‘Straight Man’: Diedrich Bader, Sara Amini, Cedric Yarbrough & Suzanne Cryer Join AMC Series
14.09.2022 - 20:53
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: American Housewife alum Diedrich Bader, Sara Amini (Future Man), Cedric Yarbrough (Carol’s Second Act) and Suzanne Cryer (Silicon Valley) are set as series regulars opposite Bob Odenkirk, Mireille Enos and Olivia Scott Welch in Straight Man, AMC’s series adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel, from former The Killing writer-producer Aaron Zelman and The Office alum Paul Lieberstein.
In the dramedy, from TriStar TV, William Henry Devereaux Jr. (Odenkirk) is the unlikely and reluctant chairman of the English department in an underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. His discontent is rooted in unresolved issues with his father, a mediocre and entitled student body, and in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans.
Bader will play Tony Conigula, a philosophy professor at Railton and Hank’s closest friend. After the failure of his first marriage, Tony has fully committed to the life of a Bachelor. And it suits him. He’s a lover, not a womanizer. Generally well-liked on campus, he’s an affable, charming guy, and he takes his work as a philosopher and a professor seriously.
Amini will play Meg Quigley, an adjunct professor seeking tenure at Railton, where her mother teaches as well. She is very bright and a great teacher but hasn’t published much and has to pick up shifts at the local bar to make rent. She admires Hank, perhaps in part because he’s a better role model than her alcoholic mother. Hank also admires her, and the two have an easy, flirtatious, rapport.
Yarbrough will play Paul Rourke, a poetry professor at the college. He drives a shiny red Camaro and is on his third marriage. Or is it his fourth? All of his self-esteem comes from his perceived sexual prowess, his