Canadians joining new NBC comedy
A “Schitt’s Creek” alum and a notable Indigenous Canadian actor have joined the cast of NBC Peacock comedy “Rutherford Falls.” The anticipated new series, co-created by Ed Helms (“The Office,” “The Hangover”), Mike Schur (“The Good Place,” “Parks and Recreation”) and Navajo writer Sierra Teller Ornelas (“Superstore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), is about the clash between a small upstate New York town and the neighbouring Native American reservation when the town’s namesake fights the removal of a statue of the founder.
Dustin Milligan, who played Ted on “Schitt’s Creek,” has joined the cast as a reporter and podcaste r, while Michael Greyeyes (“Fear the Walking Dead,” “True Detective”), who is Plains Cree from Saskatchewan, will play the CEO of his tribe’s casino. Other cast include Lakota Sikoux writer and actor Jana Schmieding and nonbinary actor Jesse Leigh. Peacock also announced Monday that it’s adding two talk shows hosted by Black Americans to its late night slate. Amber Ruffin will become the first. “The Amber Ruffin Show” will feature Ruffin, the “Late Night With Seth Meyers” writer who was the first African American female to write for a late-night U.S. network talk show, with her “smart and silly take on the week’s news,” Peacock says. The other will see Larry Wilmore — whose Comedy Central series “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore” left the air in 2016 — covering the election and other “important conversations,” beginning in September.
Peacock also announced that singer, songwriter and Broadway and TV producer Sara
Bareilles will lead the cast of “Girls5eva,” from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (“30 Rock,” “Unbreakable Kimm y Schmidt”). And it’s picking up “MacGruber,” based on the “Saturday Night Live” character created by Will Forte in 2007 and the 2010 feature film.