Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Premise’ On FX on Hulu, An Anthology Where B.J. Novak Takes On Big Issues With Funny Situations

The reason why B.J. Novak calls his comedic anthology series The Premise is because each episode is really about an idea that’s a huge swing for the fences. Hot-button issues are explored in a comedic way, but with heart and positivity in places. Each episode description seems high-concept, which is why the show’s title fits it perfectly. Read on for more.

THE PREMISE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: B.J. Novak (The Office) stands against a white background and goes “What is comedy?” Then says, “Just kidding. What if I really started the show like that?”

The Gist: Novak introduces his series, The Premise, where each episode will have a new story and a new all-star cast. What he doesn’t say in his intro is that each story will be about big issues, but filtered through comedic set-ups, hence the title.

The first episode, “Social Justice Sex Tape,” starts with Darren Williams (Jermaine Fowler) screaming about his innocence as he’s hauled into a police cruiser. We cut to a small law office where young attorney Eve Stone (Ayo Edebiri) goes through her e-mail inboxes searching for a case that speaks to her, as per the instructions from her mentor, Rayna Bradshaw (Tracee Ellis Ross).

She’s sent evidence in the Williams case, a sex tape made in a nearby apartment that shows Williams in the background, out the window; as Williams said, the cop he’s accused of assaulting tripped and fell as he got out of the cruiser. The next step is to go to the man who made the tape, Ethan Streiber (Ben Platt), and ask if he is willing to have the tape used during Williams’ trial.

Ethan is one of those white guys who thinks he’s “all in” when it comes to supporting causes like Black Lives Matter; he donates, marches, volunteers. But because of the embarrassing nature of the tape, he is unsure he wants it out in public. He makes the excuse that he broke up with his partner on the tape, but Eve quickly gets her permission to use it. Eve convinces him to allow the tape in as evidence, since it will definitely exonerate Williams.

During the trial, though, after multiple viewings of the tape, the prosecutor (Talia Balsam) claims that the video could be a deepfake, given the attractiveness of Ethan’s partner relative to him, and the fact that he’s a grown man who has no idea where women’s parts are. That’s when Eve gets the idea to submit all of the photos and videos on Ethan’s phone as evidence, and put his former partners on the stand. Ethan is for the cause, of course, but how far does he want to go to support it?

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Premise is like Amazing Stories, only much grittier and adult in nature. But, like the Steven Spielberg anthology, Novak’s series has positive messages and outcomes, even if they’re obscured a bit.

Our Take: The reason why Novak’s series is called The Premise is that each episode takes a big swing as far as its premise is concerned, situating hot-button, often serious issues in a comedic setup. Just the title of the first episode, “Social Justice Sex Tape,” tells you most of what you need to know about the episode, much like Hot Tub Time Machine did. But as the episode goes from serious to funny and back around again, it was hard to get a handle on whether Novak and the episode’s co-writer Josie Duffy Rice were playing a serious situation for laughs or making an inherently funny situation serious on purpose.

The episode doesn’t start out all that funny at all; even lines that are meant to be funny fall flat. It’s only when Ethan, put on the spot to open up more and more of his depravity to the public for the sake of the case, gets more flummoxed by how far he has to go to support the cause that the episode starts to generate laughs. That’s mostly because Platt plays the self-satisfied “woke” white man well, and the more that Eve breaks that façade down, the more we see what that character is really about.

Ross’ role could have been expanded, given her copious comedic skills. But we were happy to see her as Eve’s mentor, even if she isn’t given a lot to do. Edebyri made for a good foil for plat, skewering his excuses one after the other until he was completely exposed. Her best line was after the trial, when a chastened and humiliated Ethan hangs back from the crowd, he sees Eve and says, “You said I’d be a hero.” Her reply is priceless. “I didn’t say you’d feel like one.”

The way the episode ended gives us hope that the the other four episodes in season 1 will eventually come to satisfying conclusions despite rocky starts. Jon Bernthal plays a man who goes to work for a gun lobby after losing his daughter to gun violence; Lucas Hedges plays a pop star who has sex with the valedictorian at his high school (Kaitlyn Dever) as a reward; a woman (Lola Kirke) becomes obsessed with a negative commenter on social media; a self-made billionaire (Daniel Dae Kim) tries to get back at his school tormentor (Eric Lange) by pitching a very NSFW product to the tormentor’s company.

All of these premises sound interesting and potentially hilarious; we’re just hoping that there is a bit more consistency within each episode.

Sex and Skin: We see Ethan’s butt a lot as he has extraordinarily awkward sex on the tape.

Parting Shot: In her office surrounded by her staff, Rayna writes the funny lines from Darren Williams as he talks to the press about his acquittal.

Sleeper Star: Even though Ayo Edebiri has one of the main roles, she was still a revelation. We’ve seen her on shows like Dickinson, but this episode proved she can carry a comedy on her own, even with powerful performers like Ross and Platt around her.

Most Pilot-y Line: After Ethan’s sex tape leaks, putting increased pressure on him, he sees Desus and Mero make fun of his moves. “I love those guys,” he says incredulously.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Even though the first episode of The Premise was uneven, there was enough there to make us want to watch the other episodes. Mainly we want to see if the big swings Novak takes in each episode connect, or if they’re admirable strike outs.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream The Premise On Hulu