Video Interview with Episodes’ David Crane & Jeffrey Klarik

NEW YORK: David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik, the creators and executive producers of Episodes, talk about creating the show, writing it, working with Matt LeBlanc and the extremely talented cast, working for the BBC and Showtime, and the fun of making fun of a world they know so very well.

Matt LeBlanc, who played the goofy, pretty promiscuous, but extremely loyal Joey Tribbiani on the megahit comedy Friends, developed a devoted following of fans. So much so that the spin-off comedy Joey aired for two seasons after Friends ended. But something about the character Joey and the actor Matt LeBlanc left an indelible impression on the audience.

In fact, one of the creators of Friends, David Crane, teamed up with fellow comedy writer Jeffrey Klarik, who had written Mad About You, and created a show about the television business, which sees LeBlanc playing a fictionalized version of himself. The comedy Episodes, produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC and Showtime, has aired for three seasons and has been picked up for a fourth.

Episodes is about the remaking of a British comedy in the U.S. When the successful husband and wife writing team Sean and Beverly, played by British actors Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig, respectively, set out to produce their hit British comedy for an American network, all their worst nightmares about Hollywood come true. LeBlanc stars in the sitcom, and as the show spirals toward cancellation, Sean and Beverly’s marriage is tested.

Crane and Klarik, indeed, mercilessly skewer every single network cliché, making fun of programming executives, the process of developing shows, the criteria that keep them on the air and the desperate chase for ratings.