NBC's 'Perfect Harmony' will see a reluctant music professor's life change after he teaches the 'Bad News Bears' of church choirs
Bradley Whitford and Anna Camp are all set to make sweet melody in the new NBC show 'Perfect Harmony'. The series revolves around a former Princeton music professor Arthur Cochran (played by Whitford) who unexpectedly stumbles onto a choir practice at a small-town church. The trailer of the show begins with Whitford in a car, begging for God to "send him a sign" if there is any reason for him to keep on living after his wife's death.
The story soon takes a comical twist as a church choir starts playing the Hallelujah chords and he hurriedly storms out of his car saying, "This will not be the last thing I hear on Earth!" The 1.46-minute clip then delves deeper into how he goes on to help the group of singers take part in a choir competition. Call it fate, but he gets roped in to help the oddball singers — led by single mom Ginny (played by Camp).
Talking about the idea behind the church choir, creator Lesley Wake Webster told TVInsider: "I would call them the Bad News Bears of church choirs. This is a ragtag underdog [group] that takes all comers." Hesitant at first, Arthur finally decides to take up the tough task and helps them turn into songbirds.
But there's a twist in the tale. As he drops wisecracks and sarcastic remarks, his students are dumbfounded but they are also grateful and it is quite likely that they might help him deal with his struggle to bear the loss of his wife. Webster revealed, "He'll learn a thing or two from his students as well."
She etched out the character on her grandfather and shared her inspiration during NBC’s presentation at the TCA press tour, “I grew up singing in church choirs, going to church. My grandfather, who Bradley’s character was modeled on, was a choir director by trade… at the end of his life, he was living in rural Kentucky, my grandmother had passed away, and he got to a very dark place."
"If you stand with other people and sing, no matter what their beliefs are, it's really hard to dislike them," Webster said. The series, which rolls out on Thursday, September 26 at 8:30/7:30c on NBC, delves deep into the power of music to bring people who are very different together.