NBC's new quarantine comedy filmed on iPhones features Wilmington Drama League alum

When the pandemic hit, St. Mark's High School graduate Keith Powell knew he'd be spending it with his wife in their home.

He just didn't know they'd be filming a new network TV sitcom together at their kitchen table.

It's been seven years since Powell played James "Toofer" Spurlock on the iconic NBC comedy "30 Rock." And now the Wilmington Drama League alum is back on the same network, starring in "Connecting..." alongside his wife Jill Knox.

With producers helping them remotely, Powell and Knox do it all from their Los Angeles house alone due to COVID-19 safety protocols: lighting, set design and cameras, which are actually iPhones that NBC leaves at their door each day.

"The only point of contact that we ever have is with a production assistant when we leave the phone that we shot with at the front door," says Powell, who moved to California after college to follow his career.

The show, one of the first quarantine-set network comedies, follows the Zoom calls of a group of friends, which includes a married couple played by Powell and Knox. "Connecting..." made its debut last week and will air two episodes Thursday starting at 9 p.m.

FUN IN DELAWARE:A bigger room with bigger acts? The new team at The Queen is working on just that

The program shows the way our lives have changed in this newly isolated world with characters that include lonely singles, an emotionally-drained front line nurse, a father hiding from his family in a closet and a content couple (played by Powell and Knox) happily throwing themselves into recipes.

"Quarantine is super dope!" Knox exclaims at one point in the pilot as she and her husband sit for dinner. Adds Powell with chopsticks in hand, "I don't want it to end. Is that weird to say?"

The show has received mostly positive reviews, with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times calling it "Must-See TV of the moment" and even comparing the "instantly likable cast" on the "fresh, funny, fast-paced and emotionally impactful show" to that of "Friends."

If watching Zoom calls on TV after you're done with a day's worth of Zoom calls sounds exhausting, it's not. In fact, "Connecting..." is uplifting, if not only because we're finally seeing our current pandemic-effected lives represented on screen.

So how does a couple land an in-demand acting job when nearly the entire industry is on pause?

It's rooted in an award-winning 2015 web series called "Keith Broke His Leg" that Powell wrote, directed and starred in. He's been developing the series, which also features Knox, with a pair of television producers including Tracey Baird ("Flight of the Conchords," "Bored to Death").

After Baird was hired as a producer on "Connecting..." and heard they needed a couple for the new show, she knew exactly who to call.

"She was like, 'Oh my God! I know this couple and I know that they know how to shoot inside of their home," says Powell, who also founded the now-defunct Contemporary Stage Company while in Wilmington.

THAT WAS WHO? Yes, that was Jimmy Buffett at the Chesapeake Inn on Sunday

Adds Knox, "The script was comically similar to who we are as people to the point where I thought, 'If we don't get the job, it will have nothing to do with whether they think we're right for it because we're so obviously right for it.'"

If acting on a network sitcom while also being the only people on site to help with the shoot sounds like a lot of work, it is. Even so, they are happy to be working when so many others aren't.

"We are run down. Oh, boy. But with a smile," Powell says of filming, which went until 3 a.m. one night earlier this month.

Powell came to Delaware via Philadelphia, moving south to The First State in fifth grade with his family. After St. Mark's High School, he graduated from New York University and officially started his acting career before eventually moving out West.

In addition to "30 Rock," he's appeared in shows such as HBO's "The Newsroom" and the short-lived NBC series "About a Boy" over the years. More recently, he directed an episode of NBC's "Superstore" and is writing a movie for HBO Films.

During quarantine, he's also been involved in a pair of high-profile special projects: a "30 Rock" reunion in July that aired on NBC and an appearance at the official online-only Democratic National Convention after-party in support of former Vice President Joe Biden.

For Powell, "Connecting..." was unlike anything he's done before for many reasons, but especially due the head-turning speed of the project.

While it usually takes months or years for a new show to get up and running, COVID-19 changed all that if they wanted to debut in the fall.

FLASHBACK:Aubrey Plaza and John Gallagher Jr. preview Wilmington Drama League fundraiser

Powell and Knox first got the script in July and were cast two weeks later. Less than two weeks after that, they were shooting the first episode at home.

And for each of them, it brought back memories of their early years working at small theater companies where actors do just about everything to get a production off the ground.

Helping with sets and getting lighting right is all part of the DIY experience. And now Powell and Knox are doing it on a grand scale as part of a major multimillion-dollar network television show.

It's just another way that 2020 has been downright weird.

"Honestly, I think it's why I love this process so much. I get to use so many parts of my brain in a way that I did when I first started by career at Contemporary Stage. Having to wear all the hats became easier for me because of what I've done in the past," Powell says.

While his Delaware roots are helping him at work, they also come into play when it comes to social time out in Hollywood.

Powell and other Delaware acting standouts, including childhood friend Aubrey Plaza, still gather every year or two for what he calls "Delaware Night." 

"I order things like Tastykakes and Herr's Potato Chips from Amazon and all the Los Angeles people who used to live in Delaware get together," he says.

Delaware was front and center on his mind Aug. 20 when he and Knox were watching Biden on television after accepting the Democratic nomination.

CORONAVIRUS:Tracking coronavirus cases in Delaware

Biden was outside waving to the crowd on Wilmington's Riverfront near Frawley Stadium as fireworks burst above.

Powell knows that area well. Really well.

"I told Jill, 'Right over there is where I used to play pool and drink beer at Iron Hill Brewery almost every night!'''

Got a tip? Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).