The Best Comedy on TV Since Eastbound & Down is Big Time in Hollywood FL
Ever since Eastbound & Down wrapped in November 2013, we’ve been looking for the next big thing– the next big comedy series that would be so completely original, so fresh, that would surprise you at every turn, and leave you needing to see what happens next every single week.
Big Time in Hollywood FL is all of that and more. It’s outrageous, genuinely shocking, and tightly written. It’s genuinely addictive television, with great characters and some amazing talent. Creators Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf, who met in college, are newcomers to television. Their first project, “Next Time on Lonny” was a highly successful web series, but they actually created “Big Time” right out of college, before “Lonny.” It may be their debut television series but veteran performers are taking them very seriously. Ben Stiller (who executive produces), Michael Madsen, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Tobolowsky and Kathy Baker all signed on.
It’s outrageous, genuinely shocking, and tightly written. It’s genuinely addictive television, with great characters and some amazing talent.
You know the type– the kids who were told everything they had done was special, and now they’re all grown up, with all the love, and all the passion you would need to be a filmmaker but they’re a little too blinded by their own preciousness to know that they are just awful. They’re absolutely sure their big break is coming and that sincerity and passion is part of what helps drive the story forward.
Their average, upper middle class, loving parents have finally decided to push their grown boys out of the nest (a few years too late), which sets in motion a chain of events that are sheer insanity, absolutely unthinkable and thoroughly entertaining. The first 5 episodes have aired, and every one of them has a shocking turn of events that you never see coming. Episode 6, which airs tomorrow night throws a curveball that blows away the first 5, and be assured, there’s a lot more to come.
The tension is dramatic, and the comedy is laugh out loud as the brothers will do almost anything to try to stave off the inevitable– the real world, and a real job– by staging a drug deal, landing in rehab, putting their parents through hell, kidnappings, and more. And despite being responsible for at least one grizzly death, and a whole lot of destruction, they plow through the wreckage they leave in their own wake in pursuit of their goal.
So much of the fun depends on surprise, and with the availability of binge watching, we hesitate to give too much away. So instead of sharing the details, we talked with Jon Bass who plays Del in the series as well as creator and director Dan Schimpf, and creator and co-star Alex Anfanger (he plays Jack) about why this series is so damn good.
#1 The Cast is Amazing. Brothers Jack and Ben, played by Anfanger and Lenny Jacobson, play off each other perfectly, and of course form the core of the series. Jack and Ben honestly believe in Hollywood dreams, and they are utterly convinced that their time is going to come, as long as they just hang in there, and don’t give up. If only they had some talent, they’d make it big. If only they had any sense of their lack of talent, they’d move on. But….they don’t, and they don’t.
Jon Bass was perfectly cast as the best friend, Del. He’d do anything for Jack and Ben, and they will gladly take his loyalty, while treating him as a punching bag. Bass calls his character “an embodiment of happiness and aloofness” which he compares to a combination of “the Dog from Up” and “Peter Sellers from Being There.” Later in the series he pairs up with the perfect love interest played by Betsy Sodaro, an accomplished improviser who got her start at UCB. Bass calls her “the kindest person, and the funniest human being I’ve ever met.”
Stephen Tobolowsky and Kathy Baker, who play Ben and Jack’s parents are another key to the series success. They’re so believable as the parents of these grown children and truly ground the series, allowing everyone else to get more and more outrageous. Schimpf explained it. “Especially as the season goes on they do such a great job of grounding that reality and not letting the world drift too much into sketch territory.” But they’re not just the ground wire, they add so much comedically to the series, particularly Tobolowsky whose character’s attempts to do the right thing constantly get in the way of his own happiness, and he’s a scene stealer, despite being outside of the more outrageous moments in the series.
And of course, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Michael Madsen are flawless and create many of the series highlights in their roles as Cuba Gooding Jr and private investigator Harvey Scoles. Madsen is perfectly Madsen-esque, creating some moments of terror and high tension. Anfanger brought up episode 5, a turning point in Madsen’s storyline. “It’s like this motel farce, with Madsen, and it’s a very dark episode but definitely one of my favorites. And to have him– he’s such a maniac and so scary, and funny and it’s just so much fun.” And Cuba may just be the height of the madness in a series that is mostly madness. “He could do a dark and scary and dramatic intense sort of thing but knew where all the comic beats were,” Schimpf said. “Alex and Lenny and Jon are always doing something nuts around him and he’s just so in control of knowing exactly what he wants from his character..he was great and so trusting of everything that Alex and I wanted to do and we had him do some pretty insane things so I will say that’s a lot of risk from him.”
#2 The Creators Are Amazing. Ultimately, Bass says– in a very no-bullshit manner– you have to credit Alex and Dan for the success of the series. “Alex and Dan….I think, God, I’m like giving them a blowjob now but its true. They’re so good. I can’t express how…I mean this is their show, it’s their baby.” He continued, “It’s crazy because Dan Schimpf is this 28 year old fucking director wonderkind. He’s just the most calm and collected dude I think I’ll ever meet as a director.”
Bass told us that the key is the trust Schimpf gives to his actors, which of course you expect when the actors on your set are Ben Stiller, Michael Madsen, and Cuba Gooding Jr. “You just kind of let them do their thing, and then, you know you’re going to get the best from those guys.” Bass said. “But the thing that Dan did beyond that is he gave the opportunity to every actor on set. Any time I had an idea, I’d go to Dan and be like, I think this would be good. He goes, yeah yeah, lets do it lets do it.” But that doesn’t mean Schimpf isn’t in control. Bass explained “ you’re constantly in this head space of feeling like you’re collaborating and you’re a part of the decision making when in fact, Dan is just this little small genius who is like ‘I’m going to get what I want by making you feel like its your choice.’ I tell him at least once a week that he’s a genius and he hates it because he’s also the most humble person you’ll ever meet.”
#3 The Storyline is Amazing. Everything happens for a reason in “Big Time”. And as outrageous as it gets, there are no loose ends in the show, or misleading clues that dangle off into the abyss, or cheap shortcuts that help you get to a surprising moment, and that allows them to get away with breaking from reality, getting outrageously silly, but still have their characters feel real. And every character has a real purpose in the greater scheme of the story. Jon Bass told us that there is no such thing as a one-off in this series. Whoever or what ever you noticed in a scene, “it’s not just there for a joke. With I’d say, the exception of the car dealership, but those guys will have a storyline in season 2 if we get there.” For example, Bass said, “the reason we met Betsy the rape kitting nurse in Episode 2, is because in Episode 6 she becomes my girlfriend and then she becomes a vital part of Jack and Del’s relationship, and then she gets swept up in the whole thing toward the end and that has its own life.” If you mapped out the season, Bass added, “you’d have so many lines criss crossing so many different ways.”
#4 There Is a Moral. Yes the plot line walks a wicked and self absorbed path, and there is plenty of bad behavior, but Bass believes there is a moral to be gleaned. “There is a sick and twisted moral through all of it….and I think it holds true,” he said. “I don’t know if a lot of people are going to notice that there’s a moral, but there is one moral that I think you’ll take away and I think it’s just that, through everything, you’ll always have your family and your friends. And it’s a little sick and twisted how you get there, but in the end of the day it’s all about staying with the people who mean the most to you.”
No news from the network about a season two yet, but Bass told us that the guys are ready to go if they get the green light. “I’m not going to ruin it for you but we definitely wanted to leave the season with at least a few people still alive, and a couple pretty amazing ways to make the second season immediately start at– we sort of started the first episode and it went from 0 to 60 pretty fast, and for the second season, God willing, we want to start already at 60mph. So we’ve already got that all set up.”
Watch the entire first episode, if you haven’t already, below.
Watch “Big Time in Hollywood FL” every Wednesday at 10:30pm et on Comedy Central. Episodes 1 – 5 are all available on ComedyCentral.com. Episode 6 airs this Wednesday, April 29th. Co-stars Alex Anfanger, Lenny Jacobson and Stephen Tobolowsky will be competing for points tonight, on @midnight tonight on Comedy Central.
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