He may be best known as GOB from Arrested Development, or perhaps as the former husband of Amy Poehler. But now, Will Arnett is stepping off his Segway and returning to TV with his most personal project yet – a drama called Flaked, about a recovering alcoholic who has moved to Venice Beach in California to attend AA and find himself.
“It’s a show about friendship and authenticity,” says Arnett. “It’s about the face we show the world, and how far that is from the person we look at in the mirror each morning.” With the tagline: One step forward, 12 steps back, it sounds as if it could be his heaviest, most melancholy role yet – though he insists it is a comedy.
Arnett plays Chip, who is a stool-maker by trade (“perhaps the first ever one on television”) as well as the local advice guru. Not only is Arnett the lead, but he has also co-created and co-written Flaked alongside Mark Chappell. “I’ve never been involved in such an all-encompassing way,” he explains. “It’s scary – well, it’s scary for Mark, because if this fails then I’m going to blame it all on him.” The two have worked together before, most recently on David Cross’s edgy show The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. And there’s another added bonus for Bluth family fans (Come on!): Flaked also reunites Arnett with Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz, who is the executive producer. Hurwitz is already following his first rule for creating excellent comedy by giving the show an intriguingly confusing title, so things are looking good.
Netflix original commissions are booming in 2016, with the imminent return of Better Call Saul and House of Cards (which joins Flaked in the March slate), plus new shows from Judd Apatow and Baz Luhrmann. Apatow has created an anti-romcom called Love featuring Paul Rust and Gillian Jacobs, while Luhrmann’s The Get Down is a musical drama about the birth of hip-hop, starring Jaden Smith.
This is the third project Arnett has created with Netflix, after the 2013 fourth series of Arrested Development and the ongoing adult animation BoJack Horseman. When asked why he keeps coming back for more, his answer is simple: “They have photographs of me and Donald Trump in a day spa – make sure you spell that right: it’s “day” spa! I only have to do two more shows and they’ve promised to destroy the negatives.”
Flaked will be available on Netflix from 11 March.
