''Minx'' is an American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series created and written by Ellen Rapoport and starring

Ophelia Lovibond Ophelia Lucy Lovibond (born 19 February 1986) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Carina in the film ''Guardians of the Galaxy,'' Izzy Gould in the BBC's ''W1A'', Joyce Prigger in HBO's ''Minx'', and Kitty Winter in CBS's ''Ele ...

and

Jake Johnson Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger (born May 28, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, film producer and screenwriter best known for his role as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Ch ...

. It

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

d on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

on March 17, 2022. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a second season. However, in December 2022, the series was canceled by HBO Max while its second season was in production. The following month, the series was picked up by

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

Premise

In the 1970s, a young

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

joins forces with a low-rent publisher to create the first women's

erotic magazine Pornographic magazines or erotic magazines, sometimes known as adult, sex or top-shelf magazines, are magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature. Publications of this kind may contain images of attractive naked subjects, as is ...

. Through this unlikely alliance the characters discover meaningful relationships in the most odd places.

Cast and characters

Main

as Joyce Prigger *

Michael Angarano Michael Anthony Angarano (born December 3, 1987) is an American actor. He became known for his roles in the film ''Music of the Heart'' (1999) and the television series '' Cover Me'' (2000–2001), as well as for playing a recurring role as Elli ...

as Glenn *

Jessica Lowe ''Wrecked'' is an American sitcom that was created by Jordan Shipley and Justin Shipley for TBS. The series is about a group of people stranded on an island, after their airplane crashed in the ocean and is a parody of ''Lost''. The 10-episode f ...

as Bambi * Oscar Montoya as Richie *

Lennon Parham Lennon Kathleen Parham (born October 26, 1975) is an American actress and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. With frequent collaborator Jessica St. Clair, she created and co-starred in NBC's ''Best Friends Forev ...

as Shelly * Idara Victor as Tina *

as Doug Renetti

Guest

Taylor Zakhar Perez Taylor Zakhar Perez (born December 24, 1991) is an American model and actor. He is known for featuring in the romantic comedy films ''The Kissing Booth 2'' (2020), ''The Kissing Booth 3'' (2021), and ''Red, White & Royal Blue'' (2023), and the sex ...

as Shane Brody *

Stephen Tobolowsky Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951) is an American character actor. He is known for film roles such as insurance agent Ned Ryerson in ''Groundhog Day'' and amnesiac Sammy Jankis in '' Memento'', as well as such television characters as ...

as Conrad Ross *

Amy Landecker Amy Lauren Landecker (born September 30, 1969) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Sarah Pfefferman on the Amazon comedy-drama series ''Transparent'' (2014–2019), as well as her supporting roles in films ''Dan in Real Life'' (2 ...

as Bridget Westbury * Olivia Rose Keegan as Amber * Jacqi Vene as Marian *

Austin Nichols Austin Nichols (born April 24, 1980) is an American actor and director, known for his role as Julian Baker in The CW drama series ''One Tree Hill''. He is also known for his roles in the films ''The Day After Tomorrow'' and '' Wimbledon''. He st ...

as Billy Brunson *

Lesli Margherita Lesli Margherita is an American stage and screen actress. She is best known for originating the roles of Inez in the musical ''Zorro,'' for which she won a Laurence Olivier Award, and Mrs. Wormwood in the Broadway cast of ''Matilda the Musical''. ...

as Francesca *

Al Sapienza Al Sapienza is an American actor who has had numerous roles in television, stage and film productions. He is best known for his role as Mikey Palmice on the HBO series ''The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television ...

as Vince * Tyrone Evans Clark as a Tony Pony Diner Pedestrian * Alicia Hannah-Kim as Wendy Mah *

Eric Edelstein Eric Edelstein is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Bobby Mallison in '' Shameless'', Chad in ''Clarence'', B.O.B. in the '' Monsters vs. Aliens'' television adaptation, and Grizzly "Grizz" in ''We Bare Bears ...

as Willy *

Samm Levine Samuel Franklin Levine (born March 12, 1982) is an American actor, comedian and podcaster. He is known for his portrayal of Neal Schweiber on NBC's ''Freaks and Geeks'' and PFC Hirschberg in the 2009 film ''Inglourious Basterds''. Levine was al ...

as Franco *

Rich Sommer Rich Sommer (born February 2, 1978) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Harry Crane on the AMC drama series ''Mad Men''. He is also known for his roles in the comedy-drama films '' The Devil Wears Prada'' (2006), ''Celeste and ...

as Lenny *

Hope Davis Hope Davis is an American actress. She is known for her performances on stage and screen earning various awards and nominations including a Tony Award nomination, as well two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Award nominations. She ...

as Victoria Hartnett *

Josh Stamberg Joshua Collins Stamberg (born January 4, 1970) is an American actor. He was regular cast member in the Lifetime comedy-drama series ''Drop Dead Diva'' from 2009 to 2012, and later had recurring roles on '' Parenthood'', '' The Affair,'' and ''Wand ...

as George *

Gillian Jacobs Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Britta Perry on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the Netflix romantic comedy series ''Love'' (2016� ...

as Maggie *

Susan Walters Susan Walters, is an American actress and former model, best known for her roles as Lorna Forbes on the ABC daytime soap opera '' Loving'' from 1983 to late 1986 and as Diane Jenkins on the CBS soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' from 2001 ...

as Elayne *

Allison Tolman Allison Cara Tolman is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Molly Solverson in the first season of the FX television series '' Fargo'', earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Early life and education Tolman has two older ...

as Wanda *

David Paymer David Emmanuel Paymer (born August 30, 1954) is an American actor, comedian, and television director. He has been in films such as ''Mr. Saturday Night'', ''Quiz Show'', ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'', ''City Slickers'', ''Crazy People'', ''St ...

as Myron

Episodes

Production

Development

On February 19, 2020, it was announced that

had given the project a pilot order. Ellen Rapoport was attached to write as well as executive produce alongside

Paul Feig Paul Samuel Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including ''Bridesmaids'' (2011), '' The Heat'' (2013), ''Spy'' (2015) ...

and Dan Magnante of Feigco Entertainment. On September 3, 2020, ''

Unpregnant ''Unpregnant'' is a 2020 American female buddy road comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg. The film is based upon the novel of the same name by Ted Caplan and Jenni Hendriks. It stars Haley Lu Richardson and Barbie Fe ...

'' director

Rachel Lee Goldenberg Rachel Lee Goldenberg (born 1984/1985) is an American film director and screenwriter. She has directed a number of feature films and television episodes. She had her breakthrough after she was discovered by Will Ferrell, who gave her the opportu ...

was attached to direct and executive produce the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. On April 5, 2021, it was announced that

had given the project a series pickup for ten half-hour episodes. On May 5, 2022, HBO Max renewed the series for a second season. However, on December 12, 2022, HBO Max canceled the series. At the time, production on the second season was near completion, and Lionsgate sought to give the show a new home. Despite the cancelation, filming for the second season continued to be conducted, with Lovibond later announcing that it had wrapped on December 18, 2022. On January 12, 2023, it was announced that the series had been rescued by

Casting

On September 16, 2020,

was cast in the lead role. On December 8, 2020, Idara Victor, Oscar Montoya,

, and

joined the

main cast In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra for a particular role or part in a script, screenp ...

, with

cast in a guest role before being promoted to the main cast.

was cast as firefighter Shane. About the challenges he faced while playing the character, he said, "The biggest thing was grounding him, making him likable, and also playing against the line."

Filming

The pilot began

filming Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of Film, motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (o ...

on December 6, 2020, in Los Angeles.

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a "Certified Fresh" 97% approval rating with an average rating of 7.8/10, based on 30 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "The rapport between Ophelia Lovibond and Jake Johnson is the irresistible centerfold of ''Minx'', a bawdy and sharp comedy that merits a full-page spread."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 77 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

*
archived
* {{Starz Shows 2020s American workplace comedy television series 2022 American television series debuts American television series revived after cancellation English-language television shows HBO Max original programming Television series by Lionsgate Television Television series set in the 1970s Television shows set in Los Angeles Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Works about magazine publishing