''Running Wilde'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

created by

Mitchell Hurwitz Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' as well as the co-creator of ''The Ellen Show''. He is a ...

for the

Fox Network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

. It stars

Will Arnett William Emerson Arnett (; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian actor, comedian and producer. He is best known for his roles as Gob Bluth in the Fox/Netflix series ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019) and as the titular charact ...

as Steve Wilde, a self-centered, idle bachelor and heir to an oil fortune. The series follows Wilde's awkward attempts to regain the affection of his childhood sweetheart, Emmy, an environmentalist who had been living in the South American jungle, but whose young daughter does not want to return there and who secretly enlists Steve's help to keep Emmy at his mansion, leading to farcical situations and misunderstandings.

Background

, Arnett and fellow cast member

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

had previously worked together on Fox's ''

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

''. ''Running Wilde'' had many stylistic similarities to ''Arrested Development'', including frequent cutaway gags and a narrator (Emmy's daughter Puddle, played by Stefania LaVie Owen) who comments on the characters' motivations. Moreover, the series appears to exist in the same universe as ''Arrested Development'', as the fictional Bluth Company from ''Arrested Development'' is responsible for the design of the nightclub in the penultimate episode "The Pre-nup". The series provided the first U.S. network TV role for British actor-comedian

Peter Serafinowicz Peter Szymon Serafinowicz ( ; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, best known for his roles as the title character in the 2016 live-action series of ''The Tick'', Pete in ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004) and ...

, who plays Wilde's idle-rich friend and neighbor Fa-ad Shaoulin. The show premiered on September 21, 2010. The show was canceled mid-season because of low ratings after just 13 episodes had been produced. The last four episodes of the series were shown on FX in late April and May 2011. The show was shot at Sands Point Preserve, Long Island, New York. Keri Russell commuted from her home in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, about 25 miles away, and Arnett commuted from his home in Manhattan.

Production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...

s searched for props at a

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

in nearby

Manhasset Manhasset is a hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in D ...

Plot

The show centers on Steven Wilde, a self-centered billionaire who is clueless about the real world. He has problems with depression and often self-medicates with

excessive drinking Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of unhealthy alcohol drinking behaviors, ranging from binge drinking to alcohol dependence, in extreme cases resulting in health problems for individuals and large scale social problems such as alcohol-r ...

. Emmy Kadubic, Steve's high-school sweetheart, is an activist who lives in a

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

along with her daughter Puddle and her "

eco-terrorist Eco-terrorism is an act of violence which is committed in support of environmental causes, against people or property. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines eco-terrorism as "...the use or threatened use of violence o ...

" boyfriend Dr. Andy Weeks. Puddle refuses to speak as an attempt to force her mother to move out of the rainforest. Steve invites Emmy to a party where he is to accept an award. Intrigued that Steve may have finally become a better person, she decides to attend but discovers that his own company is giving him the award. Liberated from the jungle, Puddle finally decides to speak and conspires with Steve to convince Emmy to stay at Steve's estate. Emmy agrees to stay for Puddle, but only in the treehouse that Steve had originally built for her when they were young. As Steve tries to win back Emmy despite Andy's interference, Emmy vows to change him into a more selfless person.

Cast and characters

Main cast

as Steven Wilde *

Keri Russell Keri Lynn Russell (born March 23, 1976) is an American actress. She portrayed the titular character on the drama series ''Felicity (TV series), Felicity'' (1998–2002), which won her a Golden Globe Award, and Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans), ...

as Emmy Kadubic *

Robert Michael Morris Robert Michael Morris (May 6, 1940 – May 30, 2017) was an American actor. He was known for his co-starring role as Mickey Deane in the reality television spoof ''The Comeback (TV series), The Comeback'' and as Mr. Lunt in the short-lived series ' ...

as Mr. Lunt *

Mel Rodriguez Melvin Dimas Rodríguez (born June 12, 1973) is an American actor, best known for starring as Nurse Patsy de la Serda on the HBO comedy '' Getting On'', as Todd Rodriguez on the Fox comedy '' The Last Man on Earth'', and as Ernie Gomes on the S ...

as Migo Salazar * Stefania LaVie Owen as Puddle Kadubic *

as Fa'ad Shaoulin *

as Dr. Andy Weeks

Casting

The first version of the pilot was filmed with

Jayne Houdyshell Jayne Houdyshell (born September 25, 1953) is an American, Tony-winning actress known for her performances on stage and screen. Houdyshell made her Broadway debut in the 2005 production of ''It's a Wonderful Life''. The following year she earn ...

and

Joseph Nunez Joseph Nunez (sometimes credited as Joe Nunez) is an American actor and comedian most notable for his recurring role as Manche Sanchez on the show ''Prison Break''. Career He also played a cleaner in ''The 40-Year-Old Virgin'', and the man who ...

in the roles of Robert Michael Morris and Mel Rodriguez, but when the pilot was re-shot, casting changes were made. Though neither actor appeared in the finished pilot product, they are both credited in it.

Andy Daly Andrew J. Daly (born April 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series ''Review'', and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series '' Eastbound & Down'' as Terrence Cutler. H ...

played David Cross's part in the original pilot after the eruption of the

Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull (; ), sometimes referred to by the numeronym E15, is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, north of Skógar and west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano with a summit elevation of . The volcan ...

volcano stopped Cross from traveling out of the United Kingdom in time for the shoot in North America; Daly, who was contracted to ''

The Paul Reiser Show ''The Paul Reiser Show'' is an American sitcom television series, centered around actor Paul Reiser, (as himself), that originally aired on NBC. In May 2010, NBC announced that it had approved the series for the 2010–11 television season, with ...

'', was hired with the knowledge that he would be replaced by Cross if ''Running Wilde'' was picked up as a series.

Episodes

Cancellation

The show was pulled from November sweeps and on November 30, 2010,

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

announced that no new episodes would be ordered. Although the five remaining episodes were to air through December, Fox postponed two of them to air at the end of the month. At the 2011

Television Critics Association The Television Critics Association (TCA) is a group of approximately 200 United States and Canadian television critics, journalists and columnists who cover television programming for newspapers, magazines and web publications. The TCA accepts app ...

tour, Fox announced that the show was officially canceled. The remaining episodes were aired starting April 28, 2011 on FX.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1615926 2010s American romantic comedy television series 2010s American single-camera sitcoms 2010 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings Television shows set in New York (state) English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television series by Lionsgate Television Television shows filmed in Vancouver Television series created by Mitchell Hurwitz