Richard E. Grant clears up nothing in the opening minutes of Dispatches From Elsewhere
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The upcoming ten-hour series Dispatches From Elsewhere is difficult to explain, but AMC gives it a shot: It’s “centered around four ordinary people who feel there’s something missing in their lives, but they can’t quite put their finger on what it is.” Then these people “stumble onto a puzzle hiding just behind the veil of everyday life. As they begin to accept the mysterious ‘Dispatches from Elsewhere’ challenges, they come to find that the mystery winds deeper than they imagined, and their eyes are opened to a world of possibility and magic.” We know, we’re still confused also.
You might hope that the series’ recently released first few minutes, introducing Richard E. Grant as your narrator Octavio, might help clear some things up. But then Octavio doesn’t speak for the first twentysome seconds, barely indicating movement with the occasional blink. He eventually explains that he’s here to condense the usual laborious beginning to a new TV series, briefly introducing the character of show creator and star Jason Segel: “This is Peter. Think of him as you” (with Segel in a sad-sack role similar to his character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, also named Peter). Shaky hand-held camera traces Peter’s repetitive journey to and from a job that sounds a lot like Spotify, eating bodega sushi, only occasionally spicing things up with a burrito.
Grant describes Peter’s life as “tragedy in its most quietly devastating costume… this is existing, not living.” But he promises that we will now “jump right in to the day that something changes.” As will the series when it premieres on AMC on Sunday, March 1, after The Walking Dead, with a second episode airing the following night on March 2. We may be just as confused by then, but with Segel, Grant, Sally Field, André Benjamin, and Eve Lindley also in the mix, we are also intrigued.
11 Comments
It’s “centered around four ordinary people who feel there’s something
missing in their lives, but they can’t quite put their finger on what it
is.”
It’s Richard E Grant.
I know my life would be improved if I could put my finger on, in, or just proximate to Richard E. Grant.
It’s “centered around four ordinary people who feel there’s something missing in their lives, but they can’t quite put their finger on what it is.” Then these people “stumble onto a puzzle hiding just behind the veil of everyday life.As a fan of the cancelled Lodge 49, seeing a new AMC show sold this way is a real kick in the teeth.
I would just like to stump for Richard E. Grant, mostly for “Withnail and I” and quite probably my favourite reading of this monologue ever:
This is probably a decent show, but AMC deserves no success after it betrayed
Back in the day during the Jejune Institute’s induction session, at one point you’d fill out a form in a small room while Octavio Coleman stared at you from a TV screen. It was a little unsettling.
The game is afoot.
Has Richard E. Grant ever played Lucifer? I feel like the role is just sitting there waiting for him.
So there isn’t a reason why Jason Segel cannot find work after all?Honestly Zergnet why do you keep lying to me?
Extremely interesting marketing strategy. They literally attached this to the latest leaked episode of Walking Dead. Which makes completely sense for this ARG inspired show. I’m in.
As in the whole first episode.