Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, originally filed January 6, 2015
"If you can go back and change one thing in your life, one decision, one answer, one mistake, what would you do?"
That's main character Becca narrating the new VH1 drama "Hindsight" debuting Wednesday, January 7, shot in Atlanta and fictionally based in New York City.
The premise is simple: a 40-something woman about to marry a second time wonders what would have happened 20 years earlier if she had done things differently. So voila! She wakes up and finds out it's 1995, not 2015. And it's her wedding day from her first marriage.
Executive producer Emily Fox peppers the first episode, naturally, with references to that era ("Say Anything," a pre-"Grey's Anatomy" Patrick Dempsey, knee socks and giant flannel shirts). And that pilot airing Wednesday at 10 p.m. features songs from the era by Ace of Base, Alanis Morissette, EMF and the Cranberries.
"It wasn't originally supposed to be about the '90s," Fox said."It was really about this universal desire to know about what would have happened if you had chosen door A instead of door B."
The idea first came up in 2009 and was supposed to go back just 10 years. But when the show finally got developed and the year approached 2015, Fox went back a few years further and picked 1995. Why? It was the middle of a time that she felt was "antediluvian Garden of Eden happy. The midpoint of the happiest decade, the go-go '90s!"
This was pre-9/11 when the economy was strong, jobs were plentiful, terrorism was not top of mind and the Internet was a fresh, new thing. "The 1990s became the dynamic backdrop to the show," Fox said. "This was the apex of a great decade."
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Becca is played with a sweet naturalism and accessibility by Laura Ramsey, a relative unknown actress with credits such as "Mad Men" and "White Collar."
"She's not the wacky, out there, kooky one," Fox said. "She spent much of her life running away from her adventurous side." Rather, her best friend Lolly (Sarah Goldberg) is much more out there.
In many ways, Fox said the show is as much a love story between Becca and her best friend as it is with Becca and any of her guys. "I loved the idea of doing a show not just about a girl and a guy but two good female friends," she said. And they are interested in why she jumped time, not so much the mechanics of time travel. "They both believe there is a reason why this is happening," she said.
A mysterious man named Xavier pops up in Becca's life in both 1995 and 2015 who clearly holds a key to that why.
Becca is grappling with regrets in 2015 that included not just her failed marriage but her estrangement from Lolly. When she tells her in 1995 that they hadn't been in touch for so long, all Becca had was Lolly's AOL address, this exchange happened. (It's even funnier when seen on screen given how Becca says the last line.)
Becca: "It's become... unfashionable."
Lolly: "But I really love AOL."
Becca: "I know. But AOL loves you, too."
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The pilot episode is whimsically lighthearted and fast-paced but this exact conceit has not been used before on a popular TV show. "I'm glad it's not a carbon copy of anything," Fox said. "It's its own animal. The cast joked that it was like 'Ally McBeal' meets 'The Edge of Tomorrow.' Weird combo! There are elements of 'Peggy Sue Got Married' and 'Back to the Future' with the time leap."
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The 10 episodes will focus on keeping Becca in the mid 1990s with her brain occasionally "recalling" her past decisions she made the first go around, even if those memories are in some parallel past universe in a later year. Fox didn't want to turn this into a sci-fi time travel paradox.
She also didn't want Becca to use her knowledge to become filthy rich by, say, investing in Yahoo early on. (We'll leave that to "Hot Tub Time Machine 2.") "She's lived long enough to know that getting rich doesn't solve everything," Fox said.
But it doesn't stop Becca from dispensing advice to friends, colleagues and family members in an effort to prevent things from happening that she knew would go bad. Not that this doesn't create unforeseen consequences.
Atlanta masquerades as New York City circa 1995. This means finding old cabs, phone booths and signage from the era. ("Anchorman 2" turned downtown Atlanta in New York City circa 1980, which was probably even tougher.)
Fox said she enjoyed spending the fall in Atlanta and especially loved using Piedmont Park as a stand-in for Central Park. (Piedmont Park was designed in part by the sons of Frederick Law Olmstead, creator of New York City's most famous park.) "It's such a believable facsimile," she said. "And it happens to be a beautiful park in its own right." Plus, the park's reservoir passes for a reservoir she is familiar with on the Upper West Side.
Alex Motlagh, an Atlanta-based executive producer, said the Fairlie-Poplar district was used for some Manhattan scenes. Castleberry Hill was the backdrop for the Lower East Side. They also shot some actual New York City settings separately and used green screen with the actors in a few cases. And in December, after the end of the local production, he said a few actors went to New York for specific scenes that were too difficult to replicate in Atlanta.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
The show also had to conjure up old Mac Classics, beepers, CD Walkmans and clogs from that era. "That's what eBay was made for!" she said. (For what it's worth, eBay was created in 1995 as well.)
The script also had to accommodate the fact folks in the mid-1990s couldn't just text each other or keep someone informed if they are running late. ("Sleepless in Seattle" wouldn't work in 2015 either.) Concrete plans had to happen - or they didn't. "We take our connectivity today for granted," Fox said.
TV preview
"Hindsight," 10 p.m. Wednesdays, starting January 7, 2015, VH1
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