''Graves'' 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 by Joshua Michael Stern, that premiered on October 16, 2016, on

Epix Epix (pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as P) is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by the Epix Entertainment LLC subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a subsidiary of Amazon's MGM Holdings, Inc. The channel's ...

. The series stars

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

as the eponymous Richard Graves, a former

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

attempting to make amends for the mistakes he made in office. After two seasons, it was cancelled by Epix in 2017.

Premise

''Graves'' begins when "twenty years after his presidency, former President Richard Graves has the epiphany that his policies have damaged the country for decades and so, with his young assistant, he goes on a Don Quixote-like journey to right his administration’s wrongs just as his wife, the former First Lady, decides to follow her own political ambitions."

Cast and characters

Main

as Richard Graves *

Skylar Astin Skylar Astin Lipstein (born September 23, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He became known for portraying Jesse Swanson in the musical films ''Pitch Perfect'' (2012) and ''Pitch Perfect 2'' (2015). He originated the role of Georg in the Broa ...

as Isaiah Miller * Heléne Yorke as Olivia Graves *

Chris Lowell Christopher Lowell (born October 17, 1984) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Stosh "Piz" Piznarski in the television series ''Veronica Mars'' (2006–2007), William "Dell" Parker in the television series '' Priva ...

as Jeremy Graves * Callie Hernandez as Samantha Vega *

Sela Ward Sela Ann Ward (born July 11, 1956) is an American actress, author, and producer. Her breakthrough TV role was as Teddy Reed in the NBC drama series '' Sisters'' (1991–1996), for which she received her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstandin ...

as Margaret Graves

Recurring

Roger Bart Roger Bart (born September 29, 1962) is an American actor and singer. He won a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his performance as Snoopy in the 1999 revival of '' You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown''. Bart received his second Tony Award n ...

as Lawrence Mills *

Ernie Hudson Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. His roles include Winston Zeddemore in the '' Ghostbusters'' film series, Sergeant Darryl Albrecht in '' The Crow'' (1994), and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's '' Oz'' (1997–2003) ...

as Jacob Mann *

Kathy Najimy Kathy Ann Najimy ( ; ar, كاثي ان نجيمي ; born February 6, 1957) is an American actress and activist. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Soapdish'' (1991), ''Sister Act'' (1992), '' Hocus Pocus'' (1993), ''Hope Floats'' (1 ...

as Isaiah's Mother *

Robert Pine Robert Pine (born Granville Whitelaw Pine, July 10, 1941) is an American actor who is best known as Sgt. Joseph Getraer on the television series ''CHiPs'' (1977–1983). Including ''CHiPs'', Pine has appeared in over 400 episodes of television. ...

as Senator Walsh *

Nora Dunn Nora Dunn (born April 29, 1952) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch variety TV series '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990, Dr. Reynolds in ''The Nanny'' (1998-1999), and Muriel in '' Home Economic ...

as Laura Wolf

Season 1

Angelica Maria ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as Iceland, Lapland, and Greenland. They grow t ...

as Ramona Alvarez * Nia Vardalos as Annie Spiro * Tania Gunadi as Summer *

Khotan Fernandez Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...

as Arturo Del Rey * Harry Hamlin as Johnathan Dalton * Sale Taylor as Chuy *

Conor Leslie Conor Marie Leslie (born April 10, 1991) is an American actress. Beginning her career in the late 2000s, her first major role was in the thriller film '' Chained'' (2012). She has worked frequently in television, including as a series regular on ...

as Tasha Ludwig *

Chris Elliott Christopher Nash Elliott (born May 31, 1960) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He appeared in comedic sketches on ''Late Night with David Letterman'' (1982–1988), created and starred in the comedy series '' Get a Life'' (1990–1992) ...

as Thomas Nash

Season 2

Spencer Grammer Spencer Karen Grammer (born October 9, 1983) is an American actress best known for her roles as the voice of Summer Smith in the Adult Swim animated science-fiction series ''Rick and Morty'' and as Casey Cartwright in the ABC Family college come ...

as Katie Farrell * Joanna Sanchez as Julia Martinez *

Adam Goldberg Adam Charles Goldberg (born October 25, 1970) is an American character actor, filmmaker, musician, and photographer. Known for his supporting roles in film and television, Goldberg has appeared in films such as '' Dazed and Confused'', '' Saving ...

as Christopher Sachs * Wallace Shawn as Jerry North * Lauren Weedman as Bonnie Clegg *

Michael Cyril Creighton Michael Cyril Creighton is an American actor and writer best known for his portrayal of Howard Morris in ''Only Murders in the Building'', Patrick in '' High Maintenance'', Joe Crowley in '' Spotlight'' and his Writers Guild of America Award-win ...

as Phoenix Wells * Sarah Baker as Becky Keegan *

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and alternative rock singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, ...

as Bailey Todd

Guest

* Levi Lobo as Chaco ("Evil Good and Good Evil") *

Bob Balaban Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, author, comedian, director and producer. He was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for ''Gosford Park'' (2001), in which he also appeared. Balab ...

as Secretary Burns ("Nothing Can Come of Nothing") *

Alan Dale Alan Hugh Dale (born 6 May 1947) is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale enjoyed theatre and rugby. After retiring from the sport, he took on a number of occupations, before deciding to become a professional actor at age 27. Dale subsequent ...

as Trevor Lloyd ("Lions in Winter") *

Matt Long Matthew Clayton Long (born May 18, 1980) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Ezekiel Landon in the NBC/Netflix sci fi drama ''Manifest'' (2019–Present), and his roles in the television series ''Jack & Bobby'' (2004–2005), and ...

as Jesse Enright ("The Opposite of People") *

Jacqueline Bisset Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset ( ; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in '' The Detective'', ''Bullitt'', and ''The Sweet Ride'', for which she rec ...

as Diana Scott ("Something Left to Love")

Episodes

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2017)

Production

Development

On February 26, 2015, it was reported that

was in negotiations to give the production a straight-to-series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was created by Joshua Michael Stern from a script he wrote on spec. Stern was also expected to serve as a director of the series and executive produce alongside Greg Shapiro. Production companies involved with the series were expected to include

Lionsgate Television Lionsgate Television is the television division of Lionsgate, which is a Canadian–American entertainment company. History The company was established in July 1997 as Lions Gate Television, Inc. with the establishment of Lionsgate Films. It ...

. On May 21, 2015, it was announced Epix had officially ordered the production to series. On June 11, 2015, it was announced that Keith Eisner and Eric Weinberg would serve as additional executive producers for the series. On July 30, 2016, it was announced that the series would premiere on October 16, 2016. On November 17, 2016, it was announced that series had been renewed for a second season consisting of ten episodes. On July 25, 2017, it was reported that the second season would premiere on October 22, 2017. On December 21, 2017, it was announced that Epix had canceled the series.

Casting

Alongside the initial series order reporting, it was confirmed that

had been cast in the series' lead role. On July 8, 2015, it was announced that

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...

had been cast in a starring role. In September 2015, it was reported that Sarandon had withdrawn from her role citing creative differences. Additionally, it was announced that

, and Heléne Yorke had joined the cast of the series with Yorke in a series regular role. In October 2015, it was announced that

had been cast to replace Sarandan, that Callie Hernandez had been cast in series regular role, and that

, Tania Gunadi, and Nia Vardalos would appear in a recurring capacity. On November 19, 2015, it was reported that Harry Hamlin had been cast in a recurring role. In May 2017, it was announced that

, and Wallace Shawn would appear in season two in a recurring capacity. In June 2017, it was reported that

, Lauren Weedman, and Joanna Sanchez had joined the cast of season two in recurring roles. In July 2017, it was announced that

and

had been cast in recurring for season two.

Reception

Critical response

The first season was met with a mixed to positive response from critics upon its premiere. On the review aggregation 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 Wan ...

, the series holds a 56% approval rating with an average rating of 5.41 out of 10 based on 9 reviews.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 61 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Graves (TV series) 2016 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings 2010s American political comedy television series English-language television shows MGM+ original programming Single-camera television sitcoms Television series about dysfunctional families Television series by Lionsgate Television Television shows set in New Mexico Television series about presidents of the United States