Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 115,116 (click to see context) from:
->Played by Creator/KerriKenney
to:
->Played by Creator/KerriKenney
Creator/KerriKenneySilver
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Disambiguated
Deleted line(s) 100 (click to see context) :
* AnythingThatMoves: Subverted. Clay claims that Timberly is willing to have sex with anybody to get ahead, but this was just her reality show persona. She's sexually fluid, but not as promiscuous as she is on the show.
Changed line(s) 122 (click to see context) from:
* WomanScorned: Subverted. After hearing that she hooked up with Clay, Zack warns the latter that Susan once smashed a guy's windshield after a relationship ended badly. This makes Clay fear ending things with her. However, she is very graceful about it and even clarifies that the windshield story was a coverup -- she had [[TheImmodestOrgasm actually smashed the windshield while having an intense orgasm]] in [[AutoErotica the car]].
to:
* WomanScorned: Subverted. After hearing that she hooked up with Clay, Zack warns the latter that Susan once smashed a guy's windshield after a relationship ended badly. This makes Clay fear ending things with her. However, she is very graceful about it and even clarifies that the windshield story was a coverup -- she had [[TheImmodestOrgasm actually smashed the windshield while having an intense orgasm]] in [[AutoErotica the car]].car]].
-------
-------
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 104,105 (click to see context) from:
* {{Kayfabe}}: After [[spoiler:Bree sleeps with Timberley]], Clay and Reed become convinced that Timberley is actually manipulating her based on some things she did on the reality TV show she starred in. When Bree confronts Timberley on this, she has to tell her that everything on that show was actually fake and that the producers just told the contestants what to do. Bree promptly calls out Reed and Clay for making her look like an idiot in front of Timberley.
to:
* {{Kayfabe}}: After [[spoiler:Bree sleeps with Timberley]], Timberly]], Clay and Reed become convinced that Timberley Timberly is actually manipulating her based on some things she did on the reality TV show she starred in. When Bree confronts Timberley Timberly on this, she has to tell her that everything on that show was actually fake and that the producers just told the contestants what to do. Bree promptly calls out Reed and Clay for making her look like an idiot in front of Timberley.
Timberly.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 39 (click to see context) from:
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: To his dismay, he hasn't been able to rise past his 20-year-old sitcom role, and only has a string of minor parts and unsuccessful auditions to show for his efforts.
to:
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: To his dismay, he hasn't been able to rise past his 20-year-old sitcom role, and only has a string of obscure theater roles, minor parts onscreen parts, and unsuccessful auditions to show for his efforts.
Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
* HollywoodOld: A frequent concern of hers. She protests at the idea of her onscreen son having a child, because she's only in her 40s and playing a grandma on a TV show will be the death knell for her career. She then worries that the network is trying to upstage her by hiring a beautiful reality TV star to be her costar.
to:
* HollywoodOld: A frequent concern of hers. She protests at the idea of her onscreen son having a child, because she's only in her 40s and playing a grandma on a TV show will be the death knell for her career. She then worries that the network is trying to upstage her by hiring a beautiful reality TV star to be her costar.
Changed line(s) 53 (click to see context) from:
to:
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: After her sitcom ''Step Right Up'' ended she did some low-budget scifi before taking a 15-year acting hiatus to become duchess of a small country, so she has even fewer credentials than Reed does. She wants to catch up on the craft and rebuild her star, which includes not only stepping back into the groove of acting, but also dipping her toes in the writer's room.
Added DiffLines:
* PowerDynamicsKink: He gets really turned on by Zack's mother Susan acting motherly towards him, even though she's about his age, and sleeps with her a couple of times as a result. Reed diagnoses him as having mother issues.
Added DiffLines:
* {{Foil}}: Nora is Reed's serious director girlfriend; Bree is Reed's bubbly actress ex-girlfriend. When they meet it's obvious they couldn't be more different, and Nora frequently expresses jealousy or suspicion towards Bree.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* HatesTheirParent: Hannah begins the series deeply resenting her father Gordon for abandoning her and loathing the fact that he's come to set to lord his authority and experience over her. They begin to mend their relationship over the course of the show.
Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
to:
* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: The Jewish Gordon sprinkles Yiddish words in his sentences and sometimes lets it bleed into the scripts for the show.
Changed line(s) 37 (click to see context) from:
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: To his dismay, he hasn't been able to rise past his 20-year-old sitcom role, and has had a string of minor parts and unsuccessful auditions to show for it.
to:
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: To his dismay, he hasn't been able to rise past his 20-year-old sitcom role, and only has had a string of minor parts and unsuccessful auditions to show for it.his efforts.
Changed line(s) 86,87 (click to see context) from:
* PromotedFanGirl: [[invoked]]An InUniverse example. Elaine Kim, Hulu's director of comedy in the series, tells Hannah that she loved family sitcoms growing up and especially loved the original ''Step Right Up''.
to:
* PromotedFanGirl: PromotedFangirl: [[invoked]]An InUniverse example. Elaine Kim, Hulu's director of comedy in the series, tells Hannah that she loved family sitcoms growing up and especially loved the original ''Step Right Up''.
Up'', so she's pleased to be working on the revival.
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/timberly_3.png]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_nora.png]]
Changed line(s) 115 (click to see context) from:
* WomanScorned: Subverted. After hearing that she hooked up with Clay, Zack warns the latter that Susan once smashed a guy's windshield after a relationship ended badly. This makes Clay fear ending things with her. However, she is very graceful about it and even clarifies that the windshield story was a coverup -- she had [[TheImmodestOrgasm actually smashed the windshield after having an intense orgasm]].
to:
* WomanScorned: Subverted. After hearing that she hooked up with Clay, Zack warns the latter that Susan once smashed a guy's windshield after a relationship ended badly. This makes Clay fear ending things with her. However, she is very graceful about it and even clarifies that the windshield story was a coverup -- she had [[TheImmodestOrgasm actually smashed the windshield after while having an intense orgasm]].orgasm]] in [[AutoErotica the car]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* TomHanksSyndrome: In-Universe, Reed quit his sitcom career to take serious roles in dramatic films and plays, and only returns to the show when he believes it's going to be more high-brow. When Gordon wants it to be shallow comedy again, he nearly quits again. Later, Gordon admits that he thinks Reed has brilliant comedic timing that would be wasted on dramatic media.
Changed line(s) 47,48 (click to see context) from:
* MinnesotaNice: Invoked, she's from Iowa and tries very hard to project the image of a down-to-earth Midwestern woman, even though neither 'actress' or 'duchess' are professions that lend themselves well to that.
* NiceToTheWaiter: She's quite spoiled and often turns to characters demanding something or other, [[ImmediateSelfContradiction even if she claims to be nice]]. She doesn't even recognize Zack, mistaking him for one of the assistants and demanding sparkling water.
* NiceToTheWaiter: She's quite spoiled and often turns to characters demanding something or other, [[ImmediateSelfContradiction even if she claims to be nice]]. She doesn't even recognize Zack, mistaking him for one of the assistants and demanding sparkling water.
to:
* MinnesotaNice: Invoked, she's from Iowa a small town in the Midwest and tries very hard to project the image of a down-to-earth Midwestern woman, even though neither 'actress' or 'duchess' are professions that lend themselves well to that.
* NiceToTheWaiter: She's quite spoiled and often turns to characters demanding something or other, [[ImmediateSelfContradiction even if she claims to be nice]]. She doesn't even recognize Zack, mistaking him for one of the assistants and demanding sparkling water. Clay says she has a tendency to act condescendingly fake nice to waiters.
* NiceToTheWaiter: She's quite spoiled and often turns to characters demanding something or other, [[ImmediateSelfContradiction even if she claims to be nice]]. She doesn't even recognize Zack, mistaking him for one of the assistants and demanding sparkling water. Clay says she has a tendency to act condescendingly fake nice to waiters.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
* NerdGlasses: Unlike the posh actress Bree and the poised studio exec Elaine, writer Hannah dresses rather frumpily and has large, plastic-rimmed glasses to match.
Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
!!Gordon Korman
to:
!!Gordon KormanGelman
* MentorArchetype: He grows into a mentor role for his daughter and co-showrunner Hannah, giving her advice on wrangling writers and actors and how to bring the show together.
Changed line(s) 80 (click to see context) from:
* AsianAndNerdy: The show's only Asian main cast member, she's a ChildProdigy with a background in software engineering even though she works in entertainment.
to:
* AsianAndNerdy: The show's only Asian main cast member, she's a ChildProdigy with a background in software engineering even though she works in entertainment. She mentions that her dad is a Microsoft bigwig and telling her family that she'd been fired from Hulu would be humiliating.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_hannah.png]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_gordon.png]]
Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
Hannah's father, and the original showrunner of ''Step Right Up'', who based it on his experience as a stepfather.
to:
Hannah's father, estranged father and the original showrunner of ''Step Right Up'', who based it on his experience as a stepfather.
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_reed.png]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_bree.png]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_clay.png]]
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_zack.png]]
Changed line(s) 59 (click to see context) from:
The actor who played Cody, the child actor on ''Step Right Up''. He did a string of direct-to-video teen movies after the show ended.
to:
The actor who played Cody, the child actor son on ''Step Right Up''. He did a string of direct-to-video teen movies after the show ended.
Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
* FormerChildStar: Zack has been an actor since he was four and played the child character in ''Step Right Up'', but since the show's cancellation all he's done are direct-to-video kids' movies and no one, not even his old costars, recognizes him at first. However, unlike many examples of this trope, he seems to be decently well-adjusted and harbors no bitterness towards the entertainment industry, still being proud of his career.
to:
* FormerChildStar: Zack has been an actor since he was four and played the child character in ''Step Right Up'', but since the show's cancellation all he's done are direct-to-video kids' movies and no one, not even his old costars, recognizes him at first. However, unlike many examples of this trope, he seems to be decently well-adjusted (if immature) and harbors no bitterness towards the entertainment industry, still being proud of his career.
Added DiffLines:
* ManChild: He's now in his twenties and acting since he was four has left him immature and emotionally stunted. He still brings his mom to set, makes lame sex jokes, and plays basketball with teenagers who are about as mature as he is. Nevertheless, he's a nice guy.
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reboot_elaine.png]]
Added DiffLines:
* AsianAndNerdy: The show's only Asian main cast member, she's a ChildProdigy with a background in software engineering even though she works in entertainment.
Added DiffLines:
* HeadTurningBeauty: The cast's immediate reaction to her is that she's ''too'' pretty to be playing Whitney.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* PromotedFangirl: She claims to have been a huge ''Step Right Up'' fan. Though that's true, her main motivation for rebooting the show is to tell her version of the story.
Added DiffLines:
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: She appears to have been hated by the small country she ruled over. In the first episode she tells her husband someone threw a pinecone at her head and called her a "clown whore", and it was evidently not the first time.
Added DiffLines:
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: At least some of his out-there-ness is due to having an ADHD diagnosis. He's immediately distracted by a picture after telling his former castmates about it.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
!Main Characters
!!Hannah Korman
->Played by Creator/RachelBloom
An indie screenwriter who successfully pitches a darker, more complex revival of the old sitcom ''Step Right Up'', hoping to inject it with some of her own experiences.
----
* EliteSchoolMeansEliteBrain: Promising indie screenwriter Hannah graduated from Northwestern with honors.
* {{Showrunner}}: She successfully pitched the show and was supposed to be the sole showrunner before her dad showed up and revealed he still owned the rights. The two act as co-showrunners, wrangling the writer's room and actors.
* TransparentCloset: She's a lesbian who stresses about coming out to her DisappearedDad. He then tells her he'd always known -- not because she'd described herself as LGBT in interviews, but it had been obvious since she was a little girl.
!!Gordon Korman
->Played by Creator/PaulReiser
Hannah's father, and the original showrunner of ''Step Right Up'', who based it on his experience as a stepfather.
----
* DisappearedDad: He left his daughter Hannah and her mother for a new family when she was seven, which she has always resented him for. They reconnect in Hannah's adulthood.
* OpenMindedParent: Unsurprisingly for a Hollywood dad, he rolls with diverse celebrities and studio folk and doesn't care that his daughter's a lesbian and even tries to set her up. Benny, one of the writers who is also LGBT, comments that Hannah is lucky.
-->'''Benny:''' Okay. It's hardly the same thing. Your dad's friend got a blow job from Creator/PaulLynde. Back in our town, ''my dad'' tried to ban dancing.
* {{Showrunner}}: He ran the original ''Step Right Up'' and returns to it after the revival is greenlit.
!!Reed Sterling
->Played by Creator/KeeganMichaelKey
The actor who played Lawrence, Cody's stepfather on ''Step Right Up''. He left the show to do serious acting, but hasn't been able to find success.
----
* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: As he's proud of saying, he went to the Yale School of Drama, but hasn't been able to rise past bit parts after his time on the show.
* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: Everyone notices that Reed has lost all of his hair since the 2000s, and Gordon seizes the opportunity to add some bald jokes to the reboot's script.
* TheOneThatGotAway: [[spoiler:To Bree, who admits that she never got over him despite being married for 15 years.]]
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: To his dismay, he hasn't been able to rise past his 20-year-old sitcom role, and has had a string of minor parts and unsuccessful auditions to show for it.
* TheWhitestBlackGuy: He's biracial, but whenever he affects elements of black culture, it causes people around him to cringe. Clay even tells him he needs to hang out with more black people.
!!Bree Marie Jensen
->Played by Creator/JudyGreer
The actress who played Josie, Cody's mother on ''Step Right Up''. After the show ended she became duchess of a small Nordic country, but has recently divorced her husband and wants to return to show business.
----
* HollywoodOld: A frequent concern of hers. She protests at the idea of her onscreen son having a child, because she's only in her 40s and playing a grandma on a TV show will be the death knell for her career. She then worries that the network is trying to upstage her by hiring a beautiful reality TV star to be her costar.
* MinnesotaNice: Invoked, she's from Iowa and tries very hard to project the image of a down-to-earth Midwestern woman, even though neither 'actress' or 'duchess' are professions that lend themselves well to that.
* NiceToTheWaiter: She's quite spoiled and often turns to characters demanding something or other, [[ImmediateSelfContradiction even if she claims to be nice]]. She doesn't even recognize Zack, mistaking him for one of the assistants and demanding sparkling water.
* RichesToRags: Bree shows up acting like she's still living it up as a duchess. Turns out, she's divorced after discovering her husband cheating on her and, thanks to his country's quirky laws, is flat broke.
!!Clayton "Clay" Barber
->Played by Creator/JohnnyKnoxville
The actor who played Jake, Cody's biological father on ''Step Right Up''. He became a comedian known for offensive humor, but has been battling addiction on and off.
----
* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Clay gets very interested when he learns that [[spoiler:Bree and Timberly]] slept together, reading sexual undertones into all their interactions and dropping not-so-subtle hints that he wants the juicy details.
* HiddenDepths: Clay, despite being a foul-mouthed comic who's had numerous troubles with the law, is shown to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and is genuinely trying to better himself and make amends with the people he's wronged, even if he doesn't quite get it half the time.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's abrasive, foul-mouthed, and has had plenty of legal troubles, but he genuinely cares about his co-stars and does his best to look out for them, such as going out of his way to pick up Bree and making sure she gets home safely when she gets high on mushrooms after attending a retreat.
* RecoveredAddict: Clay is attempting to shake the alcoholism. His redemption is played surprisingly straight, as he's seen taking group therapy seriously, struggling with being sober, and apologizing to people he's wronged.
* SirSwearsALot: Clay has such a foul mouth, he had to use a SwearJar on the set of the original show because he kept cursing in front of the child actor.
!!Zack Johnson
->Played by Creator/CalumWorthy
The actor who played Cody, the child actor on ''Step Right Up''. He did a string of direct-to-video teen movies after the show ended.
----
* FormerChildStar: Zack has been an actor since he was four and played the child character in ''Step Right Up'', but since the show's cancellation all he's done are direct-to-video kids' movies and no one, not even his old costars, recognizes him at first. However, unlike many examples of this trope, he seems to be decently well-adjusted and harbors no bitterness towards the entertainment industry, still being proud of his career.
* HiddenDepths: He may be a doofy and out-of-touch FormerChildStar, but he reveals to Clay that he's got an aptitude for real estate and has multiple properties he rents out.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Zack Jackson pretends he never lost his cute "child star" appeal and assumes he's quite famous, but even his old costars don't recognize him immediately.
* TeenIdol: "Baskets" shows a couple of teenage girls who swoon over him for his DTV teen movies.
!!Elaine Kim
->Played by Creator/KristaMarieYu
The junior network executive in charge of the ''Step Right Up'' revival.
----
* ChildProdigy: Elaine invented a glucose monitor for pets that was immediately purchased by a pharmaceutical company at the age of six.
* CluelessBoss: Elaine is well-intentioned, but doesn't really "get" humor despite being the head of the humor department at the network. She actually tells Reed and Bree that her background is in software development and that she only ended up working in entertainment for Hulu because of a series of corporate acquisitions and reshuffles.
* PromotedFanGirl: [[invoked]]An InUniverse example. Elaine Kim, Hulu's director of comedy in the series, tells Hannah that she loved family sitcoms growing up and especially loved the original ''Step Right Up''.
!Recurring Characters
!!Timberly Fox
->Played by Creator/AlyahChanelleScott
The reality television star hired to play Whitney, Lawrence's daughter on the ''Step Right Up'' revival.
----
* AnythingThatMoves: Subverted. Clay claims that Timberly is willing to have sex with anybody to get ahead, but this was just her reality show persona. She's sexually fluid, but not as promiscuous as she is on the show.
* BadBadActing: Since she isn't a trained actress, Timberly is initially terrible on camera (exaggerated gestures, weird voices). She gets better after some acting tips from Reed.
* TheCharmer: Unsurprisingly for someone who got famous on reality TV, Timberly is exceedingly charming and (after she gets some acting lessons) a natural on-camera. Bree is jealous that she appears to be so popular with set visitors and fans on social media.
* {{Kayfabe}}: After [[spoiler:Bree sleeps with Timberley]], Clay and Reed become convinced that Timberley is actually manipulating her based on some things she did on the reality TV show she starred in. When Bree confronts Timberley on this, she has to tell her that everything on that show was actually fake and that the producers just told the contestants what to do. Bree promptly calls out Reed and Clay for making her look like an idiot in front of Timberley.
!!Nora
->Played by Creator/ElizaCoupe
Reed's girlfriend, a New York-based theater director.
----
* ProperlyParanoid: She frequently nags her boyfriend about the possibility of [[NewOldFlame sparks rekindling between him and his ex Bree]], which frustrates him. But she's totally right that [[spoiler:Bree is still in love with Reed]].
!!Susan
->Played by Creator/KerriKenney
Zack's mother.
----
* MyBelovedSmother: She still comes with her son to set even now that he's in his 20s; he attributes this to him being all she has left since his parents divorced.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: An overprotective mother who is frequently seen knitting.
* WomanScorned: Subverted. After hearing that she hooked up with Clay, Zack warns the latter that Susan once smashed a guy's windshield after a relationship ended badly. This makes Clay fear ending things with her. However, she is very graceful about it and even clarifies that the windshield story was a coverup -- she had [[TheImmodestOrgasm actually smashed the windshield after having an intense orgasm]].
!!Hannah Korman
->Played by Creator/RachelBloom
An indie screenwriter who successfully pitches a darker, more complex revival of the old sitcom ''Step Right Up'', hoping to inject it with some of her own experiences.
----
* EliteSchoolMeansEliteBrain: Promising indie screenwriter Hannah graduated from Northwestern with honors.
* {{Showrunner}}: She successfully pitched the show and was supposed to be the sole showrunner before her dad showed up and revealed he still owned the rights. The two act as co-showrunners, wrangling the writer's room and actors.
* TransparentCloset: She's a lesbian who stresses about coming out to her DisappearedDad. He then tells her he'd always known -- not because she'd described herself as LGBT in interviews, but it had been obvious since she was a little girl.
!!Gordon Korman
->Played by Creator/PaulReiser
Hannah's father, and the original showrunner of ''Step Right Up'', who based it on his experience as a stepfather.
----
* DisappearedDad: He left his daughter Hannah and her mother for a new family when she was seven, which she has always resented him for. They reconnect in Hannah's adulthood.
* OpenMindedParent: Unsurprisingly for a Hollywood dad, he rolls with diverse celebrities and studio folk and doesn't care that his daughter's a lesbian and even tries to set her up. Benny, one of the writers who is also LGBT, comments that Hannah is lucky.
-->'''Benny:''' Okay. It's hardly the same thing. Your dad's friend got a blow job from Creator/PaulLynde. Back in our town, ''my dad'' tried to ban dancing.
* {{Showrunner}}: He ran the original ''Step Right Up'' and returns to it after the revival is greenlit.
!!Reed Sterling
->Played by Creator/KeeganMichaelKey
The actor who played Lawrence, Cody's stepfather on ''Step Right Up''. He left the show to do serious acting, but hasn't been able to find success.
----
* ClassicallyTrainedExtra: As he's proud of saying, he went to the Yale School of Drama, but hasn't been able to rise past bit parts after his time on the show.
* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: Everyone notices that Reed has lost all of his hair since the 2000s, and Gordon seizes the opportunity to add some bald jokes to the reboot's script.
* TheOneThatGotAway: [[spoiler:To Bree, who admits that she never got over him despite being married for 15 years.]]
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: To his dismay, he hasn't been able to rise past his 20-year-old sitcom role, and has had a string of minor parts and unsuccessful auditions to show for it.
* TheWhitestBlackGuy: He's biracial, but whenever he affects elements of black culture, it causes people around him to cringe. Clay even tells him he needs to hang out with more black people.
!!Bree Marie Jensen
->Played by Creator/JudyGreer
The actress who played Josie, Cody's mother on ''Step Right Up''. After the show ended she became duchess of a small Nordic country, but has recently divorced her husband and wants to return to show business.
----
* HollywoodOld: A frequent concern of hers. She protests at the idea of her onscreen son having a child, because she's only in her 40s and playing a grandma on a TV show will be the death knell for her career. She then worries that the network is trying to upstage her by hiring a beautiful reality TV star to be her costar.
* MinnesotaNice: Invoked, she's from Iowa and tries very hard to project the image of a down-to-earth Midwestern woman, even though neither 'actress' or 'duchess' are professions that lend themselves well to that.
* NiceToTheWaiter: She's quite spoiled and often turns to characters demanding something or other, [[ImmediateSelfContradiction even if she claims to be nice]]. She doesn't even recognize Zack, mistaking him for one of the assistants and demanding sparkling water.
* RichesToRags: Bree shows up acting like she's still living it up as a duchess. Turns out, she's divorced after discovering her husband cheating on her and, thanks to his country's quirky laws, is flat broke.
!!Clayton "Clay" Barber
->Played by Creator/JohnnyKnoxville
The actor who played Jake, Cody's biological father on ''Step Right Up''. He became a comedian known for offensive humor, but has been battling addiction on and off.
----
* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Clay gets very interested when he learns that [[spoiler:Bree and Timberly]] slept together, reading sexual undertones into all their interactions and dropping not-so-subtle hints that he wants the juicy details.
* HiddenDepths: Clay, despite being a foul-mouthed comic who's had numerous troubles with the law, is shown to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and is genuinely trying to better himself and make amends with the people he's wronged, even if he doesn't quite get it half the time.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's abrasive, foul-mouthed, and has had plenty of legal troubles, but he genuinely cares about his co-stars and does his best to look out for them, such as going out of his way to pick up Bree and making sure she gets home safely when she gets high on mushrooms after attending a retreat.
* RecoveredAddict: Clay is attempting to shake the alcoholism. His redemption is played surprisingly straight, as he's seen taking group therapy seriously, struggling with being sober, and apologizing to people he's wronged.
* SirSwearsALot: Clay has such a foul mouth, he had to use a SwearJar on the set of the original show because he kept cursing in front of the child actor.
!!Zack Johnson
->Played by Creator/CalumWorthy
The actor who played Cody, the child actor on ''Step Right Up''. He did a string of direct-to-video teen movies after the show ended.
----
* FormerChildStar: Zack has been an actor since he was four and played the child character in ''Step Right Up'', but since the show's cancellation all he's done are direct-to-video kids' movies and no one, not even his old costars, recognizes him at first. However, unlike many examples of this trope, he seems to be decently well-adjusted and harbors no bitterness towards the entertainment industry, still being proud of his career.
* HiddenDepths: He may be a doofy and out-of-touch FormerChildStar, but he reveals to Clay that he's got an aptitude for real estate and has multiple properties he rents out.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Zack Jackson pretends he never lost his cute "child star" appeal and assumes he's quite famous, but even his old costars don't recognize him immediately.
* TeenIdol: "Baskets" shows a couple of teenage girls who swoon over him for his DTV teen movies.
!!Elaine Kim
->Played by Creator/KristaMarieYu
The junior network executive in charge of the ''Step Right Up'' revival.
----
* ChildProdigy: Elaine invented a glucose monitor for pets that was immediately purchased by a pharmaceutical company at the age of six.
* CluelessBoss: Elaine is well-intentioned, but doesn't really "get" humor despite being the head of the humor department at the network. She actually tells Reed and Bree that her background is in software development and that she only ended up working in entertainment for Hulu because of a series of corporate acquisitions and reshuffles.
* PromotedFanGirl: [[invoked]]An InUniverse example. Elaine Kim, Hulu's director of comedy in the series, tells Hannah that she loved family sitcoms growing up and especially loved the original ''Step Right Up''.
!Recurring Characters
!!Timberly Fox
->Played by Creator/AlyahChanelleScott
The reality television star hired to play Whitney, Lawrence's daughter on the ''Step Right Up'' revival.
----
* AnythingThatMoves: Subverted. Clay claims that Timberly is willing to have sex with anybody to get ahead, but this was just her reality show persona. She's sexually fluid, but not as promiscuous as she is on the show.
* BadBadActing: Since she isn't a trained actress, Timberly is initially terrible on camera (exaggerated gestures, weird voices). She gets better after some acting tips from Reed.
* TheCharmer: Unsurprisingly for someone who got famous on reality TV, Timberly is exceedingly charming and (after she gets some acting lessons) a natural on-camera. Bree is jealous that she appears to be so popular with set visitors and fans on social media.
* {{Kayfabe}}: After [[spoiler:Bree sleeps with Timberley]], Clay and Reed become convinced that Timberley is actually manipulating her based on some things she did on the reality TV show she starred in. When Bree confronts Timberley on this, she has to tell her that everything on that show was actually fake and that the producers just told the contestants what to do. Bree promptly calls out Reed and Clay for making her look like an idiot in front of Timberley.
!!Nora
->Played by Creator/ElizaCoupe
Reed's girlfriend, a New York-based theater director.
----
* ProperlyParanoid: She frequently nags her boyfriend about the possibility of [[NewOldFlame sparks rekindling between him and his ex Bree]], which frustrates him. But she's totally right that [[spoiler:Bree is still in love with Reed]].
!!Susan
->Played by Creator/KerriKenney
Zack's mother.
----
* MyBelovedSmother: She still comes with her son to set even now that he's in his 20s; he attributes this to him being all she has left since his parents divorced.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: An overprotective mother who is frequently seen knitting.
* WomanScorned: Subverted. After hearing that she hooked up with Clay, Zack warns the latter that Susan once smashed a guy's windshield after a relationship ended badly. This makes Clay fear ending things with her. However, she is very graceful about it and even clarifies that the windshield story was a coverup -- she had [[TheImmodestOrgasm actually smashed the windshield after having an intense orgasm]].
