American Auto is an American television sitcom created by Justin Spitzer that aired from December13, 2021 to April18, 2023 on NBC. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on January24, 2023. In June 2023, American Auto was canceled after two seasons.
Premise
The series follows the employees of
Detroit-based Payne Motors, and explores the company's struggles after a new CEO who knows little about cars is hired from the pharmaceutical industry.
Cast and characters
Main
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Ana Gasteyer as Katherine Hastings, Payne Motors' new CEO. Classic corporate shark who jumps from one company to another. Before that she was in a pharmacology company and often tries to make a parallel between that and car industry, but she knows nothing about cars.
-
Harriet Dyer as Sadie Ryan, Payne Motors' CCO
-
Jon Barinholtz as Wesley Payne, grandson of Payne Motors' retired CEO and brat-type who doesn't really have a job but shows at headquarters every day
-
Tye White as Jack Fordham, a former assembly-line employee brought in to help in the C-suite who is like a counselor to Hastings
-
Michael Benjamin Washington as Cyrus Knight, Payne's chief product designer
-
Humphrey Ker as Elliot Chisholm, Payne's general counsel
-
X Mayo as Dorothy "Dori" Otis, Hastings' assistant and social media addict
Recurring
-
Brad Hall as Richard, Katherine's husband and a math teacher in a primary school. He is very supportive of her job until the charity dinner.
-
Elizabeth Hinkler as Chloe
-
Matthew Moy as Dale (season 2)
Guest
Episodes
Series overview
Season 1 (2021–22)
Season 2 (2023)
Production
Development
American Auto has been in development since August 2013. TV writer
Justin Spitzer, fresh off the success of
The Office, wanted to produce a workplace comedy of his own, but would instead be set in the upper-management world. Spitzer sold his pitch to
NBC, who put the idea as a put-pilot. The script did not go forward as a pilot, and Spitzer instead went to work on
Superstore. After stepping down as showrunner in April 2019 and signing an overall deal with Universal Television, Spitzer went back and redeveloped the
American Auto script.
On January 23, 2020, it was given a pilot order by NBC. The pilot was directed by Jeffrey Blitz and written by Spitzer who was expected to executive produce alongside Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor. Production companies involved with the series include Spitzer Holding Company, Kapital Entertainment and Universal Television.
Casting
In February 2020,
Deadline reported
Harriet Dyer had joined the cast as Sadie
and later that
Ana Gasteyer had also joined the cast as Katherine Hastings.
In March, X Mayo joined the cast as Dori.
In July,
Tye White joined the cast as Jack, Michael B. Washington joined the cast as Cyrus,
Humphrey Ker joined the cast as Elliot, and
Jon Barinholtz joined the cast as Wesley.
Broadcast
The series premiered on December 13, 2021, at 10 p.m., with two "sneak peek episodes"
and returned on January 4, 2022, in its regular time slot at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays.
The second season premiered on January 24, 2023, in its new time slot, 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.
The series finale aired on April 18, 2023.
Reception
Critical response
The review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 6.1/10, based on 11 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While
American Autos hijinks don't bode well for the future of Payne Motors, they promise a hilarious sitcom with a solid foundation."
, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Ratings
Overall
Season 1
Season 2
Accolades
The series was nominated for Best Broadcast Network Series, Comedy, and Albertina Rizzo was nominated for Best Writing in a Broadcast Network or Cable Series, Comedy for the episode "Commercial" at the 2022 Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards.
Notes
External links
