'Connecting...' Preview: Canceled road trips to 'monstrous' kids, NBC's quarantine comedy promises laughs galore
What happens when plans of living the ultimate 2020 dream get squandered by canceled road trips, unrequited love, and fizzling romance? Let's add to that the horrid realization of the "monsters" that your kids really are and NBC's quarantine comedy 'Connecting...' is a classic representation of what has been propagated as the 'new normal'. Hilarious, relatable, and with a trailer that looks promising, the TV network might just have something iconic ready.
'Connecting...' is an "ensemble comedy about a group of friends trying to stay close (and sane) through video chats as they share the highs and lows of these extraordinary times," states the official synopsis provided by NBC. The cast includes Otmara Marrero, Parvesh Cheena, Ely Henry, Jill Knox, and husband Keith Powell, comedian Preacher Lawson and performer Shakina Nayfack -- all from different walks of life, who are bonded by a feeling of mutual loneliness and craving of seeing their friends daily. Hopping on the Zoom calls, these friends are what your modern-day 'Friends' would look like, where the cast is more diverse and not just characters complaining about minor inconveniences.
Marrero's young 20-something character is a free spirit who had elaborate plans of being on a road trip and falling in love in 2020 but then happened quarantine. So now she's stuck obsessing over the group's mutual friend Ben (Lawson) whom she wants to move in with her but isn't quite sure about taking the first step to it. She gets ample help from Nayfack's nurse who is the pep talker friend in the group -- always up for laughs and encouragement.
Henry's character is a classic nerd 'cashing in on the quarantine' by making artisanal hand sanitizer in his garage or mobile home-like space. As for Knox and Powell, they are the married power couple indulging in sparking up the romance and marriage by whatever new couple trend they can immerse themselves in so they don't kill each other amid the quarantine. The worst end of the stick has seemingly landed with Cheena's married father of two who hides in the bathroom crying about how his "kids are monsters" that he realized after spending all his time with them.
It's a mix of oddities that come together to offer a wholesome vibe for any responsible, upstanding citizen missing actually hanging out with their friends for obvious reasons, almost as if a gift for doing their part. Catch this crazy bunch come to life with more on Thursday, October 1, at 8 pm only on NBC.
