David E. Kelley is something of a masochist.
For more than three decades, the TV super producer and writer has shepherded legal dramas (“The Practice,”) comedies (“Ally McBeal,”) and nail-biting mysteries (“Big Little Lies,” “The Undoing”) to the small screen, winning 11 Emmy Awards to date.
His latest is Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” (all eight episodes streaming now), which ends its limited run on Wednesday. Based on Lianne Moriarty’s 2018 novel, the drama follows a group of troubled individuals (including Melissa McCarthy and Regina Hall) who take part in a wellness treat, led by a mysterious guru (Nicole Kidman) with questionable practices.
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“There’s a line in the show, ‘People come for the suffering,’ and that’s probably applicable with me,” Kelley, 65, says on a recent Zoom call. “I read the book and I was drawn to these broken characters. That’s always appealed to me in projects, if I can explore characters that are aspirational at heart but broken in their functionality. And that’s what happened here: The more you get to know all of them, it adds up to a very affirming piece on humanity, which at my ripe old age, is also what I’m drawn to.”
“Nine Perfect” marks Kelley’s third collaboration with Kidman, after limited series “The Undoing” and two seasons of HBO’s “Big Little Lies.” (Next they will executive produce “Love and Death” for HBO Max.)
“He’s very thoughtful and incredibly bright, and just writes from the heart,” Kidman comments. “This is the man who did ‘Ally McBeal’ and all those courtroom dramas. He just knows television, but he also knows characters.”
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Question: “The Undoing” became a ratings and social media phenomenon last fall, with viewers trying to guess the killer from week to week. Its success surprised you.
David E. Kelley: I never have any sense of false confidence because every time you throw it out there, you duck for cover and hope there’s (an audience) that will support it. On “The Undoing,” I probably felt more confident because the plotting was pretty tight … and delivers with a certain propulsion I felt good about. Now “Nine Perfect Strangers,” it’s out there. It’s wild. While it may not be everyone’s cup, I was happy with the characters. I felt that if you paid attention and put in the effort, eventually they would become part of you. And you would be rewarded. But I braced for the idea that people could put this on and go, “What?”
Q:It seems that more streamers, such as Disney+ and Hulu, have recently embraced releasing episodes week to week as opposed to all at once. Is the weekly format important in building an audience for your channel?
Kelley: They both have value. We saw in “Big Little Lies,” it was actually the social media and the audience connecting with each other between episodes that caused the compounding of viewership. Same with “The Undoing”: The fact that the audience was able to be armchair sleuths and try to figure out who did what fed into the intrigue and popularity of the show. But “The Undoing” would have been just as fine on Netflix or Amazon, because that was a binge-worthy show. “Nine Perfect Strangers,” You could do it either way. While it is easy to binge watch, you can also take a step back from the screen and try to process each episode.
Q: ABC’s “Big Sky” (Season 2 premiering Sept. 30, 10 EDT/PDT) is your first network show since CBS’ “The Crazy Ones,” which was canceled in 2014 after one season. Do you think that broadcast could be your future career?
Kelley: It’s all project-driven. If I believed something was best presented on broadcast and that the network was on the creative same page as us, then I would do it. But, I’d still recommend streaming or premium cable. The majority of broadcast projects are intended to be marathons. They are commercially viable after 50 episodes. I don’t think that they can be written more than that. This series is ideal for me. It’s possible to take six, seven or eight hours and then move on to the next thing.
Q: Before you became a TV writer, you were a lawyer. What was your first encounter with the law?
Kelley: I liked law shows when I was a kid and I was fascinated with the idea of law, because it’s our best means of legislating social and moral behavior. Yet, it’s imperfect and flawed. Growing up in a sports family meant that life was all about winning and losing. Law provided this. I attended law school and enjoyed it. However, the practice of the law was much more exciting than the study. I missed writing and decided to do it for a hobby, and lo and behold, I wrote this project – a law-based story (that became 1987 film “From the Hip” – and turned into the conduit from a legal career to one of being a storyteller.
Q: You started as a writer on NBC’s “L.A. Law,” which ran from 1986-94. What was the most important lesson that Steven Bochco taught you?
Kelley: The best lesson I learned from him was respect your audience. Especially in the ’80s, there was a mentality in certain ranks of, “Dumb it down. The audience is not going to understand. Make it real simple.” Steven was just the opposite: “Those people are smarter than you give them credit for and challenge them to keep up. Don’t ever start from a place where you assume that you’re bringing a greater degree of intelligence to the project than your viewer.” And I’ve never forgotten that.
Q: Is that what you think made “The Practice” and “Ally McBeal” so successful?
Kelley:There are so many variables in the equation and the minute you think, “I’ve got the recipe now,” good luck (laughs). It’s much easier to quantify the failures, and you can see where it went wrong. The successes are much easier to quantify than the failures. You can see what went wrong and how the cast, directors and team interact. We believed in the characters. That was the common thread. Although we all knew that we could get our noses pricked, we shared a passion for this project.
Q: Your wife, Michelle Pfeiffer, just shot a new Showtime series, “The First Lady.” Have you ever thought about collaborating?
Kelley: We don’t rule it out, but I don’t advise it. It’s good that we have separate lives for work and personal reasons. But the one common denominator there is Susanne Bier, who directed “Undoing” and did “First Ladies.” I love the idea that (those) kept Susanne in the middle of our lives. Other than that, we travel in different creative orbits.
Q: Your marriage has been for close to 30 years. You also have two adult children. What is the secret to your love?
Kelley: I don’t know. My theory on success is it’s impossible to quantify. Just keep your fingers crossed and pray that you will continue doing what you are doing. 30 years have passed quickly.
