Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. Reunite for Hulu Pilot Inspired by Jim Carrey's 'The Cable Guy'

Few cult films from the mid-1990s carry quite the peculiar cultural weight of The Cable Guy — a movie so misunderstood on its initial release that it nearly derailed Jim Carrey's box-office dominance, yet one that has since earned a devoted critical reassessment as a genuinely unsettling study of loneliness and obsession. Now, nearly three decades on, that film is providing the creative DNA for a new Hulu pilot, with New Girl veterans Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. at the center of it.

A Friendship Reignited, Then Redirected

The origin story of the project is almost as serendipitous as a premise Carrey's unhinged Chip Douglas might have engineered. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Johnson and Wayans Jr. crossed paths at a party celebrating New Girl castmate Max Greenfield's wife, Tess Sanchez, and her new book — an evening at Chateau Marmont that turned into something of an impromptu pitch meeting. Johnson, sensing an opportunity, floated a loose proposition: if Wayans Jr.'s CBS sitcom Poppa's House (which he co-starred in alongside his father, Damon Wayans Sr.) didn't work out, the two should find a television vehicle together. Two days later, Wayans Jr. called with news of the show's cancellation. The deal was effectively done before an agent had been consulted.

What the Show Actually Is

The untitled pilot leans on Jim Carrey's dark comedy The Cable Guy — directed by Ben Stiller and released in 1996 — not as a source for a straight remake, but as a tonal and thematic springboard. Johnson plays Chip Douglas, an old-school cable technician who exists somewhat outside the rhythms of the modern streaming age, while Wayans Jr. takes the role of Steven Stephens, a former childhood acquaintance who calls to have his cable service restored, inadvertently reigniting a bond that Chip never let go of. Per the official logline, the series intends to explore "the darkly absurd side of modern-day male friendship" — territory that feels both faithful to the original film's unnerving undercurrents and distinctly contemporary in its satirical targets.

Johnson was candid about the team's desire to avoid simple imitation. "We didn't want to just make a remake of the movie," he explained, noting that New Girl writer and executive producer Rob Rosell was brought in to substantially reshape the material and recontextualize it for a present-day landscape defined by algorithmic content consumption. The pilot has already been shot, with both Johnson and Wayans Jr. serving as executive producers in addition to leads.

The Craft Behind the Concept

What makes the project worth watching closely is the degree to which it seems to understand why The Cable Guy resonated — and why it continues to. Carrey's performance in that film, which remains one of his most disciplined and disquieting, worked precisely because it weaponized his elastic charisma against itself, turning the warmth audiences expected into something that felt genuinely threatening. A series format allows for the kind of slow-burn tonal escalation that a feature film can only gesture at. The logline's emphasis on Chip's enthusiasm curdling into obsession suggests the creative team has absorbed that lesson. Fans curious about the broader arc of Carrey's career during this period may also find it worth revisiting his work alongside The Mask director Chuck Russell, who helped define the comedian's early-'90s persona.

New Girl Connections Linger

At the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball over the weekend — which brought all six principal New Girl cast members together — Max Greenfield made no secret of feeling a pang of envy over the reunion project. He told reporters he hoped to land a guest spot should the pilot earn a series order, musing that he might spend the evening pitching character ideas to his former co-stars. Whether Hulu moves forward remains to be seen, but the creative and personal chemistry between Johnson and Wayans Jr., evident across New Girl and their 2014 action comedy Let's Be Cops, gives the project a credible foundation from which to build.

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