‘Reboot’ Team on How ‘Roseanne’ Inspired Hulu’s Meta Sitcom

Hulu‘s new comedy Reboot is taking everything TV viewers know about series reboots and revivals, and giving them the insider’s perspective via Modern Family maestro Steven Levitan.

The creator who knows a thing or two about sitcoms admits it was another comedy’s reboot that got him thinking about the idea for this show. “When the whole Roseanne reboot debacle happened and that show blew up, I just remember thinking to myself that that must be a pretty fascinating set today,” the showrunner says. “And it just kind of planted the idea of, ‘Oh, what an interesting arena for a show?’”

In this show, the fictional comedy Step Right Up is at the centerpiece of the story which revolves around a project that falls somewhere between a reboot and revival as new showrunner Hannah (Rachel Bloom) attempts to sway original stars — Reed (Keegan-Michael Key), Bree (Judy Greer), Clay (Johnny Knoxville), and Zach (Calum Worthy) — to return.

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Foiling her plans for a dark and more mature Step Right Up is the original show’s creator Gordon (Paul Reiser). And from there, hilarity ensues. “I am a sucker for high-concept stuff. This is high-concept in a very organic way and that’s part of what attracted me to it,” Key says, acknowledging the show’s really meta angle of actors playing actors who are getting back into the acting game.

So, what pulled Reed back into the concept of Step Right Up? “The script intrigued him because now it’s darker and more nuanced and more mature,” Key shares. “And he’s hedging his bets that everything else will fall into place.” Of course, when it comes to comedy, nothing ever really falls quite into place.

A lot has happened in the 15 or so years since the team behind Step Right Up worked together in this universe, leading to some strained bonds between the cast members who have otherwise been living separate lives since then. And for that reason, Key says, “it’s about relationships, people trying to connect and, regrets they had. It’s about all those human things, you know?”

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When it comes to Reed’s costar and onscreen wife in Step Right Up, Bree, Greer says after her character did a weird science fiction show, she “pretty much quit acting, went away and got married to a Duke in a very cold land and that marriage didn’t work out. And so this is kind of — for all of them — a big second chance do-over.”

Which is something that Knoxville’s Clay could really use as a guy who fluctuates between being on the wagon and falling off. “He’s always kind of lived by the creed ‘fast, faster, and disaster.’ And now he’s just at this advanced age, [realizing] that doesn’t really work and he’s trying to figure out how to slow down,” Knoxville explains.

If you’re a little surprised to see the Jackass vet in the sitcom scene, you’re not alone. Knoxville impresses with his performance and reveals what really sold him on the idea was Levitan. “I really wanted to be in business with him,” the actor shares.

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Clay seems to find himself attached to Step Right Up‘s youngest returning original star, Zach, who Worthy describes as “a former child actor who never really grew up.” It’s a bit of a running joke when the cast reunites and meets Zach for the first time in so many years. He’s the only one among the main ensemble that’s changed drastically.

“He started on the sitcom when he was around eight,” Worthy explains. “And he’s basically stayed the same person ever since. He never went to high school. He never had friends his own age. So his peers were the people he worked with on the set. And now he’s 24 and three-quarters, and he still has his mom come with him to set. He basically is frozen in time.”

Wrangling the motley crew of performers is new showrunner Hannah who “is working through a lot of issues,” Bloom shares. “She has decided she wants to take a show from her childhood, Step Right Up, and reimagine it in a world where the characters are flawed and more nuanced in the way that people really are.”

The idea is something many of the actors are into, but something original creator Gordon is not too keen about. Responsible for bringing the original “silly light, family-ish sitcom” to viewers, Reiser shares, “I’m sort of very protective and don’t fix what wasn’t broken.”

Representing Hulu, which is helping to reboot Step Right Up, and also serves as the streaming home of this series, is Krista Marie Yu‘s Elaine Kim. She’s the streamer’s Vice President of Comedy, a job Yu says, “fell” into Elaine’s lap “because she was good at data and analytics.” Despite being from the Silicon Valley world, it’s through Elaine’s skills with stats that she “ended up being able to actually pursue her full dream of being a part of the entertainment industry.”

The show pokes a lot of fun at that industry and much more as Reboot unfolds. Don’t miss it, catch Reboot when it begins streaming on Hulu this fall.

Reboot, Series Premiere, Tuesday, September 20, Hulu