Kevin Kline Comedy ‘American Classic’ Gets MGM+ Series Order; Jon Tenney Co-Stars In Fifth Season Production

EXCLUSIVE: MGM+ has given an eight-episode series order to American Classic, a half-hour comedy starring and executive produced by Oscar winner Kevin Kline. Jon Tenney (The Closer, Scandal) co-stars in the series from co-creators Michael Hoffman (Soapdish, Restoration) and Bob Martin (The Prom, Slings and Arrows).

This marks only the second half-hour comedy series in MGM+’s history after the 2016 Graves, starring Nick Nolte, which ran for two seasons. (The linear channel and streaming service’s other half-hour original was the the 2021 dramedy Bridge and Tunnel.)

American Classic had been in the works at MGM+ for more than three years; it was announced as part of the development slate of the platform (then named Epix) on Feb. 3, 2022. Fifth Season has since come on board as studio, with Mar-Key Pictures, Likely Story, and Anonymous Content producing.

The comedy centers on Broadway star and notorious narcissist Richard Bean (Kline) who suffers a spectacular public meltdown and returns to his hometown and the family-run theater where he first became aware of his own brilliance.

When he arrives, he is shocked to discover that his father, the former artistic director, has lost a step and that the once-respected theater, now run by his brother Jon (Tenney) and his wife (now the town’s mayor) has become, by necessity, a low-rent dinner theater serving roast beef and murder mysteries. He decides to save the town, the theater, and the world by presenting a great American classic on the dinner theater stage, directed by and starring, of course, Richard Bean.

“MGM+ is television for movie lovers—classic Hollywood storytelling through a contemporary lens. American Classic, with its sophisticated wit, adult characters, and unique cast, is an exciting addition to that brand,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+. “In the capable hands of Michael Hoffman and Bob Martin, alongside stage and screen legend Kevin Kline, American Classic is a hilariously funny and deeply poignant comedy, and we can’t wait to share it with our MGM+ audience.”

Writers Hoffman, Martin, and Ellen Fairey serve as executive producers alongside Kline, Leslie Urdang, Anthony Bregman, and Miriam Mintz, David Levine and Garrett Kemble for Anonymous Content. Tenney is co-executive producer; Kevin Cotter a co-producer. The series is scheduled to go into production in 2025 in New Jersey, with Hoffman directing the pilot episode.

“The two of us have been shaped from childhood by our love of the theater and those magical creatures that inhabit it: true actors,” said Hoffman and Martin. “To get to tell a story with new friends and longtime collaborators, among them that grand man of the theater, Kevin Kline (who happens also to be one of the world’s supreme comic talents), and a story about art, community, and family… for us, that’s about as good as it gets.”

American Classic marks Kline’s second TV series starring role following Alfonso Cuarón’s recent Apple TV+ limited series The Disclaimer, which has earned him Golden Globe, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award nominations. Kline also appears in the upcoming feature A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey, directed by Kogonada and starring Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Additionally, he voices Mr. Fischoeder on the Fox animated series Bob’s Burgers and reprised the role in Bob’s Burgers: The Movie. Kline is repped by Berwick & Kovacik and UTA.

Tenney most recently did an arc on Max’s And Just Like That… He is repped by LINK Entertainment and Gersh.

Hoffman is repped by Timaeus Group and UTA. Martin is repped by Paradigm and Brian Stern of AGI Entertainment Media & Management.