So happy together?
Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph mine marital absurdities in ‘Forever’
Fred Armisen and Maya Rudolph were talking on a recent morning about the many tiny, telling details of their characters on their new series “Forever,” and the chemistry forged years ago on “Saturday Night Live” kept revealing itself as the natural key to their show, which finds them playing a longtime couple.
“I have a relationship with some objects where I get so mad at them because they only have one job,” Armisen admits, empathizing with his character, who at a particularly low point in the series takes out his frustrations on a jammed kitchen drawer. “They just don’t deserve to keep going.” “Do you talk to them?” Rudolph asks. “I’ve definitely talked to them,” he responds. “I did something really crazy once. Remember when Palm Pilots came out? I had one that would not dock correctly. It just wouldn’t load up. And I got a bowl of water, and I put the whole dock in it. I was like, ‘I asked you to do one thing.’ And I drowned it.”
“Wow,” Rudolph laughs, imagining the execution scene, “Did you fold your arms?” “I’m like, ‘This is your time for you to do this, and you’re going to pick your own times?’ ” he says in mock aggravation, “Bye.” “That’s fascinating, I love that story so much.” That mix of intimacy and absurdity fits squarely in the wheelhouse for “Forever,” which premiered Friday on Amazon Prime. Written by “Master of None” co-creator Alan Yang and Matt Hubbard of “Parks and Recreation,” the series isn’t easy to talk about because of the way it plays with your expectations. In the first few episodes, the series changes twice before f inally revealing what exactly it’s about.
“You’re told in television you have to know exactly what the show is about as quickly as possible when you start a pilot,” says Hubbard, who was reached on a recent conference call with Yang. “I think we liked the idea of not letting the viewer know exactly what this show is going to be about beyond that it’s Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen, and they’re in it together for quite a while.”
“My recommendation to my friends
Where: Amazon Prime When: Any time Rated: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14)