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Show of the week: You Me Her
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You Me Her is billed as TV’s first ‘polyromantic comedy’.
It follows a suburban husband, Jack, in a staid relationship and who impulsively goes on a date with professional escort, Izzy.
That starts a chain of events that sees him, the escort and his wife, Emma, embark on a three-way relationship, with all of the complications and challenges (and comedy) that entails.
The starting point for the project was a John H. Richardson article in Playboy magazine entitled Sugar on Top.
John Scott Shepherd (creator of NBC’s Save Me) created the show and says that despite its unusual set up, it is a rom-com, albeit one infused with an indie sensibility.
“It’s about three people’s experience of an alternative relationship, and we wanted it to be provocative, but not an erotic show,” he says. “It could be every man’s fantasy, but You Me Her is not about sex, it’s about happiness.”
Rachel Blanchard (Flight of the Conchords) plays Emma, and Priscilla Faia (Rookie Blue), Izzy.
Greg Poehler stars as the male lead, and after writing, directing and starring in NBC and TV4 comedy Welcome to Sweden, jokes that it was a relief to simply act in You Me Her, describing Jack as a “dream role”.
In many ways the comedy and drama comes from asking ‘what if’, Poehler and Scott Shepherd both say. “What if you did face these choices? What if you did turn your relationship on its head? What does it do to you as a person, and what if your friends and colleagues found out,” adds Poehler.
The 10x30mins episodes cover a short span of time, leaving plenty of room for more You Me Her should it become a hit.
“We shot it like a movie and it all takes place over just ten days, and five of those are in the pilot,” Scott Shepherd says. “We definitely have a clear idea of how it could develop.”
The show is the latest original for DirecTV, and it play on the US pay TV operator’s Audience Network (previously known as the 101 Network).
Entertainment One Television is handling distribution and will launch it internationally at MIPTV next month.
The show: You Me Her
The producer: Entertainment One Television
The distributor: Entertainment One
The broadcaster: Audience Network (DirecTV, US)
The concept: Indie-flavoured rom com about a three-person polyamorous relationship, starring Greg Poehler (Welcome to Sweden)
2 min read
