Why Nina Dobrev originally didn't want "Fam" pilot to get picked up

Actress Nina Dobrev is returning to television for the new CBS sitcom "Fam," which is taped in front of a studio audience. Dobrev plays Clem, whose life with her fiance is turned upside down when her troubled 16-year-old half-sister, Shannon, moves in with them.

Dobrev told "CBS This Morning" she was so terrified performing in front of a live audience that she hoped — at first — the pilot wouldn't go to series.

"As soon as I did do it, it was as scary as I thought it would be, so much so that my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my body and I really honestly didn't want the pilot to get picked up. I was like, 'I don't think I can live under the stress for 22 episodes,'" she said.

Luckily, she became more comfortable performing in front of people — and is happy the show got picked up.

"The show is really good and the writers are really talented so we didn't really have that many misses," she said. "But I didn't think that I could do that for so long. Then I got used to it after a couple of episodes."

Even before facing the nerves of a live audience, Dobrev wasn't sure she was ready to return to television so soon.

"But when I got the opportunity and got the offer for the show, it was a comedy and comedy's something that I've always loved doing but had never really had the chance to do," she said. "It's an interesting dynamic in Hollywood. When you do one thing well, people kind of think that's the only thing you can do. So I jumped at the opportunity and I'm so happy that I did."

Dobrev had a major acting role in the teenage drama, "Degrassi: The Next Generation," and starred in the CW supernatural drama, "The Vampire Diaries."

"Fam" airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 p.m. CT, on CBS.