Program note: "The Little Couple" returns for Season 3 June 1

Part of the interview with Jen and Bill from Joel Keller at TV Squad:

Jen Arnold and Bill Klein (pictured), stars of the TLC reality series 'The Little Couple,' are unique in the universe of cable reality, but not because of their size. The couple, who begin their third season on June 1 at 10PM ET, are unique because they're so unrelentingly normal. And, considering Jen is a prominent neonatal physician and Bill owns his own training business, showing their "normalness" was very important to the both of them.

"I... wanted to make sure that overall the show was positive and not sensational, because the last thing I wanted to do was to negatively affect our careers," said Jen, "which always is a risk you take when you put yourself out there in the spotlight."

I spoke to Jen and Bill while they were visiting New York to attend TLC's summer press party; they were also doing some press and shooting for the show, including Bill's upcoming stand-up routine at Caroline's. Read on to find out how that came about.

You guys doing anything interesting in New York this week?
Bill: Let's see here. Well, we've done a few pieces of press. We did the 'Wendy Williams Show,' we've been doing some ABC stuff. And then we're also doing a little bit of shooting for the show.

What stuff is being shot? Is it stuff like the Wendy Williams appearance or some other activity?
Bill: Oh it's other stuff. It's actually, you know, I do a decent amount of public speaking. So as part of the show, they're going to be covering one of my speaking engagements coming up in June. And so in advance of that, they're covering my open mic night opportunity at Caroline's Comedy Club. They have a school that they teach average Joes like me how to try and be funny, which we'll find out how well I did tonight. But that's basically the thing that they're covering here.

Have you done the graduation performance yet? Has that taken place?
Bill: Um, I'm not quite sure. Because we're doing kind of ad hoc to squeeze in some education, and then perform and basically two days... On stage will be a little lackluster compared to some of the other people, but you know, we'll do our best. And hopefully that'll give me enough confidence to ramble one joke off while I'm doing speeches. That's the main objective.

Jen, do you think he can pull it off?
Jen: Oh, I think he can do great. He'll be great. He's a funny guy, if he can relax. (giggles)

So how was Wendy Williams by the way?
Jen: It was so fun! I mean, she's very engaging, and easy to talk to. I mean, I can see the two of us going out for a cocktail. (giggles)

Going into this third season, what part of your lives do you want to show that you haven't shown before, what have you learned from doing the first two seasons that carries over to this third season?
Bill: I think from the perspective of stories that continue on, you know, obviously, we're working towards having a baby, and we're working towards building a house. And I don't know if the payoffs will necessarily be completed on both of these things, as in having a baby and having the house completed, by the end of the season.

But I think what you'll see is a lot of the progress that goes into both of those things. It's a heck of a lot of work. And between that and juggling the regular career stuff, it should be interesting to see how we do.

When did you guys finish filming season two?
Jen: It was January.
Bill: Yeah, I think we finished up in January. So typically, our show is fairly up to date. Like maybe the viewers are, maybe 2 months, you know, a couple months behind.

So when did you start filming season three?
Jen: We started in March. Right after I finished my (medical) boards. I had to take a little reprieve.

So there's not this big gap in time or anything like that then?
Bill: Yeah. And basically, you know, where they're seeing is where we left off. You know, as far as the house is concerned, where we have the development of the foundation, now we're starting to get to the framing and all that fun stuff.

And as far as the baby is concerned, we did a couple of things that actually I think some of them will be highlighted in the premiere episode. There's a lot of like small steps that need to be taken, that I think the culmination of it is the delivery of us being able to actually get somebody pregnant.

So hopefully we're successful in making all that work. Ideally, and it has nothing to do with the timing of the season, because obviously we can't dictate the builders ability to complete a project, or rush a house or anything like that. And from a baby perspective, well, there's some things you can't dictate its innovation in that regard.

But are we hoping that it happens quickly? Absolutely. We're as anxious about our baby as anybody is. And our viewers are certainly interested in finding out where we're at. But I'd love to be able to say that we're pregnant already. It's just unfortunate that there's so much involved. But it does take time.

Jen, can you talk about what you guys finally decided to do with regards to the baby?
Jen: Sure. I think I can, I think it's safe to say that we chose surrogacy. But you know, we're pursuing surrogacy right now. Of course, it's too early to know if we'll be successful. We don't have a baby yet. But we are going through the process. And with the Center for Surrogacy Parenting, doing all the parts that are needed, and sort of figuring out OK, how do we get a surrogate, how do we get a surrogate pregnant.

I think there's going to be a lot of steps in the process that will come out in season three. It'll be educational and interesting for people. But I think not a lot has been done on what's really involved with that process. There's a lot that I'm learning, and I'm like in the field. (chuckles)