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'Benched' on USA: Funny Concept, Amazing Cast... We're In

️Maggie Furlong
️Tue Oct 28 2014

USA's Benched (premieres Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 10:30 p.m. on USA) is a really smart and clever new legal comedy. If that's not enough to sell you, you should know that it's also kind of a TV Frankenstein of some of your favorite shows and people: Eliza Coupe (sniff! Happy Endings. sniff!); Jay Harrington from the cult favorite Better Off Ted; and Oscar Nunez from a little show called The Office; and it was all created by Groundlings vets Damon Jones and Michaela Watkins (yes that Michaela Watkins, aka Jackie from ABC's canceled-too-soon Trophy Wife). Got your interest now, huh? Keep reading for our fun preview from the cast when we visited the show's LA set.

A Do-Anything Leading Lady...

"Eliza Coupe is just destroying it," Watkins says. "We really, really wanted someone who could do it all — not just a pretty person who can tell jokes. We needed someone who's so inherently funny, just funny bones. But to get someone who's as funny as her and looks like her, it's just... she's amazing."

... In a Do-Nothing World
Beyond the public defenders office, the characters all hang out at a seriously dingy bar. "This is the sh--ty bar that everybody hangs out at after work to blow off steam," Watkins says in mock tour guide style. "Eliza's character, Nina, is still living her fancy, fabulous life, and this is the horrible world she falls into, so it's a nice contrast. She really looks like a fish out of water. She's not a crusader. Her material world is on a serious decline, but her personal evolution is on an upswing."

A Trophy Wife Reunion
Watkins brought over a few writers, a sound guy, even the makeup artist from Trophy Wife — and yes, Albert Tsai (Bert!) comes to play as an at-risk kid who shadows the DAs in the first season, too — but the shows could not be more different. "That world was softer and sweeter — this is like the grubby underbelly of the world that most of us will never see in real life, hopefully, because we won't be committing crimes," Watkins says with a laugh. "Public defenders defend the city's most impoverished. We're kind of shining a light on the fact that, while some people absolutely do bad things, others are a bit targeted based on their lot in life. But for these guys, it's just an onslaught all the time — as soon as you finish one case, there are 20 more waiting for you, always."

And as Yahoo TV previously reported, there's another Trophy Wife link for Watkins: "Nat Faxon and I have a nice little history of being on each other's shows. He was Sad Steve on Trophy Wife and I did an episode of his new show Married, so he came to play here with his writing partner Jim Rash."

And Other Blasts From the Past
"Michaela and I went to high school together," Harrington tells us. "We were in a play together, but we've been wanting to work together, actually work together, forever. When this came up, I did everything I could to make it work."

"What's funny is we offered him the other leading man role [Trent, the role that Carter MacIntyre plays] and he couldn't do it because he was shooting a film in Boston. We had just hired Carter and he was like, 'My film is not gonna...' and I was like, 'You're killing me.' He said, 'But I really like that other role.' And I said, flat-out, 'But you're too good looking.' [Laughs.] Seriously if you shut your eyes he sounds like George Clooney, but then when you open your eyes you're like, 'Ooh, but it's Jay Harrington!' It's a win-win. But he made it work."

Role Reversal

With that role reversal came an interesting and unexpected shift in looks for Harrington. When he walked on set, he was not the Clooney-esque actor Better Off Ted fans all swooned over. "Isn't it great?," Harrington says with a genuine smile, modeling his character Phil's cheap suit and slightly hungover swagger. "I put on one of Ted's old suits [from Better Off Ted] and it was just too nice, too tailored, too put together. So I wrinkled up a cheap suit, made sure it didn't fit quite right, put on a Velcro watch and let some stubble grow and it's perfect for Phil." (Although Watkins quickly adds: "Yeah, but schlubby Jay Harrington is what most people will never have, even on their best day.")

Chemistry
"The chemistry between Jay and Eliza Coupe is bananas good. The last scene of the pilot... it's insane," Watkins teases. Coupe, who's no stranger to strange and sexy on-screen relationships, agrees. "Jay plays a good straight man for sure, but he's also not afraid to get weird with me. We slipped right into these characters and this world and I kind of love how completely messy it all is. I can't decide if he's the best or worst thing for her, even still, and that's the fun of it."

A Love Triangle
"There's always the guy you think you should be with because you decided it in your mind, but then you've got the one you just can't help being totally attracted to even when you're not totally sure they're right for you," Watkins says of Nina's emotional tug-of-war between her ex Trent and her new co-worker Phil. "Sometimes the person on the path of least resistance is the person who's really right for us."

Fun Supporting Characters

"Oscar Nunez from The Office is just awesome... His character is just trying to keep it together, but he usually explodes. He's like a little powder keg," Watkins teases. "My character Carlos means well, but his personal life is falling apart," Nunez adds. "Things are not going so great at home. He's one of those really impassioned lawyers who believes the work he's doing can make a difference, but it often backfires."

And Jolene Purdy, who was most recently seen on Under the Dome, is loving being the one sane person amid all the insanity at work. "She knows her stuff. They'll be talking about cases and she just has a good memory for all of that, so she often helps with the cases that are tough to crack. But she's a bit of a mystery herself... I actually don't even know if she's a lesbian or not. I think she is? [Laughs.] We'll see I guess."

Benched premieres Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 10:30 p.m. on USA.