When you watch Max’s “Girls on the Bus” — which follows a group of women covering an election year starting with the Iowa caucuses — you may find several candidates reminiscent of real life politicians in. This is by design. The new comedy, which premieres on March 14, is partly inspired by a memoir about the 2016 election.
Specifically, it was co-created by author Amy Chozick, who chronicled her coverage of the Hillary Clinton campaign in her book Chasing Hillary: The Search for the First Female President Who Wasn't experience.
While the world of The Girl on the Bus may feel familiar, it's by no means a blow-by-blow recreation of a real election. "We knew we didn't want to relive 2016," Chozik told Screen Rant of the other producers' vision for the show. "No one wants to see this happen again."
Meet travelers
Instead, the show was inspired by a specific chapter called "The Girl on the Bus" ( a nod to the 1973 book "The Boys on the Bus," about male journalists covering the election). In the article, Jozik talks about the awkward behind-the-scenes details of riding between campaign stops with her fellow journalists, or "travelers."
Chozik writes that the women might not have become friends without their shared, unusual experiences. But the bus era made reporters a "loud, high-strung family."
The Max collection also reflects the changes in the political and media landscape since the 2016 election. For example, co-creator Julie Plec told Screen Rant that the character Lola was born from the idea of a modern activist-turned-influencer who took an unconventional path to journalism.
Different types of politics series
While it may seem stressful to watch a show about an election year during an actual election year, Christina Elmore (who plays conservative cable reporter Kimberlin) told UPI that " The Girl on the Bus" is more It’s more “about the connection between these characters” than anything else.
"I hope people use it to relieve the stress of watching news all day long," she added.
By shifting the focus from politics to the people covering them, Girls on the Bus naturally veers into some romantic drama. But Chozik told IndieWire there was one trope the show had to skip.
"I broke a lot of TV writers' hearts when I thought 'No one can sleep with sources to get a story! These people can't be fucked, sorry.'" she said, referring to the fictional female reporter who sleeps with sources and subjects A common tactic for having an affair.
