Pilot Review: Welcome to Sweden

Welcome to Sweden (NBC)
Premiered July 8 at 9pm

It’s not every day you hear about a show from a country like Sweden coming over to the United States in its original form rather than as an American remake. But it’s also not often that an American actor creates a series for in English for Swedish television. Greg Poehler, brother of Amy Poehler, isn’t actually an actor, but this series is based on his life. In many ways, it’s an innovative premise, and in others, it’s completely familiar and reminiscent of what sitcoms have been like for decades. Sure, Bruce quitting his job as a talent agent to move to Sweden to be with the love of his life might be a modification of a character losing his chief executive job and moving back to his small hometown with his family, but it’s not all that different. What is supposed to be new is every trope related to Sweden, which includes broken English – though Emma’s parents speak the language much better than they let on – taking a boat to a place where you could drive, steaming together naked, and toasting “skal” over and over with plenty of alcohol. Singing at the dinner table doesn’t seem as realistic, while other parts of the show, like the critical parents unimpressed with Bruce’s life plan, are more universal. Poehler is a likeable and pitiable dweeb, while Josephine Bornebusch’s Emma has much less of a personality than her family members. It’s good to see Lena Olin in a role from her home country, though this hardly demands as much of her as her Emmy-nominated turn on “Alias” did. This show is somewhat fun fluff, but nothing more.

How will it work as a series? Bruce made it to Sweden, and once he’s able to sleep for a few hours, maybe he’ll have an easier time adjusting. If the show emphasized things like the sun never setting during the summer and other unique and distinctly Swedish cultural facets, it might prove to be more intelligent than this first installment seemed.
How long will it last? The ratings weren’t superb, but launching a show in early July isn’t exactly a great catapult to stellar viewership. As far as summer series go, this one did perform decently, and I think having Greg’s brother Amy on board as an executive producer could help given NBC’s fondness for her. That and the fact that the show has already been picked up for a second season in Sweden.

Pilot grade: D-