‘Alone Together’ on Freeform: How A Unique Friendship Inspired One Of TV’s Funniest New Shows

The “will they/won’t they” trope will forever be linked to the television sitcom. The aspirational allure of two hotties overcoming insurmountable odds to finally realize they’re each other’s lobsters has not only provided countless hours of entertainment, but it also offers a stealthy optimism. If Ross and Rachel or Jim and Pam can vanquish the Roys, Karens, and Emilys of the world, maybe there’s hope for the rest of us. But not every series needs to lean on this long-standing TV trope. Alone Together, Freeform’s refreshingly original new buddy comedy from the minds of Esther Povitsky and Benji Aflalo, eschews the familiar constructs of TV romance and instead focuses on the aggressively platonic relationship between its stars.

Premiering tonight on Freeform, Alone Together is one of the flat-out funniest new shows of the season. Created by and starring Povitsky and Aflalo and executive produced by The Lonely Island, the comedy follows two outsiders, Esther and Benji, who gamely attempt to navigate the celebrity and juice cleansed–obsessed world of Los Angeles. The inspiration for Alone Together, which is based on Povitsky and Aflalo’s real-life friendship, began almost a decade ago when the two met at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. The comedians recently spoke with Decider about how their unique friendship evolved into a TV series.

“Esther was fresh out of Skokie [Illinois], coming out here to become the Lady Gaga of comedy,” Aflalo told us when asked about the origins of his friendship with Esther. “We knew each other for about a year,” Esther added. “Then one day I ran into Benji at Whole Foods, and he was like, ‘Hey I’m about to make some food. Wanna come over?’ And I was like hell yeah, because I knew Benji lived in a nice house, and he was about to feed me. And I went over, and I feel like we were just best friends ever since.”

Chemistry is an inexact science; you either have it or you don’t. One of the many reasons why Alone Together should vault to the top of your must-see list is that Esther and Benji’s real-life affinity for one another translates into a lively rapport you can’t help but enjoy. Their banter both on and off the show is organic and unforced, which results in Alone Together’s savvy conversational humor. The series doesn’t waste time with an inorganic, bada bing bada boom joke structure that bares no resemblance to the way people communicate in reality, but instead focuses its razor-sharp wit on the genuine type of humor you’d hear when hanging out amongst friends.

“Esther would break into my house sometimes. Like, it was a thing where I’d wake up and Ester would be staring at me,” Benji told us nonchalantly, like that’s just a normal thing friends do. Esther’s rebuttal? “He would invite me over, and I’d show up, and his door would be locked, and he wouldn’t answer his phone. So would you break in? Yes, you would.”

“I think I remember that time because it was like I ate too much Cinnamon Toast Crunch,” Benji replied. “Then you took that as an invite to come over and eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but I had passed out because of the cereal, and then you broke in for cereal.”

Life works in mysterious ways. People’s reaction to the duo’s unique friendship — aka Benji’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch-induced sugar coma and Esther’s penchant for B & E — inspired the two to turn their platonic relationship into a TV series.

“I feel like people were really interested in our relationship, and we were surprised by that,” Esther said. “We were just doing our thing, being us, and then people would be like, ‘Hey, are you guys dating?’ And then they’d talk about it. People just seemed interested in our relationship, and that kind of encouraged us like, ‘Oh, this is weird, this is different.’ And we didn’t realize that until people kind of pointed it out, and that’s what kicked us off in the direction of making it something more.”

It’s near impossible to find someone in any type of creative field who doesn’t have an idea for a TV series. Most of these concepts never come to fruition once they realize how difficult it is to actually write a pilot. Talent isn’t enough. One immensely important factor as to why one concept succeeds and another fails is tenacity. Esther and Benji didn’t just write a spec script and hope for the best; they pooled their resources and shot their own pilot in hopes of attracting network attention.

“I think we felt really overlooked, and so I don’t think we thought anyone would take us seriously or care if we didn’t actually make something to show and prove that we could be in front of a camera and be funny,” Benji said. “I think we both got to a point where we knew we had to do something, because doing stand-up and all that wasn’t really moving anything forward for us. So we were like, yeah, we have to do this on our own, and so we did.”

“I don’t think we felt like we could write a profound script about who we were,” Esther remarked, echoing Benji’s sentiment. “I felt like we could really execute the material of who we are. And we just felt like that was what we had to do in order to have any chance. And for us, people who are not specific types, so we weren’t really going on auditions, and not even socially accepted amongst the cool alternative comedy scene, we really didn’t have a choice. We just felt like it’s on us. It’s in our hands and that’s all we got. So we just kind of went for it.”

Esther and Benji had done it. Their years of hard work had finally paid off. They wrote a script, turned it into an actual TV pilot, and were offered their very own TV show… except that’s not what happened. The two were faced with yet another round of adversity after finishing the first iteration of Alone Together.

“My agents were like, ‘So… no one wants to meet with you,'” Povitsky told us.

Down but not out, Esther suggested reaching out to The Lonely Island trio’s (Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone) production company.

“They were the only place to take a meeting, so when we went in there, we were kind of nervous. Like, ‘Okay, this has to go well.’ And then we just got in there and totally lost sight of that and were like, ‘So, you’re the only ones who will meet with us. This is our last stop on the tour, and our first stop. This is it.’ And then they just kind of… I think us being real and honest kind of spoke to them.”

With Lonely Island aboard as executive producers, Esther and Benji sent their pilot out to various networks, brought in writer Eben Russell (Girlboss, Last Man Standing) as a co-creator, and ended up selling the series. Not just to one network, but to every single place they pitched it. The two decided to go with Freeform, who already picked up the show for Season 2.

With the deluge of original programming available to stream, it’s never been more difficult to convince someone to take a chance on a new series, but Alone Together is too much laugh-out-loud fun to ignore. It’s rare for a new TV show to be this fully-formed — to have so much swagger — right out the gate, but Alone Together never wavers from its strong comedic point of view. The series pokes fun at the concept of entitled millennials, but the reality of how the show went from concept to Freeform’s best new show couldn’t be more aberrant from the stereotype. If it’s admiration for Esther and Benji’s work ethic that piques your interest in Alone Together, it’s the pair’s crackling chemistry and obvious comedic versatility that’ll motivate you to grab a giant bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and press play on Episode 2.

Just make sure you lock the door behind you.

Alone Together premieres tonight (January 10th) at 8:30 p.m. ET on Freeform. The first episode is also available to stream on Freeform’s website.

Where to stream Alone Together