In 'Uncoupled,' Neil Patrick Harris reimagines life as a single gay man in N.Y.C.
More than eight years after completing his run as the legendary straight cad Barney Stinson on CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother,” Emmy-winning actor Neil Patrick Har
More than eight years after completing his run as the legendary straight cad Barney Stinson on CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother,” Emmy-winning actor Neil Patrick Harris has returned to the sitcom format in Netflix’s “Uncoupled,” playing a gay man who is unwillingly thrust back into the New York City dating scene after being unceremoniously dumped by his partner of 17 years.
Created by Darren Star (“Sex and the City”) and Jeffrey Richman (“Frasier,” “Modern Family”), “Uncoupled” — which premieres Friday — follows Michael Lawson (Harris), a successful New York City realtor whose perfect life is thrown into disarray when his longtime partner, Colin (Tuc Watkins), unexpectedly moves out on the eve of his 50th birthday. Overnight, Michael has to contend with two nightmares: losing the man he thought was his soulmate and being forced to navigate the digital and generational gap of dating as a newly single gay man in his mid-40s.
Harris — who rose to fame as a wunderkind doctor on “Doogie Howser, M.D.” but has received critical acclaim for his dramatic roles in “Gone Girl,” “It’s a Sin” and “A Series of Unfortunate Events” — has always been open to tackling projects that vary in genre and scope. Last summer, he received a text message from his agent asking him to read a romantic comedy pilot script that Star and Richman had initially written without a particular actor in mind.
“Once we finished the pilot, we knew that Neil Patrick Harris was the only actor we wanted,” Richman wrote in an email. “He challenged us in a very positive way by asking really smart questions about [the] character and story that we had to come up with answers to. It only made the writing better.”
Having admired Star’s expansive body of work and worked with Richman on the short-lived NBC sitcom “Stark Raving Mad” at the turn of the century, Harris jumped at the chance to team up with the veteran TV writers on a modern-day show that would be filming in New York, where he lives with his husband, David Burtka, and their two young children.
Rating: 5