“Call Me Kat” recurring cast member Christopher Rivas has been promoted to series regular for the show’s second season, TheWrap can exclusively report.
In the Season 2 opener of the Fox sitcom, which aired on Sunday, cat-themed café owner Kat (Bialik) chooses her new beau, Rivas’s character Oscar, over long-time crush, Max (Cheyenne Jackson).
Season 1 ended with a cliffhanger as “Katchelorette” Kat, in a parody of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” prepared to reward the winner by handing them a cat named Rose – who jumped out of her arms before she could announce her decision. Both men scrambled to find Rose as Kat told viewers, “Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”
Oscar, a laid-back delivery driver, first appeared in the second half of the first season and quickly clicked with Kat.
Rivas previously appeared in NBC’s “New Amsterdam,” CBS’s “2 Broke Girls,” ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” and Fox’s “Rosewood.”
He also produces two podcasts on SiriusXM’s Stitcher: one about the life of Dominican diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa, widely believed to the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s globe-trotting spy James Bond; and “Brown Enough,” the same title as his upcoming book from Row House Publishing, subtitled “A Memoir about Race, Social Justice, Inequality, Colorism, Colonization, the Student Loan Crisis, Family, Toxic Masculinity, Police Violence, Love, Genocide, and Making It in America.”
Rivas’s one-man play about Rubirosa, “The Real James Bond… Was Dominican,” is currently scheduled for three performances, including a March 26 date at the University of Southern California.
“Call Me Kat,” which follows Kat’s adventures at her cat café in Louisville, Kentucky, is based on the British series “Miranda,” created by Miranda Hart.
The sitcom costars Swoosie Kurtz as Kat’s interfering mother, Sheila, Kyla Pratt as aspiring artist Randi, Leslie Jordan as the café’s baker, and Julian Gant as the proprietor of the local piano bar.
“Cal Me Kat” is produced by Jim Parson and Todd Spiewak through their That’s Wonderful Productions, Bialik’s Sad Clown Productions and BBC Studios’ Los Angeles production arm in association with Warner Bros. Television and Fox Entertainment. Alissa Neubauer is the executive producer and showrunner. Hart and Angie Stephenson of BBC Studios also serve as executive producers.
After its post-NFL on Fox Sunday Night season premiere, the series returns to its regular time slot on Thursday, Jan. 13 (9:00-9:30 p.m. ET/PT).