Going to the supermarket can be a humorous experience, especially if you're like me and aren't the best of chefs. Take the other week when I was flying home from Florida, watching 30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray on JetBlue. She was making some sort of pumpkin and peanut butter pasta, and I must have been groggy, because the moment I returned home, I ran to the supermarket to buy the ingredients to make this meal. My boyfriend couldn't stop laughing as he watched me fumble through the supermarket trying to find the canned cooked pumpkin (apparently it's different from the kind you use for pie filling). Even the manager of the store got a kick out of it when I approached him. (Author's note: do not make that meal - it was the opposite of appetizing).
Well, now these ridiculous moments don't have to remain between you and the supermarket employees, because the new TBS show, 10 Items or Less, which premieres November 27 at 11 p.m., is incorporating these events into its plot.
You see, 10 Items or Less is an improv comedy which is filmed in a grocery store. A real grocery store. John Lehr, creator, writer and star of the show, said "It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It adds to the reality... If you laugh at anything that an extra does, then they're not a real extra."
Yes, they're not a real extra because they're a real shopper. Customers see an actor in uniform, think they really work in the supermarket, and ask them where items are. Then that person ends up on TV.
Um, when I actually find the time to go to the supermarket, it's usually on a weekend, and I've just woken up so I'm in sweatpants and my hair is in pigtails. If I ever thought I'd end up on TV looking like that, I would probably starve.
But it sure could make for good TV. And really, it's one of the most redeeming qualities of the show. 10 Items or Less is an okay show at face value. Yet, knowing that the show is taking place in a real grocery store and confusing real customers is the funniest part. "The customers ask us where everything is constantly. We've had to learn where everything is," Lehr said.
So, why pick a supermarket? I mean, it's not exactly the cool place to hang out. Or maybe in Glendale it is? "We couldn't afford to build a set... We wanted a place that was wide open with lots of nooks and crannies and evenly lit, and something mundane so we could do really absurd stuff... at least we weren't on the planet Mars or something," Lehr said. Well, at least he's honest.
Also, to me, anything is funnier when it's improv. I'm not the biggest fan of scripted comedies unless they are laugh-out-loud-fall-off-your-chair funny. When a comedy has a joke that doesn't make you laugh, it's even worse, because then you wonder what the heck the writers were thinking. They're comedy writers; they should be making us laugh. Well, in the instance of 10 Items or Less, there are no writers, well not really anyway. And it's the idea that the actors are coming up with random lines of dialogue and completely out there notions that makes it somewhat comedic.
"We write no dialogue at all, just really specific scenes... We just tell them you're here and you want this and this just happened... We're like basketball coaches. We design all these plays," Lehr said. Lehr and executive producers Nancy Hower and Robert Hickey write an outline of the script and let the actors run with it.
Lehr values the actors' input so much that, "When the actors came in to audition, we had them fill out applications for the Greens & Grains store. They invented their name and their backstory." Why is that so funny? Because you end up with pretty extreme characters. Lehr did have an original idea of what the characters should be, but then the actors filled them out. For example, Lehr had thought of Ingrid as "really into unicorns," so when actress Kirsten Gronfield wanted her character to be obsessed with Renaissance Festivals, "It kind of melded it together," Lehr said. As for the character of Richard who dreams of becoming a professional ice skater? "Believe me, we're going to go to an ice skating rink at some point... I want Richard to audition. I want him to get in. I want Brian Boitano. I want to go for it!"
Something else to keep in mind? While you may not be cracking up at Lehr's annoying character Leslie Pool, I promise you he's actually a very funny guy. At least he had me laughing hysterically throughout the interview. "We insisted on interviewing every single person from the PAs to the crew... We wanted to go out of our way to make sure there were no dicks on set," Lehr said.
And why would Lehr have to worry about such a problem? "There's a lot of people who go onto a set and they're fucking curing cancer. Like what they're doing is the most important work. And really it's just a sitcom." Ah, way to call people out, Lehr. Love it.
He continued, "I'm the executive producer so everybody's nice to me. And I'm the star so everyone kisses my ass." As I said earlier, John Lehr is an honest man.
Seriously, Lehr said, "I feel a big responsibility. There's 150 people who are waiting for jobs if this thing gets picked up." Quite true. That must be a lot of pressure. Imagine having 150 jobs sitting on your shoulders. Then again, I guess it's not all Lehr's responsibility, since it is improv and it's the actors who are really deciding if they get the laughs or not.
Well, now it's time for all you viewers out there to decide if these people should keep their jobs. No pressure, really. My opinion? Knowing that 10 Items or Less is improv and takes place in a real grocery store makes it funnier. Yet, when a show isn't that funny to begin with, you have to wonder how much improv can save it. If anything, at least it's made me think twice about rolling out of bed and heading to the market. Next time you might just see me in a ball gown.
