Ask and ye shall receive. No, really. In accordance with RUNNING WILDE star Will Arnett’s recent tweet that asked for a little help in saving his hilarious, albeit lowly rated show, we thought we’d do our part by offering up three reasons why RUNNING WILDE (airing Tuesday at 9:30PM on FOX) is worth checking out.
While we’re the first to admit that Will Arnett isn’t quite breaking new ground with his latest role that has him playing wealthy heir to an oil fortune Steve Wilde, there is a very good reason he has made a career out of portraying immature buffoons seemingly incapable of growing up. Whether he’s learning what ‘KFC’ stands for in a hilarious product integration reminiscent of 30 ROCK, or discovering what it takes to hold onto a real job (Hint: Work past Wednesday) he never fails to make us laugh.
Looking back on the failure that was ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, executives and couch potatoes alike have often sighted the complete absence of likeable characters as one of the reasons the majority of the viewing audience didn’t latch onto the brilliant-but-cancelled series that was. Which is probably why WILDE creator Mitch Hurwitz cleverly ensured his latest group of kooky characters included a doe-eyed idealistic environmentalist named Emmy (Keri Russell) and her adorable daughter Puddle (Stefanie Owen). Characters you can not only root for, but make everyone around them — including Arnett’s Wilde — that much more likeable.
Whether your taste run wilde for ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT alum David Cross (Who is on board for a multi-episode arc as Emmy’s boyfriend Andy), the hilarious Robert Michael Morris who made a name for himself as the flamboyant hair stylist opposite Lisa Kudrow on THE COMEBACK (Playing Wilde’s employee/sidekick/errand-boy), or British comic Peter Serafinowicz (who plays Steve Wilde’s friend and rival Fa’ad), RUNNING WILDE’s supporting cast has something for everyone. Plus, upcoming appearances by Andy Richter, Drea de Matteo and assuming the show gets an order for those elusive back nine episodes — a FELICITY reunion complete with appearances by Scott Foley’s Noel and Scott Speedman’s Ben*
* Full disclosure: We may have just made that last part about the whole FELICITY reunion up in a desperate effort to get you to watch tonight’s episode! That said, Andy Richter really is dropping by the October 12th episode.