As hard as they are to keep up with, web series have slowly become the perfect incubators for big ideas.Broad Citybegan as a series of digital shorts by UCB vetsAbbi JacobsonandIlana Glazerthat eventually caught the eye of the greatAmy Poehler. Just this year,Louis C.K.took to the web to releaseHorace & Pete, one of the great dramatic works of the year, focused on the titular bar owners and operators , played by C.K. andSteve Buscemi.
Even amongst these success stories, however,High Maintenanceis special. Originally available through Vimeo, the series is loosely based around a weed delivery man making a living in New York City, played by the show’s writer-creatorBen Sinclair, but the show is really about New Yorkers. Each episode follows a different client, occasionally more than that, each one with a different story about how they got their and how they make it work. It’s one of the most affecting and humanistic series to come around in a long, long time, and when HBO saw it, they rightly made moves to pick it up and give Sinclair and his creative team a bigger budget to get a bit more experimental. Thankfully, the first trailer, which you can see below, suggests that nothing much has changed in the transition, and that Sinclair’s “The Guy” is still gleefully cycling through the metropolitan streets, on his way to deliver a small bag of green relief to a city dweller.
High Maintenancewill premiere on HBO on September 16th.
Here’s the first official trailer for HBO’sHigh Maintenance:
Here’s the official synopsis forHigh Maintenance:
Providing a glimpse into the homes and routines of eccentric New Yorkers, the comedy series HIGH MAINTENANCE explores the private lives of these unique individuals through a common thread: their weed deliveryman. Ben Sinclair stars as The Guy, whose client base includes a group of characters with neuroses as diverse as the city.
HIGH MAINTENANCE was created by the married duo of Katja Blichfeld (Emmy®-winning casting director of “30 Rock”) and Ben Sinclair (“Sisters,” “The Big C”), who write and direct every episode of the new season, and executive produced by Katja Blichfeld, Ben Sinclair and Russell Gregory.
