“If I could describe Dig using three words, I would say, ‘funny,’ ‘friendship,’ and ‘dirty’ — but not in the way you think,” cracks Amy Poehler, who stars in this comedy-drama she created with Mike Schur. The pair are reuniting for the first time since they made the mockumentary sitcom Parks & Recreation which ran for seven seasons on NBC.
Their 10-episode adaptation of Kate Myers’ 2023 bestseller Excavations follows a team of four female archaeologists who spend their summer working on a dig site (thus the “dirty” part) in Greece. The series was filmed there and Los Angeles. The women discover a rare artifact that could change history as they know it. The relic is tied to an international conspiracy, and the archaeologists end up on the adventure of a lifetime.
Poehler plays the project’s lead, brilliant loner Elise. She’s joined by Dylan (Geraldine Viswanathan), returning to Greece after five years to take care of some unfinished business; privileged head preservationist Clare (Antonia Thomas); and inexperienced but passionate Patty (Fina Strazza), the undergrad assistant to British professor Neville (Hugh Laurie.)
Peacock
“I think a good comedy creates characters that make you care enough to wonder what they do on the weekend when you’re not watching them,” Poehler says. “What’s cool about Mike’s work is there’s not a reluctance to find the deep humanity in his characters, and you can feel it.”
The SNL vet teases more: “It is about the kind of crazy stuff that happens during one of these archaeological digs. You know, a dig is a really funny place where a lot of young, energetic people show up to try to find things and where some serious and professional archaeologists try to make their careers. It’s part summer camp, part mysterious uncovering of relics. We thought it would be a really good place to make jokes and create characters that you like.” Or maybe dig.
Dig, Series Premiere, Monday, November 23, Peacock