Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A science fiction series about a starship, which includes a wisecracking pilot and a rough-and-tumble captain, ends up winning the hearts of a dedicated fanbase. That show is cancelled but manages to win cult classic status. Its cast is often well known for their roles on said show and have managed to make a living on the convention circuit. A lot of people would assume this series isFirefly, and they’d be right. But it also describesCon Man, a series that was actually created by someone who worked onFirefly.Alan TudykbasedCon Manon his real-life experiences at different conventions and managed to pull in most of his fellowFireflyalums, includingNathan Fillion, to star in the show. The resultis a hilarious web series that pokes fun at bothFireflyand the convention experience.
What Is ‘Con Man’ About?
Con Mancenters on Tudyk’s Wray Nerely, who had a key role in the short-lived but beloved science fiction seriesSpectrum. But while Wray has struggled to get roles followingSpectrum’s cancellation, his co-star Jack Moore (Fillion) saw his career take off to the point where he’s considered an A-lister. Wray attends science fiction conventions as he continues to audition for new roles. Most ofCon Man’s humorcomes from Wray’s encounters at these conventionsor his attempts to ‘level up’ his career; a voice acting role goes wrong, and he meets a woman who loves her doll a little too much. How much? She believes that the doll is arealchild.
Tudyk basedCon Manon actual encounters he had while attending conventions. “It’s the other side of conventions that fans don’t get to see. It’s the people that we’ve met along the way that are pulling the strings behind the curtain, in addition to kooky celebrities,” he toldEntertainment Weeklyback when the show was first announced. To getCon Manoff the ground, Tudyk and Fillion launched an Indiegogo campaign. That campaignreached $1 million in funding in just two days. Most of that was due to Tudyk’s fans, who he called the “heroes of the story.” In a way, he was right: without that fan support,Con Manwouldn’t have gotten off the ground.
Alan Tudyk Flexed His Comedic Muscles While Making ‘Con Man’
Con Manshows off its comedic potential in the first few minutes of its opening episode “Stalled”. Having gotten off a plane, Wray has to rush to the bathroom…but he’s stuck in a stall next to aSpectrumfan, who eagerly asks him to sign a magazine featuring Jack Moore’s face. From the exasperated look on Wray’s face, this is probably not the first time this happened, but it sets the tone for what’s to come in future episodes. It also shows off Tudyk’s creative side: in addition to starring inCon Man,he wrote and directed the entire series. Tudyk shows a gift for comedic timing, knowing when to give Wray a smidgen of hope and when to rip it away. He’s also well turned into the convention scene - a moment involving a line of fans seems to stretch into eternity. While Tudyk has shown his comedic side in current projects likeHarley QuinnorResident Alien,Con Manwas the first time they were on full display.
Tudyk also managed to get a plethora of genre actors to cameoinCon Men,and they managed to match him in comedic potential.Battlestar GalacticaalumTricia Helferplayed the aforementioned doll-obsessed woman Louise,Sean Astinplayed an extremely douchier version of himself, andMichael DornandKevin Greviouxhad a hilarious tangent about causing chaos when Wray unintentionally offends them. InCon Man’s penultimate Season 1 episode “Found and Lost”, a ‘lost episode ofSpectrumeven featuresJames GunnandCandice Patton!The best moments inCon Maninvolve Tudyk’s fellowFireflycast members, who show up in some surprising roles;Sean Mahereven plays himself in a hilarious subplot involving the dating scene. However,it’s Fillion who tends to be the standout; he retains his signature charm as Jack Moore, but also has some heartfelt moments like trying to put in a good word for Wray during aClint Eastwoodaudition. Moments like these are whenCon Manshines, as it shows that underneath all the chaos and acrimony, theSpectrumcast had an unspoken bond similar to theFireflycrew.
Con Manpremiered when “geek culture"was arguably at its peak.Star Wars: The Force AwakensandJurassic Worldwould take movie theaters by storm,DaredevilandMr. Robotbecame must-watch TV, and the convention scene was where film studios and comic publishers would flock to show off their wares. The series would move from different platforms during its two-season run. First, it was on Vimeo (back when Vimeo was doing its own on-demand programming). For Season 2,Con Manmoved to Comic-Con HQ- a VOD streaming service meant to have programming that reflected the vast amount of pop culture covered at Comic-Con. SinceCon Mandealt with convention hijinks, this made perfect sense. But Comic-Con HQonly lasted a year, forcingCon Manand other titles to move to new networks.
Enter SyFy.The genre-based network acquiredCon Manin its entirety,meaning that it would be broadcast to a wider audience. This was still in the days when streaming hadn’t become the main source to watch television, and SyFy was delivering great shows likeKilljoysandDark Matter. ProducerP.J. Haarsmawas also hopeful that this would lead to a third season, saying, “Depending on how well it does, hopefully it will be picked up for more.” Unfortunately,Con Manonly had two seasons. Now that it’s on Prime Video, fans can finally check it out — and get a good laugh in the process.
Con Manis available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
