An Enlisted Education: 6 Things to Know about Fox's Charming New Army Comedy
Atten-TION! Fox will launch its heartwarming new comedy Enlisted at midseason (Jan. 10 at 9:30/8:30c), and TVLine grabbed intel on six scoopy teases ahead of the series’ debut.
Starring Geoff Stults (The Finder), Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars), Angelique Cabral (Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23), Keith David (Platoon) and Parker Young (Suburgatory), the Kevin Biegel/Mike Royce-helmed charmer centers on three vastly different brothers and their misfit colleagues working together on a Florida military base.
Here, Enlisted‘s cast and creators discuss the comedy, which is equal parts heart and humor.
THE BROTHERLY LOVE YOU SEE ON SCREEN IS AUTHENTIC | “You ever hear of fate? You ever hear of true love and soulmates?” Young responds with a laugh when asked how quickly the trio found its groove. Interjects Stults, “You ever hear of love at first sight?!,” to which Lowell jokes, “Have you heard of stars aligning?!” The guys say their bond started early. “When we all went to get our first drink, it was all so clear that we were perfectly cast,” Young recalls, with Lowell adding: “It was a testament to the casting. We settled into our roles and these dynamics faster than anyone could have anticipated.”
THERE’S ANOTHER ‘BROTHER,’ TOO | ”Angelique’s character, Jill, has developed, in a weird way, into the fourth Hill Brother,” Stults tells us, adding, “Man, she’s not going to like that!” Agreeing with her co-star’s assessment, Cabral teases: “Jill kind of adopts the boys. Much like in my real life, she has FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out – so she’s constantly around their platoon, even though she has her own.”
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THERE WILL BE TEARS | “There’s brotherly comedic stuff, but everything is grounded in the characters, and the characters are grounded in some heavy stuff,” former Cougar Town EP Biegel assures. “We’re being really careful and good about how much of that we dole out. It’s not too subtle; we always address stuff, but every episode builds to the heavier things. For us, it just makes the show feel more real. It makes you give a crap about the characters; they’re not just guys at a workplace. They’re dealing with the reality of what it means to be a solider today, which is much more interesting than just jokes.” Shares Cabral, “In every episode, there’s something that will make you tear up: It’s the family bond; it’s the struggle to be the best you can be; it’s the loss of a parent; it’s raising a child on your own; and for Jill, it’s not having a family — and this group becoming that for her.”
THE ‘WON’T’ IN THE SERIES’ WILL-THEY-WON’T-THEY DYNAMIC WILL PREVAIL | By the end of Enlisted’s debut installment, the audience will wonder if Stults’ Pete and Cabral’s Jill may soon become an item. However, explains Biegel, this is not your average couple-driven comedy. “We’ve been trying to be clever with it,” he says, grinning. “The reality is, there’s a built-in thing on this show where, because they’re in the military, they’re not really supposed to be dating… And that just seems more interesting to us. We’ll play up what the audience expects and write to it and address it head on, but we don’t write to Pete and Jill making out in the fifth episode or anything… It’s not even a will-they-won’t-they kind of thing.” Adds ex-Men of a Certain Age boss Royce, “Dare I say we subvert?”
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SEASON 1 WILL OFFER A SATISFYING CONCLUSION | Sure, the plan is for six seasons and a movie (for lack of a better phrase, but you get the point…), but regardless of what the future holds, Enlisted’s freshman run will wrap up happily. “When you boil everything down, this is a show about the three brothers,” Biegel muses. “The pilot presents Pete as a guy who doesn’t feel like he really belongs here, and to get to the end of a first season where he accepts where he is and is hopeful and happy? That’s a big positive thing; it’s a nice arc.”
WHY YOU SHOULD ENLIST | “I want for everyone to be able to watch this show, from my father to my snarky hipster friends in college to a 12-year-old kid,” Biegel shares. And even though, as Royce notes, “you don’t get the bulk of viewers on Friday night,” the hope is that they’ll end up with “a mix of people who might not be watching television other nights.” “It’s a big, inviting, joyous show,” Biegel explains. “It feels like everyone should gather around to watch it.”
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