5 Reasons to Watch the Rainn Wilson-Produced Impress Me Series

If you love all that behind-the-scenes, Hollywood stuff—especially when it involves watching the famous hit a few rough, but funny, bumps along the way—you’ll want to tune in to POP TV channel when Impress Me debuts tonight at 10:30 PM ET.

This is the same half-hour scripted comedy by writer-director Ben Shelton that made a big splash on executive producer Rainn Wilson’s Soul Pancake channel. The six episodes that aired online will be shown on POP, followed by seven more filled with the same heart, laughs and inside jokes delivered by leads Ross Marquand (The Walking Dead, Mad Men) and Jim Meskimen (Parks and Recreation), who are supplemented by an A-list group of support and guest stars.

“This show is about more than two talented celebrity impressionists,” said Wilson of the path that “Ross” and “Jim” (now where’d they get those character names?) are hoping will lead them away from comedy and into dramatic roles. “It’s about how hard (and hilarious) it can be to follow your heart, even when the cards are stacked against you.”

Paste caught up with Ben Shelton to talk about tonight’s premiere. Here are five reasons you’ll want to watch.

1. Actor Wannabes

When Marquand and Meskimen filmed Shelton’s show FlipSide, they talked about their own Sisyphus-like struggles to move from funny guy impersonators to dramatic actors. “I kept thinking, ‘Why hasn’t anyone done a show about this?’” Shelton says. I was in awe of their sketch comedy, but wanted to do a more scripted show, and… these are struggles they deal with in their normal lives.”