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'It Is Really Outrageously Fun': Abby McEnany On Season 2 Of Showtime's 'Work In Progress'

(CBS Local)-- Need a TV show to get into? Showtime and Abby McEnany have you covered with the return of the comedy "Work in Progress." Season two of the uniquely human comedy series returns Sunday. August 22 at 11pm EST/PST. The series is about a queer woman named Abby whose misfortune and despair lead her to a vibrantly transformative relationship. However, that relationship will be put to the test in season two.

CBS Local's DJ Sixsmith caught up with McEnany to discuss what it was like to make season two of the show during a pandemic, her vulnerability around her own mental health issues and what it has been like to make a show with her best friend in real life Celeste Pechous.

"I don't think you're going to be surprised since we met a few years ago, but I'm really nervous about season two," said McEnany. "It tracks and it is on brand. I'm really excited and super grateful that we got to do this again. It was really an amazing experience and of course super challenging. I know I do a lot of protective stuff for my brain, but I still can't really believe it. It's really wild. I hate social media and I'm not on social media, so all I know is we got pretty well reviewed and that felt great."

McEnany was really happy to get back on set to shoot the show with the cast and crew after a really difficult year during the height of the pandemic. One of the things the actor is most proud of is that she can use her platform to discuss mental health issues like anxiety and depression and also shine a light on body shaming.

"I feel like we don't do it on purpose and obviously the character is based on me," said McEnany. "We are just showing life and what life looks like. We were so lucky this year that we got to have writers. Last year when we started writing, we didn't have a budget. This year we were lucky enough to get a bunch of wonderful writers, but we don't go in and say these are the 12 topics we're going to tackle. Hopefully it does resonate and there are no heroes and no villains. Everyone is a complex person and everyone is just trying to do their best."

"Celeste and I met over a keg at this big party in Chicago. She came up from Iowa and met some girl that I knew from an AOL chatroom," said McEnany. "We met at a keg at this party and that was probably the early or mid 1990s. It's wild because here we are doing this. It is really outrageously fun and we have a lot more scenes together. We delve a lot into Pamela and Abby's relationship. She is so great and I got to go through this with someone who has known me for so long and we got to improvise a lot."

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