LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A.J. Michalka turned a guest-starring role on the ABC sitcom, "The Goldbergs" into a recurring one. Then she became a series regular.
And now she's starring in a spinoff of her own, "Schooled." Michalka is taking her character Lainey Lewis back to class, as the new music teacher at her old high school.
"She doesn't really know what she's doing and she feels like this job is going to get me by - for now. I don't know if it will in the long run," said Michalka. "And then later realizes, OK this is not just a job I'm going to roll in and out of. This is something that I'm actually going to spend a lot of focus and time on and I'm going to help these kids figure out what they want to do as they grow older."
After the first episode aired and "Schooled" got an "A" in the ratings, Michalka was over the moon.
"The next day, we all came back to set and the morale was just like super high," said Michalka. "Everyone was so excited. People couldn't believe how well it did. And we were all just like, oh, that's great. We're making really great television and it's working."
Michalka loves that her show is aimed at families.
"It's so important. I feel like it's everything, especially on broadcast TV, it's like, here we are. We have a chance at night at letting people wind down and just enjoy family time."
The actress hints there are things to come involving a new character. Plus, they have two episodes on the way that are odes to '90s movies: one tips the hat to the Freddie Prinze Jr. film, "She's All That."
"It was like my favorite movie growing up. I loved that film," said Michalka. "So it's a bit of a makeover, makeunder scenario. And you'll see one of the teachers - me - go through a makeunder and then one of the students go through a makeover, simultaneously. And it's a really fun storyline."
"Schooled" airs Wednesday nights on ABC.