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ThoughLodge 49is technically a hangout show, that description doesnt quite do justice to what it offers.
It extends a sense of belonging for those who have always had trouble finding their niche.
It provides him acceptance in an otherwise rudderless existence.
Series creator Jim Gavin and showrunner Peter Ocko describeLodge 49as a contemporary Arthurian fable.
However, that layer of storytelling only captures a sliver ofLodge 49s unique soul.
By his own admission, Jim Gavin had many failed careers that constitute a wasteland of ones twenties.
He worked at a gas station through high school and college.
He was a sportswriter for a local paper.
He spent time in food service and temp jobs.
He was even a production assistant atJeopardy!.
When I wroteLodge 49, I was basically struggling to find teaching work, Gavin tells me.
Gavin always figured that hed eventually end up teaching high school, likely coaching a JV basketball team.
The shadow of television ultimately got in the way.
I fell into it like an idiot and Im very lucky I did.
Peter has this amazing overall view of things, like thematically and story-wise, that I lack.
Im a little better on the microscopic level.
Though confident in his own abilities, Ocko says that hes learned so much from working with Gavin.
Its a beautiful thing.
Yet,Lodge 49poses an interesting problem in a congested media landscape.
Is there an anxiety about fighting for air?
One thing Ive always been confident of is that were making our own thing, Gavin insists.
Like anyone else, I feel overwhelmed by it.
Ten years ago, this would have been put into a half-hour format, he says.
This moment allows a show likeLodge, which definitely straddles both comedy and drama, to thrive.
I would wager that it has something to do with its commitment to real-life communities and communal spaces.
But its also a place for people to connect with something magical, the potential for bigger-than-life coincidences.
(As Ocko puts it, We dont believe in an angry God.
We believe in a God with great comic timing.)
One thing that is missing in a lot of our lives is a sense of mystery, Gavin argues.
I think everything is explained in some ways.
I think there is a difference to seeing someone face to face.
In some sense, thats what makesLodge 49a fantasy.
Its no accident that its touched a nerve in people during the era of social media, Ocko argues.
Gavin populatesLodge 49with people who need that sense of community partially because theyre in dire economic straits.
No character in the series is financially secure.
Dud frequently visits a local shifty pawnbroker to hock possessions or to secure terrible loans.
Ernie struggles with being demoted at work after a lengthy sales career.
Everyone scrounges for work, often relying on the gig economy to get them through each month.
No other series on the air has so many scenes set in a temp agency.
I think Dud is such a unique character because of his attitude toward money.
If Dud had a million dollars, he wouldnt change a thing in his life.
He would probably just redistribute it.
Thats just natural to his character.
It is, on a weird, goofy level, subversive.
Its one of many waysLodge 49engages with the zeitgeist without being indebted to it.
Gavin and Ocko pride themselves on crafting the series to be somewhat timeless.
I like the idea that our show is its own reference point, Ocko says.
It could exist at different points in American history.
The series throws away more satirical insight about modern life than most other shows can muster.
You cant fight progress, he sarcastically shrugs.)
But its potent precisely becauseLodge 49incorporates it into the series infrastructure rather than putting it front and center.
For better or worse, catastrophe is timeless, Gavin argues.
I often go back to this James Joyce line, he muses.
He wrote a letter to his brother, and it said, Cruelty is weakness.
And the people who have power are cruel and weak.
I thinkLodge 49, in its own way, without talking about it, provides a repose to that.
