Sitcoms are a funny thing. Not because they are funny – most of them are funny and repeat themselves like herpes – but because they do something to the actors who participate in them, imprisoning them inside the character for many years and if the sitcom is even a little successful it can literally ruin their lives. Did we say funny? We meant sad. But also funny. And exactly on this seam thrives “Reboot”, the new and talked about sitcom created for the streaming service Hulu by Steven Levithan, the mastermind behind the hit series “Modern Family” which is returning to television for the first time since it left the screen after 11 seasons. exciting? It’s nothing else, because look at the cast:
Paul Reiser (“Crazy with Love”), Keegan-Michael Key (“Key & Peele”), Rachel Bloom (“Crazy Ex-girlfriend”), the mighty Judy Greer (“Family Troubled”) and Johnny Knoxville ( “Jackass”) and a host of other familiar sitcom alumni come together here to tell the story of the fictitious nineties sitcom “Step Right Up” which returns for a remake (on Hulu!) with its original cast, whose lives collapsed and fell apart after it left the screen. Now, as the most dysfunctional bunch seen on screen since the last Likud government, they need to pick up the pieces and pounce on their big opportunity.
The first three episodes that went online yesterday present a very witty series whose main strength is the satirical way in which it mercilessly descends on the stupidity of the American television industry and the culture of remakes and sequels that destroyed its creativity. What makes it more than a one trick parody is the compassion it evokes for the characters and for the thousands of actors and creators that Hollywood chews up and spits out. A bit like in “Modern Family”, here too there is a feel-good atmosphere of human warmth that might make this series a real hit. Worth a follow up.
>> Reboot / Reboot, eight episodes, now on Hulu and soon also on Disney+ Israel