December 13, 2021 (2021-12-13) – April 18, 2023 (2023-04-18)
American Auto is an American television sitcom created by Justin Spitzer, that aired from December 13, 2021, to April 18, 2023, on NBC. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on January 24, 2023. In June 2023, the series was canceled after two seasons.[2]
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
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.
Pharmaceutical CEO Katherine Hastings takes over as CEO of Payne Motors after the last Payne family member to run the company retires. While testing the new self-driving Payne Ponderosa, African-American plant worker Jack is struck when the car fails to brake, and engineer Cyrus deduces the vehicle cannot properly detect dark skin. Worried that the vehicle will be perceived as "racist", Hastings assembles a team to redesign the auto, with disastrous results.
As Jack settles into his new white-collar position, Wesley views him as an errand boy and tries to assign him menial tasks. Meanwhile, a serial killer is discovered to have driven away his latest victim in a Payne Magellan, leading to unwanted press coverage akin to the OJ Simpson car chase. However, after a helicopter camera crew follows the vehicle as it drives down the highway, marketing director Sadie learns that any publicity is good publicity, as orders for Magellans start pouring in.
With little good news to share on the company's quarterly earnings call, Katherine is pressed by a caller to announce any new ideas she's introduced as the incoming CEO. Katherine learns from Cyrus that the company is close to introducing an entry-level vehicle, the Payne Pika, which they painstakingly were able to get down to a base price of $12,600. Thinking a round number is better, Katherine -- without anyone's input -- announces on the call that the Pika's base price will be $10,000. Meanwhile, Jack helps Elliot with the plant's union negotiations, where an old pal representing for the union takes advantage of Jack sharing a management secret.
The team tries to cut every corner possible to get the Payne Pika down to Katherine's desired price of $10,000, but when she takes a ride in the final product, Katherine must make a difficult decision. Meanwhile, Elliot wants to unload his troublesome dog, but the only one in the office interested is Dori, who insists Elliot pay her to take the pooch. Dori then angers Elliot by immediately putting the dog up for sale online.
The Payne executives travel to Iowa for the ribbon-cutting at Payne's new factory, which promises to revive a struggling town. But hours before the ceremony, the team learns of a highly competitive bid to host the factory -- from a Balkan nation with a reputation for human rights abuses. The executives then attempt to derail the Millbank factory plans by attempting to stoke local xenophobia and environmental concerns to allow the Balkan bid to have a chance at success. As Katherine weighs her options, Jack wrestles with the morality of the decision, Cyrus speculates in real estate, and Wesley hunts for a date. Ultimately, a coup in the Balkan nation forces the Payne executives to reroute their private plane back to Millbank and open the factory as originally planned.
Payne faces criticism for its lack of LGBT representation in its ads. Katherine orders an ad for the Payne Magellan scheduled to air in a week to be reshot with same-sex couples as a result of the backlash. Frank, a politically conservative communications employee, pushes back. Wesley shadows the director of the ad, while Sadie and Katherine directly supervise its production and attempt to ensure LGBTQ and minority representation in the ads. The team ends up constantly swapping actors in and out. Ultimately, the child actors are sent home before shooting ends due to their contracts, so the final commercial has a very dark background and has few children, giving it a very creepy tone. Katherine decides to let the ad air anyway, noting that nobody cares about ads anymore.
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 of Superstore in April 2019 and signing an overall deal with Universal Television, Spitzer went back and redeveloped the American Auto script.[27]
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.[28] On January 12, 2021, it was announced that NBC had ordered the series.[29][30][31][32] On May 12, 2022, NBC renewed the series for a second season.[33] On June 16, 2023, NBC canceled the series after two seasons.[34]
Casting
In February 2020, Deadline reported Harriet Dyer had joined the cast as Sadie[35] and later that Ana Gasteyer had also joined the cast as Katherine Hastings.[36] In March, X Mayo joined the cast as Dori.[37] 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.[38]
Broadcast
The series premiered on December 13, 2021, at 10 p.m., with two "sneak [peek] episodes"[31] and returned on January 4, 2022, in its regular time slot at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays.[32] The second season premiered on January 24, 2023, in its new time slot, 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.[39] 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 Auto's hijinks don't bode well for the future of Payne Motors, they promise a hilarious sitcom with a solid foundation."[40]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[41]
Ratings
Overall
Viewership and ratings per season of American Auto
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.[49]
Notes
^ abcdefghLive+7 ratings were unavailable, so Live+3 ratings have been used instead.
