Opposites attract in I Just Want My Pants Back
MTV’S I Just Want My Pants Back is the latest TV show to try to capture hipster lightning in a bottle. Based on a 2007 David J. Rosen novel of the same name, Pants — as its star Peter Vack refers to the awkwardly titled show — moves the action from Rosen’s childhood home of New York’s West Village to the more hipster-friendly Greenpoint area of Brooklyn.
“I set the novel in the West Village, which is sort of where I did my growing up and getting in trouble, and it felt like that wasn’t really going to be an accurate place where young, broke people could be living anymore,” Rosen, who produces the show and also wrote its pilot, explained during a phone call with reporters. “We really felt like Brooklyn, specifically, Greenpoint, was the right area for our cast.
“One of the grooviest things, I think, about shooting in Greenpoint, is it’s actually where kids (end up) who are moving to New York (and) want to get involved in artistic or creative jobs, like the characters on Pants do,” Vack adds. “It’s actually where they live. I grew up in New York and I hang out a lot in Brooklyn.”
In the show’s pilot, which was directed by The Bourne Identity’s Doug Liman, we’re introduced to platonic best friends Jason (Vack) and Tina (Kim Shaw), as well cutesy couple Eric (Jordan Carlos) and Stacey (Elisabeth Hower), who are a tight foursome, despite living seemingly opposite lives: Eric and Stacey participate in organized Wii Tennis tournaments, while Jason and Tina constantly search for meaningless sex. (The mouthful of a title comes from Jason’s one-night stand, who steals his premieres heart — and his trousers.) “It’s really a true ensemble cast,” Rosen boasts. “Jason and Tina have a great platonic friendship, and I’m really proud of how that really came together. I think it feels very honest. And then, on the other side, we have Stacey and Eric, who are a couple who are a little more serious, a little more grounded than the other two, who live together, navigating what it’s like to be right out of college and living with your serious other half, which is obviously a pretty big step.”