''9JKL'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series that was created and executive produced by Dana Klein and

Mark Feuerstein Mark Feuerstein (; born June 8, 1971) is an American actor, writer, producer and director. He had an early, recurring role in several episodes of '' Caroline in the City'', playing the title character's new boyfriend, and later gained notice in a ...

, loosely based on the life of the couple, who are married in

real life Real life is a phrase used originally in literature to distinguish between the real world and fictional, virtual or idealized worlds, and in acting to distinguish between actors and the characters they portray. It has become a popular term on th ...

. The series debuted on October 2, 2017. It stars Feuerstein,

Linda Lavin Linda Lavin (born October 15, 1937) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing the title character in the sitcom ''Alice'' and for her stage performances, both on and off-Broadway. After acting as a child, Lavin joined the C ...

, David Walton, Elliott Gould, and

Liza Lapira Liza Lapira (born December 3, 1981) is an American actress. She played Kianna in the 2008 film '' 21'', Special Agent Michelle Lee in the CBS police procedural series '' NCIS'' and Ivy, Topher Brink's assistant in ''Dollhouse''. Lapira has also c ...

. On May 12, 2018, CBS cancelled the series after one season.

Premise

Josh Roberts, a divorced actor whose TV series was recently cancelled, moves back to New York City and lives in apartment 9K. His family lives in adjacent apartments: his parents live in 9J, while his brother, sister-in-law, and their newborn baby live in 9L. This unique situation prompts Josh to try and set boundaries while reconnecting with his family members. The show is loosely based on Feuerstein's experiences while shooting the USA Network series ''

Royal Pains ''Royal Pains'' (stylized ℞oyalPains) is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on the USA Network from 2009 to 2016. The series was based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies. The ca ...

''; in real life, however, Feuerstein lived with his wife, ''9JKL'' executive producer Dana Klein, while living next to his own family.

Cast

Main

as Josh Roberts * Elliott Gould as Harry Roberts *

as Judy Roberts *

as Eve Roberts * David Walton as Andrew Roberts * Albert Tsai as Ian * Matt Murray as Nick

Recurring

Tone Bell Michael Anthony Bell II (born August 10, 1983), known professionally as Tone Bell, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Early life Bell was born in Decatur, Georgia. He taught first grade before working on the production of HBO's '' War ...

as Luke

Guest stars

Robert Costanzo Robert Jason Costanzo (born October 20, 1942) is an American film, television and voice actor. He has an acting career spanning over 40 years and is often found playing surly New York City types such as crooks, low-level workers and policemen, a ...

as Massimo *

Brooke D'Orsay Brooke D'Orsay (born February 17, 1982) is a Canadian actress, best known for voicing the character of Caitlin Cooke on the Teletoon animated series ''6teen'' (2004–2010) and Brooke Mayo in the 2005 movie '' King's Ransom''. For American audie ...

as Natalie *

Paul Feig Paul Samuel Feig (; born September 17, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for directing films starring frequent collaborator Melissa McCarthy, including '' Bridesmaids'' (2011), '' The Heat'' (2013), '' Spy'' (20 ...

as himself * Phil Morris as Dr. Starnes *

Christina Pickles Christina Pickles (born 17 February 1935) is a British-American actress. She is known for her role as Nurse Helen Rosenthal in the NBC medical drama '' St. Elsewhere'' (1982–1988), for which she received five nominations for the Primetime Em ...

as Lenore *

Michael Showalter Michael Showalter (born June 17, 1970) is an American comedian, actor, director, writer, and producer. He first came to recognition as a cast member on MTV's ''The State'', which aired from 1993 to 1995. He and David Wain created the ''Wet Hot ...

as Walter Michaelson *

Lois Smith Lois Arlene Smith (née Humbert; born November 3, 1930) is an American character actress whose career spans eight decades. She made her film debut in the 1955 drama film ''East of Eden (film), East of Eden'', and later played supporting roles i ...

as Wrong Nana *

Fred Willard Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film '' This Is Spinal Tap'' (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries '' W ...

as Dick *

Cheri Oteri Cheryl Ann Oteri () is an American actress and comedian. A nominee of a Primetime Emmy Award, Oteri is best known for her tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2000. Early life The daughte ...

as Patty Partridge

Episodes

Production

Development

On January 17, 2017, it was announced that CBS had given the production a pilot order as ''9J, 9K and 9L''. The episode was written and authored by

who was expected to executive produce along with Dana Klein, Aaron Kaplan, Wendi Trilling and Dana Honor. Production companies involved with the pilot include Liscolaide Productions, Trill TV,

Kapital Entertainment Kapital Entertainment is an American entertainment company founded by Aaron Kaplan in 2009. Prior to founding Kapital, Kaplan was the worldwide head of scripted television at William Morris Agency to which he joined in 1991. He exited the compan ...

, and

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...

. On May 12, 2017, CBS officially ordered the pilot to series. A few days later, it was announced that the series, now titled ''9JKL'', would premiere on October 2, 2017 and airs on Mondays at 9:30 P.M. On November 17, 2017, CBS picked up the series for a full season of 16 episodes.

Casting

In February 2017, it was announced that David Walton, Matt Murray and

had been cast in the pilot's lead roles. On March 6, 2017, it was reported that both

and Elliott Gould had also joined the pilot's main cast. On June 19, 2017, it was announced that Albert Tsai had been cast to the regular series.

Cancellation

On May 12, 2018, it was announced that CBS officially cancelled ''9JKL'', along with ''

Kevin Can Wait ''Kevin Can Wait'' is an American television sitcom starring Kevin James that aired on CBS from September 19, 2016, to May 7, 2018. The series was created by James, Rock Reuben, and Bruce Helford, and marked James' second starring role in a CBS ...

'', '' Superior Donuts'', '' Living Biblically'', and '' Me, Myself & I''. A combination of factors, including declining ratings, CBS's desire to have an ownership stake, and the network needing to clear space for three new sitcoms in the fall 2018 schedule, led to the show's demise.

Home media

The full complete series was released on DVD as for

CBS Home Entertainment CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...

on November 26, 2019.

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported an approval rating of 19% based on 16 reviews. The website’s consensus reads: " Irritatingly uninspired, ''9jkl'' leaves its talented cast out in the cold."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 37 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=6461794, title=9JKL 2010s American sitcoms 2017 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in New York City Television series about dysfunctional families Television series by Kapital Entertainment