American Auto - General Discussion

[AnimeMania]

Justin Spitzer, the writer and executive producer of “Superstore” is the lead writer for American Auto, while Aaron Kaplan serves as executive producer.

American Auto is a new workplace comedy that takes the wheels off the automobile industry by focusing on the executives of a fictional struggling Detroit-based automobile manufacturer, Payne Motors. The corporate executives of Payne Motors are at a crossroads: adapt to the changing times or be sent to the junkyard. Shaking things up is the new CEO, whose leadership, experience and savvy is only slightly offset by her complete lack of knowledge about cars. Luckily, her team has some of the best minds in the business - when they aren't fighting or trying to outwit each other. Can the floundering group of executives rediscover their company identity amidst a rapidly changing industry. 

Ana Gasteyer plays Katherine Hastings, the CEO of the Payne Motors. 
Tye White plays Jack, an assembly line worker. 
Michael B. Washington plays Cyrus, Chief Product Designer at Payne Motors. 
Jon Barinholtz plays Wesley, a direct descendant of the company’s founder. 
Humphrey Ker plays Elliot, Chief Sales Officer at Payne Motors.
X Mayo plays Dori, a sweet, wholesome assistant to the new CEO.
Harriet Dyer plays Sadie, Payne Motors’ type-A head of communications.

Premiere Date: Special Preview on Monday, Dec. 13 at 10/9c, two 30 minutes episodes

American Auto will wait until after the new year before their next new episode airs. It’s part of a strategy at NBC, using event programming to launch their new shows, then giving viewers a few weeks to find out about the released episodes on  various platforms before starting the show in January in on it's new day and time slot.

Permanent Time Slot: Tuesdays at 8/7c (beginning Jan. 4) on NBC

S01.E01: Pilot

Payne Motors gets a new CEO on the same day they're rolling out a new self-driving (and problematic) vehicle.

Premiere Date: December 13, 2021

S01.E02: White Van

Katherine deals with the PR fallout of a serial killer driving a Payne. Jack tries to figure out his role in the company.

Premiere Date: December 13, 2021

Edited December 13, 2021 by AnimeMania

[Kip Hackman]

Looking forward to this.

[DanaK]

Needs a little more seasoning but it has promise

[possibilities]

I like it. It's like 30 Rock meets Superstore meets The Office meets Mr. Bean. It manages to be simultaneously blatantly derivative but still just a little bit original.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Quote

Harriet Dyer plays Sadie, Payne Motors’ type-A head of communications.

FYI, she played the sister in the 2020 movie "The Invisible Man", if you're wondering where you might have seen her before.

I didn't love this pilot.  I might check out the second episode, but I'm not excited about it.

[possibilities]

It has a little of Better Off Ted in it, too. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Okay , the second episode was more interesting than the first.  Definitely didn't hate it.

[AnimeMania]

I find the wide openness of the sets a little distracting. I am always searching for something funny to be happening in the background and it gets a little tiring. I can't believe how big the sets are and how many extra's they have. This is the biggest difference from other comedies that limit your focus to the main characters.

I guess I can tune out what is happening in the background of this show, but the weird things that the customers were doing in the background of Superstore was a huge part of what made people like and relate to the series.

I guess it is funny enough, but it seems weird that this group of people would spend so much time together, since they don't seem to be interacting with other employees and don't really seem to be doing anything. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 12/13/2021 at 3:18 AM, AnimeMania said:

Humphrey Ker plays Elliot, Chief Sales Officer at Payne Motors.

He seemed to be playing the company lawyer.

[Rickster]

I found it weird to see all the men in the company wearing suits with jackets in the office all the time. My Fortune 100 (non tech) company went 100% business casual over 15 years ago, and even before then, everywhere I worked, your jacket was left on a coat hook. (In fairness, I did see one guy in the background in shirtsleeves making copies).

I found the humor, especially the attempts to be edgier, to be more misses than hits. Might check it out one more time, but not my type of comedy.

[Lovecat]

On 12/14/2021 at 3:37 AM, AnimeMania said:

I find the wide openness of the sets a little distracting. I am always searching for something funny to be happening in the background and it gets a little tiring. I can't believe how big the sets are and how many extra's they have. This is the biggest difference from other comedies that limit your focus to the main characters.

I paused to read the "improvement" suggestions on the whiteboard behind Ana Gasteyer:

• Rubber Side Mirrors
• Joystick Steering Wheel
• Safety Magnets Around Car (Will this cause sterility?)
• Discoball Headlights
• Hamsters in Tires
• Flying Car? (How is this different from an airplane?)
• Toilet Bowls Under Seats?
• Memory Foam Seats
• Open Crevices = no change lost in crevices
• Polite Horn

[Kip Hackman]

Liked it enough to come back.

 

[lambertman]

This isn't good yet, but I think it very well could become good.  My fingers are crossed.

Edited December 15, 2021 by lambertman

[chediavolo]

Not liking it so far. Don’t like any of the characters. May watch episode 3 but probably will delete the series. So far not one good new network sitcom

 

 

[AnimeMania]

9 hours ago, chediavolo said:

Not liking it so far. Don’t like any of the characters. May watch episode 3 but probably will delete the series. So far not one good new network sitcom

 

 

I guess that means you don't like Ghosts on CBS.

[chediavolo]

14 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I guess that means you don't like Ghosts on CBS.

Correct. 

[SoMuchTV]

Just watching the rerun of the pilot, and oh my. The sleeping child in the car in the parking lot? Maybe a little too dark?

[peachmangosteen]

13 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Just watching the rerun of the pilot, and oh my. The sleeping child in the car in the parking lot? Maybe a little too dark?

Yea, that kinda shocked me but also I laughed lol.

[Maren]

I enjoyed the first two episodes. Some of the humor was a little too juvenile but some of it had me in stitches! I loved "oh good, for a minute there I was worried we built a car that didn't hit Indian people!" LOL!!

it reminded me a little of "Better off Ted."

[questionfear]

It definitely had some uneven spots but I laughed out loud at every joke about the founder of Payne Motors being a racist anti-semite. I assume they were going for a Ford vibe with that and it had me howling. 

It has a lot of potential!

[appositival]

This is the type of humor I like, fast, cynical, and a bit offbeat. I hope they can avoid the anvils dropped by Superstore (and many others) when dealing with anything topical. Mostly I just hope they avoid anything topical, humor is neither news nor tragedy.

Jack needs to find his manager (at the very least). The 'lost worker' trope is going to get old rather quickly.

I have trouble believing that Katherine was any kind of top level manager. If you don't know the business, you need to lean on your underlings for support until you can stand on your own. Katherine just took a running leap and then crashed and burned on that talk show (nice ambush by the hosts, tho). I'm sure big pharma doesn't allow interviews unless the interviewee has been thoroughly trained to evade off-script questions.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E03: Earnings Call

Katherine promises a big announcement on her first quarterly earnings call. Jack and Elliot negotiate a contract with the line workers union.

Premiere Date: January 4, 2022     8 p.m.     NBC

[AnimeMania]

I thought this episode was interesting because the next episode is about the $10,000.00 car that Katherine announced this episode, the Payne Pika. I am not sure how well new comedy shows that do not have stand alone episodes do in the ratings. But, it should be easy enough to find all the episodes and watch them in order. Maybe having a serialized comedy show will force more people to do just that, instead of just catching an episode here and there. Although not laugh out loud funny, the show is a little thought provoking about where is the line between competent and incompetent at your job. At least they reduced the number of characters in the background, so that I was nearly as distracted as I was with the first two episodes. I liked that they reined in Dori's character and made her at least slightly competent, so that we could understand why she has a job as someone's assistant.

[chediavolo]

I removed this from my recordings. I just can’t get into this show. I don’t really like any of the actors/characters, especially Katherine. 
Does not hold a candle to Superstore. 

[Maya]

How did the CEO get the job again? She seems so incompetent but I thought she was going to turn out to be a stealth genius or something. Judging from that conference call, apparently not. 

[AnimeMania]

59 minutes ago, Maya said:

How did the CEO get the job again? She seems so incompetent but I thought she was going to turn out to be a stealth genius or something. Judging from that conference call, apparently not. 

I think it was purely based on her profit margins. I think she found some untapped markets (ailments) that the pharmaceuticals the company made might be used to treat and successful pushed into those spaces.

[Ms Blue Jay]

15 hours ago, chediavolo said:

I removed this from my recordings. I just can’t get into this show. I don’t really like any of the actors/characters, especially Katherine. 
Does not hold a candle to Superstore. 

If you like sitcoms, I really like "Abbott Elementary" that started around the same time.  It's much funnier and more clever than this show.  And I really like "Home Economics" which is already in S2.

Did anyone else watch "The Crew" on Netflix?  It's also about the car industry, it's more of a Nascar parody.  I'm a big Kevin James fan so I kind of liked it, but I DID hate the character who was the "Katherine" of that show.  Maybe her name was even Katherine.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[chediavolo]

7 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

If you like sitcoms, I really like "Abbott Elementary" that started around the same time.  It's much funnier and more clever than this show.  And I really like "Home Economics" which is already in S2.

Did anyone else watch "The Crew" on Netflix?  It's also about the car industry, it's more of a Nascar parody.  I'm a big Kevin James fan so I kind of liked it, but I DID hate the character who was the "Katherine" of that show.  Maybe her name was even Katherine.

I like Abbott Elementary so far..

I also like Kevin James but hated that show. 

[Kip Hackman]

I think this is a pretty funny show, but unlike Superstore, I'm not really invested in its success or failure.

Kinda like Mr. Mayor.

 

[possibilities]

11 hours ago, Kip Hackman said:

I think this is a pretty funny show, but unlike Superstore, I'm not really invested in its success or failure.

Kinda like Mr. Mayor.

 

That's where I am, too. And it really does have the same tone as Mr. Mayor. 

[AnimeMania]

American Auto     S01.E04: The $10k Car
Sadie and Cyrus struggle with how honest to be about Katherine’s car idea. Elliot pawns his vicious dog off on Dori.
Original Airdate:  January 11      8 p.m.     NBC

 

Recommendation Machine: ‘American Auto’ Has Already Found a Solid Workplace Comedy Groove

[tomsmom]

“From now on we can all use the C word.”

“Seriously? Cool. Do you guys know Janine in Logistics.”

Lmao at that one! Arrested Development would be proud! 

[possibilities]

I think I'm having trouble with this show because it all revolves around dealing with the boss. Superstore, and even The Office, had more developed personalities and relationships and situations; it wasn't ALL revolving around Michael/the boss. 

The dog story this week wasn't good enough to balance it. I was too worried about the dog.

[Ms Blue Jay]

This episode is pretty good.  I feel like it's the best so far.

[AnimeMania]

When you are making a cheap car, I am not sure why they did what they did. Why 4 seats, many cars have two. Why make it look like a Sports-Utility Vehicle (SUV) when an Expensive Sports Car or Muscle Car is more appealing to a younger, poorer audience, while also being more in line with a loud, low gas mileage engine. Sell the basic car for 10k, but start offering features that will get people to start spending more money, manual vs. automatic: brakes, steering, windows, etc. Make a majority of the car out of plastic panels that might be easily removed or replaced when damaged, or to add higher quality materials or to alter the design, like adding a spoiler, you probably wouldn't even have to paint it. You could make the car in only one color and have different colors be a paid option. Very few people would cheap out for the 10k car, but they could start there and easily reach the 11.5k car that Cyrus really wanted to build. Do cars really need radios when everybody has a phone they could plug into the electronics. They were trying to make a car that everybody would want, instead of a reliable car that might get the people who really, really need it from point A to point B. Bait and Switch, baby, Bait and Switch!

[Ms Blue Jay]

Plastic?  Wouldn't the driver be killed in any collision?

[AnimeMania]

3 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Plastic?  Wouldn't the driver be killed in any collision?

Plastics Strong Enough to Replace Steel in Automotive Applications

As long as some of the key places are steel sometimes the cars are made with aluminum and plastic to save on weight and because they do not rust.

Fourteen cars you didn’t know were plastic

The majority of the things on the inside of the car can be made out of plastic.

[Kip Hackman]

On 1/11/2022 at 10:17 PM, possibilities said:

I think I'm having trouble with this show because it all revolves around dealing with the boss. Superstore, and even The Office, had more developed personalities and relationships and situations; it wasn't ALL revolving around Michael/the boss.

I agree with this.

Superstore & The Office were workplace comedies, but they weren't solely about work. That seems to be all AA is about. So far, anyway.

For me, the main three characters (Katherine, Sadie, Jack [yes, I googled that]) are the least developed, and most bland.

[LaylaGirl]

On 12/21/2021 at 6:20 PM, SoMuchTV said:

Just watching the rerun of the pilot, and oh my. The sleeping child in the car in the parking lot? Maybe a little too dark?

Yes, it was too dark. I have a fairly high tolerance for dark humor, but that really bothered me. Maybe if the child had been awake it would have been better - but he almost looked like he could have been dead, rather than sleeping. For some reason, I kept thinking about how a parent would feel watching this if they had lost a child because they were left in a hot car. It pretty much turned me off of the rest of the episode.

[Trillium]

I watched all 4 episodes last night. I mean I wasn’t expecting it to be the next Ted Lasso/Schitts Creek or anything and it’s definitely not. It could have potential to be ok. But it needs work for sure. They all seem horribly incompetent at their jobs. Other than the heir to the company, it’s hard to imagine how any of them got their jobs. I too was expecting something like B99 where, yes Jake is absolutely a man child, but it worked because he actually was good at his job. They need a win. I was expecting with the $10k car they’d figure out something genius. 

The main romantic pairing they seem to be going for doesn’t click for me. Right now I don’t feel any chemistry. Hopefully they drop that angle. 
 

But there’s not many current comedies left I like so I’ll see if it finds it’s groove. 

[Maren]

I liked the first few episodes, I thought it had promise. But this last episode was annoying and not really funny. There's a fine line between satire with an annoying, overbearing boss who doesn't listen when the underlings speak truth and just annoyance and frustration. And the show has gone over into the frustration side for me with the boss. I like everyone else but yea. I hope it gets better and finds its footing but it was an annoying episode to watch, especially since it mirrors so much of my work life with the corporate overlords who set unreasonable goals and then blame the employees for not making them. 

[AnimeMania]

American Auto     S01.E05: Millbank IA

The group travels to Iowa for the opening of a new factory.

Original Airdate:  January 18      8 p.m.     NBC

[DanaK]

The funniest part of the episode was when the CEO tried to turn the crowd against them by saying the factory would bring mosques, ethnic types, abortion, etc, and the crowd kept cheering. Pretty good overall 

[lambertman]

This was the first episode that gave me hope for the show. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

The way the guy at the pie contest was SO upset that somebody's name was on one of the pies.  LOL

Katherine:  We have to find what these people care about.
Joshua Malina:  It's not their kids' penises I'll tell you that!
 

[Ms Blue Jay]

53 minutes ago, DanaK said:

The funniest part of the episode was when the CEO tried to turn the crowd against them by saying the factory would bring mosques, ethnic types, abortion, etc, and the crowd kept cheering. Pretty good overall 

"Tapath", Boba shops, LOL

[meatball77]

Pop up abortion clinics

[possibilities]

Some of the jokes are really funny, but somehow I"m still not really loving the show overall. I like the concept. And I like some of the jokes. But it's not really working for me, yet. I don't know why.

Edited January 20, 2022 by possibilities

[AnimeMania]

Weird that Dori and Elliot were not in the episode, maybe there was a incident with that dog from last episode 😉. I liked the part where Katherine tries to tank the "Opening" with her speech.

[cinsays]

I tried to like this show but really find this woman too unlikeable and have given up on it. Will check the comments here and may give it another try if it lasts past this season, which i doubt.