Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
If the third and final season of Red Oaks offers you nothing else, at least it allows you to know Paul Reiser’s thoughts on onesies. “Alarmingly comfortable,” he confessed, when it came to his orange prison jumpsuit that served as his wardrobe for a good chunk of the season. “I don’t need to go to prison but I’m looking forward to — a lot of the old guys in Miami, they just wear that because it’s as close to wearing a onesie as possible,’ he offers.
Season 3 of the Amazon series, available this Friday, October 20th, finds Reiser’s character Getty serving his jail time for some shady trading business, while his beloved Red Oaks country club is about to be sold. This puts fan favorite Nash (Ennis Esmer) into a panic, while David (Craig Roberts) steps up to use his video skills for a good cause. Oh, and he’s also dealing with each of his parents revealing their new relationships — interracial for his dad Sam (Richard Kind), and homosexual for his mom Judy (Jennifer Grey). But David’s got bigger things to worry about, namely, moving up from his production assistant status at the company he’s working for in the city, and hanging out with his best pal Wheeler (Oliver Cooper), who will be met with a very unexpected proposition this season.
While Amazon only ordered 6 half-hour episodes to close out the show’s run, Reiser admits, “We could’ve done more. I think we certainly could have in the last season done 10 [episodes]. I think going into it, we all would’ve been happy to do a full season and then another season after that.”
Roberts agreed, saying, “Yeah, we can always do more. I would’ve loved to, just because everyone’s so nice,” but Reiser also reasoned, “I think they wrapped it up. So if you take these 26 episodes and wrap it in the time capsule, it’s a nice entity.”
It truly is. Proving to be one of the most charming and least-jaded shows of its time, which is really saying something in 2017, the ’80s-set Red Oaks serves as a reminder of former TV days where sweet, coming-of-age stories could be told without being drenched in snark and crassness. To this point, Reiser credits the writers, Joe Gangemi and Gregory Jacobs, noting that on this show, even the villain-types “get soft and become lovable.” Take his own character for example: “Getty was first conceived as this arrogant — you know, the asshole — but he was immediately found to be more. It was like, ‘Oh he’s a loving father. Oh, he’s a loving husband.’ Even when he was tough on David, it was like, ‘Oh, he has a soft spot for him,’ or ‘Oh he’s doing it for a reason’ or he’s trying to bring him in because he’s worried about his daughter, or because he sees a piece of him, or because his dad was tough on him and there’s a lot of affection. The writers are really sweet guys, and they have really big hearts, and it did come from them. In the DNA of the show was a kind of courtesy, a sweetness.”
While Roberts admits to feeling “spoiled on the show, in every aspect,” he particularly enjoyed having Gangemi and Jacobs on set. “We had Greg and Joe there all the time, which I think was really great. When you have the other directors come in who want to put their own thing on it, you still have the original grammar of the show because of those guys.”
To close out the show’s run, Red Oaks turned to directors they know, love, and have used in the past to divvy up the episodes and complete the story of the loveable New Jersey country club. “In the last season we had three different directors, and each one has a different style. A different style on set, a different style of filming. And I think that was really interesting,” Kind explained.
In comparing episodes directed by David Gordon Green and Amy Heckerling, Reiser acknowledged, “they were different, but they both felt at home in the series.” He’s right; Hal Hartley rounds out the trio of directors each responsible for 2 episodes this season, which is not the only element Kind enjoyed about the streaming show — and will subsequently look for in future projects. “When you do a series, have it all written before you even start. That’s just not the way television runs, especially in sitcoms. So this was great. Two weeks before we even started shooting, the scripts were all done, you could tweak from there, you can listen to what it sounds like, what’s the flow of the show, the arc of the show. On this one, things evolve, and it’s all related. And I think that’s the wave of the future, so I think that’s a better way to do it.”
So what exactly does the future hold for Red Oaks? Season 3 does a damn fine job of giving the characters we’ve had the pleasure of watching new adventures, surprising encounters, and an ending it would be hard for viewers not to love. Roberts expressed a lot of satisfaction with where David ends up, as did Kind who said, “It’s what was on the page, it’s good enough for me,” in regards to the writing for Sam this season. But it was Reiser who did not see all his character’s wishes come true. “I would’ve liked to lose a little weight. I thought I would’ve dropped 15 pounds in prison, that didn’t work out,” he joked. Another rude awakening he’ll have to adjust to after this series? “I know when I play tennis in real life, it’s much harder because you actually have to hit it over the net. Nobody goes, ‘Oh that’s fine, they won’t see it.’”
What viewers won’t be seeing this season, is anything too heavy. “We do struggle, but the struggle ain’t that hard. They’re small. They’re not grand operatic problems. They’re life’s sweet little challenges,” Kind explained. “But a dysfunction at the same time,” Roberts added. “Everyone’s problems that they always talk about are so little, really. But they’re so big in their own minds, and I think that’s where the comedy sits.” And leave it to Reiser to sum it up the best: “But that’s exactly what makes the show so relatable.”
“I will say, going to prison is a tough thing,” Kind points out. But again, this is the world of Red Oaks, so “It looks like a great time,” Roberts observed.
“It seems fairly nice,” Kind agreed. “It’s a retirement community. You don’t have to worry about clothes —“
“You wear the onesie,” Reiser said.
Put on your favorite onesie and cuddle up to watch the third and final season of Red Oaks, available on Prime Video this Friday, October 20th.
