Upon reaching their 70s, most people decide to settle back into retirement and take life one step at a time. Patrick Stewart, however, is hitting upon some of the more interesting roles in his career, and they have zilch to do with superheroes. There’s nothing heroic at all going on in the trailer below for Starz’s new comedy Blunt Talk, in which Stewart gets into all manner of debaucherous behavior.
While there admittedly isn’t anything in this trailer that made me slap my thighs and collapse into a fit of laughter, this still looks like one of the more interesting comedies debuting this year. I mean, who doesn’t want to see PStew – that’ll be the only time I call him that – getting blurry-eyed with a little help from lines of coke and a flask full of firewater. I have a feeling that watching this series will make revisiting his work in Star Trek and the X-Men films all the more rewarding.
For the show, Stewart plays Walter Blunt, a British newscaster that heads to the U.S. to take over the American cable news cycle. Unfortunately, his decision-making skills are guided by terrible impulses and he ends up creating crises for himself both on the air and off. While trying to show America a better way to live, he’s dealing with network execs (including Jacki Weaver as his motherly producer/manager), multiple ex-wives and a horde of children of all ages. Keeping him sane is his alcoholic manservant Harry, played Adrian Scarborough. Also starring are Timm Sharp as head writer Jim, and Dolly Wells as another head writer and senior producer named Celia.
I really want to know what’s happening at the point in the trailer when Harry appears to be whipping the shit out of Walter’s back with a towel or something, which looks none too comfortable for either man.
The brainchild of Bored to Death creator and author Jonathan Ames, Blunt Talk also has Seth MacFarlane on board as an executive producer. Starz put in an initial order for 2 seasons of Blunt Talk, with ten episodes for each season.
Blunt Talk is expected to kick off Season 1 on Starz this summer at some point. Get your classiest snooters ready.
