It’s 2022. Everything old becomes new again in an inventive way, which will be one of the reasons viewers tune in to Hulu’s new comedy. Restart. ‘s new comedy series Modern family Creator Steve Levitan stars Keegan-Michael Key (schmigadoon!), Judy Greer (The Thing About Pam), Johnny Knoxville (jackass), Paul Reiser (The Kominksy method)Rachel Bloom (crazy ex girlfriend), Calum worthy (The deed), and Krista Marie Yu (Last Man Standing) in a show about a show that returns to the screen. The series pokes fun at showbiz, particularly focusing on today’s fascination with reviving TV shows, something that really gained momentum back then. Will & Grace returned to NBC several years ago.
roseanne quickly followed, later changed to The Conners. Levitan was intrigued by all that. And so did the actors he would eventually pick up to play in restart.
“I had the idea for Restart several years ago, when the roseanne there was a debacle,” Levitan said, “and when that show exploded, I thought that premise would be an interesting arena for a show. You know, people who get back together after many years and think their life would be one thing, and maybe they weren’t, and there they are – forced back together.
The return of Will & Grace and roseanne sparked creative fires elsewhere. Suddenly, so many reboots were coming. It was in the zeitgeist.
“It gave me the opportunity to start writing about all my years in television,” Levitan noted. “The way I wrote about my family in Modern family was of course very deep and personal to me, but my work is also very deep and personal to me, so this gave me a chance to reflect on all the fascinating characters I’ve known over the years [in the business] and the ridiculous situations I’ve been in.”
But Restart also turned into a show that lightened Levitan’s joy for the company.
“I wasn’t keen on a cynical look at [showbiz],” he explained. “Because it’s been a wonderful thing for me, but it’s also filled with refreshing moments and very difficult moments. And a lot of joyful moments. I wanted to put all that into something new.”
Judy Greer and Johnny Knoxville on reboot
However you spin it, Levitan couldn’t have asked for a better cast. In Restart, Key, Greer, Knoxville and Worthy are the former stars of come on, a successful sitcom from 20 years ago that fell flat after Key’s character reportedly left the show. Reiser and Bloom drop by for the ride, two behind-the-scenes writers/execs hoping to take gold with a revamped show and once-popular actors. Playing a Hulu HR executive, Yu capitalizes on what modern streaming titans go through to get a show launched.
Overall, Restart is terribly fun, but its heartfelt nature caught Greer’s attention.
Well, that and, “Johnny and Steve dated a long time ago,” she joked, referring to Knoxville and Levitan. “They always wanted to work together again. Steve owed him something. No. We both loved Steve, respected him and looked up to Steve. And his talent… I had a feeling that anyone who has been on television for so long would have to make a lot of jokes, and that we, as actors, would have a lot of great scripts. Right?”
Knoxville said he, “beloved” Modern family”, so for him, to Restart, was “a no brainer!” “And with all the actors involved,” he added, “it’s like a nice little step from my previous work.”
In Restart, Greer’s character, Bree, was in a relationship with Key’s Reed. Of course there is a bit of tension when they get back together. Meanwhile, Knoxville’s Clay hopes to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of its scorched past. Can he keep it together without the booze and scandal?
“I love playing Bree,” Greer said, “and I was excited about this because the cast brings something unique, special and funny to the show. I also thought it would be interesting because everyone is a good actor too “What makes people come back when you watch a comedy is that they can care about the character. So, for all of us to have good acting, I felt like we could hit the comedy with no problem.”
“But there are also more poignant and heartfelt moments in the show, and I hope that’s what brings us back [for season two]she added.
This may be Greer’s time to shine. She has long been “the funny girlfriend” or witty neighbor in TV shows or movies. In Restart she takes on a more commanding presence.
Knoxville didn’t know anyone in the cast personally except Reiser before he entered the studio.
“There are so many lines that are funny, and Paul can just take a phrase or a word that isn’t necessarily funny on the paper and say it like that,” he said. “And there are some moments in the stories we tell that just tickled me.”
Greer and Knoxville said they both learned a lot from Levitan during the Restart shoot.
“After our very first read through – we had to do it via Zoom because of the pandemic – and Steve said, ‘Don’t be so loud, you’re screaming!’” Knoxville joked. ‘And I’m hard of hearing. So I thought, ‘Oh, I was super loud.’ I’m a bit quieter on Zooms now. But really – I learned a lot.”
“I don’t understand how his brain works,” Greer said of Levitan. “Sometimes when you talk to him, it’s like he’s looking away – down or up. But in his head he misses nothing. I might say, “Oh, I’m going to die if I don’t have Diet Coke soon,” just in passing. And then, in another episode, Bree drinks a Diet Coke. Everything is satisfied for him. You really have to be careful. But it’s also great because you really feel like your boss is listening to you and writing for you.”
Both stars admitted they were inspired by sitcoms of yesteryear – Greer three’s company, among others, and Knoxville Sanford and son.
“I love making people laugh,” Greer continued, “and I hope people find the show funny. I’d like people to grip our characters. The stories of each of our characters are interesting enough to make it to keep the public coming back.”
Why reboot? Why now?
In every way Levitan could have wrapped it up later Modern family bent a few years ago. At that point he had won countless Emmys and given the world popular sitcoms like Shoot me! and Back to you. He had also written for and produced the show wings, among other things.
“It was certainly a daunting task to follow Modern family,” he said. “And it was hard to imagine a show doing so well. But I wasn’t done with work. I didn’t want to stop. I still like this work. I still like to shows. Now it’s about, ‘What do I really, really want to do? What do I want to write about that’s different?’”
He said he wouldn’t want to do another family show like… Modern family.
“The idea of doing a show on streaming appealed to me because it allows me to go further than I did with network television, both in language and in situations,” he said. “And above all on time. Modern family was limited to 21 minutes and 30 seconds per episode. Restart can go as long as it takes to feel good. I can let moments land and use music more effectively.”
Was launching a show about a show cathartic for Levitan, given his showbiz history?
“That’s exactly the word I use,” he laughed. “But at first I thought the idea for the show was a good arena because I like larger-than-life characters that feel real. And our company is full of larger-than-life characters, between actors, writers, executives, all kinds of kinds of people. There are many fascinating characters and situations. What surprised me was how personal Restart began to feel for me – those little moments of observation. And sometimes those little moments became like a love letter from me to this company.”
“That little moment when you can capture the joy of what this company is like, or the heartbreak,” he continued. “Or to express how much I loved so many people in this business. And maybe to shout the nonsense of some people I didn’t love so much. First, I hope viewers are entertained. I hope people laugh. That is in the first place. I want people to get away from Restart smile and feel better.”
Restart streams on Hulu Sept. 20.