TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. Our TV critic David Bianculli takes a look at two new comedy series. The first one is called "Laid," based on a series from Australia, now streaming on Peacock. The other, "Going Dutch," is a comedy starring Denis Leary on Fox.
DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: Where do the writers and producers of TV shows get their ideas these days? Increasingly, it seems, from other countries. More than ever before, if they're not importing and presenting the programs outright, like Netflix is doing with "Squid Game 2," they're buying the rights to international productions and making their own American versions. "The Agency," a great new Showtime and Paramount+ spy series, is based on a hit show from France. "Doc," a new series from Fox starring Molly Parker, is based on an Italian medical drama series.
And there's another recent entry, this one coming from Australia. The U.S. version began streaming a few weeks ago on Peacock, and it's really worth seeking out as one of the more original comedy ideas to pop up in years. It stars Stephanie Hsu. And I've been waiting for her to be given a standout starring role ever since she matched Michelle Yeoh scene for scene, playing her daughter in the film "Everything Everywhere All At Once." In this new Peacock series, she gets that standout role, and she's hilarious. The show is called "Laid," and the premise is outrageously high-concept.
Hsu plays a single, 30-something woman named Ruby who slowly learns that for reasons she doesn't understand, her previous boyfriends are starting to die off - some from natural causes, others from violent accidents. But the body count continues to rise. Ruby and her best friend AJ, played by Zosia Mamet from HBO's "Girls," attend the funeral of one of Ruby's ex-boyfriends, where another death involving another ex follows the same day. Ruby and AJ react by going home, drinking a lot. And eventually, Ruby decides to drunk dial her first boyfriend, David, to whom she hasn't spoken in years. She starts by leaving messages.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LAID")
STEPHANIE HSU: (As Ruby, imitating Sean Connery) David, it's me, Sean Connery.
ZOSIA MAMET: (As AJ) I think you should stop.
HSU: (As Ruby, imitating Sean Connery) Call me back, you little leprechaun (laughter).
MAMET: (As AJ) OK, no, no, no. Now I'm literally begging you.
HSU: (As Ruby, imitating Cookie Monster) David, it's me, the Cookie Monster. Do you like cookies? I like cookies. Call me.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Hello?
HSU: (As Ruby, laughter) David. Hi - oh. OK. All right. OK, bye.
(SOUNDBITE OF TELEPHONE BEEPING)
MAMET: (As AJ) He didn't remember the bit?
HSU: (As Ruby) That wasn't David. It was his brother. David's dead.
MAMET: (As AJ) What?
HSU: (As Ruby Yao) If two is a coincidence, what's three?
BIANCULLI: Stephanie Hsu carries most of the comedy, and her ruby is both exasperated and exasperating in equal measure. Sally Bradford McKenna and Nahnatchka Khan developed "Laid" for American TV and wrote the teleplay for the pilot, which Khan directed. Their sensibility is witty, wild and supremely confident. They give their star the latitude to roam freely, whether in loudly comic scenes or in uncomfortably quiet ones.
In my favorite scene from the opening episode, after one boyfriend's funeral, Hsu as Ruby is offered a ride to the wake by the bereaved parents of the deceased. Also in the car - the young man's resentful, most recent girlfriend and his dog, a massive, panting St. Bernard. Ruby tries to cut the quiet tension by asking the father to turn on the radio. He does, and as Ruby begins singing along to Paul Simon's "Graceland," director Khan frames the action and the other passengers silent reactions in a long, unbroken five shot - two parents, two young women and a dog.
There is one new TV series, though, that's neither based on an international show nor presented by a streaming network. From Fox, the same broadcast network presenting "Doc," is another new show for 2025 - "Go Dutch," a comedy starring Denis Leary from "Rescue Me." He plays Patrick Quinn, a decorated military colonel punished for his vocal outbursts by being reassigned to run a service base in the Netherlands, a non-military operation where they pride themselves on serving Michelin star food in the commissary and making cheese for the locals. That irritates him a lot but not as much as the fact that he's taking command of the base from his estranged daughter, Maggie, played by Taylor Misiak, who's the captain in charge. Danny Pudi from "Community" plays the officer who tries to get them to work together amicably.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GOING DUTCH")
DANNY PUDI: (As Abraham Shah) Captain, you have concerns about the colonel commanding Stroup Store.
TAYLOR MISIAK: (As Maggie Quinn) Yes, sir. I have an operation in motion that I have spent 10 months planning. Failure will destabilize relations in the region, and the colonel's very presence could sabotage it.
PUDI: (As Abraham Shah) Copy that, captain. Please brief us on the operation.
MISIAK: (As Maggie Quinn) A bunch of us are marching in the Tulip Festival tomorrow.
PUDI: (As Abraham Shah) What? I didn't quite hear that.
MISIAK: (As Maggie Quinn) A bunch of us are marching in the Tulip Festival tomorrow.
DENIS LEARY: (As Patrick Quinn) God, I feel like I'm with Eisenhower on the eve of D-Day.
MISIAK: (As Maggie Quinn) It is our first ever invitation to the festival, and it's actually crucial to our diplomatic mission.
LEARY: (As Patrick Quinn) I led Operation Iron Hammer, Iron Saber and Iron...
PUDI: (As Abraham Shah) Justice.
LEARY: (As Patrick Quinn) ...Justice. So I think I can handle Operation Tulip Festival.
MISIAK: (As Maggie Quinn) Well, I think that you will break the...
BIANCULLI: Fox provided only two episodes of "Going Dutch" for preview. So unlike Peacock's "Laid," where I've seen the entire first season and loved it, I'm not sure where I stand yet on "Going Dutch." I like the chemistry between Leary and Misiak as father and daughter, and I like the setting. But I'm not sure how strongly the series will develop. My greatest hopes lie with one of the supporting players, Catherine Tate, a British comedy legend who's appeared in several episodes of "Doctor Who." But in the two episodes I've seen of "Going Dutch," she's in it for less than a minute total as an honored guest at the aforementioned Tulip Parade who introduces herself to Leary's colonel.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GOING DUTCH")
CATHERINE TATE: (As Katja Vanderhoff) Hello. I'm Katja Vanderhoff, head of Stroopsdorf's chamber of commerce.
LEARY: (As Patrick Quinn) Nice to meet you. I'm Colonel Patrick Quinn. You guys take it easy on me today. I'm a Tulip Festival virgin.
TATE: (As Katja Vanderhoff) Well, I hope you last longer than most virgins.
LEARY: (As Patrick Quinn, laughter) So what is your business? Maybe I'll stop by and say hi sometime.
TATE: (As Katja Vanderhoff) I own the local brothel.
LEARY: (As Patrick Quinn) You know, maybe I'll just see you on the street or - not street corner 'cause, obviously, you're a high-class owner of a business.
BIANCULLI: With "Going Dutch" on Fox, we'll have to wait and see. But with "Laid" on Peacock, there's no need to wait. Just see.
MOSLEY: David Bianculli is a professor of television studies at Rowan University. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, actor Adrian Brody joins us to talk about his role in the 3 1/2 hour film "The Brutalist." Brody says he drew from his mother and grandfather's experiences of immigrating from Hungary to the United States to portray a Hungarian Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor who seeks a fresh start in a post-World War II America. I hope you can join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at @NPRFreshAir.
FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper, and Roberta Shorrock directs the show. With Terry Gross, I'm Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTY ALEXANDER'S "SIMMER DOWN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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