High Desert | |
---|---|
Genre | Comedy |
Created by | |
Written by |
|
Directed by | Jay Roach |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Jeff Russo |
Opening theme | "Talkin' to Myself" by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | Apple TV+ |
Release | May 17 – June 21, 2023 |
High Desert is an American comedy television series created and written by Nancy Fichman, Katie Ford and Jennifer Hoppe-House that premiered on Apple TV+ on May 17, 2023. In July 2023, the series was cancelled after one season. [1]
The series follows Peggy (Patricia Arquette), an addict, who decides to make a fresh start after the death of her beloved mother with whom she lived in the small desert town of Yucca Valley, California. She makes a life-changing decision to become a private investigator.
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Pain Management" | Jay Roach | Story by : Nancy Fichman & Katie Ford & Jennifer Hoppe Teleplay by : Nancy Fichman & Katie Ford | May 17, 2023 |
2 | "Two Knockers and No Boyfriend = A Felony" | Jay Roach | Nancy Fichman & Katie Ford & Jennifer Hoppe | May 17, 2023 |
3 | "I'm Getting Close to This Guru Bastard" | Jay Roach | Jennifer Hoppe | May 17, 2023 |
4 | "Get Judy off the Bed" | Jay Roach | Nancy Fichman & Katie Ford & Jennifer Hoppe | May 24, 2023 |
5 | "Soul Retrieval" | Jay Roach | Nancy Fichman & Katie Ford & Jennifer Hoppe | May 31, 2023 |
6 | "A Nod Is Not a Hello" | Jay Roach | Nancy Fichman & Katie Ford & Jennifer Hoppe | June 7, 2023 |
7 | "This Doesn't Have to Be a Tragedy" | Jay Roach | Nancy Fichman & Katie Ford & Jennifer Hoppe | June 14, 2023 |
8 | "I Need a Hero" | Jay Roach | Nancy Fichman & Katie Ford & Jennifer Hoppe | June 21, 2023 |
The series, created by Nancy Fichman, Katie Ford and Jennifer Hoppe-House, was given a greenlight in September 2020 by Apple TV+, with Patricia Arquette set to star in the series as well as executive produce along with Ben Stiller, who was set to direct the first episode. [2]
In November 2021, Matt Dillon, Rupert Friend, Weruche Opia and Brad Garrett were added to the main cast of the series, with Bernadette Peters and Christine Taylor cast in recurring roles. Stiller would no longer be directing the first episode, as Jay Roach had joined the series to direct all eight episodes. [3]
Filming began by November 2021 in Long Beach, California. [4] The show depicts a fictionalized Pioneertown, California shot on set with outdoor footage taken at Sable Ranch, as the actual town is an unincorporated landmark with separate private owners. [5] [6]
High Desert premiered on May 17, 2023, with the first three episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis. [7]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 70% approval rating with an average rating of 5.90/10, based on 27 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "High Desert is so deliberately odd and scattershot that viewers may begin to suspect they're being bamboozled, but Patricia Arquette's whirlwind performance will be enough for many to just sit back and enjoy the ride." [8] Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on 17 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [9]
Christine Joan Taylor Stiller is an American actress. She is best known for playing Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel, as well as roles in films including The Craft, The Wedding Singer, Zoolander, and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story as well as for her television roles in Hey Dude, Arrested Development, and Search Party.
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two, and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress and filmmaker. She gained international recognition for her starring role as Monica Geller in the NBC sitcom Friends (1994–2004). Cox received further recognition for starring as Gale Weathers in the horror film franchise Scream (1996–present).
Patricia Arquette is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and has since starred in several film and productions. She has received several awards including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.
David Arquette is an American actor and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his role as Dewey Riley in the slasher film franchise Scream, for which he won a Teen Choice Award and two Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.
Pioneertown is an unincorporated community of the Morongo Basin region of the High Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is an 1880s-themed town developed as a shooting location for actors working on Western films and TV series with businesses and residences. The Mane Street Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The winding, 4-mile (6.4 km) drive northwest to Pioneertown from Yucca Valley has been designated a California Scenic Drive and the area is now surrounded by privately and federally protected lands.
Rupert William Anthony Friend is an English actor. He first gained recognition for his roles in The Libertine (2004) and Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005), both of which won him awards for best newcomer. He portrayed George Wickham in Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lieutenant Kurt Kotler in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008), Albert, Prince Consort in The Young Victoria (2009), psychologist Oliver Baumer in Starred Up (2013), CIA operative Peter Quinn in the political thriller series Homeland (2012–2017), Vasily Stalin in The Death of Stalin (2017), Theo van Gogh in At Eternity's Gate (2018), and Ernest Donovan in the series Strange Angel (2018–2019).
Lewis Michael Arquette was an American actor. He was best known for playing J. D. Pickett on the television series The Waltons, on which he worked from 1978 to 1981.
Nancy Fichman is an American film and television writer, having worked on series such as Nurse Jackie,Get Shorty,Grace and Frankie, and Damages. She also wrote the 2004 made-for-television movie The Dead Will Tell starring Anne Heche and Eva Longoria. She often works with her creative partner Jennifer Hoppe-House. The pair, together with Katie Ford, have a new show called High Desert, starring Patricia Arquette, premiering on Apple TV+ on May 17, 2023.
Jennifer Hoppe is an American film and television writer, having worked on the series Grace and Frankie, Get Shorty, Nurse Jackie and Damages. She also co-wrote the 2004 made-for-television movie The Dead Will Tell. She often works with her creative partner Nancy Fichman.
Bad Education is a British television sitcom set in a dysfunctional secondary school broadcast on BBC Three. Running from August 2012 to October 2014, the first three series were written by Jack Whitehall, who starred as Alfie Wickers, "the worst teacher ever to grace the British education system". Set at the fictional Abbey Grove School in Hertfordshire, the series follows Wickers' class of misfits, Class K, headed by eccentric headteacher Shaquille "Simon" Fraser, and Wickers' ploys to win the affection of crush Rosie Gulliver.
Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace is a honky-tonk, barbecue restaurant and music venue near Joshua Tree National Park in Pioneertown, California. Accessible from California State Route 62, the restaurant lies four miles northeast of Yucca Valley.
Reanne Weruche Opia is a British-Nigerian actress and entrepreneur. She is the founding CEO of the clothing line Jesus Junkie Clothing. She was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for her performance in the BBC miniseries I May Destroy You (2020).
Escape at Dannemora is an American crime drama television limited series that premiered on Showtime on November 18, 2018. It is based on the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape. The seven-episode series was created and written by Brett Johnson and Michael Tolkin and directed by Ben Stiller. It stars Benicio del Toro, Patricia Arquette, Paul Dano, Bonnie Hunt, Eric Lange, and David Morse.
Sliced is a British television sitcom which began airing on 15 May 2019. It was created and written by Phil Bowker and Samson Kayo for broadcast on Dave. The show follows two friends and fellow pizza delivery drivers Joshua and Ricky in south London, who just want to make some money, move out of their family homes and meet some women. The series stars David Mumeni, Phil Daniels, Kayo and Nahel Tzegai. In January 2020, it was renewed for a 6-episode second series, to premiere later in the year. Series 2 premiered on 3 June 2021.
Ted Lasso is an American sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly, based on a character Sudeikis portrayed in a series of promotional media for NBC Sports's coverage of England's Premier League. The show follows Ted Lasso, an American college football coach who is hired to coach an English soccer team whose owner secretly hopes his inexperience will lead it to failure, but whose folksy, optimistic leadership proves unexpectedly successful.
Severance is an American science fiction psychological thriller television series created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle. It stars Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Jen Tullock, Dichen Lachman, Michael Chernus, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, and Patricia Arquette. The plot follows Mark S. (Scott), an employee of the fictional corporation Lumon Industries who agrees to a "severance" program in which his non-work memories are separated from his work memories.
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock is an American children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of creatures, as a reboot of the original 1983 series Fraggle Rock by Jim Henson. The first season was released on Apple TV+ on January 21, 2022.