PITTSBURGH — Politicians using inside information to profit off the misfortune of others. Businesses taking advantage of stimulus money. Regular folks hoarding scarce supplies. Those were the stories Greg Garcia couldn't seem to escape during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As somebody sitting back in their house sheltered in place, you're like, 'Man, I'd like to see a little justice here,'" the "My Name Is Earl" and "Raising Hope" veteran told the Post-Gazette. "Maybe some of that justice goes toward people doing good things."
Two-plus years later, Garcia has turned that stroke of wish fulfillment into "Sprung," his new sitcom about a group of petty criminals using their particular set of skills to help those adversely affected by the pandemic and punish anyone manipulating a tragic situation for personal gain.
"Sprung," which was shot throughout the Pittsburgh area last summer and fall, dropped the first two installments of its nine-episode first season Friday on Amazon Freevee. The Post-Gazette caught up with Garcia and some of the show's principal cast to discuss what it was like filming such a zany (and timely) project in western Pennsylvania.
'So much atmosphere'
This show marks a reunion between Garcia and "Raising Hope" stars Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton. Dillahunt plays Jack, who emerges from half a life spent in prison with a childlike naivety and hard-earned ability to plan elaborate heists. With nowhere to go, Jack ends up crashing with his old cellmate, Rooster (Phillip Garcia), and prison girlfriend Gloria (Shakira Barrera) at the house of Rooster's mom, Barb (Plimpton).
Dillahunt still considers "Raising Hope" to be "one of the best things I've ever done," so he was delighted to work with Garcia and Plimpton again. He hadn't been to Pittsburgh since he was briefly here almost 15 years ago shooting the 2009 film "The Road."
"It's not unlike shooting in New York, but a completely different backdrop," he said. "There's just so much atmosphere. Any way we pointed the camera, there was something cool."
Barb was originally supposed to be played by Illeana Douglas before Plimpton took over that role. She was "very surprised" when Garcia and Dillahunt called her and asked if she could be in Pittsburgh in a few days. Without even reading a script, she agreed. The way Plimpton recalled it, she showed up on Sunday, dyed her hair red on Monday and was shooting on Tuesday.
Dillahunt appreciated how Garcia weaved in early pandemic phenomena like holding your breath while outside and thinking mosquitoes may be carrying COVID "just as these background asides." He also enjoyed that Garcia named the prison in which Jack, Rooster and Gloria spent much of their lives the H.I. McDunnough State Penitentiary, a nod to Nicolas Cage's character in the 1987 Coen brothers comedy "Raising Arizona."
In terms of playing a character who embodies both stunted adulthood and ultra-competence in other areas, Dillahunt quipped: "I hate to say it's really good casting, but it might be."
Plimpton said she "just came up with stuff on the plane" for how she would portray Barb, who is wisecracking, fearless and vulnerable in equal measure.
"I wanted to really play a real character, someone completely different than myself," she said. "I just kind of jumped right in. ... I was just there to have a good time and do the best I could do and be as funny as I could be while still being true and real, as much as Barb can be."
Going off the deep end
Supporting characters can make or break a sitcom, and "Sprung" features a strong bench that includes Phillip Garcia (no relation to Greg) as the hapless but lovable Rooster, James Earl as shady toilet paper hoarder Melvin and Clare Gillies as charmingly oblivious stripper Wiggles.
They got a broad view of the region while filming in downtown, Mars, Coraopolis, New Kensington and Arnold. Garcia admitted that he used to associate western Pennsylvania with gritty crime dramas like fellow Freevee series "American Rust." When Greg Garcia told him his goal was to "shoot this comedy but shoot it like a drama," he was immediately intrigued.
"Just the amount of greenery was unbelievable," said the actor, who had never been to Pittsburgh before and is now considering buying a house here. "California is completely dry. I went to Pittsburgh and everything was so green and lush and beautiful."
Garcia, Earl and Gillies were all tasked with playing characters who aren't necessarily critical thinkers in most situations. For Garcia, that meant making sure audiences realize that though Rooster "acts with his heart sometimes" to his own detriment, he always "gets back up and pushes through." Gillies saw Wiggles as someone who "has her own logic" that was crafted by the show's creator.
"If Greg wants us to go off the deep end, our character is going to go," she said. "If the intent behind what people are doing is from the heart, you have to be able to relate and feel OK about things even if it's stupid or not the right choice. If it's coming from a good place, then it's good."
As Phillip Garcia put it, "Sprung" was made with the notion of balancing "heartfelt, human moments" with wacky comedy and slapstick. Earl said that Greg Garcia wanted everything on screen to feel real, including the pandemic-related elements.
"Usually, when you watch stuff like this, you're watching years after it happened," Earl said. "Rarely do you ever experience a show that's talking about current events going on right now, which is great."
'More to explore'
Greg Garcia directed every episode of "Sprung" season one and said that it's his first show "that looks like it did in my head." He modeled a lot of his initial concepts after his childhood in northern Virginia and college days at Frostburg State University in Maryland. Though he originally wanted to shoot "Sprung" in Frostburg, Pittsburgh provided him with everything he needed to capture his vision on camera.
"It's a really friendly place to shoot," he said. "You get five, 10 minutes outside of the city, and everything starts to look like Frostburg. I fell in love with it."
"Sprung" is very much in the same vein as "My Name Is Earl" and "Raising Hope" in terms of style, tone and even the characters at its center. Garcia is less concerned with consistency across projects than he is about telling stories that make viewers laugh and feel good.
"I was actually doing my best to make this different, but I don't think I did that good of a job of it because everyone's saying it's like the other ones," he said. "Which is good, I'm glad, because they're saying it because they like the other ones. ... I'm glad people see something in it that they recognize. I guess it's kind of cool to have a brand."
Season 1 completes its arc so definitively that it's fair to wonder if the plan is to keep going. Garcia said he filmed four potential endings for this season of "Sprung," two of which were cliffhangers that he opted not to use. There are still fans asking him who Earl Jr.'s real father is since "My Name Is Earl" was never given a proper resolution after being unceremoniously canceled following the Season 4 finale.
Everyone involved would love to do more "Sprung." Dillahunt said "we certainly want a Season 2" and already has some ideas for what else Jack could get up to; Phillip Garcia wants to see Rooster continue "building his army" of found family; Gillies hopes Wiggles is "taken into the fold with the gal pals" and gets more screen time with Barrera and Plimpton; and Earl needs to know "why is Melvin so drawn to" Jack.
For what it's worth, Garcia believes "there's a lot more to explore" in a theoretical "Sprung" Season 2 that, ideally, would also be shot in Pittsburgh.
"We have very talented writers, and I think there could be some fun stories to tell," he said. "If not, then it could easily wrap up. If we did continue to tell this story, I couldn't imagine why we wouldn't come to Pittsburgh to do it. I loved it there."
