“Suits LA” went meta for its latest case, which that creator Aaron Korsh hopes will lead to more real-life Hollywood stars popping up on the NBC spinoff series.
Episode 3, titled “He Knew,” follows as Erica (Lex Scott Davis) helps “The Office” star Brian Baumgartner — a client of the firm — with his desire to seek advice on pivoting his acting career from comedy into serious dramatic roles. At the start of the episode he demands the firm set him up with a meeting with Tom Hanks, but both Erica and her assistant Leah (Alice Lee) know they could never make that happen.
Instead, Leah sets up a meeting between the actor behind Kevin Malone and Patton Oswalt, who also plays himself and comes with sage advice for the veteran comedian. The enounter was equal parts earnest and hilarious, as the two actors bickered about their standing in the entertainment business.
“The two of them were willing to make fun of themselves, so they really committed to the part,” Korsh told TheWrap. “It was great.”
Korsh said that the cameos came about as he hoped to set up “Suits LA” to comment or poke fun at Hollywood with some of its weekly cases. He teased actor Enrico Colantoni (“The English Teacher,” “Veronica Mars”) makes a similar cameo later in the season as another client.
“The dream would be that people start reaching out [to come on the show,]” he said. “When people see what it is that we’re doing, they might enjoy wanting to try it. It involves a lot of trust on an actor’s part for them to come on. But I think it’s worked out beyond my wildest dreams. I hope we can continue to do it.”
In the meantime, “Suits LA” will be welcoming original series star Gabriel Macht in next week’s new episode, kicking off a multi-episode arc for Harvey Specter.
The episode also followed as Ted’ (Stephen Amell) dealt with the latest hurdle in the big murder case of the season so far. After his client’s wife hires Stuart (Josh McDermitt) to help with her divorce proceedings, tensions reach new heights between the former partners.
Korsh said the two very different cases present the variety of cases that the new spinoff will take on throughout Season 1.
“Where the original ‘Suits’ was mainly focused on corporate law and, to some degree, the characters were like a hybrid of lawyers and investment bankers, in this case, one is criminal law and then we have the Hollywood-specific cases that allow us to have real actors playing heightened versions of themselves,” he said. “That lets us have a lot of fun at ourselves and at the entertainment business in general.”
“Suits LA” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and airs the next day on Peacock.
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