American Auto

American Auto is an American television sitcom created by Justin Spitzer that aired from December13, 2021 to April18, 2023 on NBC. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on January24, 2023. In June 2023, American Auto was canceled after two seasons.

Premise

The series follows the employees of Detroit-based Payne Motors, and explores the company's struggles after a new CEO who knows little about cars is hired from the pharmaceutical industry.

Cast and characters

Main

Ana Gasteyer as Katherine Hastings, Payne Motors' new CEO. Classic corporate shark who jumps from one company to another. Before that she was in a pharmacology company and often tries to make a parallel between that and car industry, but she knows nothing about cars.
Harriet Dyer as Sadie Ryan, Payne Motors' CCO
Jon Barinholtz as Wesley Payne, grandson of Payne Motors' retired CEO and brat-type who doesn't really have a job but shows at headquarters every day
Tye White as Jack Fordham, a former assembly-line employee brought in to help in the C-suite who is like a counselor to Hastings
Michael Benjamin Washington as Cyrus Knight, Payne's chief product designer
Humphrey Ker as Elliot Chisholm, Payne's general counsel
X Mayo as Dorothy "Dori" Otis, Hastings' assistant and social media addict

Recurring

Brad Hall as Richard, Katherine's husband and a math teacher in a primary school. He is very supportive of her job until the charity dinner.
Elizabeth Hinkler as Chloe
Matthew Moy as Dale

Guest

Jeff Meacham as Brent
Christopher Chen as Jin Tao-Kang, Payne Motors' CFO who dislikes Hastings and wants to leave Payne for Volkswagen
Jerry Minor as Steve
Tom McGowan as Ed
Joshua Malina as Ted
Jim O'Heir as Governor Tom Harper
Andy Daly as Frank
Matt Murray as Bennett
Lombardo Boyar as Robin
Betsy Sodaro as Alex
Martha Kelly as Barb, a desk worker who starts to stalk Hastings
Ike Barinholtz as Landon Payne, who is in politics
Ian Roberts as Charlie Altman
Jim Meskimen as Soren McGarry
Tom Bergeron as himself, roasting celebrities at the Payne charity dinner
Marc Evan Jackson as Alan Strong
Eric Stonestreet as Ian
Seth Meyers as himself
Jim Cramer as himself
Ryan Reynolds as himself
Andy Richter as himself
Ben Feldman as Chase
Gilles Marini as Jules Durand
Blaire Erskine as Christina
Kaliko Kauahi as Tammy

Production

Development

American Auto has been in development since August 2013. TV writer Justin Spitzer, fresh off the success of The Office, wanted to produce a workplace comedy of his own, but would instead be set in the upper-management world. Spitzer sold his pitch to NBC, who put the idea as a put-pilot. The script did not go forward as a pilot, and Spitzer instead went to work on Superstore. After stepping down as showrunner in April 2019 and signing an overall deal with Universal Television, Spitzer went back and redeveloped the American Auto script.
On January 23, 2020, it was given a pilot order by NBC. The pilot was directed by Jeffrey Blitz and written by Spitzer who was expected to executive produce alongside Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor. Production companies involved with the series include Spitzer Holding Company, Kapital Entertainment and Universal Television. On January 12, 2021, it was announced that NBC had ordered the series. On May 12, 2022, NBC renewed the series for a second season. On June 16, 2023, NBC canceled the series after two seasons.

Casting

In February 2020, Deadline reported Harriet Dyer had joined the cast as Sadie and later that Ana Gasteyer had also joined the cast as Katherine Hastings. In March, X Mayo joined the cast as Dori. In July, Tye White joined the cast as Jack, Michael B. Washington joined the cast as Cyrus, Humphrey Ker joined the cast as Elliot, and Jon Barinholtz joined the cast as Wesley.

Broadcast

The series premiered on December 13, 2021, at 10 p.m., with two "sneak episodes" and returned on January 4, 2022, in its regular time slot at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays. The second season premiered on January 24, 2023, in its new time slot, 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. The series finale aired on April 18, 2023.

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 6.1/10, based on 11 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "While American Autos hijinks don't bode well for the future of Payne Motors, they promise a hilarious sitcom with a solid foundation." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

The series was nominated for Best Broadcast Network Series, Comedy, and Albertina Rizzo was nominated for Best Writing in a Broadcast Network or Cable Series, Comedy for the episode "Commercial" at the 2nd [Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards|2022 Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards].