In an unprecedented and semi-risky move, TBS is set to premiere its first original series of 2016, Angie Tribeca, with a 25-hour, ad-free marathon on January 17. The network will play all 10 of its season one episodes back-to-back multiple times, then return one week later to premiere its second season. It’s brilliant PR on TBS’s part, and a wonderful option for the casual TV viewer who is looking to blow up his or her life for an entire day. But star Hayes MacArthur explains that the groundbreaking binge-premiere wasn’t solely a marketing decision. In a piece over at The Hollywood Reporter, MacArthur quips, “Twenty-five hours is the average length of a very strong pot brownie.”
In other words, guys, TBS wants you to get real stoned and watch 25 hours straight of television. A vaguely terrifying prospect, to be sure, until you consider what you’ll be watching: Angie Tribeca, a satire of police procedurals, stars Rashida Jones as the titular character, features Bill Murray as a flirty grocery-store clerk named Vic Deakins (Vic Deakins!), and sprung from the probably pot-brownie-saturated minds of executive producers Steve and Nancy Carell.
In the article, Steve explains that, at first, Angie was just a strange comedic riff between he and his wife, whose relationship sounds utterly delightful: “The name made us laugh and we built the character based on the name and it expanded over time. We weren’t thinking of pitching a show; we were just riffing.” We get it, Steve and Nancy Carell. Yours is a union of constant joy, laughter, and off-the-cuff-brilliant television pitches.
The show has already drawn comparisons to classic spoofs like Airplane and Get Smart, according to THR; in another interview with USA Today, Nancy admitted that she’s a massive fan of Law & Order: SVU, and drew regular inspiration from the series. “There was a scene [on Law & Order] in the interview room … where the suspect realizes he’s not just a witness. And the music comes up,” she notes, by way of example. The Angie Tribeca riff? “What if the music just comes up and up and up and then nobody can hear [anyone else]?”
Unlike Law & Order, though, Angie Tribeca is a “huge mix” of humor and procedural, according to Nancy. Just like those brownies you’re gonna have to make.
(via THR)
