It’s been a minute since Vanessa Bayer left the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 2017; now she’s returning to television to headline her own half-hour comedy for Showtime.
On Wednesday, March 16, the first official trailer was released for “I Love That For You”, starring Bayer alongside fellow “SNL” alum Molly Shannon and Jenifer Lewis (“Black-ish”).
Bayer plays Joanna Gold, an awkward thirtysomething woman who finally achieves her lifelong goal of becoming a host on the VSN home shopping channel.
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Unfortunately, she’s terrible at it, leading the channel’s founder and CEO Patricia (Lewis) to fire her.
It’s then that Joanna, desperate not to lose out on the only thing that’s ever mattered to her, reveals that she survived cancer as a child, and tells her boss that it has returned.
However, only half of that is true; while she did indeed overcome cancer as a child, she fibs about its reoccurrence in hopes of generating enough sympathy to keep her job — a plan that actually works, and also leads her to forge a friendship with the channel’s star host, Jackie, who’s been her idol since she was a kid.
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Additional series regulars include Paul James (“Soundtrack”) as Jordan, the charming but dry stage manager; Ayden Mayeri (“Homecoming”) as Beth Ann, an ambitious but insecure host; Matt Rogers (“Haute Dog”) as Darcy, the ingratiating right-hand man to Patricia; and Punam Patel (“Special”) as Beena, an offbeat backstage producer. Johnno Wilson (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) guest stars as Perry, a beloved host on the network with a popular cooking show. Bess Armstrong (“Bosch”) and Matt Malloy (“Alpha House”) play Joanna’s parents.
Interestingly, the premise has its roots in Bayer’s real-life history as a childhood survivor of leukemia.
“I Love That For You” premieres on Sunday, May 1.
