Hulu at TCA: More Musicals and More Mel Brooks

Up Here debuting March 24 is an original musical series led by Mae Whitman pictured at top right and Carlos Valdes top left The love story set in 1999 breaks the musical tradition by amp8220taking the musical often going on inside someoneamp8217s head and translating it to the screenamp8221 kind of what Zoeamp8217s Extraordinary Playlist did for NBC The series will display another side to Whitmanamp8217s talents one that avid viewers of her work may not be too familiar with amp8220For me thereamp8217s something terrifying and so vulnerable about singingamp8221 Whitman said amp8220I sang a little on Parenthood and have loved doing it but never felt brave enough to do it in front of people like at a piano or something I felt so passionate about this and they created a world where I felt safe and could endure those terrifying places It broke a barrier for me and I couldnamp8217t have done it if not for these peopleamp8220We had the best from every category working on thisamp8221 she continued amp8220We basically recorded an album and rehearsed every day for a month in the same building so it was almost like camp It was such an unbelievable experience lots of work but it was amazingamp8221When asked about the recent influx and popularity of the musical format on television especially with the explosion of musical special oneoffs and the success of shows like Schmigadoon on Apple TV series creator and executive producer Robert Lopez FrozenWandaVision perfectly put it into perspective amp8220I donamp8217t think we have ever had a generation of musical writers that grew up with televisionamp8221 he shared amp8220TV is so great we just want to be a part of it and then feel very luckyamp8221New drama Saint X premieres on April 26 with its first three out of eight episodes followed by new episodes weekly It explores how a young womanamp8217s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth Shot largely in the Dominican Republic the setting may look idyllic but in reality the weather proved a hindrance to its cast amp8220It was 40 degrees Celsius and it was hotamp8221 recalled Australianborn actress Alycia DebnamCarey amp8220But I also got to shoot in New York for the first time One of the amazing things about being an actor is going to places you wouldn39t normally get to goamp8221Michael Park who portrays the distraught father found the project cathartic on a deeply personal level amp8220My brother had just lost a son his son at 20 years oldamp8221 he explained amp8220I was kind of channeling my brother We talked about this extensively And it was such a great team I felt like I was in safe hands I was dedicating a lot of this to my brother and my nephew and really tapping into that In a way it helped me out This entire shoot in a way was therapy for meamp8221History of the World Part II the longawaited followup to Mel Brooksamp8217 1981 classic film History of the World Part I will premiere as a fournight event two episodes per day starting March 6 Entrusted to continue Brooksamp8217 story and star in the project was longtime fan Nick Kroll who found himself working closely with the comedy legend amp8220I think what was so exciting about doing the show and continuing Mel39s legacy was that Mel39s ultimate goal was always to poke fun at those in power and how greedy and stupid they wereamp8221 Kroll said amp8220So doing a show about history now at a time when we are reexamining what was the past and how things went down it became a very easy throughline to just continue Mel39s legacy of poking fun at those in poweramp8220I met Mel at an Emmy party many years agoamp8221 he continued amp8220I told Kevin Salter who39s a producer on the show that I would love to meet him We had a meeting with him and he gave us boxes of Raisinets on our way out It was the greatest day of my lifeamp8221Kroll also had praise for the litany of guest stars appearing in the series including Wanda Sykes Ike Barinholtz and Sarah Silverman to name a few amp8220Itamp8217s a murdereramp8217s row of talentamp8221 he said of the cast amp8220Some we only had for a day They loved having the chance to work with friends or even meet someone theyamp8217ve admired It was a dream come true to work with all these different people Like Danny DeVito amp8230 He doesnamp8217t have to work another day in his life and was like amp8216Itamp8217s Mel Iamp8217ll do itamp8217amp8221Tiny Beautiful Things based on the bestselling collection by Cheryl Strayed drops all eight of its episodes on April 7 The series centers on Clare a woman who becomes a revered advice columnist when her own life is falling apart and it marks a return to the amp160limited series format for its star Kathryn Hahn who scored as Agatha Harkness in WandaVision Hahn explained why the format works so well for her amp8220As I have gotten older the more gratitude I feel the hungrier I feel and the more juiced up I feel by this mediumamp8221 she said amp8220This is just where it is amp8230 there are different kinds of voices and storytellers more importantly even than the performancesamp8220I don39t feel it as much in filmamp8221 she added amp8220So I feel super psyched to be around at this age at this time in this mediumamp8221Click on the social media tiles to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively those of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Hulu at TCA: More Musicals and More Mel Brooks

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Steve Gidlow

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Hulu at TCA: More Musicals and More Mel Brooks

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