Welcome to Flatch

Welcome to Flatch is an American mockumentary sitcom that aired on Fox from March 17, 2022, to February 2, 2023. It is based on the British series This Country, which was created and written by Daisy May Cooper and her brother Charlie Cooper who also played the lead roles. The US adaptation was developed by Jenny Bicks. In May 2022, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on September 29, 2022. In October 2023, the series was canceled after two seasons.

Premise
A documentary crew sent to explore life in a small town meets the eccentric residents of Flatch, Ohio (a fictional rural community implied to be located just outside of Columbus in Franklin County).

Main

 * Holmes as Kelly Mallet
 * Sam Straley as Lloyd "Shrub" Mallet
 * Justin Linville as Mickey St. Jean
 * Taylor Ortega as Nadine Garcia-Parney
 * Krystal Smith as Mandy "Big Mandy" Matthews
 * Aya Cash as Cheryl Peterson
 * Seann William Scott as Joseph "Father Joe" Binghoffer
 * Jaime Pressly as Barb Flatch (season 2)

Recurring

 * William Tokarsky as Len
 * Desmin Borges as Jimmy Jameson
 * Jason MacDonald as Bobby Mallet
 * Erin Bowles as Beth
 * Karen Huie as June Jiang
 * Sheila M. O'Rear as Leotha St. Jean
 * Troy Hammond as Blind Billy
 * Kyle Selig as Dylan Parney
 * Derek Richardson as Lloyd Mallet (Sr.)

Crossover
Holmes and Sam Straley guest starred as Kelly and Shrub Mallet on Call Me Kat in the episode "Call Me Flatch", which premiered on April 28, 2022.

Development
On December 4, 2019, an American version of This Country was announced by Fox with Jenny Bicks and Paul Feig respectively writing and directing the pilot. On January 30, 2020, This Country was given a pilot order and on October 30, 2020, it was given a series order. The series is a co-production between Lionsgate Television, Fox Entertainment, Feigco Entertainment and BBC Studios with Jenny Bicks as writer and executive producer and Paul Feig as director and executive producer. On May 17, 2021, it was announced that the series title had been changed to Welcome to Flatch. On May 16, 2022, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a second season. On October 6, 2023, Fox canceled the series after two seasons.

Casting
On February 24, 2020, Seann William Scott was cast in a main role for the pilot. On March 4, 2020, Holmes, Sam Straley, Taylor Ortega and Krystal Smith were cast in main roles for the pilot. On July 10, 2020, Aya Cash and Justin Linville were cast in main roles for the pilot. On December 4, 2020, Desmin Borges was cast in a recurring role. On December 30, 2020, Jason MacDonald was cast in a recurring role. On August 4, 2022, Jaime Pressly joined the cast as a series regular for the second season.

Filming
Production of the pilot began in March 2020, but production was shut down after a single day of filming due to the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the footage that had been filmed, a ten-minute presentation was created and was used to sell the series to Fox and secure a series order. In December 2020, it was reported that filming had commenced on the episode order. Filming took place in North Carolina.

Release
The series premiered on March 17, 2022. The second season premiered on September 29, 2022.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 60% approval rating with an average rating of 6.5/10, based on 10 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "This Americanized reimagining of a British sitcom doesn't make the funniest of first impressions, but its small town scruff is endearing enough to merit sticking around and giving it a chance." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 58 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".