INTERVIEW: Cast members of ‘Red Oaks’ reflect on three seasons of laughs

Red Oaks on Amazon Prime Video ticks off a lot of crucial elements for a successful TV show: comedy, 1980s, Paul Reiser and Richard Kind.

For fans of the retro rewind show, Friday, Oct. 20 is a bittersweet day. Amazon has released the third season on its streaming platform, but unfortunately it will be the final season for the comedy series.

The show finds Welsh actor Craig Roberts playing David, a young man coming of age while working at a country club in New Jersey. The 1980s-set series also stars Reiser as Getty, Kind as Sam, Jennifer Grey as Judy, Ennis Esmer as Nash and Oliver Cooper as Wheeler. Steven Soderbergh and David Gordon Green serve as executive producers.

Recently, Hollywood Soapbox had the chance to have a rollicking interview with Reiser, Kind and Roberts about their roles, living in New Jersey and the finality of the series. Here’s that conversation:

On their feelings about the final season …

Reiser: “More of the same but with a period at the end of the sentence. One of the nice things, the advantage of knowing going into this that this would be the final season gave the writers a clear agenda. They had to decide where the characters would end up, and then they spent this season writing to it. So they really did a great job of landing these characters as far as they wanted to take them, so if you think from the beginning of season one to the end of season three, the characters really have all traveled personal distances. And to a person, each character has really taken a journey, and their lives have ended up in ways that none of us would have anticipated in the beginning of season one.”

On the changes from season one to season three …

Kind: “I think the tone of the show has remained the same, which is a tone I happen to like very much. I think there’s a purity to these people and a real sense of class and dignity, and I think it continues on even though our characters have gone in very different directions. We were talking earlier that the three of us barely interact, well, certainly Paul and I never do because our lives never interacted in the series. But even with my son [Roberts’ role], he’s off doing his own thing in the city. … I’m doing my own thing, and yet the tone that was established during the first season has remained. It’s what I love about this show, and when people watch the show, there’s a nice feeling that they get.”

Roberts: “Well, I just think the introduction of zombies really helped.”

Reiser: “Zombies?”

Kind: “What?”

Reiser: “There’s zombies in this season?”

Roberts: “Yeah.”

Reiser: “Well, that changes everything.”

On identifying with the struggles of his central character …

Roberts: “Yeah, absolutely. I’m still questioning everything, and I still don’t know what the bloody hell I’m doing with my life. I don’t think I’ll ever know, so I absolutely related to that, and the juggle of life and what’s right to do.”

On memories of living in New Jersey …

Reiser: “Richard and I, at this point in our life, have very little memory of anything, so a lot of it is all fiction. Richard, you lived in Jersey?”

Kind: “What’s really sad is that I’m familiar with a country club that’s very similar to this. …”

Reiser: “Did you work there?”

Kind: “No, no. I wasn’t allowed to work there. That was my dad’s country club. He was on the board, the whole bit. …”

Reiser: “I was never in a country club ever a day in my life. I did live in New Jersey, so I know where it is. I grew up in New York, and then I moved to New Jersey. So I have a sense of New Jersey, but I was never a country club guy.”

Kind: “I learned to hate country clubs. …”

Roberts: “And I’m from Wales.”

Reiser: “Where they play a lot of golf.”

Roberts: “They do play a lot of golf.”

On how Red Oaks compares to other TV projects …

Roberts: “I have not really done much TV, and anything I have done has been in the UK. We normally have a tea and a coffee tray whereas we just spend so much time eating [in the United States].”

Reiser: “Food is the big difference here?”

Roberts: “Very much so.”

Reiser: :You know what? That’s really true. I just shot a thing. I was in Prague for a week doing an episode of a show, and craft service, I have to say, it felt like a little bit like the Stalin era. … I couldn’t wait to get back. I said I missed American craft services. They just bring you a slab of butter and bread, and everybody just help yourself. We have such an embarrassment of riches.”

On the directors they worked with on season three …

Kind: “They’re mostly film directors, so it was very cinematic.”

Reiser: “It was very cinematic, and they each have their own style. Even though their styles differ a little bit, they all fit in the range and into the DNA of this series. What’s really sweet about this show, it really does feel like a movie. It doesn’t feel like a TV show. I think one of the appeals, if not the appeal of the show, is the characters are all very real. It’s not jokey, even though there are a lot of laughs. And there’s a lot of comedy to it. It’s a half-hour comedy. We’re never reaching for laughs. You’re laughing because you’re feeling for and recognizing these characters and what they’re going through, and it’s all very earned. All these people are going through very recognizable challenges, whether it’s family challenges, career challenges or growing-up challenges. And the writers and the creators have done a very good job of grounding it. I think that’s what is the heartbeat of the show. There’s a great warmth to the show.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Red Oaks season three is now available on Amazon Prime Video. Click here for more information.