HISTORY IN THE MAKING
New series takes star back in time
Making History Debuts Sunday, Fox/City
Call it the Hamilton effect. Since the American history musical hit Broadway in 2015, it’s racked up so much awards-show hardware that it could sponsor its own HGTV renovation series.
“The present day is so yesterday,” TV execs must’ve thought, ratings numbers twinkling in their eyes. “What we need is to bring yesterday into the present day.”
Hence the 2016-17 television season, which boasts three time-travel shows: Timeless hit NBC in October, and both ABC’s Time After Time and Fox’s Making History will debut Sunday.
The latter stars Adam Pally as nerdy computer science professor Dan Chambers, who climbs into an old duffel bag and zaps himself into the 18th century. But soon he starts altering the present and must figure out how to make things right.
Pally spoke with Postmedia News about his new comedy, Back to the Future and killing Hitler.
Q After becoming known for your roles on Happy Endings and The Mindy Project, what appealed to you about Making History?
A I thought the tone of the show was a little different, and I was looking to do something that was a little more serialized and a little more high concept.
And then the people behind it — Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (both of the Jump Street films and The Lego Movie), and creator Julius Sharpe — it was too good to be true.
Q What was your reaction to the time-travel aspect?
A I grew up in the time of Back to the Future, which is one of my favourite things in the world. So the idea that you could possibly be doing something like that every week was really appealing to me.
Q What’s your favourite Back to the Future film?
A You heard me say Back to the Future, right? So you understand that anybody who says anything other than the first one is a crazy person? That’s like if someone would say “Back to the Future 3 is my favourite.” You’d be like, “Oh, you’re going to murder everyone in this room?”
Q There are some scenes in Making History where you ride a horse — did you have to learn?
A I did not know. I did have to learn. I did not fall off, and I did not have any accidents. But I was also not good at it.
Q How did you react to wearing the colonial clothes?
A I’m going to say that I thought I looked handsome in it. I sent a picture to my wife that said “Hugh Valjean.”
Q So will that be your new weekend look?
A Oh no. It’s the hottest thing ever. There’s so much sweat in old times. But yeah, I thought I pulled it off.
Q What struck you the most about the colonial time period?
A I think it speaks to the lack of technology that we had back then, and how free it was in a lot of ways.
But even on top of that, what appealed to me was the socioeconomic aspect of it and what we’re going through now in our (U.S. politics), and it really does parallel the time when our country was being built. So to be able to do comedy through that lens was really appealing.
Q What time period would you travel back to, if you could?
A Look, obviously there’s a certain responsibility to go back and kill Hitler, so I would probably do that. I think I have the balls to do that.
Q What exactly would you do?
A I’d go back to before he was born. I would get a job learning how to deliver German babies and when his mother came in and birthed him, I would throw him out a window. I’ve got all the plans.
Obviously there’s a certain responsibility to go back and kill Hitler ...