2 New Series from the Creator of ‘The Office’ and ‘Parks and Recreation’
If you’re a fan of either The Office or Parks and Recreation but have already re-watched both series approximately seven times during quarantine, don’t worry. Greg Daniels, the creator of both workplace comedies, has not one but two new series that you can see this month. So whether you’re a big fan of Daniels’ work or just looking for some more comedic content, keep reading. We’ll give you the scoop on the new series and the performances in them to anticipate.
The sci-fi comedy series is set just 13 years in the future, but technology has rapidly progressed during that short amount of time. People who are near death in 2033 have gained the option to be “uploaded” into a virtual reality afterlife. Nora (Andy Allo) is an employee at one of the tech firms behind the service and works in customer service for the luxurious post-mortem destination called Lakeview. One of her clients becomes the former party-boy Nathan (Robbie Amell), who also used to work in tech as a coder. After suffering an early death due to a car crash, Nathan winds up at Lakeview, and soon Nora starts to view him as more than just a customer. You might recognize Allo from her arc as Lieutenant Wendy Seager on Chicago Fire, and other acting credits under her name include titles like Pitch Perfect 3 and Black Lightning. When watching Allo’s performance, keep an eye out for her ability to stay grounded within the show’s larger-than-life premise. Amell is also tasked with the actor’s age-old struggle to maintain the suspension of disbelief while performing in comedic scenes. In the trailer alone, we see his reactions to both a talking dog and a young boy who became famous after his fall down the Grand Canyon. In response to the latter, Amell expertly delivers the line, “I saw that video — you dabbed on the way down.” The clever writing is nothing short of what we’d expect from the show’s creator, and Amazon just released the series on May 1 so you can enjoy watching Allo and Amell lead the Upload cast in bringing his concept to life.
Fans of The Office — or of just Steve Carell in general — may especially like this space-related workplace comedy. Carell and Daniels co-created the comedy series, which according to The Hollywood Reporter, was inspired by President Trump’s order to create a sixth military branch dedicated to protecting the United States’ interests in outer space. The series will follow General Mark R. Naird (Carell), who ends up leading the new military branch, a position that wasn’t his first choice. But General Naird commits to the role, moving his family to the Space Force headquarters, and the show centers on his team’s efforts to establish the new military branch so that the U.S. can achieve total space dominance. Carell is joined by an all-star cast that includes John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow, Noah Emmerich, and Parks and Recreation alumnus Ben Schwartz. With an impressive list of comedic credits between them, keep an eye out for how these A-listers deliver the laughs in Space Force, which Netflix will release May 29.
Thanks to the extensive amount of time people are spending in their homes right now to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the month of May might feel like a year. But thanks to the release dates of these new series from the mind of Daniels, you can escape to two new TV worlds that promise a lot of laughs. You’ll have to pace yourself watching Upload so that you don’t run out of episodes too quickly before Space Force releases. But should it happen, we won’t judge if you end up re-watching The Office and Parks and Recreation one more time in between.
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