Arvid and Christy spark the new season

There’s a special place in the TV universe for side characters.
From Rev. Jim in “Taxi” to Kramer in “Seinfeld” and Stuart in “Big Bang,” they give comedies big laughs. From Gabby Hayes in westerns to Buntz in “Hill Street Blues,” they give dramas extra humanity.
And on new shows this fall? There’s a good one — Christy, in CBS’ “Cupertino” — and a great one: That’s Arvid, in NBC’s “Newlyweds” (shown here, center).
Both are played by relative newcomers. Ella Stiller had one previous major role, in “The Comeback.” And Bill O’Neill, who plays Arvid?
“The audition that I had before this show was for Malnourished Guy No. 2,” he deadpanned. “A crime drama. And I got really close on that one.”
He’s exaggerating, but not by much. Some of his roles have been simply listed as “Hopeless Dude” and “Spear Shaker.”
That’s sort of what the show’s creators (Gail Lerner and Jamie Lee Curtis) had in mind for casting Arvid This isn’t a role for a familiar actor, Lerner said. “We agreed that he had to be a discovery.”
Lerner was recently fired as showrunner, replaced by Bruce Helford, the “Roseanne” and “The Drew Carey Show” producer. (Curtis stays in “Newlyweds,” playing Tim Daly’s brash ex-wife.) But by then, the Arvid character was neatly embedded.
“Television has a history of fantastic, eccentric” characters, Curtis said. They often bring the “perspective of an innocent in a very complicated world.”
That’s Arvid, whom Lerner called “the kindest character I’ve ever written.”
But where do you find a newcomer for that sort of role? Lerner says she spotted O’Neill at a sort of “clown show” at midnight.
“This is always a thing between us,” she said. “Jamie goes to bed at 7:30 and I … wander into a clown show when she’s had a half-a-night of sleep. I saw Bill O’Neill do a five-minute set and the next morning I said, ‘I found him!'”
In the pilot film, he was merely an assistant when James (Daly), a college professor, was working in Norway. By the second episode (8:30 p.m., Oct. 30), he injects himself into James’ homeland, life and marriage. (He’s shown here with Daly, right, and Tea Leoni, who are husband-and-wife on the show and in real life.)
That lets the limber O’Neill do sight gags and more. Lerner talks about his “physical virtuosity and constant invention.”
For O’Neill, it’s been abrupt.. “This is a complete whirlwind and a blessing,” he said. “And every day is really fun. And I do like the midnight shows, too; you get away with a little more than you can on network TV.”
For Stiller on “Cupertino,” the change hasn’t been as extreme.
She had already seen fame close-up. Her father is Ben Stiller, a movie star. Her mother is Christine Taylor, who’s been — among other things — Marcia Brady in two “Brady Bunch” movies and a bald bikini beauty in “Seinfeld.” The grandparents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, were a great comedy duo.
Ella Stiller, 24, played a social-media whiz in the final season of Lisa Kudrow’s “The Comeback.” Then came her “Cupertino” role as Christy Palladino, leaping from office and waitress work to key law-office duties.
“She’s super-driven,” Stiller said. “She’s fiery, She’s passionate. She’s kind of scary. She’s very smart and her whole family (provides) this awesome, working-class web of people.”
Her boss towers over her. Mike Colter, who plays him, stands 6-foot-3; Stiller is 4-11. In other ways, she’s the opposite of the suit-and-tie world. “She’s cool and she’s like Gen-Z (and) really, really cares about the firm,” Stiller said.
The fourth episode (10 p.m., Oct. 29) takes her from a nightclub to a private jet with a wavering destination. More adventures are coming up, especially with the elusive character named Bo.
Stiller is doing something neither parent has tried — a weekly drama series. “When I told them I got the part, both were like: ’20 episodes?!?'”