Upcoming MGM+ Comedy Series ‘American Classic’ to Star Laura Linney

Erik Anderson April 15, 2025

MGM+ announced today that four-time Emmy Award winner Laura Linney (Ozark) will star alongside Kevin Kline (Disclaimer) and Jon Tenney (The Closer, Scandal) in American Classic, an upcoming half-hour comedy series from co-creators Michael Hoffman (Soapdish, Restoration, The Last Station) and Bob Martin (The Prom, Slings and Arrows).

American Classic centers on Broadway star and notorious narcissist Richard Bean (Kline), who suffers a spectacular public meltdown and returns to his hometown and the family-run theater where he first became aware of his own brilliance. When he arrives, he is shocked to discover that his father, the former artistic director, has lost a step and that the once-respected theater, now run by his brother Jon (Tenney) and his wife (Linney) has become, by necessity, a low-rent dinner theater serving roast beef and murder mysteries. He decides to save the town, the theater, and the world by presenting a great American classic on the dinner theater stage, directed by and starring, of course, Richard Bean.

Linney will play Kristen Forrest Bean, who grew up acting in the Millersburg Festival Theater founded and run by the Bean family. Kristen fell in love with Richard Bean at age 19 and ran off with him to try to make it in NY. Once there, Richard’s egotism served him better than Kristen’s quiet intensity and it was his career that took off. Kristen became increasingly frustrated and finally packed up and went home to Millersburg – Where she eventually married Richard’s younger brother, Jon, and had their daughter Miranda. As the recently appointed Mayor of Millersburg, Kristen directs her passion as well as her strong practical side toward helping to keep the family theater alive.

Linney received four Emmy Award nominations and seven SAG Award nominations for her portrayal of Wendy Byrde on Netflix’s Ozark opposite Jason Bateman and Julia Garner. She was also an executive producer and directed part of the series. She starred in and served as an executive producer for the Showtime series The Big C for four seasons, for which she won her an Emmy Awards. She won multiple award, including an Emmy, for portraying Abigail Adams in the HBO miniseries John Adams, directed by Tom Hooper. Additionally, she served as an executive producer and starred in the highly anticipated Netflix revival of Tales of the City. She also appeared as Kelsey Grammer’s final girlfriend in the last six episodes of Fraiser (another Emmy), starred in Love Letters directed by Stanley Donen, and starred opposite Joanne Woodward in Blind Spot.

In film, Linney has been nominated for three Academy Awards; Best Actress for 2001’s You Can Count on Me, Best Supporting Actress for 2005’s Kinsey and Best Actress for 2008’s The Savages.

In June 2018, Linney made her London theatre debut in Richard Eyre’s limited three-week run of My Name Is Lucy Barton, a stage play adapted from Elizabeth Strout’s novel. The show returned to the London stage in 2019 and made its Broadway debut which garnered Linney a Tony Award nomination for her performance.

The series from FIFTH SEASON, with Mar-Key Pictures, Likely Story and Anonymous Content producing, begins production in New Jersey this summer.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.