Back in March, Hollywood shut down production because of the coronavirus pandemic, and no one knew when it would restart again. Therefore, the networks had to get creative, and NBC came up with Connecting… with Martin Gero and Brendan Gall. Tonight at 8p, it makes its network debut.
The show is about six friends who are trying to navigate in our normal. A world where we have to be social but also distant. How can you see your friends when you can’t? Technology is allowing that happen, and this sitcom was shot via mobile phones, computers, and web conferencing apps. All the things we have been using to still be social with our friends and family.
Since travel has become something we cannot do, many of our friends have become our family. The latter is the case for the characters of this series. Pradeep (Parvesh Cheena) is married with children. For the first time in a long time, he is getting to spend time, all of his time, with them. You know what, he loves them, but he doesn’t like them.
Annie (Otmara Marrero) is single and lonely living by herself. She has a crush on her recently single friend, Ben (Preacher Lawson), and wants him to move in with her. Ben wants to move in with Pradeep, his husband, and their kids as their manny. Ben is also lonely and doesn’t want to live by himself.
Pradeep is not the only married person in their group. Michelle (Jill Knox) and Garrett (Keith Powell) are also married. They are trying out new things and enjoying being home together. Why not make the most of it? Ellis (Shakina Nayfack), on the other hand, misses the old things like basketball games.
Just like you and me, they are each dealing with lockdown differently. Because of that, there is at least one character we can all relate to. Plus, there is also that character we all know. His name is Rufus (Ely Henry). Rufus is the guy who is spending all of his time on the internet trying new things that can save him from COVID-19. He also read some interesting theories, and he is going to share it with all of them.
They are going to share the good times, and they are going to be there during the bad ones. In the coming weeks, they are going to deal with flipping out because Postmates got their order wrong. The over-reaction is due to stress about everything being out of control. What also causes stress, losing your job. That means you cannot pay for your rent and health insurance that pays for your hormones.
As nice as it is to talk via Zoom, you still want to get away and see your friends. They plan a trip away, but they all have to quarantine for two weeks to make sure they are healthy. Can they actually avoid everyone else for two weeks so that they can spend a weekend together?
Along with dealing with the reality of this madness of do I have enough toilet paper, they also touch on events that shaped our last few months.
You might think I don’t want to watch a show about what we are all going through, but you do. It is comforting to know we are not alone. This show is more real than reality TV, and that is a good thing. They say someday we will look back at this time and laugh. That time is now with Connecting…
Another thing many people can connect with when it comes to the sitcom is that it is a really diverse cast full of people of color and different sexual identities. It is more like America than most of the programs on our televisions today.
We all want something we can relate to, and Connecting… will connect us. Too bad we can’t talk about it at the watercooler at work the next day. You know, because we are not working in an office. Instead, we will have to Zoom our co-workers and talk to them about it that way.
Welcome to 2020. This the first time I can remember a show actually being done about real time in real time.
