me.”
Based on the British comedy “Doc Marten,” the show has a special premiere Jan. 4 at 8 p.m., followed by its regular time slot premiere on Jan 6 at 8 p.m.
The comedy follows Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles, “The Good Wife”), a surgeon who is relocating from a career in Boston to become the general practitioner to the quirky fishing village of Port Wenn, Maine.
The town is filled with colorful characters, such as local teacher Louisa (Abigail Spencer), cheerful sheriff Mark Mylow (Josh Segarra), and Potts as his Aunt Sarah, a lobster woman.
Potts has had a storied career in classic shows like “Designing Women” and movies such as “Ghostbusters,” but she said working with lobsters was new.
“They found an actual lobster woman up the East Coast and they said, ‘would you like to speak with her?’ She was in her 90s and she had only stopped lobstering at 83. Jean was a ball of fire, she had a lot to say about lobstering and how much she loved it. I just loved her spirit.”
The Tennessee born “Pretty in Pink” actress added, “My father was a big hunting and fishing kind of guy. And I often accompanied him on those trips. I’ve always been a big tomboy.”
Among her past projects, Potts said that “Best Medicine” is more similar to her character on “Young Sheldon” than on “Designing Women.”
“I think ‘Designing Women’ is about as far from Port Wenn, Maine, as you can get.” But, her “Young Sheldon” character was, “a lot more like me. A fiery, sassy older woman,” she explained.
Potts found a similarity between that role and “Best Medicine” because she had a relationship giving guidance to “a young boy, who was the smartest kid in school and had some bullying [for that]” on “Young Sheldon,” which ran for seven seasons until 2024.
Charles’ character on “Best Medicine” is “an older boy, with some of the same issues, [who’s also] looking outside his parents to have the support that he needed,” she noted.
Potts said she never could have anticipated the longevity of the “Ghostbusters” franchise. She’s been in “Ghostbusters,” “Ghostbusters II,” the 2016 reboot, 2021’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and 2024’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.”
“I don’t think anybody thinks they’re going to do a thing and it’s going to last for twenty years. It’s amazing,” she told The Post. “I’ve loved every one of them. And it’s so fun to get together every four to ten years, and do another.”
Whether there is more
“I have no idea. Generally if they continue to make money, they continue to make them. They’ve got a nice in with the new young cast and Paul Rudd. The kids are great. So, I think [the franchise] will keep on.”
