Suburgatory
Encyclopedia
Suburgatory is an American
television series created by Emily Kapnek
. The series premiered on September 28, 2011, airing on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following The Middle
. The title is a portmanteau of the words "suburb
an" and "purgatory
".
After initially ordering 11 episodes, ABC picked up Suburgatory for a full season on October 13, 2011.
to the suburbs so he can give his 15 year-old daughter a better life after he finds an unopened box of condoms in her drawer . However, the move to suburbs has the daughter wondering if they just entered the world of The Stepford Wives
after they see how "perfect" their new locale is, right down to the neighbors who welcome them into the cul-de-sac.
's development slate in October 2010. On January 14, 2011, ABC placed a pilot
order, written by Emily Kapnek
and directed by Michael Fresco
, who also serve as executive producers. The half-hour comedy is produced by Warner Bros. Television
.
Casting announcements began in February 2011, with Jane Levy
the first actor cast, playing the role of Tessa Altman, a Manhattan teen who has been raised for the last fifteen years by a single father, George. Tessa dreads the idea of living in the suburbs. Next to join the series was Alan Tudyk
in the role of Noah Werner, George's college buddy and a dentist who moved to the suburbs some years earlier. Allie Grant
then joined the series as Lisa Shay, a socially awkward girl at school who befriends Tessa. Jeremy Sisto
and Carly Chaikin
followed with Sisto playing George Altman, Tessa's architect father who moves her from Manhattan to the suburbs, and Chaikin playing Dalia Royce, Tessa's neighbor who quickly becomes her nemesis at school. Cheryl Hines
was next cast in the role of Dallas Royce, a well-to-do housewife and the mother of Dalia. She tells George that her absentee husband "travels a lot". Rex Lee was the last actor cast, playing Mr. Wolfe, Tessa's clueless high school guidance counselor. He was originally a guest star but was upped to a series regular after the pilot.
Saturday Night Live
(SNL) alumna Ana Gasteyer
plays the Altman's domineering neighbor, Sheila Shay, whom they vainly try to avoid. Fellow SNL alum Chris Parnell
plays Fred, her husband, who toes the line. The Shays have two children: Lisa, who is Tessa's closest thing to a friend, and Ryan (Parker Young). Lisa and Tessa's friendship cools after Lisa witnesses Tessa enjoying the early morning sight of a shirtless Ryan washing his car.
On May 13, 2011, ABC ordered the pilot to series, to air in the fall of the 2011–12 United States network television schedule
. Suburgatory premiered on September 28, 2011 and currently airs on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following The Middle
.
between Rye, NY and Darien, CT
. The 914 area code would indicate it is in Westchester County, New York state.
The series takes its title from the book released a week following the show premiere by former CNN Senior Producer Linda Keenan, based in part on her experiences after she moved from New York City to three affluent suburbs, the first of which was in Westchester County.
. "Kapnek manages to make a show that is both satiric and emotionally engaging," said David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle
, "two varieties of comedy [that] don't always work well together." On the other end, Neil Genzlinger
of The New York Times
blasted the show. "[It] begins with a tenuous premise, uses it to leap to an inaccurate dichotomy and supports that with tired, unfunny stereotypes."
by Citytv
, where it is simulcast
with the ABC broadcasts. In Latin America
the series premiered on October 31, 2011 on Warner Channel.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television series created by Emily Kapnek
Emily Kapnek
Emily Kapnek is an actress, television producer and three time Emmy Award nominated writer. She created the animated program As Told by Ginger and executive produced the short-lived television series Emily's Reasons Why Not...
. The series premiered on September 28, 2011, airing on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following The Middle
The Middle (TV series)
The Middle is an American situation comedy television series that premiered on ABC on September 30, 2009. The show features Frances "Frankie" Heck , a working-class, Midwestern woman married to Mike Heck who resides in the small fictional town of Orson, Indiana. They are the parents of three...
. The title is a portmanteau of the words "suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
an" and "purgatory
Purgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
".
After initially ordering 11 episodes, ABC picked up Suburgatory for a full season on October 13, 2011.
Premise
The series follows a single father who decides to get away from New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to the suburbs so he can give his 15 year-old daughter a better life after he finds an unopened box of condoms in her drawer . However, the move to suburbs has the daughter wondering if they just entered the world of The Stepford Wives
The Stepford Wives
The Stepford Wives is a 1972 satirical thriller novel by Ira Levin. The story concerns Joanna Eberhart, a photographer and young mother who begins to suspect that the frighteningly submissive housewives in her new idyllic Connecticut neighborhood may be robots created by their husbands.Two films of...
after they see how "perfect" their new locale is, right down to the neighbors who welcome them into the cul-de-sac.
Main cast
- Jane LevyJane LevyJane Colburn Levy is an American actress. She currently stars as Tessa Altman on the ABC comedy series Suburgatory.-Life and career:...
as Tessa Altman - Jeremy SistoJeremy SistoJeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. Sisto has had recurring roles as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order on television and also starred in the films Jesus, Clueless and Thirteen.-Early life:Sisto was born in Grass Valley, California, the...
as George Altman - Carly ChaikinCarly ChaikinCarly Chaikin is an American actress. She got her breakout role in the film The Last Song. She currently resides in Santa Monica, California, U.S.-Career:...
as Dalia Royce - Rex Lee as Mr. Wolfe
- Allie GrantAllie GrantAllie Grant is an American film and television actress. After a few guest appearances in the Disney Channel Original Series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and That's So Raven, Grant was cast on Weeds in 2005. Although she originally began as a recurring character, Grant's role grew and by season 3...
as Lisa Marie Shay - Alan TudykAlan TudykAlan Wray Tudyk is an American actor known for his roles as Simon in the British comedy Death at a Funeral, as Steve the Pirate in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, as Sonny in the science fiction drama I, Robot, as Doc Potter in 3:10 to Yuma, as Tucker in the Tucker & Dale vs Evil and as Hoban...
as Noah Werner - Cheryl HinesCheryl HinesCheryl Ruth Hines is an American actress and director, known for her role as Larry David's wife Cheryl on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. She currently appears on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory...
as Dallas Royce - Ana GasteyerAna GasteyerAna Kristina Gasteyer is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Early life:...
as Sheila Shay
Recurring cast
- Chris ParnellChris ParnellThomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
as Fred Shay - Parker Young as Ryan Shay
- Abbie Cobb as Kimantha
- Kara Pacitto as Kenzie
- Katelyn Pacitto as Kaitlin
- Maestro HarrellMaestro HarrellMaestro Harrell is an American actor who starred on the HBO original series The Wire as Randy Wagstaff. He was also on the NBC drama ER on April 26, 2007....
as Malik
Development and production
The series first appeared on ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's development slate in October 2010. On January 14, 2011, ABC placed a pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
order, written by Emily Kapnek
Emily Kapnek
Emily Kapnek is an actress, television producer and three time Emmy Award nominated writer. She created the animated program As Told by Ginger and executive produced the short-lived television series Emily's Reasons Why Not...
and directed by Michael Fresco
Michael Fresco
Michael "Mike" Fresco is an American television director and producer.Most notably Fresco has directed a number of episodes from shows including The O.C., My Name is Earl and the pilots to 1-800-Missing and Providence...
, who also serve as executive producers. The half-hour comedy is produced by Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
.
Casting announcements began in February 2011, with Jane Levy
Jane Levy
Jane Colburn Levy is an American actress. She currently stars as Tessa Altman on the ABC comedy series Suburgatory.-Life and career:...
the first actor cast, playing the role of Tessa Altman, a Manhattan teen who has been raised for the last fifteen years by a single father, George. Tessa dreads the idea of living in the suburbs. Next to join the series was Alan Tudyk
Alan Tudyk
Alan Wray Tudyk is an American actor known for his roles as Simon in the British comedy Death at a Funeral, as Steve the Pirate in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, as Sonny in the science fiction drama I, Robot, as Doc Potter in 3:10 to Yuma, as Tucker in the Tucker & Dale vs Evil and as Hoban...
in the role of Noah Werner, George's college buddy and a dentist who moved to the suburbs some years earlier. Allie Grant
Allie Grant
Allie Grant is an American film and television actress. After a few guest appearances in the Disney Channel Original Series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and That's So Raven, Grant was cast on Weeds in 2005. Although she originally began as a recurring character, Grant's role grew and by season 3...
then joined the series as Lisa Shay, a socially awkward girl at school who befriends Tessa. Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Sisto
Jeremy Merton Sisto is an American actor. Sisto has had recurring roles as Billy Chenowith on the HBO series Six Feet Under and Detective Cyrus Lupo on Law & Order on television and also starred in the films Jesus, Clueless and Thirteen.-Early life:Sisto was born in Grass Valley, California, the...
and Carly Chaikin
Carly Chaikin
Carly Chaikin is an American actress. She got her breakout role in the film The Last Song. She currently resides in Santa Monica, California, U.S.-Career:...
followed with Sisto playing George Altman, Tessa's architect father who moves her from Manhattan to the suburbs, and Chaikin playing Dalia Royce, Tessa's neighbor who quickly becomes her nemesis at school. Cheryl Hines
Cheryl Hines
Cheryl Ruth Hines is an American actress and director, known for her role as Larry David's wife Cheryl on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. She currently appears on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory...
was next cast in the role of Dallas Royce, a well-to-do housewife and the mother of Dalia. She tells George that her absentee husband "travels a lot". Rex Lee was the last actor cast, playing Mr. Wolfe, Tessa's clueless high school guidance counselor. He was originally a guest star but was upped to a series regular after the pilot.
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
(SNL) alumna Ana Gasteyer
Ana Gasteyer
Ana Kristina Gasteyer is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Early life:...
plays the Altman's domineering neighbor, Sheila Shay, whom they vainly try to avoid. Fellow SNL alum Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
plays Fred, her husband, who toes the line. The Shays have two children: Lisa, who is Tessa's closest thing to a friend, and Ryan (Parker Young). Lisa and Tessa's friendship cools after Lisa witnesses Tessa enjoying the early morning sight of a shirtless Ryan washing his car.
On May 13, 2011, ABC ordered the pilot to series, to air in the fall of the 2011–12 United States network television schedule
2011–12 United States network television schedule
The 2011–2012 network television schedule for the five major English commercial broadcast networks in the United States covers primetime hours from September 2011 through May 2012...
. Suburgatory premiered on September 28, 2011 and currently airs on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following The Middle
The Middle (TV series)
The Middle is an American situation comedy television series that premiered on ABC on September 30, 2009. The show features Frances "Frankie" Heck , a working-class, Midwestern woman married to Mike Heck who resides in the small fictional town of Orson, Indiana. They are the parents of three...
.
Location and setting
The series takes place in the fictional town of Chatswin. According to an onscreen map animation, it is located near the north shore of Long Island SoundLong Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
between Rye, NY and Darien, CT
Darien, Connecticut
Darien is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. A relatively small community on Connecticut's "Gold Coast", the population was 20,732 at the 2010 census. Darien was listed at #9 at CNN Money's list of "top-earning towns" in the United States as of 2011...
. The 914 area code would indicate it is in Westchester County, New York state.
The series takes its title from the book released a week following the show premiere by former CNN Senior Producer Linda Keenan, based in part on her experiences after she moved from New York City to three affluent suburbs, the first of which was in Westchester County.
Critical reception
The show has been met with generally positive reviews, with an initial score of 70 out of 100 from MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. "Kapnek manages to make a show that is both satiric and emotionally engaging," said David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, "two varieties of comedy [that] don't always work well together." On the other end, Neil Genzlinger
Neil Genzlinger
Neil Genzlinger is an American playwright, editor, book reviewer, and theatre and television critic. He frequently writes for The New York Times, where he is a copy editor....
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
blasted the show. "[It] begins with a tenuous premise, uses it to leap to an inaccurate dichotomy and supports that with tired, unfunny stereotypes."
Ratings
The debut episode did well, scoring a 3.3 among the 18-49 demos with 9.81 million viewers tuning in.International broadcasts
The series has been picked up in CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
by Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
, where it is simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
with the ABC broadcasts. In Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
the series premiered on October 31, 2011 on Warner Channel.
External links
- Suburgatory, the book on Amazon