''Overlord and the Underwoods'' is a Canadian television family sitcom co-created by

Anthony Q. Farrell Anthony Q. Farrell (born May 13, 1977) is a Canadian comedian, actor and writer. He has written for ''The Office'', presided as executive story editor for ''Little Mosque on the Prairie'' as well as produced and performed in various stand-up and s ...

and Ryan Wiesbrock, and is a co-production between MarbleMedia and

Cloudco Entertainment Those Characters from Cleveland, LLC, officially trading as Cloudco Entertainment and formerly AG Properties and American Greetings Entertainment, is an American company which formerly traded as American Greetings' former character brand division. ...

. The series first premiered in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2021 on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, while it premiered in Canada on October 29, 2021 on

CBC Gem CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

."'Overlord and the Underwoods' showrunner hopes it will 'make way for more diversity'"
''The Coast Reporter'', October 28, 2021. In the US the first 10 episodes were made available on November 8, 2021 on the BYUtv app.

Premise

The series focuses on a North American family called the Underwoods, whose life is flipped upside down when the second most wanted criminal in the world, their distant cousin Overlord - who is an alien, seeks refuge in their home after being forced into intergalactic witness protection after he snitches on his boss and is made to live with the Underwoods.

Cast

Darryl Hinds Darryl Hinds is a Canadian actor and sketch comedian, best known as a cast member of Royal Canadian Air Farce's annual New Year's Eve specials in the 2010s."Brampton's Darryl Hinds will add comedic excellence to Air Farce's New Year's eve special". ...

as Jim Underwood * Patrice Goodman as Flower Underwood * Ari Resnick as Weaver Underwood * Kamaia Fairburn as Willow Underwood * Troy Feldman as Overlord *

Jann Arden Jann Arden (born Jann Arden Anne Richards; March 27, 1962) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She is famous for her signature ballads, "Could I Be Your Girl" and "Insensitive (song), Insensitive", which is her biggest hit to date. Ea ...

as the voice of R0-FL, Overlord's robot sidekick *

Jayne Eastwood Jayne Eastwood (born December 17, 1946), also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in the comedy film ''Finders Keepers'' (1984), Judy the Wai ...

as the Underwoods' neighbour

Episodes

Development and broadcast

The series was announced on March 16, 2021, and was pre-sold by

International,

BYUtv BYU TV (stylized as BYUtv) is a television channel, founded in 2000, which is owned and operated as a part of Brigham Young University (BYU). The channel, available through cable and satellite distributors in the United States, produces a number ...

in the United States, CBC in Canada and

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

in the United Kingdom on the same day. Production on the series began in June 2021 in Oakville,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. BYUtv began airing the series on their app and at byutv.org on November 8, 2021. On October 3, 2022 BYUtv began airing season 1 on television. That same day they made the second batch of 10 episodes available on their app and website.

Production concerns

The series was a topic of some controversy in the Canadian television industry after its production was announced in April 2021, when a newspaper article on the premiere of series creator

's contemporaneous ''

The Parker Andersons ''The Parker Andersons'' and ''Amelia Parker'' are a pair of related Canadian television sitcoms, which premiered in 2021 on Super Channel.Kelly Townsend"Giving life and authenticity to the Parker Andersons" '' Playback'', April 9, 2021. The shows ...

'' included the statement that BYU TV series "couldn’t feature characters who are clearly identified as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

", due to the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...

' views on LGBTQ sexuality, along with those of

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

, which owns the network itself. Within days, the network responded with a statement that "As a young network committed to bringing together religious and non-religious audiences, BYUtv is learning and exploring ways to partner with diverse content creators, writers and talent to implement meaningful co-viewing experiences for our target audience (children 8-15 and their parents). While BYUtv has not referenced LGBTQ+ topics and characters in the five original scripted series it has aired to date, we desire to address subjects – including LGBTQ+ – that are important to our growing and diverse audience. There are no policies that would exclude the network from including characters who identify as LGBTQ+, and BYUtv is exploring ways to do so," and Marblemedia confirmed that ''Overlord and the Underwoods'' will include LGBTQ characters.Radheyan Simonpillai
"BYUtv has a come to Jesus moment on LGBTQ characters"
''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', April 9, 2021.

References

External links

* {{CBC Television shows (current and upcoming) English-language television shows CBC Gem original programming 2020s Canadian sitcoms 2021 Canadian television series debuts Television series about families Canadian black sitcoms 2020s Black Canadian television series 2020s Canadian comic science fiction television series