Scroll through Zach Braff’s Twitter feed, and you will find him joining the ranks of other celebrities like Jim Carrey and Chrissy Teigen, deriding Donald Trump’s hyperbolic tweets. Scroll all the way back to March, and you will find him enthusiastically promoting Alex, Inc. , the ABC sitcom that he starred in, directed, and served as executive producer for. Co-starring Indian-American actress Tiya Sircar ( The Good Place , The Intern ), the show is based on the real-life story of Alex Blumberg, the father of two who left his job in radio to launch his own start-up — a podcast.
Unfortunately for Braff, the show — which premières in India on August 28 — was not renewed for a second season despite the actor’s optimism about its premise. “I thought the original podcast made the basis for a great TV show,” he says. “I never heard anything like it. It was raw — they were so willing to record the embarrassing moments.”
Silicon Valley aura
In the single-camera sitcom, Braff — who returns to network television after eight years (his last role was as Dr John Dorian on the hit show, Scrubs) — chronicles his journey to find venture capital funding for his start-up. At the co-working space that he has recently joined, 20-something tech enthusiasts work on prototypes for their projects (example: a baby rocker that puts your child to sleep). Alex is older, has little experience in the world of start-ups, and faces the pressure of a mortgage and a fast-dwindling budget. “I love that our story is about a guy in his late 30s,” says Sircar. “The idea is that it is never too late to go for it.”
ALEX INC - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 102 - "The Mother-in-Law"
India calling
In real life, Blumberg’s wife Nazanin is of Persian origin, but after Sircar was confirmed as the female lead, her character, Arunima ‘Rooni’ Schuman, was adapted. “The producers really wanted to tailor-make this character for me, which has never happened to me in Hollywood before,” she shares. “Rooni became Indian, more specifically, Bengali-American. I am pretty excited to be portraying a character who’s so close to who I am really in life,” says Sircar, whose own parents were interviewed by the show’s producers to ensure that Rooni’s Indian heritage was accurately portrayed.
For Braff, who has dabbled with more directorial work after Scrubs (projects include the Morgan Freeman-starrer Going in Style and Wish I Was Here ), the appeal of Alex, Inc. was its relatability. “It is a very prevalent thing in our country where individuals and families think of being their own boss,” says the actor, who has not announced any new projects since the show’s release.
Alex Inc. will première on August 28 on Comedy
