I watch Jean trying to start with his new computer. He stares at the beast as if his sheer force of will can compel it to allow him to start writing a script on it. It won’t.

After a half hour he has only succeeded in plugging it into an outlet in his dining room and toggling on the power button. He pokes at keyboard buttons, occasionally the words ‘bad boot’ appearing on the screen. This irritates Jean, who asks, “What is ‘bad boot’? Where is boot?!”

I smile to myself. Jean speaks English fluently, although with a thick French accent. (He’d say I have a thick American accent.) But there are times I think he uses his thick accent to goof on people. There was a story going around the studio about when Jean and Andy met with Judy Price and a couple of ABC execs to discuss a script for The Littles.

Jean described a scene featuring young Lucy Little, Jean’s French accent thick and English broken, as he said, “Lucy is on menstret.” Thinking he had said “menstruate”, Judy’s eyes widened. When she regained her composure, she stammered, “Je…Jean… we can’t do that.” To which Jean replied, “What is wrong? Lucy is on menstret.”

Judy leaned forward. “This is a children’s show. We can’t even say that.”

Deciphering Jean’s accent better than Judy did, Andy grinned and explained, “He’s saying ‘Lucy is on Main Street’.”

I always wondered whether or not Jean was pranking Judy. Six-to-five and pick ‘em.