Get ready for a change up in sitcoms with FOX’s The Cool Kids, which instead focuses on older characters rather than younger ones such as recent sitcoms like New Girl.
From executive producer Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), The Cool Kids is a multi-camera comedy about a rowdy, rag-tag group of friends living in a retirement community who are willing to break every rule in order to have fun – because, at their age, what do they really have to lose?
Hank (Grier) is the leader of this motley crew, a gruff, opinionated, 21st century Archie Bunker who will go to any lengths to have a good time. His loyal, but less than helpful, friends include Charlie (Mull), a bumbling wanderer who constantly goes off on tangents about some bizarre, barely believable episode from his life; and SID (Jordan), a fun-loving hedonist with a flair for the melodramatic. Complicating matters is MARGARET (Lawrence), a brash, confident woman who forces her way into their group and refuses to leave because she’s not going to take crap from anyone – especially not these three.
But what unites them all is their shared belief that they’re not done yet – not by a long shot. Growing old with dignity is for chumps. These self-proclaimed “cool kids” are determined to make the third act of their lives the craziest one yet.
The new series was inspired by Day’s time working in a nursing home. At the TCA’s, he mentioned he watched a lot of Golden Girls to inform his creative process. He also believes that while growing up, shows like Golden Girls also played to younger audiences as well.
“I thought why isn’t anyone doing this now? I beat Chuck Lorre. There was a conversation with the network about putting younger characters in, and I said ‘That’s ridiculous!’ The braver thing was that I stuck to my guns and didn’t force young characters (in the show). Fox was kind enough to relent to my yelling.”
The Cool Kids is produced by 20th Century Fox Television, in association with FX Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment. Charlie Day, Patrick Walsh (2 Broke Girls) and Nick Frenkel (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) are executive producers. Emmy Award winner Don Scardino (30 Rock) directed the pilot.
Starring Tony Award nominee David Alan Grier (The Carmichael Show), Award nominee Martin Mull (Veep), Emmy Award winner Vicki Lawrence (The Carol Burnett Show), and Emmy Award winner Leslie Jordan (Will and Grace).
The Cool Kids premieres Friday September 28th at 8:30pm on FOX.
