Adrianne Palicki on 'Orville' scene with Rob Lowe: 'My 13-year-old self was dying inside'

Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Actress Adrianne Palicki says she was happy her childhood celebrity crush Rob Lowe played her blue alien love interest in the first episode of Fox's new show, The Orville.

The pilot for the sci-fi series shows Palicki's Commander Kelly in bed with a nearly unrecognizable Lowe as her husband Ed, the captain of the spaceship Orville, unexpectedly arrives home. Ed is played by series creator Seth MacFarlane.

Asked at New York Comic Friday what it was like to share the screen with Lowe, Palicki told reporters: "It was amazing! ...

"My 13-year-old self was dying inside," added the actress, who is now 31. "It was awesome. He's such a great person to work with and he had so much fun getting into that paint."

The show's producers said Lowe, 53, enthusiastically agreed to play the bit part because he is a friend of MacFarlane's and has worked with him in the past on MacFarlane's animated series, Family Guy.

The filmmakers also said they would love it if Lowe would come back and play a different role some day since he looked so different in his one Orville scene.