Matt Shively Reveals Lopez vs Lopez 's Surprising Connections to True Jackson, VP

Working on Lopez vs Lopez has been a reunion of sorts for star Matt Shively.

Before he was starring alongside George and Mayan Lopez on the NBC sitcom, the actor got his big break on the Nickelodeon series True Jackson, VP—which starred Keke Palmer as the show's titular teen fashion designer. And as it turns out, the two shows share a few surprising connections.

As Matt exclusively revealed in an interview with E! News, "A lot of crew members and stuff from that show are actually on this show." Not only that, but his onscreen girlfriend Mayan was also a huge fan of the children's series.

"She didn't really tell me until about halfway through shooting the first season," the 32-year-old, who plays Mayan's boyfriend Quinten on the sitcom, joked. "And then, she finally let it go that like she grew up watching me, and it's so weird that I'm now playing her baby daddy on the show, and all this kind of stuff."

Lopez vs. Lopez First-Look Photos

He even teased, "There's an episode coming up where we do some flashbacks and I looked very much like my character from True Jackson in the flashbacks." Matt played one of True's best friends, Ryan Laserbeam, on the series, which ran from 2008 to 2011.

And in addition to sharing crew members, Lopez vs Lopez will also soon see a familiar True Jackson face on the show's Jan. 20 episode. Stephen Tobolowsky, who played the dad of Robbie Amell's character on the Nickelodeon series, will guest star as Quinten's father, Sam.

And just like Quinten's far-from-perfect relationship with Mayan's father, George, his dynamic with his own father isn't much better.

"All things seem like he's actually the perfect father," Matt explained, "but as the story unfolds and everything, you realize that it's not just George and his family that have issues. It's essentially everybody has issues, all families have issues."

While fans will have to tune in to see how the family visit goes down, Matt teased that the episode's events could have a positive impact on Quinten and George's ever-improving bond.

"That's a lot of what this episode kind of touches on, as well, is George realizing that as much as he may not want to like this guy, this guy might be the best father he's ever seen," he said. "I think it's really good for them. And then, maybe, at some point, Quinten starts rubbing off on George a little bit."

Tune in to the new episode of Lopez vs Lopez tonight, Jan. 20, at 8 p.m. on NBC.

(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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