DeTour

DeTour
Promotional image for DeTour
Written by	Steve Franks
Based on	Rivers Cuomo enrolling at Harvard University after the Blue Album Tour
Produced by	Steve Franks, Chris Henze, Willie Mercer
Starring	Ben Aldridge Peter Gallagher Olivia Thirlby Alice Lee Joey Morgan Affion Crockett Logan Paul Rivers Cuomo
Production companies	Fox
Distributed by	Fox
Format	One-camera situational comedy
Genre	Comedy

DeTour is an unaired television series developed in 2014 for the Fox network. It was loosely based on the life of Rivers Cuomo. A full pilot episode was filmed and eventually leaked online.

Overview

In August of 2014, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Psych creator Steve Franks had pitched a coming-of-age story about "a 30-something rock star who, unable to rationalize his success and worried that he may not have the tools to repeat it, walks away from the spotlight at the height of his fame in an effort to rediscover the parts of his life he missed while he was busy becoming a massive success." Franks would reportedly pen the script and executive produce the show with Chris Henze (also of Psych) and Willie Mercer.

In early 2015, Cuomo told fans that an English version of the Scott & Rivers single "California" was in consideration for inclusion in the DeTour pilot.^{[citation needed]} This English version was eventually released as "California Kids", the lead track from Weezer's eponymous White Album in 2016.

In the summer of 2015, Cuomo confirmed that the show had not been picked up.

DeTour did not get picked up[...]So that whole chapter is closed. It’s weird; in music if you make an album and your label decides not to put it out, you can bring it to another label and sometimes it can be a big success. At least it gets out. In TV, I’ve learned, it’s not like that. The pilot was made, completely finished, and we can’t show it to anybody! No one will ever see it. It’s a huge waste of money.

—Rivers Cuomo, Vulture, 2015

In 2020, Cuomo confirmed that he had filmed a cameo appearance on the show as "Professor Kitts" (a nod to Peter Kitts, a name he took on in high school). Cuomo used a photo of himself dressed as his character as the cover art for the digital compilation Alone XII: The White Year. Cuomo also confirmed that the fictional band within the show was originally named after the song "Modern Dukes", but this had to be changed to "Crimson Dukes" due to a copyright dispute.

The pilot of DeTour leaked on to YouTube on June 25, 2023. The Weezer songs "Island in the Sun" and "Hash Pipe" are used in the pilot. The character of Michael also sings the song "California Kids."

Characters

• Ben Aldridge as Michael Sturges, a British musician in his thirties and frontman of popular rock band Crimson Dukes, who attends college for the first time after a period of intense writer's block.
• Peter Gallagher as Professor Zaring, as esteemed (and extremely strict) professor at Tate University whose book, The Alchemy of Discipline, inspires Michael to attend college.
• Olivia Thirlby as Gabrielle, Professor Zaring's teacher's assistant.
• Alice Lee as Annika, the resident advisor at Michael's dormitory.
• Joey Morgan as Walter, Michael's roommate, a computer hacker on the autism spectrum.
• Affion Crockett as Dominic, Michael's manager.

Rivers Cuomo makes a cameo appearance as Professor Kitts. Social media personality Logan Paul cameos as himself.

See also

• "Simple to Me"

External links

• DeTour (unaired pilot) on Internet Archive
• DeTour on IMDb