TV Tango: Since you don't like to reveal specifics about storylines, I have two general questions about MALIBU COUNTRY's Christmas episode [which airs tonight, 12/14]. We don't see them exchange gifts on screen, but what would Reba and Geoffrey have given each other if they had exchanged gifts?

Jai Rodriguez: Good question. Even with wardrobe, I'm like, "Geoffrey's an assistant; so let's keep his wardrobe like Sarah Jessica Parker SEX & THE CITY Season 1, when she really had to mix and match and go to thrift stores and make it look expensive." I would say he's a guy who doesn't have a whole lot of money; he's just super savvy. I would imagine if he was gifting Reba McKenzie [the character] and not Reba McEntire, it would probably be some kind of gag gift like some self-help book, "Getting Your Life Together After Your Man Leaves You." Something kind of funny. He would also probably do something for her home. She's always talking about establishing roots and starting her whole new life; so maybe he might've framed the demo that she made, just to kind of remember this new chapter in her life -- and to celebrate it.

TV Tango: This Christmas episode touches on the topic of science vs. faith with June and Cash discussing God. Is that a continuing theme in the series? I thought that was kind of fun for a sitcom to deal with directly.

Jai Rodriguez: Yeah, we're living in a whole new age where we want to represent on our show all different kinds of families. I think you can raise your children with strong core values and faith, and at times they may struggle with some of those things. I think MALIBU COUNTRY is looking at exploring the teenage experience with the June character in this episode having some doubts about whether or not this is all for real, or what the deal is. I think it's nice to add diversity where it's not just everyone holding hands and skipping.

Different kids come out different ways, and they have strong opinions and they challenge their parents. I think the way that Reba [the character] deals with it is actually kind of surprising, because I think something similar happend on the REBA show, when she was playing a different kind of mom, and she had a very different response with the situation.

It's one of those things were people are like it [MALIBU COUNTRY] is REBA 2.0, and in some ways, sure. Reba is very candid about she likes playing the same tone of this kind of a character. It's fun for her; she gets it. She has a very Lucille Ball sensibility with her comedy, and it's really, really fun to watch. In MALIBU COUNTRY, she realizes that she's playing off of different actors. The writers, some of them are different -- a couple of them worked on the older show. Also, they're living in a new city; they're living in Malibu -- it's not middle America like they were living in before.

Times have changed, and her character doesn't have the same backstory as her other show. She [Reba's character] is in fact the ex-wife of a very famous country star on our show. She is still somewhat in that limelight, and she might still be in the tabloids. 

I kind of like it. I think it's pushing the envelope a little bit. MALIBU COUNTRY is a little edgier in its content than she could've gotten away with in her former show.

TV Tango: What other topics like that -- ones that may not be typical for a sitcom -- can we expect in the future?

Jai Rodriguez: Episode 1 you kind of saw it with the gay references and stuff. Reba has a very large gay fanbase, and she's very respectful of them and has always been a supporter. Obviously, I'm not going anywhere. I'm on board for the journey and duration of our show. That's kind of part of it.

Lillie Mae, Reba's mom [played by Lily Tomlin], has some issues that some people might deem problematic -- she likes her pot. She likes to eat it. She likes to smoke it. She just likes it -- and it's legal now. In many ways, Reba left Tennessee with two kids and showed up to Malibu with three, because Lillie Mae is seeing this as a new adolescence for herself; so there will be some of that.

Jai Rodriguez (continued): Let's see, we're about three or episodes behind you. [They filmed the Christmas episode on November 15.] In the upcoming ones, there's an episode about bullying -- a different slant on it, which I think is kind of interesting. There's a really great episode about a baby shower that's sort of Malibu -- I call it THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF MALIBU baby shower, which is hilarious. It's just a lot of drama -- a lot of baby drama. It's really fun to watch scripted actresses pull off what we see as a reality sensibility. It's hilarious.

TV Tango: What's Geoffrey's background in the music industry?

Jai Rodriguez: When I was doing the auditions, the role was written very hip hop, and I was like, "I'm the lightest-skinned person in this waiting room. I'm reading this, but they don't read funny in an urban way -- but they want the character to be urban." So I went in and showed them my resume, and they were like, "So you hosted things." And I said, "Well, I won an Emmy." She says, "For what?" I said, "This show called QUEER EYE." She asked, "What'd you do on that?" I was in there with a baseball cap. I looked totally different -- I had a beard and tattoos. I was like, "I was on it." Then she's like, "What?" because I don't have it [QUEER EYE] on my resume.

Then she said, "Why don't you make the choice to make him fabulous. We don't have anyone playing it that way." I was like, "That's industry code for gay. But I don't know how to do white gay. I know what you're asking -- a Cam [from MODERN FAMILY] kind of thing -- but I can't embody that well. I can't live it. But what I can do is like a Latin gay because I have so many fabulous New York City friends who have this urban sensibility and they will kick your ass -- but they're gay!" They're fabulous on the outside, but don't mess with them. That's how I'd play it.

Jai Rodriguez (continued): I figured if he's working for this mogul, he's been to school and came out here [to Los Angeles], maybe with some hopes and aspirations in music and landed in an executive-assistant role. I think he's a real behind-the-scenes guy; he likes to create things. I don't see him as a Jamie King long term -- Jamie King's been Madonna's narcissistic director for the past 17 years, but began as a dancer himself, then a choreographer and moved on to become an executive director and I believe now he does the Cirque du Soleil shows.

That's kind of how I see Geoffrey's evolution. He's constantly wanting to be in charge. I think he's had some experience under Mr. Bata [Geoffrey's boss] and kind of shadowed some things and witnessed some things, but it's going to be a bit of a learning curve. Taking on Reba and saying he can help and using his "connections," I think they're going to get into some Lucy and Ethel-type situations all in hopes of reviving this woman's career.

TV Tango: As you continue to develop Geoffrey, how closely do you work with the writers to strike the right tone and the proper behaviors and stereotypes?

Jai Rodriguez: That's the wonderful thing -- I don't know if it's all sitcoms or just this one specifically -- they're really inclusive. If something strikes you as not right, they are open to changing it.

Normally when you get a big role, they give you the background of the character. This time, they were like, "Well, why don't you guys tell us what you feel this character has been through. Their likes, their dislikes. If they're single. Whatever." I wrote this long, detailed story for Geoffrey, and I think that's one of the best things about it. There's so much I feel that works -- or doesn't work -- that they're open to hearing. One of our Executive Producers, he's gay and he's partnered; so he has sensitivities when I say, "Hmm...I can't say that" or "That doesn't feel right."

Jai Rodriguez (continued): They're really great about that. They're not sticklers for, "We wrote it, and that's the way you have to say it." In fact, most times they're like, "Well, how would you say it?"

TV Tango: How much of your own Puerto Rican family history have you been able to use?

Jai Rodriguez: Sometimes I use bits and pieces like of my aunt and my mom when she's super manic-y when things aren't going right or when she's trying to rally everyone -- there's just a lot going on in he brain. So when Geoffrey gets overwhelmed, I do kind of channel them.

I also love that my aunt used to say this thing that used to annoy the hell out of me. She used to say [in his best impression of his aunt], "Oh my God, you didn't know that? I've been knowing that. You didn't know that?" She just had this attitude like, "You're so far behind. How come you haven't caught up?" There's something about that that just tickles me so because it's the idea that "I'm so much classier and so much better than you. I can't believe you didn't know that. Where've you been living?" It's like this oddly comedic shaming thing that I just can't get enough. It used to really bother me as a kid, but now I just die laughing everytime she says it.

To be truthful, Geoffrey is modeled after my first hair-and-makeup guy in RENT Broadway. He was a hair-and-makeup designer of the show, and he was still working there when I did the show on Broadway. He would put me in drag as Angel, and he was this guy named David Santana. We had this wall of Santana-isms. He would often get famous idioms wrong.

For instance, one day he came up the stairs huffing and puffing -- we were on the 4th floor -- and he had all these Christmas bags. It was wintertime in New York. He's all bundled up, and he's like, [in his best accent] "Oh Jai, I've been slaving over hot stove all day." I was like, "What stove is that, David?" And he's like, "Jai, the stove of life." These random, stupid things that totally make sense to him. Or like if I was overwhelmed or had things to do, he'd be like [again, in his best accent] "Jai, you gotta be efficient. You got to kill two birds with a single stick."

You could not script this stuff. I always think about him and his sensibilities. He had one of the biggest hearts of anyone that I know, but not everyone saw that. I try to play both sides of it.

What I love about it is that even though we're in the show, we're still developing things. The most exciting part is to see what works and what doesn't work. We rehearse four days and we shoot one. So like you'll rehearse day one, and they'll be like, "Oh, that's not working," and they'll rewrite a whole new scene if they feel like it's just not hitting. It's kind of fun, because you don't feel the pressure to be like, "I really need to make this work but I just don't feel it." Before you even say anything, they're like, "Nope, already got it. Done. We're taking that out. We're going to fix that." It really makes you feel part of it.

They also picked actors that they trusted. They just really trust these people. Everyone. Sara Rue, who models her character after THE REAL HOUSEWIVES, to Lily Tomlin, who models the character after almost her mother, down to Justin [Justin Prentice, who plays Cash], who actually is from Nashville, and Juliette [Juliette Angelo who plays June]. Watching Juliette and her [real-life] mother is a lot like watching June and Reba on the show.

They've got a good group of people. No divas on the set. It's odd.  You hear it all the time, "Oh, we're a family." But it's true.

I think it trickles down from the top. Reba set a really nice tone professionally and socially for us to follow along on set. She really did, and not every show I've been on in the scripted world has been that way -- especially with guest stars, which is what I've been doing a lot of. We always make our guest stars feel at home, and we've been fortunate to have some really great ones.

TV Tango: Do you get to pick Geoffrey's outfits and accessories?

Jai Rodriguez: I actually do get to have some say. I think our wardrobe gals see him as very Michael Urie [who played Marc St. James, the assistant to Vanessa Williams' character on UGLY BETTY], and I always remind them that he worked at a fashion magazine -- that's a little different than working at, let's say, Capitol Records in Hollywood. I'm always trying to push the envelope with certain things, like high-water jeans that are really fitted with no socks and patent leather shoes. Very hipster. I always try to keep the sides of my head buzzed, and I kind of have a pompadour thing that I don't wear in real life.

The glasses. I actually found out I needed glasses last year; so I took to wearing these old black glasses that I wore to the audition. They were like, "We love it." We have three or four pair that work.

Jai Rodriguez (continued): The only weird thing is that the work glasses don't have prescriptions. I'll still be trying to send a text, and I'm holding the phone so close like, "Why can't I see?" That happened today, actually. "What's wrong with me? I can't see the numbers!"

TV Tango: I have a few Christmas questions for you and not about Geoffrey. What's the best Christmas gift you've given to someone else?

Jai Rodriguez: I gave my ex-boyfriend an iPod, and I had it inscribed. My cousin Jackie, who's like my sister, I gave her a puppy for Christmas one year.

Simple things. I'm more the pomp and circumstance. For instance, I had a boyfriend that I dated and for his birthday, I threw him a big concert at a nightclub, and I had some of his favorite singers and some of my friends sing the playlist of his life -- basically all of his favorite songs. To pull that off was quite an ordeal. I'm still waiting for someone who will do something like that for me. I tend to be the doer.

TV Tango: This year, which of Santa's lists are you on? Fierce or basic bitch?

Jai Rodriguez: I think this year, oddly, I got onto "fierce." Last year, I think I would've been on "basic bitch."

TV Tango: What changed?

Jai Rodriguez: I think it was an inner shift. I just buckled down, and I'm in that space where I'm going to write my own story in life. I don't know. There's just been a shift in things. Work's been different. My friendships have been a little bit more rich.

It's been a great year. It really has, and MALIBU COUNTRY was sort of icing on the cake, as it were.

I think it's one these years where I paid a lot more attention to connecting to people around the world through social media, like Twitter and Facebook. I don't think I was so great with that before this year. It's always fascinating like how connected we are. It is interesting to hear different points of view about things from all over the world, whether it's "Hey, I liked your performance" or "Hey, you sucked." I just find it fascinating to have those dialogues with all kinds of people.

TV Tango: What's your favorite Christmas song?

Jai Rodriguez: I like Celine Dion's "O, Holy Night." Or her and Andrea Bocelli's "The Prayer." I don't know if that's a Christmas song, but I know it's on her Christmas album. And if I get a third, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas, Is You."

TV Tango: If you could play any fictional character, who would you choose?

Jai Rodriguez: This is really odd, but before I get too old I want to play Aladdin in something or some form -- not just because I love monkeys. I think I'd be good at it. I just have always liked him. I think we bear an odd, striking resemblence.