''Champaign ILL'' is an American

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

series, created by Jordan Cahan,

David Caspe David Herbert Caspe (born October 20, 1978) is an American film and television writer. As a writer-producer, he is best known for his work in television as creator of sitcoms such as ABC's '' Happy Endings'', the Showtime comedy '' Black Monday ...

, Daniel Libman, and Matthew Libman, that premiered on December 12, 2018, on

YouTube Premium YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the American video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals ...

. The series stars

Adam Pally Adam Saul Pally (born March 18, 1982) is an American comedian and actor. He first earned recognition for starring as Max Blum in '' Happy Endings'', as Dr. Peter Prentice in ''The Mindy Project'', as Wade Whipple in ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' (202 ...

and Sam Richardson and is executive produced by Cahan, Caspe, the Libmans, and

Jamie Tarses Sara James Tarses (March 16, 1964 – February 1, 2021) was an American television producer and television studio executive. She was the president of ABC Entertainment from 1996 to 1999, the first woman and one of the youngest people to hold suc ...

. On April 10, 2019,

canceled the series.

Premise

''Champaign ILL'' is described as examining how "every rapper has a crew he can't live without...and vice versa" and exploring "how long the crew can survive without being in the limelight."

Cast and characters

Main

as Ronnie * Sam Richardson as Alf

Recurring

Keith David Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' The Thing'' (1982), ''Pla ...

as Lafonso *

Allyce Beasley Allyce Beasley ( Tannenberg; born July 6, 1951) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as rhyming, love-struck receptionist Agnes DiPesto in the television series '' Moonlighting''. From 2001 to 2007, she was the announcer on Pla ...

as Agnes *

Curtis Armstrong Curtis Johnathan Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Booger in the '' Revenge of the Nerds'' films, Herbert Viola on the TV series '' Moonlighting'', Miles Dalby in the film '' Risky ...

as Bert * Sabrina Revelle as Courtney *

Danielle Schneider Danielle Caroline Schneider (born January 1, 1975) is an American actress, writer, and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She co-created and starred in the Hulu reality TV parody series '' The Hotwives'' and curren ...

as Shayna *

Jay Pharoah Jared Antonio Farrow (born October 14, 1987), better known by his stage name Jay Pharoah, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2010 to 2016. In 2015, he was ...

as Lou *

Neil Casey Neil Casey (born July 28, 1981) is an American actor, writer, and comedian. Casey served as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2013, and the Comedy Central series '' Inside Amy Schumer'' in 2014, receiv ...

as Craig *

Rich Sommer Rich Sommer (born February 2, 1978) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Harry Crane on the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015) for which he earned two Screen Actors Guild Awards along with the ensemble cast. He is also ...

as Zack Chevalier * Rhonda Dents as Lou's Mom *

Adriyan Rae Adriyan Rae is an American actress known for her role as Elida in the short-lived Syfy drama '' Vagrant Queen'' and as Gianna Mackey in the NBC drama '' Chicago Fire''. Early life and education Rae was born on October 7, 1994, in Seaford, Delaw ...

as Tasha

Guest

Thomas Barbusca Thomas Barbusca (born March 3, 2003) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Chip Pemberton, one of the three kids on the television sitcom '' The Mick''. He also starred in the film '' Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life'' and ...

as Cade ("Supreme Brick") * Matt Walsh as Lester Noyce ("Cherry Vintage Rascal") * Drew Scheid as Wallach ("Supreme Brick")

Episodes

Production

Development

On April 30, 2018, it was announced that YouTube had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Executive producers include David Caspe, Daniel Libman, Matthew Libman, Jordan Cahan, and Jamie Tarses. Caspe, the Libmans, and Cahan are also expected to write for the series. Maurice “Mo” Marable will direct the pilot and serve as co-executive producer. Ian Durney will serve as an associate producer. Production companies involved with the series include

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...

. On November 8, 2018, it was announced that the series had been titled ''Champaign ILL'' and that it would premiere on December 12, 2018.

Casting

Alongside the initial series announcement, it was confirmed that

and Sam Richardson would star in the series and that

had been cast in a key recurring role. On June 14, 2018, it was announced that

, Sabrina Revelle,

, and Adriyan Rae had been cast in recurring roles and that

would make a guest appearance.

Filming

Principal photography for the series took place in July 2018 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, with locations including

Glenwood Park Glenwood Park is a mixed-use neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, located just west of North Ormewood Park. The neighborhood is an example of New Urbanism, promoting a sense of community with w ...

and the Second Mount Vernon Baptist Church. Additional filming occurred in cities near Atlanta, including

Peachtree City Peachtree City is the largest city in Fayette County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 38,244. Peachtree City is located in southern Metro Atlanta. Golf carts are widely used in the city. Over 10,000 house ...

and Kennesaw, where shooting transpired at the local Electric Cowboy nightclub. Production reportedly wrapped on July 24, 2018, in Peachtree City.

Release

On November 8, 2018, the first trailer for the series was released.

Reception

In a positive review, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' Robert Lloyd praised the show's main performances and overall tone saying "Pally and Richardson team well and keep Ronnie and Alf sufficiently sympathetic even as they are continually trying — which is, after all, the response they have been formed to elicit (as the Three Stooges before them). It puts the show on that famous fine line between stupid and clever, a line it does manage to walk with fair coordination, working both sides to good effect." In a similarly approving critique, '' Indiewire''s gave the series a "B" grade and praised the show's visual style and chemistry of the leads saying, "Best of all, the two have immediate chemistry. ''Champaign ILL'' is well edited with clever visual additions (like texting bubbles and expository inserts) that keep the momentum up, but much can be said for the two men's learned timing with each other." In a more negative evaluation, ''Decider''s Joel Keller recommended that viewers skip the series saying, "Despite having some of our favorite funny people in it and writing it, ''Champaign ILL'' just feels like it's going to be one clunky joke after another about how these two douche nozzles can't manage in the real world."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Champaign ILL 2010s American comedy television series 2018 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings American English-language television shows Television series by Sony Pictures Television YouTube Premium original series