''Alex, Inc.'' 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 Matt Tarses that aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

from March 28 to May 16, 2018. Based on Gimlet Media, Inc.'s ''

StartUp A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

'', the series stars

Zach Braff Zachary Israel Braff'Scrubs' Star Zach Braff Wows ...

Tiya Sircar Tiya Sircar (born May 16, 1982) is an American actress best known for her role as "Real Eleanor"/Vicky in ''The Good Place'' (2016–2020). She also provided the voice for Sabine Wren in Disney XD's ''Star Wars Rebels'' (2014–2018), played Roon ...

Hillary Anne Matthews Hilary or Hillary may refer to: * Hillary Clinton, American politician * Hillary Coast, Antarctica * Hilary (name), or Hilarie or Hillary, a given name and surname * Hilary term, the spring term at the Universities of Oxford and Dublin * ''Hikari ...

Elisha Henig Elisha Henig (born October 30, 2004) is an American actor. Personal life and career Elisha Henig grew up in Portland, Oregon, and became interested in acting after taking a Shakespeare class at the age of eight. He began acting in guest roles ...

, Audyssie James and

Michael Imperioli Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor, writer, and musician. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Out ...

Premise

The series follows Alex Schuman, a radio journalist, husband, and father of two, who decides to quit his job and start his own company.

Cast and characters

Main

Zach Braff Zachary Israel Braff'Scrubs' Star Zach Braff Wows ...

as Alex Schuman, a radio journalist, Rooni's husband, and father of Ben and Soraya, who has left his old job to start his own

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

company *

as Arunima “Rooni” Schuman, a lawyer, Alex's wife, and mother of Ben and Soraya *

as Deirdre, a producer at Alex's old job who left with him for his new company *

as Ben Schuman, Alex and Rooni's son * Audyssie James as Soraya Schuman, Alex and Rooni's daughter *

as Eddie, Alex's cousin and an investor in the new company

Notable guest stars

* Natalie Morales as Serena Bans (episode: " The Rube Goldberg Contraption")

Production

Development

On August 29, 2016, it was announced that

had ordered ''Start Up'', a

single-camera The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, also known as portable single camera, is a method of filmmaking and video production. The single-camera setup originally developed during the birth of the classical Hollywood cinema i ...

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, as a

put pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

. Matt Tarses,

Zach Braff Zachary Israel Braff'Scrubs' Star Zach Braff Wows ...

, John Davis, John Fox, Chris Giliberti,

Alex Blumberg Alex Blumberg is an American entrepreneur, radio journalist, former producer for public radio and television, best known for his work with ''This American Life'', ''Planet Money'', and '' How to Save a Planet''. He is the co-founder and CEO of th ...

, and Matt Lieber serve as executive producers. Zach Braff also serves as director. The series is a production of Davis Entertainment and is based on the podcast ''

''. On January 25, 2017, it was announced that a pilot for the series was officially picked up. On May 11, 2017, it was announced that the series was officially picked up. The series is further a production of

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...

and

ABC Studios ABC Signature is an American television Filmmaking#Production, production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the List of assets owned by The Walt Disney Company#Disne ...

. On May 16, 2017, it was announced that the series was renamed to ''Alex, Inc.'' On January 8, 2018, it was announced that the series would premiere on March 28, 2018. On May 9, 2018, it was announced that the series was canceled after one season.

Casting

On August 29, 2016, it was announced that

Zach Braff Zachary Israel Braff'Scrubs' Star Zach Braff Wows ...

was cast in the series. On February 15, 2017, it was announced that

was cast in the series. On March 8, 2017, it was announced that

was cast in the series. On March 14, 2017, it was announced that

was cast in the series. On March 22, 2017, it was announced that Chris Sacca would play himself in the series. On May 11, 2017, it was announced that

and Audyssie James were cast in the series. On February 8, 2018, it was announced that

Sophia Bush Sophia Anna Bush Hughes (born July 8, 1982) is an American actress. She starred as Brooke Davis in The WB/ CW drama series ''One Tree Hill'' (2003–2012), and as Erin Lindsay in the NBC police procedural drama series ''Chicago P.D.'' (2014– ...

would guest star in the series.

Episodes

Reception

Critical

On 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 ...

, the series has an approval rating of 40% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 4.46/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "By failing to establish the credibility of its lead, ''Alex, Inc'' loses sight an appealing premise and strands a likable Zach Braff in a sea of wasted potential."

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 49 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ratings

Overall

Season 1

References

External links

* {{Gimlet Media 2010s American single-camera sitcoms 2010s American workplace comedy television series 2018 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows Television shows based on podcasts Television series by ABC Studios Television series by Sony Pictures Television Gimlet Media