Ron Funches and Eva Amurri Martino are regulars on "Undateable," a Thursday night series that began May 29. (NBC photos/Justin Lubin)
Sweatshirts and jackets that may be in your closet appear on each episode of a two-week old NBC summer series set in Ferndale.
Probably not since Tim Allen starred in ABC's "Home Improvement" (1991-99) have so many local sports logos been seen weekly on network TV.
The show even tips its cap to the Detroit Coney Dogs of Bingham Farms -- a three-year-old amateur team in the Continental Indoor Lacrosse League.
The new Thursday night show on NBC, "Undateable," is about relationship-impaired pals in their late 20s who hang out at a bar called Black Eyes. Its co-creator and co-producer is Adam Sztykiel, who grew up in Birmingham and Beverly Hills. In a recent interview, the 36-year-old screenwriter tells Rusty Young of Hell Yeah Detroit how the locale was picked:
“Two of the other producers, Jeff Ingold and Randall Watson, are also from the Detroit area. It was one of the first decisions we all made. It’s a show about underdogs and Detroit is an underdog city. It’s about people with some issues, but ultimately believe in themselves and believe they have something great to offer. That’s how I and a lot people feel about Detroit. . . .
"Place is so important to storytelling and has the power to reflect the journey of the characters, and that’s what Detroit is for 'Undateable.' These guys are struggling with relationships, with a bar that isn’t doing so well, with confidence -- but they are not whiners and sad sacks. They lean into the struggle, take risks, and despite setbacks they carry on. Detroit is a pretty great backdrop for that kind of journey.”
The hometown embrace is returned by Tom Long of The Detroit News, who calls Sztykiel's program "the most successful summer comedy in five years." Out on the coast where it's made, however, Los Angeles Times reviewer Mary McNamara is far from smitten:
Do we honestly need another show in which all the men are varying degrees of moronic, especially the wise-cracking, rigorously immature lead? . . .
Why, NBC, why? . . . None of us has time to waste on something that admits it's "Undateable."
Here are four more scenes with local atmosphere:
