Weird City | |
---|---|
Genre | |
Created by | |
Starring | |
Composer | Chad Fischer |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 6 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Running time | 23-28 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | YouTube Premium |
Release | February 13, 2019 |
Weird City is an American comedy science fiction anthology streaming television series released on YouTube Premium on February 13, 2019.
Weird City is set in the near future in the city of Weird, which has been physically divided into two halves and segregated by economic class: Above The Line, populated by Haves, and Below The Line, populated by Have-Nots. Each episode follows different individuals as they navigate life in the city. [1]
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "The One" | Adam Bernstein [1] | Charlie Sanders & Jordan Peele | February 13, 2019 | |
Stu (Dylan O'Brien) lives Above The Line but was born Below it, and thus was never assigned a romantic partner at birth. He uses a dating service that claims to find perfect matches, and is paired with Burt (Ed O'Neill). Despite both men identifying as straight and their significant age difference, they form a friendship that quickly becomes romantic, they even get married. A year later, they are forcibly separated and assigned new partners by Dr. Negari (LeVar Burton), the founder of the dating service, who informs them their match was made in error. Stu and Burt decide to move Below The Line in order to remain with each other. | |||||
2 | "A Family" | Adam Bernstein | Charlie Sanders | February 13, 2019 | |
Kicked out of his Pomegranate Electrolyte Juice addiction support group and fired from his job, failure Tawny (Michael Cera) joins ShapeCult gym hoping to find the acceptance he so desperately needs. Unfortunately, his psychotic obsession with approval puts him at odds with his gym trainer Delt (Rosario Dawson). | |||||
3 | "Go to College" | Tricia Brock | Charlie Sanders | February 13, 2019 | |
School valedictorian Rayna (Auliʻi Cravalho) receives a college scholarship and discovers that life is different at her new Above the Line school. Especially when it comes to dating and intimacy, where sexting is the preferred method. | |||||
4 | "Smart House" | Tricia Brock | Charlie Sanders & Jose Molina | February 13, 2019 | |
A couple, Liquia (Laverne Cox) and Jathryn (Sara Gilbert) purchase the Smart House (voice of Mark Hamill) of their dreams. However, their dream becomes a nightmare when the house turns on them, threatening their relationship and possibly their lives. Will they be able to outsmart their own smart home? | |||||
5 | "Chonathan & Mulia & Barsley & Phephanie" | Amy Heckerling | Charlie Sanders & Suzanne Wrubel | February 13, 2019 | |
When a group of Above-the-Liners (Gillian Jacobs, Hannah Simone, Malcolm Barrett, and Steven Yeun) decide to sponsor a poor Below the Line kid, they agree to do more than simply donate money. They kidnap him. | |||||
6 | "Below" | Amy Heckerling | Charlie Sanders | February 13, 2019 | |
Criminals Charlotta (Awkwafina) and Glail (Yvette Nicole Brown) discover that they actually aren’t who they think they are – they’re really actors on a show that airs in Weird City. Their discovery leads them to question their very existence. |
On June 28, 2018, it was announced that YouTube had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of six episodes. Executive producers were set to include Jordan Peele, Jose Molina, Charlie Sanders, Adam Bernstein, Win Rosenfeld, Tom Lesinski, Jenna Santoianni, Sam Hansen, Jimmy Miller, Keith Raskin, and Linda Morel. Bernstein was expected to direct the first two episodes and Molina to serve as showrunner. [1] [2] [3] [4] It was reported in January 2019 that Amy Heckerling, Tricia Brock, and Adam Bernstein would serve as directors for the series with each directing two episodes. [5]
On July 27, 2018, it was announced that guest stars in the first season would include Sara Gilbert, Dylan O'Brien, Ed O'Neill, Rosario Dawson, Michael Cera, Laverne Cox, and LeVar Burton. [6] On January 9, 2019, it was reported that Awkwafina, Hannah Simone, Gillian Jacobs, Malcolm Barrett, Mark Hamill, Yvette Nicole Brown, Trevor Jackson, Travis Bryant and Auliʻi Cravalho would also make guest appearances. [5]
Principal photography for the series began on July 20, 2018 in the Toy District of Downtown Los Angeles, California. [7] Filming took place at various locations around Downtown Los Angeles that week including the Calvin S. Hamilton Pedway [8] and the Jewelry District. [9]
On January 9, 2019, the official trailer for the series was released. [5] All six episodes of the first season were released on February 13. [10]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 83% approval rating for the first season, with an average rating of 6.16/10 based on 23 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "A delightfully off-kilter combination of satire and science fiction, Weird City lives up to its name and then some -- even when it retreads familiar genre ground." [11]
The Twilight Zone is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering "the Twilight Zone". The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, supernatural drama, black comedy, and psychological thriller, frequently concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist, and usually with a moral. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to common science fiction and fantasy tropes. The first series, shot entirely in black-and-white, ran on CBS for five seasons from 1959 to 1964.
Keegan-Michael Key is an American actor, comedian, producer and screenwriter. He and Jordan Peele co-created and co-starred in the sketch series Key & Peele (2012–2015) for which he received one Primetime Emmy Award from ten nominations. He also acted in the sketch series Mad TV (2004–2009), sitcom Playing House (2014–2017), the comedy series Friends from College (2017–2019) and the series Reboot (2022). He also appeared alongside Peele in the first season of the series Fargo in 2014, and had a recurring role on Parks and Recreation from 2013 to 2015. Key later starred in the musical comedy series Schmigadoon! (2021–2023).
Jordan Haworth Peele is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his film and television work in the comedy and horror genres. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Peele started his career in sketch comedy before transitioning his career to a writer and director of psychological horror and satirical films. In 2017, Peele was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
Chelsea Peretti is an American comedian, actress, television writer, singer, and songwriter. She is best known for portraying Gina Linetti in the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She wrote for various TV series, including Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live and Kroll Show.
Sally Pressman Bernstein is an American actress and dancer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Roxy LeBlanc on the Lifetime television series Army Wives (2007–2013).
Yeun Sang-Yeop, known professionally as Steven Yeun, is an American actor. Yeun initially rose to prominence for playing Glenn Rhee in the television series The Walking Dead (2010–2016). He earned critical acclaim for starring in the thriller Burning (2018) and drama Minari (2020). The latter earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the first Asian American actor to be nominated. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021. In 2023, he starred in the dark comedy series Beef (2023), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.
Dylan Rhodes O'Brien is an American actor. His first major role was as Stiles Stilinski in the MTV supernatural series Teen Wolf (2011–2017). He achieved further prominence for his lead role in the science fiction Maze Runner trilogy (2014–2018), which led to more film appearances.
Key & Peele is an American sketch comedy television series created by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for Comedy Central. Both Key and Peele previously worked on Mad TV.
High Maintenance is an American anthology comedy-drama television and web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The Guy, a cannabis courier, as he delivers his product to clients in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Each episode focuses on different characters as their lives intersect with The Guy. The full series consists of six web series followed by four television seasons, released from November 2012 to April 2020.
Colton Dunn is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for his role as Garrett McNeil on the NBC workplace comedy Superstore (2015–2021) and for his work on Comedy Central sketch comedy series Key & Peele (2013–2015), where he served as writer, producer, and occasionally performer throughout its five-season run. Dunn also played Herman in Lazer Team (2015) and its sequel Lazer Team 2 (2017).
Dimension 404 is an American science fiction black comedy anthology series created by Desmond "Dez" Dolly and Will Campos, and co-created by Dan Johnson and David Welch. It began airing on April 4, 2017 on the streaming service Hulu. The series is produced by RocketJump and Lionsgate Television. The series is heavily inspired by The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Its title is taken from the 1950s radio program Dimension X and the HTTP status code 404, which signifies an error due to a webpage not being found.
Future Man is an American comedy television series created by Howard Overman, Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir that premiered on November 14, 2017 on Hulu. The series follows an underachieving janitor who is called upon to save the world. It stars Josh Hutcherson, Eliza Coupe, Derek Wilson, Ed Begley Jr., Glenne Headly, Seth Rogen and Haley Joel Osment in recurring roles and is executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. A third and final season was released on April 3, 2020. It was later removed from all Disney streaming services including Hulu and Disney+ in May 2023 due to Disney's budget cuts.
The Last O.G. is an American comedy television series created by Jordan Peele and John Carcieri that premiered on March 31, 2018, on TBS. The series follows a convict released after serving fifteen years who returns to Brooklyn to find his old neighborhood has changed, and his ex-girlfriend is raising their children with another man. It stars Tracy Morgan, Tiffany Haddish, Allen Maldonado, Ryan Gaul, Taylor Christian Mosby, Dante Hoagland, and Cedric the Entertainer.
Lovecraft Country is an American horror drama television series developed by Misha Green based on and serving as a continuation of the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff. Starring Jurnee Smollett and Jonathan Majors, it premiered on August 16, 2020, on HBO. The series is produced by Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. Television. The series is about a young black man who travels across the segregated United States in the 1950s in search of his missing father, learning of dark secrets plaguing a town on which famous horror writer H. P. Lovecraft supposedly based the location of many of his fictional tales. While a second season, Lovecraft Country: Supremacy, was in development, HBO announced in July 2021 that the series had been canceled.
Another Life is an American science fiction drama television series created by Aaron Martin, which premiered on Netflix on July 25, 2019. The series stars Katee Sackhoff, Selma Blair, Justin Chatwin, Samuel Anderson, Elizabeth Ludlow, Blu Hunt, A.J. Rivera, Alexander Eling, Alex Ozerov, Jake Abel, JayR Tinaco, Lina Renna, Jessica Camacho, Barbara Williams, Parveen Dosanjh, Greg Hovanessian, Chanelle Peloso, and Tyler Hoechlin. In October 2019, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on October 14, 2021. Netflix announced it had canceled the series in February 2022.
Awkwafina is Nora from Queens is an American television sitcom starring Awkwafina that first aired on January 20, 2020, on Comedy Central. The series was renewed for a second season before the series premiere, and received generally favorable reviews from critics. The second season premiered on August 18, 2021. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on April 26, 2023.
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series developed by Simon Kinberg, Jordan Peele, and Marco Ramirez, based on the original 1959 television series created by Rod Serling. Peele serves as narrator, in addition to executive producing through Monkeypaw Productions. The weekly series premiered on April 1, 2019, on CBS All Access, and was renewed for a second season halfway through its first set of 10 episodes. The second season was released in its entirety on June 25, 2020. In February 2021, the producers announced the series would not return for additional seasons.
Raised by Wolves is an American science fiction drama television series created by Aaron Guzikowski that premiered on HBO Max on September 3, 2020. The first two episodes were directed by Ridley Scott, who also serves as an executive producer for the show. The series was renewed for a second season shortly after its debut, which premiered on February 3, 2022.
The Nevers is an American science fiction drama television series created by Joss Whedon for HBO. The series is produced by HBO and Mutant Enemy Productions, with executive producers including Whedon, Philippa Goslett, Doug Petrie, Jane Espenson, Ilene S. Landress, and Bernadette Caulfield. The series premiered on April 11, 2021. The first season consists of 12 episodes, split into two six-episode parts. In December 2022, the series was canceled before the back six had aired and pulled from the HBO Max library on December 18, 2022. All 12 episodes began streaming on Tubi starting February 13, 2023.
Win Rosenfeld is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his collaborations with Jordan Peele.