«Red Oaks» is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Joe Gangemi and Gregory Jacobs.
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- Red Oaks is an American comedy-drama streaming tv series.
- It was created by Joe Gangemi and Gregory Jacobs.
- The first season was released on Amazon Prime Video on October 9, 2015.
- On December 18, 2015, Amazon announced that the show would be returning for a second season in 2016.
- The second season was released on November 11, 2016.
- On January 30, 2017, Amazon announced that the series was renewed for a third season.
- The third season will be the final season.
- It was released on October 20, 2017.
- For his role as Nash, Ennis Esmer read with director David Gordon Green in both his regular voice and what The New York Times describes as “an invented accent he calls ‘Indo Middle Eastern British'”, while trying to get Green to laugh.
- Esmer used a vocal coach to improve the accent and continued using it while on the set.
- The main filming location is Edgewood Country Club in River Vale, New Jersey.
- Additional locations include Florence Park in Mamaroneck, New York, Willow Ridge Country Club in Westchester County, New York, and Paris, France.
- When co-creators Gregory Jacobs and Joe Gangemi were first pitching the show they described its tone as “Caddyshack meets The Graduate.”
- In episode 7 “The Anniversary” Wheeler and Misty go to the movies to see Aliens. This is a nod to Paul Reiser (Mr. Getty) who played Burke in the movie, Aliens.
- Red Oaks is filmed at the Edgewood Country Club in River Vale, New Jersey. The street on the other side of the main road that it’s located on is named Red Oak Drive.
- Gregory Jacobs noted, going from 10 to 6 episodes for the series-concluding season,”Enabled us to think of it more like a movie, rather than a bunch of episodic chapters.”
- In season 1, Wheeler does not know how to swim. If he wanted to continue as a Cornell student, he would have eventually needed to learn because all graduates of Cornell must pass a swim test.
- Co-creators Gregory Jacobs and Joe Gangemi concede there are several parallels between reality and the show. Both of their fathers suffered heart attacks in their 50s, as Sam does in the show’s pilot episode; Jacobs worked his way up as a P.A. at a production company and found romance along the way, as does David. Plus, “we both had Wheelers in our lives and dated Karens,” Jacobs says, referring to David’s Season 1 girlfriend. “But we quickly diverged from autobiography,” Gangemi says, “because we realized our real lives haven’t been nearly as interesting or funny.”
- Craig Roberts describes his character David,as the audience’s eyes, watching all of the idiosyncratic people coming in and out of the show.
- Paul Reiser and Richard Kind previously worked together on the sitcom Mad About You (1992).
- In Season 3, Episode 2 Jennifer Grey’s character Judy Rosen’s new car is a Pontiac Fiero. Jennifer Grey played Jeanie Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) and also drove a Fiero.
- Richard Kind, who plays David’s father, Sam, says RED OAKS has blossomed because it reflects the personal experiences of co-creators Gregory Jacobs and Joe Gangemi. “So much of it was based on so much they hold dear,” Kind says. “In the show, they are reflecting on their fathers, on the fact that they wouldn’t be who they are if they hadn’t gone through the 80s the way they did.”
- Jennifer Grey’s screen reputation was made in two films that helped define the 1980’s, Dirty Dancing, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, making her an excellent fit for Red Oaks.
- Music is a powerful vehicle for conveying emotion in Red Oaks. Given the story’s 1980s trappings, it was important to the co-creators that they not settle for obvious choices. The result is a feast of deep cuts from often-overlooked band like The Call and the Wooden tops.
- Craig Roberts is of Welsh decent, having been born in Bargoed, Wales, UK.
- There are many musical moments woven into the scripts, such as one that finds Sam doing a karaoke version of Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy.”
- The Graduate provided inspiration in casting as Craig Roberts who was best known for starring in the 2011 independent breakout Submarine.
- Craig Roberts and Gage Golightly have both previously worked with Dylan O’Brien on different projects. Roberts worked with him on the film The First Time (2012) and Golightly on the series Teen Wolf (2011).
- Red Oaks has received mostly positive reviews.
- On review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a score of 81%, an average rating of 7.8/10, based on 26 reviews. The website’s consensus reads: “Red Oaks offers an affectionate nod to 1980s sex comedies that – largely thanks to a talented ensemble cast – finds fresh humor in its familiar premise.”
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