Overview
Maybe viewing old episodes of Aerobics Oz Style helped you stay active during 2020's first long lockdown. Perhaps you've been obsessed with the now-iconic Key & Peele aerobics meltdown sketch for years, as everyone should be. Or, you might've watched the excellent Kirsten Dunst-starring On Becoming a God in Central Florida and got bitten by the water aerobics bug. Whichever fits — or even if none of the above applies to you — leotards, exercise and all things 80s haven't been far from our screens in recent years. And, they'll feature again in a big way in Apple TV+'s new ten-part dark comedy series Physical.
Set in the decade that's always going to be synonymous with leg warmers, Physical sees Rose Byrne make the leap from hanging out with talking CGI rabbits in terrible book-to-screen adaptations to getting hooked on aerobics. She plays Sheila Rubin, a San Diego housewife with a husband that's running for California's state assembly. While playing her dutiful part as expected, she struggles with her self-image. Then, the only form of exercise that TV shows and movies seem to think that anyone did back in the 80s suddenly enters her life.
Cue a journey that brings Sheila success, and turns her into a lifestyle guru. Obviously, she won't be posting about her daily life on social media — but this show is set in the peak VHS era, so expect videotapes to play a part in the story.
Physical is set to start streaming on Friday, June 18, and will drop its first three episodes in one hit before releasing the rest weekly afterwards. Naturally, big hair and spandex abound in the just-dropped, supremely 80s trailer for the series.
Alongside Byrne, the show stars Rory Scovel (I Feel Pretty), Dierdre Friel (Second Act), Della Saba (Ralph Breaks the Internet), Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story), Paul Sparks (The Lovebirds) and Ashley Liao (Fuller House). Desperate Housewives and Suburgatory's Annie Weisman created, wrote and executive produced Physical, and serves as its showrunner, while I, Tonya's Craig Gillespie, Dead to Me's Liza Johnson and Love Life's Stephanie Laing all enjoy stints in the director's chair.
Check out the teaser trailer below:
Physical starts streaming via Apple TV+ on Friday, June 18.