Alexander is singing a new tune in comedy

LOS ANGELES — “Hit the Road,” the new AT&T Audience Network series from Jason Alexander, blends the offbeat craziness of “Seinfield” with the musical beat of “The Partridge Family.”

The Swallows — the greatest band you’ve never heard of — form a chaotically dysfunctional family of would-be pop stars traveling the country in search of their big break. They might just land that break, assuming they can survive life in a cramped tour bus where

is merely a word in the dictionary.

The birdlike name of the family clearly suggests that “The Partridge Family” was a big part of the conversation when Alexander was trying to get the show on the road. But he was also influenced by real-life family bands such as the Cowsills, the Jacksons and the Osmonds.

“They’re just great fodder for comedy,” Alexander said. “You have real-life people experiencing real-life challenges and traumas and joys, and (they're) trying to grow and, at the same time, every time they get an opportunity, it’s all smiles, and this has to be perfect. And, God forbid, we don’t look wholesome and decent in Americana, the whole thing could crash and burn.

“It’s that tenuous balance that is really the centerpiece of the comedy of the show.”

Since “Seinfeld” ended in 1998, Alexander has struggled to find new success. His shows “Bob Patterson” and “Listen Up” died quick deaths in the ratings, leaving him to keep busy in the post“Seinfeld” world doing guest appearances.

“Hit the Road” needs to draw enough viewers to keep the bus rolling, but the potential audience seems unclear. The show has plenty of family elements, but the very-adult nature of the humor will make it difficult for multiple generations to watch the show together.

Alexander isn’t sure who the audience will be for “Hit the Road.”

“There is so much comedy on television that lives in this arena of pushing the envelope of behavior, of language, of political incorrectness, of social sensitivities — and they’re all getting a lovely audience. I think that’s our audience, too,” Alexander said. “It is our job, and the Audience Network’s job, of just letting the audience not get blindsided.

“Seinfeld” ended almost 20 years ago, and, at that time, the content of the NBC comedy was viewed as very adult. An episode about someone’s name rhyming with a part of the body naturally evoked surprised looks.

That’s not the case in 2017, with streaming services subject to much-less-strict guidelines.

The first two episodes of “Hit the Road” — the show premiered last week — contain profanity, drug use, erections, explosive bowel movements, death by intercourse and very visual sexual acts in the bathroom. Along with this content freedom comes an escape from the strict parameters of commercial television.

Alexander said that the advent of cable and pay TV, which have no advertising breaks, offers a new way to tell stories.

“You break that five-act structure that we all had to adhere to,” he said. “Your 30-minute show is actually 30 minutes, as opposed to 20 minutes. So you can sit with characters in moments in a more realistic way. You can explore things deeper.”

When “Seinfeld” was exploring the topic of abstinence, “that was a huge deal,” Alexander said. “And if you look at that episode now, it’s fairly soft. The envelope has opened up wide.”

Some viewers see that as a scourge, he said, but the rest welcome it.

“Hit the Road” was created by Alexander but isn’t designed for him to have to carry every scene. The key, then, was to find actors who could blend together into a comedy band. That group consists of Amy Pietz, Natalie Sharp, Nick Marini, Tim Johnson Jr. and Maddie Dixon-Poirier.

Some of the cast members have more musical abilities than the others. Sharp, for example, has been writing songs for years and even penned a tune for the series. Most of the songs that the Swallows perform were written by Alexander, who has a lengthy history with musical theater.

The last big hurdle was finding the right name for the band. Because “The Partridge Family” helped to inspire the show, the decision was made early that this family band would also have the name of a bird.

The double meaning of the name opens up a lot of opportunities for jokes — often in the form of graffiti on the side of the bus.

“We looked at lark. We looked at warbler. We looked at loon. We looked at parrot,” Alexander said. “And then, you know, literally we Googled ‘names of birds,’ and we hit swallow and we went, ‘Oh, of course. Of course.’

“We just thought it was a great way to add to the dysfunction. ... Walking around with a moniker like ‘Swallow’ is just another cross to bear for them.”