''The Premise'' is an American

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

television series created by B. J. Novak. It premiered on

FX on Hulu FX Networks, LLC, commonly known as FX Networks, is an American media company built around FX, FXX, and FX Movie Channel, plus their associated production company, FX Productions, and is a subsidiary of Disney General Entertainment Content, th ...

on September 16, 2021. In February 2023, the series was cancelled after one season. The series was removed from Hulu on May 26, 2023.

Synopsis

Each episode tells a single character driven story about a current world situated issue.

Episodes

Production

In July 2019, FX ordered a two-episode

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

order for an anthology created by B. J. Novak and produced by FXP. In May 2020, FX picked up the series.

Lucas Hedges Lucas Hedges (born December 12, 1996) is an American actor. A son of filmmaker Peter Hedges, he studied theater at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Hedges began his acting career with a supporting role in Wes Anderson's com ...

Kaitlyn Dever Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever (; born December 21, 1996) is an American actress, singer, musician, and songwriter. She is best known for her roles in the television series ''Justified (TV series), Justified'' (2011–2015), ''Last Man Standing (America ...

Jon Bernthal Jonathan Edward Bernthal (; born September 20, 1976) is an American actor. He came to prominence for portraying Shane Walsh on the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2010–2012; 2018), where he was a starring cast member in the f ...

, and

Boyd Holbrook Robert Boyd Holbrook (born September 1, 1981) is an American actor. He has starred in the Netflix series ''Narcos'' (2015–2016) as DEA agent Steve Murphy and '' The Sandman'' (2022–) as the Corinthian, as well as in the History miniseries ...

were cast for pilot episodes in 2019 while

Ben Platt Benjamin Schiff Platt (born September 24, 1993) is an American actor and singer. The son of film and theater producer Marc Platt (producer), Marc Platt and philanthropist Julie Platt, he began his acting career in musical theater as a child and ...

Tracee Ellis Ross Tracee Joy Silberstein (born October 29, 1972), known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the television series '' Girlfriends'' (2000–2008) and '' Black-ish'' (2014–2022) receivin ...

, and

Daniel Dae Kim Daniel Dae Kim (born August 4, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his many roles in network television and theater. In 2025, ''Time'' magazine listed him as one of the world's 100 most influential people. On television, he portray ...

, among others, were announced to be starring in the series in August 2021. During the summer

TCA TCA may refer to: Chemistry and biochemistry * Toxin complex a, an insecticidal toxin complex produced by ''Photorhabdus luminescens'' bacteria * Tricarboxylic acid cycle, an alternate name for the citric acid cycle pathway in cellular metabolism ...

press tour, Novak shed light on his efforts to cast

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-de ...

in the series and explained that they had scrapped the episode after they couldn't cast him. Music is by

Emily Bear Emily Jordan Bear (born August 30, 2001) is an American composer, pianist, songwriter and singer. After beginning to play the piano and compose music as a small child, Bear made her professional piano debut at the Ravinia Festival at the age of ...

and Brooke Blair.Coiro, Alessandra
"TV series to watch in November 2021"
, October 28, 2021 On February 15, 2023, FX on Hulu cancelled the series after one season.

Release

The series premiered on September 16, 2021, on

in the United States. Internationally, the series is available through

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

under the dedicated streaming hub

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

in select markets whereas

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

premiered the series in India on September 17, 2021.

Reception

The

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

reports a 41% approval rating with an average rating of 5.6/10, based on 17 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "A mixed bag of good intentions that ultimately falls flat, ''The Premise''s attempts to grapple with complex social issues aren't funny enough to work as satire, but lack the dramatic heft necessary to be satisfying melodrama."

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

gave the series a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on 14 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Premise, The 2020s American anthology television series 2021 American television series debuts 2021 American television series endings American English-language television shows FX on Hulu original programming