The big 'Cheese': Apple TV+ series delivers a surrealist family comedy

Ayesha Carr knew she had something great as she was writing the script for “Government Cheese.”

“This was something we took our time with,” Carr says. “It was important to get the story right and add the depth that was needed.”

According to Apple TV+, the series is a surrealist family comedy set in 1969 San Fernando Valley that tells the story of the Chambers, a quirky family pursuing lofty and seemingly impossible dreams, beautifully unfettered by the realities of the world.

David Oyelowo plays Hampton Chambers, who is released from prison and the family reunion he has waited for doesn’t go quite as planned.

Hampton’s wife Astoria, played by Simone Missick and sons Einstein, played by Evan Ellison and Harrison, played by Jahi Di’Allo Winston, have formed an unconventional family unit during his absence. His return spins their world into chaos.

Carr and Paul Hunter wrote, executive produced and are the showrunners on the series.

The series is currently streaming season one in its entirety on Apple TV+.

The ensemble cast also includes Bokeem Woodbine, Jeremy Bobb, Louis Cancelmi, Julien Heron, Djilali Rez-Kallah, Louis Ferreira, Thomas Beaudoin, Kyle Mac, John Ortiz and Adam Beach.

Oyelowo is also an executive producer and was drawn to the series because it explored Black life in the 1960s, as many of the other projects he has starred in do.

“But it’s almost always through the lens of politics or civil rights or the historical context of that,” Oyelowo says. “None of that is applicable in ‘Government Cheese.’ This is a Black family in the San Fernando Valley in 1969, but it doesn’t have an active connection to civil rights or the racial politics of the day. It’s just a family going through typical family obstacles — some of them quite fantastical but still relatable — so that’s our way into the story.”

Hunter said he found inspiration for the Chambers in his own family.

“I want to show Black characters in a very interesting way,” Hunter says. “I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and I want to represent how it was growing up. My dad had a lot of ideas for different businesses but struggled to turn them into something tangible. He always encouraged my brother and I. He was a true inspiration. My mom was a constant. She fostered us to dream beyond where we were.”

Hunter initially wrote a feature script that became the basis for a short film that he, Oyelowo and cinematographer Matthew J. Lloyd collaborated on in 2019.

That script got transformed into a 10-episode series with help from Carr.

“I was focused on the story structure and adding the layers to all of the characters,” Carr says. “The journey has been amazing, and the world is getting a chance to know the Chambers.”

Oyelowo says Hunter and Carr were the perfect pair for the series.

“Paul is very much the fantasist, the one whose imagination is bursting with possibility; and Aeysha is an incredibly talented writer with a ton of experience, but she is also someone with an acute brain when it comes to story, structure, and character,” Oyelowo says. “In many ways, Paul infuses Aeysha with all of the big thinking, and then Aeysha infuses Paul with what is needed in order to keep the story on track and the audience connected. They are a great complement to each other.”

One thing the pair immediately agreed on was that they didn’t want to rely on conventional storytelling devices.

“We wanted to find a new way to tell his story and to tell it in a way that does not feel like a typical half-hour show,” says Carr. “We decided to make mini-movies, and for none of the episodes to feel the same. It’s the same characters, but we’re starting each episode in a new, absurdist way.”

The big 'Cheese': Apple TV+ series delivers a surrealist family comedy