Mike Judge and Greg Daniels have been attached to some of the best TV comedies of the last 30 years, including Parks and Recreation, The Simpsons, and The Office for Daniels and Beavis and Butt-Head and Silicon Valley for Judge. They also co-created King of the Hill, which is getting a revival on Hulu.
Their latest collaboration is producing Common Side Effects, a surreal new Adult Swim animated series from creators Joseph Bennett (Scavengers Reign) and Steve Hely (30 Rock).
Here’s what you should know about Common Side Effects.
Plot
Common Side Effects follows Marshall and Frances, who were lab partners in high school and now share a secret: Marshall has “discovered the world’s greatest medicine, a mushroom that can heal almost anything,” according to the official synopsis. “But getting it out into the world won’t be easy – the DEA, big pharma, and international businessmen are all on the chase to stop them.”
It’s a rare animated thriller, and it has high ambitions beyond just laughs (although it looks pretty funny, too).
Hely told Screen Rant that he and Bennett (who dabbled in similarly surreal imaginary on his previous show, Scavengers Reign) linked up because they’re “interested in a lot of similar themes. We got going on some stuff like drugs, Ayahuasca, drug companies, psychedelics, different kinds of medicine, what healing means to different people, wellness, law enforcement, and the drug war. We were talking about a lot of themes.” The premise for the show came from the thought experiment, “What would it look like if there were a medicine that could heal almost anything, and how would that affect the world?”
As for how Common Side Effects ended up on Adult Swim, Hely explained that “it’s a place where you can get cool, weird, interesting stuff,” which certainly applies to this show. He continued, “In some ways this is a little different than other Adult Swim shows. It’s a little more serialized and it’s a little bit more plot-driven. Hopefully the audience will be ready for that.”
There’s enough room for both Common Side Effects and Smiling Friends.
Cast
The voice cast includes Dave King (Parks and Recreation, The Simpsons, The Good Place) as Marshall; Emily Pendergast (Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Frances; Joseph Lee Anderson (Young Rock, MacGruber) as Agent Copano; #1 Alvin and the Chipmunks fan Martha Kelly (Baskets, Euphoria) as Agent Harrington; and Mike Judge (c’mon, do I need to list his credits again?) as Rick.
Release Date
Common Side Effects debuts on Adult Swim with back-to-back episodes on Sunday, February 2, at 11:30 p.m. ET. The show will be available to stream the following day on Max.
Trailer
Check out the trailer for Common Side Effects below.