By Dustin Rowles | News | January 29, 2025 |
I’m not sure exactly how I would characterize the television tastes of the early days of this site, back when our television readership was mostly the runoff of TWoP. We were into Lost, Buffy, Friday Night Lights, Deadwood, and so much Firefly and Veronica Mars. But there was also a little Canadian series that the staff and early readers of this site absolutely adored. It was called Slings and Arrows, starring mostly Canadian actors, many of whom remain mostly unknown in America — Paul Gross, Susan Coyne, and Michael Polley (father of Sarah) — along with a few who were just on the cusp of stardom, like Rachel McAdams, Mark McKinney, Luke Kirby, and also Sarah Polley herself.
Slings and Arrows was amazing. It followed legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant (Gross), who returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival after his mentor’s death to stage Hamlet. There’s drama, romance, Shakespeare, and an absolutely outstanding vibe. It lasted just three seasons — only 18 episodes — and I really need to revisit it with my theater geek kids.
In the meantime, one of Slings and Arrows’ creators, Bob Martin, has teamed up with Michael Hoffman (Soapdish, 1999’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and actor Kevin Kline (Dave and only Dave, but fine, also In and Out) for American Classic, a half-hour comedy for MGM+.
Here’s the pitch, and hang on to your hats, Slings and Arrows fans:
American Classic centers on Broadway star and notorious narcissist Richard Bean, played by Kline, who suffers a spectacular public meltdown and returns to his hometown and the family-run theater where he first became aware of his own brilliance. When he arrives, he is shocked to discover that his father, the former artistic director, has lost a step and that the once-respected theater—now run by his brother Jon (Jon Tenney) and his wife (now the town’s mayor)—has, by necessity, become a low-rent dinner theater serving roast beef and murder mysteries. He decides to save the town, the theater, and the world by staging a great American classic on the dinner theater stage, directed by and starring, of course, Richard Bean.
So, basically Slings and Arrows crossed with Brockmire, with a taste of Schitt’s Creek small-town life? Sign us the hell up—and run it alongside From so we only have to subscribe to MGM+ for a couple of months!