Currently TBD on the FOX schedule is US & THEM, an adaptation of the well-liked British comedy Gavin & Stacey. It stars the also well-liked Jason Ritter and Alexis Bledel as co-workers from different branches of the same company who finally meet and have to overcome the challenge of their wildly eccentric parents and friends to get together.
Ritter and Bledel are two of the most likable performers in the business, but even on the basis of the trailer, this show may have problems. The original British show was… well, it was very British, and what seems to be a fairly faithful adaptation will have a hard time matching the careful mix of very broad comedy and sweet romance from that version. There are plenty of talented people involved here, including supporting cast members Jane Kaczmarek, Kurt Fuller, and Michael Ian Black, so we’ll see. It’s also the kind of series that will need time to develop the characters past their very cartoonish exteriors, as the British show did–but whether the current world of television will allow it that much time is unclear. (On the upside, if it flops, Jason Ritter can always come back to Parenthood.)
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About the Author
Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."
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