In Tuesday's column I wrote about how the networks have been forced by cable and the new streaming services to offer shorter seasons or limited series. Here we have a perfect example of the trend.
You, Me and the Apocalypse debuts at 7 p.m. today on NBC. The 10-episode limited series is a British production that aired in September in the United Kingdom. It fills the slot taken by Heroes Reborn. That limited series finished its 13-episode season last week.
Consider You, Me and the Apocalypse one of those absurd British comedies in terms of sensibility. However, the NBC publicity mill is hyperbolically labeling it "a bold, adrenaline-fueled, hour-long comedic drama." I just thought it was innovative and funny.
The series deals with the last days of mankind. On the surface, that's not all that humorous, but it all depends on your perspective.
This is not so much like Deep Impact or Armageddon as it is in the same vein as the 2012 Steve Carell, Keira Knightley feature film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Everybody died at the end of that one, but that may not be the case here. The series' tagline: "Not the best. Not the brightest. But they're our only hope."
In the TV series, an 8-mile-wide comet is on a collision course for "an extinction level event," and humanity has 34 days before the apocalypse arrives. Meanwhile, NBC says, "the most hilarious and unexpected chain of events imaginable is set in motion."
That's the background as an eclectic group of seemingly unconnected characters begins to intersect as each copes with the impending end of the world.
Heading the ensemble is Rob Lowe (Parks and Recreation, The Grinder) as maverick Father Jude Sutton, an abrasive, irreverent, chain-smoking priest who is tasked by the Vatican with being the "devil's advocate" in the canonization process, arguing against those up for sainthood.
Father Jude is assisted by his reserved, recently cloistered assistant, Sister Celine Leonti (Gaia Scodellaro, Cugino e Cugino).
The Office's Jenna Fischer (she played receptionist Pam Beesly) portrays mild-mannered librarian Rhonda McNeil, who finds herself a pitiful fish out of water when she is sent to a maximum-security prison for a crime she didn't commit. Her experience will remind viewers of the early episodes of Orange Is the New Black.
While behind bars, Rhonda reluctantly befriends savvy lifer Leanne Parkins (Megan Mullally, Will & Grace), a white supremacist (complete with Charles Manson-esque forehead swastika tattoo) who takes Rhonda under her wing.
Also dealing with the end is Jamie Winton (Mathew Baynton, Yonderland), a milquetoast bank manager from Slough, England, who is a hopeless creature of routine and still in mourning over the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Layla, seven years before. The impending doomsday sends him on a dangerous mission to find her.
Baynton also plays Jamie's estranged twin, Ariel Conroy. Conroy is known as the White Horse, leader of the cyber terrorist group Deus Ex Machina.
Some of these mismatched characters are destined to make it to a bunker deep beneath the English suburbs of Slough. Think of it as an ark, with the result being they become the unlikely -- and totally unqualified -- last hope for the future of the human race.
The series also stars Joel Fry as Jamie's best friend Dave Bosley; Paterson Joseph as Gen. Arnold Gaines, head of the Special Situations Group responsible for planning for apocalyptic scenarios; Kyle Soller as Rhonda's twin, Scotty McNeil; and Pauline Quirke as Paula Winton, Jamie's mother.
"It's a really unlikely mixture of serious content and cheek," Lowe told the British paper The Independent. "I don't actually consider it a comedy although I know a lot of folk do. There are parts that are played for out-and-out comedy but I think it's got more of a David Lynch feel. This is ... a sort of naughty, cheeky look at the end of the world."
• In memoriam. In case you were one of the few watching, NBC's The Player, which aired at 9 p.m. Thursdays, has been officially canceled after its truncated nine-episode first season. Taking its place is the Jennifer Lopez cop drama Shades of Blue, which debuted Jan. 14.
Ratings for Shades of Blue, which has a 13-episode order, are encouraging so far.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 01/28/2016