Adam Lenhardt
Senior HTF Member
I just discovered this show on Hulu. It's from "Modern Family" co-creator Steven Levitan and "Party Down" co-creator John Enbom.
Rachel Korman plays Hannah Korman, a screenwriter who's made a name for herself with edgy indie fare. She successfully pitches Hulu on a continuation of "Step Right Up", a popular network sitcom from twenty years ago, but updated with more morally complicated characters and less broad humor.
Paul Reiser plays Gordon Gelman, Hannah's estranged father. Gordon created the original "Step Right Up" and uses his intellectual property rights as leverage to elbow his way in as co-showrunner.
While a generation divide is playing out in the writers' room between Hannah's hires and Gordon's hires, the reunited cast is dealing with the consequences of the past decade and a half, which didn't turn out the way any of them hoped. Keegan-Michael Key plays Reed Sterling, a pretentious Yale-trained actor who played the stepfather on the original series but left the show for a film career that never materialized. Johnny Knoxville plays Clay Barber, the raunchy stand-up comedian who played the ex-husband on the original series but is now navigating the fallout of a life that went completely off the rails. Judy Greer plays Bree Marie Jensen, who was the wife and mom on the original series. After the show ended, she took the Grace Kelly route and became the duchess of a small Nordic country. But now she's lost everything in the divorce. And Calum Worthy pays Zack Jackon, who had been the cute kid in the original series but now finds himself out of his depth trying to book more adult roles.
And then there's Krista Marie Yu as Elaine Kim, a software engineer who improbably became, through a series of tech mergers, the new vice president of comedy for Hulu.
It's not razor sharp satire by any means, but it's edgier than Levitan could get away with on ABC, and it continues the recent renaissance of great roles for Paul Reiser. I'm four episodes in, and it's warm and funny and I like most of the characters.
Rachel Korman plays Hannah Korman, a screenwriter who's made a name for herself with edgy indie fare. She successfully pitches Hulu on a continuation of "Step Right Up", a popular network sitcom from twenty years ago, but updated with more morally complicated characters and less broad humor.
Paul Reiser plays Gordon Gelman, Hannah's estranged father. Gordon created the original "Step Right Up" and uses his intellectual property rights as leverage to elbow his way in as co-showrunner.
While a generation divide is playing out in the writers' room between Hannah's hires and Gordon's hires, the reunited cast is dealing with the consequences of the past decade and a half, which didn't turn out the way any of them hoped. Keegan-Michael Key plays Reed Sterling, a pretentious Yale-trained actor who played the stepfather on the original series but left the show for a film career that never materialized. Johnny Knoxville plays Clay Barber, the raunchy stand-up comedian who played the ex-husband on the original series but is now navigating the fallout of a life that went completely off the rails. Judy Greer plays Bree Marie Jensen, who was the wife and mom on the original series. After the show ended, she took the Grace Kelly route and became the duchess of a small Nordic country. But now she's lost everything in the divorce. And Calum Worthy pays Zack Jackon, who had been the cute kid in the original series but now finds himself out of his depth trying to book more adult roles.
And then there's Krista Marie Yu as Elaine Kim, a software engineer who improbably became, through a series of tech mergers, the new vice president of comedy for Hulu.
It's not razor sharp satire by any means, but it's edgier than Levitan could get away with on ABC, and it continues the recent renaissance of great roles for Paul Reiser. I'm four episodes in, and it's warm and funny and I like most of the characters.
