THE CHESAPEAKE BAY SHOW

…is a story about seven teenagers navigating high school, friendships, romance, and adolescence in the city of Davenport, Maryland, but misadventure awaits them at every corner.

SETTING

The duration of this series is set in the (fictional) city of Davenport, Maryland. Picture Pawnee, Hawkins, Arlen, Springfield, and Los Santos into one.

TITLE ORIGIN

I wanted to have a more memorable and catchier title. One of Maryland’s nicknames is The Chesapeake Bay State, as it surrounds the estuary, which lies on the Atlantic Ocean. There was no way I’d name it Davenport, but I thought to myself, what if I replaced “State” with “Show”, and the rest of history.

TONE & STYLE

The tone will satirize the coming-of-age teen shows of yesterday and today. My general consensus is “what would a teen sitcom look like done by Michael Schur?”

He’s no stranger to diverse, tight-knit ensembles of relatable, well-cast characters who find true love, learn philosophical lessons, and deal with real-life problems in the most outlandish situations, whether in the workplace or in the afterlife. I was curious to see how his approach and writing style would apply in a high school setting.

The show comps in the style of Dawson’s Creek, Parks and Rec, Never Have I Ever, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (top right), and Love, Victor.

THE CHARACTERS

FINN HAWTHORNE

• 16, handsome, charming, altruistic – equal parts Eric Forman, Seth Cohen, and Ben Wyatt.
• The de facto leader: he may not have all his priorities straight, but he’s always there for his friends and knows his way out of the tightest of jams to the best of his ability.
• Drives a Honda Odyssey.
• Loves Star Wars, UFC, The Simpsons, superhero films, and alternative rock.
• Hates his older brother Nick.
• Instagram: @greatwhitefinn

SABINA SUTHERLAND

• 16, bright, beautiful, sophisticated.
• The voice of reason: she may be a fussy, neurotic, overachieving perfectionist, but she’s modest, kind, open, warm, and down to earth.
• Has an older sister named Jeanessa.
• Her parents couldn’t decide whether to name her Jeanine or Vanessa, so they flipped a coin (which rolled under a vending machine at the hospital).
• Lives right next door to Finn. She has a crush on him since second grade, but isn’t ready to let go of their friendship.
• Instagram: @sabinaactually

LAUREN INGRAM

• 16, tough, smart, sassy, sexy, stylish, bold, fearless.
• The it-girl: she uses her looks to get what she wants and makes no apology to anyone.
• Her parents grew up in Davenport, but they moved from Indianapolis to raise their family. She met Sabina in 3rd grade and they’ve been best friends ever since.
• Likes TikTok, Doja Cat, shopping, Polaroids, lip gloss, and being a girl.
• She’s on the girls’ rowing team, but wants to be a fashion designer.
• Instagram: @2HAWT2HANDLE

BRIAN CARMICHAEL

• 16, sarcastic, cunning, witty, innovative, brash for his own good.
• The mastermind: he uses his brains to get what he wants or pin blame on others, but he’s a really good friend and the glue that holds the gang together.
• His parents died when he was six and his grandmother’s been raising him since.
• Wants to be a screenwriter.
• Said to be the “whitest black guy” due to his love of Steven Spielberg movies and alternative music.
• Instagram: @NASCARmichael

HUGO FONTÁNEZ

• 16, adventurous, reliable, energetic, super chill.
• The daredevil: he posts skating videos on YouTube and creates get-rich-quick schemes with his best friend Brian to support his family.
• Wants to get on the cover of Thrasher and compete in the X-Games.
• Loves Rick & Morty, horror comedies, video games (mostly Fortnite and GTA), energy drinks, and Taco Bell.
• Instagram: @diablopatineta

THOMAS DONAGHY

• 16, wealthy, athletic, affable but more vague than sincere.
• The rich kid: He’s the captain of the swim team and the basketball team. Despite his popularity, he struggles with anxiety and peer pressure, which makes it hard for him to embrace his softer, sensitive side.
• Dates the head cheerleader, but finds himself falling for Molly.
• Instagram: @thomasnthemachine

MOLLY JENKINS

• 15, self-assured but headstrong and reclusive.
• The new girl: Born and raised in Oakland, CA, she transfers to Davenport High for freshman year when her Navy SEAL dad got called overseas and her stepmom moved to Canada for business. She’s staying with her cousin Alex.
• She makes it no secret she wants nothing to do with Davenport, until the gang welcomes her with open arms.
• Instagram: @popamolly

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS

LUKE SCHWARTZ

• Think Ron Swanson, Stuart Bloom, Shinji Ikari, Kurtan from “This Country”, and Glenn Matthews (The Janitor from Scrubs) all in one.
• A jack-of-all-trades who helps others when he can, but is a gloomy, saturnine ambivert with a mysterious and private life.
• Only things known about him is:
• He works at a comic book store.
• He sometimes tutors students and even teaches his own class.
• He’s the object of Aileen’s affections.
• His signature exit is throwing smoke bombs to the floor and vanishes.
• Instagram: @lukefrombigplanet

AILEEN MARTINEZ

• A bright, bubbly, single cuban female.
• President of the Latinx-American Girls in Science (LAGIS) club.
• Has a crush on Luke and doesn’t try to hide it. She’s either ignored or rebuffed, but doesn’t take no for an answer.
• Likes Rosalía, Star Wars, mochaccinos, positive vibes, Star Trek, Transformers, Stranger Things, MARVEL, Harry Potter, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, and HAIM.
• Cites Lady Gaga, Millie Bobby Brown, Frances Arnold, Ana de Armas, and Bayley as her role models.
• Instagram: @norelationtobayley

LACEY MADDREY

• A vegan social worker who helps the gang in their day-to-day problems.
• An ‘80s kid who grew up on a North Carolina farm with two older siblings.
• Picks out her clothes at a thrift store.
• Engaged to a construction welder named Henning and five months pregnant.
• Hands out granola bars and plays records on a turntable (Tegan and Sara, Travis Scott, Tame Impala, MGMT, UMO, Fleetwood Mac, Beach House, Phantogram, Wolf Alice, Angel Olsen, etc.).
• Approaching her 40’s with a phenomenal optimism.

PETE HAVERFORD

• The new World History teacher at Davenport High.
• An occasional actor and comedian from New York, but took the teaching job to care for his aunt.
• He once auditioned for SNL, but lost a spot to Jason Sudeikis.
• Half-Jewish on his mother’s side.
• Sets out to become a mentor than a teacher.
• Spending his 30’s reliving his 20’s.

ALEX CATALANO

• No relation to Jordan Catalano.
• Molly’s cousin and only relative in Davenport.
• Late 20’s.
• A mall cop. Nothing glamorous, but it pays the bills.
• Bisexual.
• Loves Premier League football, microbrews, and Machine Gun Kelly.
• Really cares for his little cousin, but they have their differences, given his hours working at the mall and her building a new life alone.

MARINA PARRISH

• A skater girl with a rebellious streak.
• Like Hugo, she sees skating as her own way out of Davenport, but ends up skating into his heart.
• Also wants to compete in the X-Games.
• Lives with her older sister and single dad.
• Loves Rick & Morty, horror comedies, video games, energy drinks, and Taco Bell.
• Says Heath Ledger is the best Joker.
• Instagram: @marrispirahna

“PILOT”

Brian and Hugo organize a fundraiser event, but the tickets they need to sell get stolen beforehand; Sabina hopes Finn will ask her to the dance, until he has other plans; new girl Molly tests rich kid Thomas’ relationship with the head cheerleader.

FEATURED MUSIC:

• “Upside Down & Inside Out” by OK GO
• “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World
• Option #2: “Say It To My Face” by Meet Me @ The Altar
• Option #3: “Kill Your Heroes” by AWOLNATION
• “Velvet Light” by Jakob Ogawa
• “Falling” by HAIM
• Option #2: “Sleeping With A Friend” by Neon Trees
• “Theme From Mission: Impossible” by Lalo Schifrin
• “I’m Good (Blue)” by David Guetta & Bebe Rexha
• “love race” by Machine Gun Kelly ft. Kellin Quinn
• “Heads Will Roll” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Option #2: “When We Were Young” by Dillon Francis & Sultan + Ned Shepard feat. The Chain Gang of 1974
• “Hard Times” by Paramore
• “Forever Young” by Alphaville

SYNOPSIS

As the new school year at Davenport High approaches, students prepare for the back-to-school dance. Best friends Brian Carmichael and Hugo Fontánez start their sophomore year by selling $5 tickets to raise $5,000 for Feeding America, in partnership with guest DJ Steve Aoki, who is a family friend of Hugo. The next day, they are successful, but only come up with $1,100. And as matters worsen, the tickets get stolen less than two days before the dance, which they fear will be cancelled unless they find them. The culprit is revealed to be Spike, an old nemesis of Brian who he blames for getting expelled from their old middle school. Spike threatens to burn the tickets, but the gang stops him in time to save the tickets and the dance goes on as planned.

Meanwhile, Sabina Sutherland hopes her next-door neighbor Finn Hawthorne will ask her to the dance, but he’s already made plans to see Oppenheimer. Her best friend Lauren Ingram suggests guilting Finn into not asking her to the dance, while Brian suggests making every guy look unavailable so Sabina will have to go to the movie with Finn. Eventually, Finn apologizes to Sabina and confides he was trying to ask her to go to the movie with him. He gives his tickets away and takes Sabina to the dance.

Elsewhere, Thomas Donaghy is a rich, popular athlete on top of the world, but finds it impossible to keep up with his new girlfriend, head cheerleader Abbi dePaola. After a session with social worker Lacey Maddrey, he meets Molly Jenkins, a shy freshman. On the night of the dance, Abbi stands up Thomas, who runs into Molly again. They eventually skip the dance to know each other.

In the end, it is revealed Finn gave his tickets to outcasts Luke Schwartz and Aileen Gomez, who attempted to ask Luke to the dance earlier in the episode.

FUTURE EPISODES

• “Science Fair”
• Brian and Hugo struggle to come up with ideas for the school’s science fair; Sabina and Lauren help Molly adjust to life in Davenport; Finn auditions to be the new guitarist in a band.
• “Finn & Audrey”
• Finn dates a wild child from Sabina and Lauren’s past; Brian, Hugo, and Thomas help each other pass respective classes.
• “The Substitute”
• Brian gets off on the wrong foot with the new substitute teacher; Luke takes the girls under his wing.

• “Party Over… Where?”
• The gang gets a look into the future when they get lost searching for a party hosted by Abbi and end up at another one thrown by college students.
• “Spirit Week”
• Brian and Molly bond over their hatred of Spirit Week; Lauren sets up Sabina on a blind date; Finn dreads his brother’s visit.
• “The Mall”
• The gang hits up the mall; Brian and Hugo try to meet girls; Lauren and Molly spend the day together; Thomas evaluates his relationship with Abbi.

SERIES OVERVIEW

In the event this gets picked up, I want to tell this story in 7 seasons and 125 episodes.

• In season 1 (11), when we first meet the characters, they’re at the start of sophomore year. We started off with five members of our group, but their circle starts expanding before them.
• In season 2 (18), our unlikely heroes enter the final lap of sophomore year and head off into the first month of their first summer together as a whole.
• In season 3 (16–17), they enter junior year and hit a series of roadblocks, but work through their differences while retaining their friendships (and their sanity) before the year is out.
• In season 4 (21–22), senior year has arrived and they make their final memories on the road to graduation.
• Seasons 5 (24–25), 6 (19), and 7 (12–13) skips ahead to the future and gives us a glimpse of their mid-20s, but deep down, they’re still the same teenagers in season 1.

We’ve broken down future episodes. Now, let’s break down…

FUTURE SEASONS

SEASONS 1 & 2

Season 1 will cover the first two months of sophomore year and Molly adjusting to her new life in town.

• Thomas gets stuck in a love triangle with Abbi and Molly, the latter who meets and befriends the gang.
• Finn starts dating wild child Audrey (a former friend of Sabina and Lauren), prompting Sabina to move on and dates one of Thomas’ teammates Ricky. Audrey cheats on Finn with his older brother Nick, making him realize he’s in love with Sabina.
• Friendships threaten to implode as the gang argue over whether or not to tell Sabina that Ricky is cheating on her.

Season 2 flashes forward to the remainder of the sophomore year and their first summer as friends.

• Thomas and Molly are dating after the former breaks up with Abbi and she transfers to a boarding school in Rhode Island.
• With the principal retiring, Assistant Principal Bradley Milton threatens to take over the school, with a vengeful Spike as his number two. The gang stages a coup and gets him fired, though Spike escapes into hiding.
• Lacey and Henning start a family.
• Sabina has been selected to study abroad in Japan for two weeks, and just before she boards the plane, Finn catches up to her and they kiss.

SEASON 3

…will focus on the gang’s junior year while Molly transitions into her own sophomore year.

• Sabina returns home from Japan after two weeks of studying abroad. With summer drawing to a close, She and Finn begin dating before the start of junior year.
• Lauren quits the rowing team and joins a K-pop cover dance group.
• Thomas deals with his parents’ divorce.
• Molly’s dad and stepmom pay her a visit.
• Hugo hits it off with a fellow skater named Marina.
• Brian, working part time at an arcade, struggles with his classes and being unrequited by his new love interest Jowanna. But matters worsen when he discovers that his grandmother lied to him about his father’s death.
• An end-of-the-year field trip does not go according to plan for everybody.

SEASON 4

…will focus on the gang’s senior year with Molly in her junior year, three months after surviving the Field Trip From Hell.

• Brian is living with the Hawthornes since leaving his grandmother and starts dating new transfer student Lucy.
• Lauren adopts a rebellious goth phase that triggers her and Sabina’s first fight, but it is eventually revealed Lauren kissed Brian on the field trip and was devastated when he started dating Lucy. Sabina, though surprised, agrees not to tell anyone and they reconcile.
• Relationships blossoms, but Thomas and Molly start to fracture and they break up before senior prom.
• A senior prank gone wrong (literally) unearths a long-buried secret that threatens to cancel the cap-and-gown ceremony, but the gang solves the crime and graduate from Davenport High.

SEASON 5

…skips ahead to seven years in the future, where our characters have entered their 20s.

• Finn (a struggling musician) and Sabina (an advocate for mental health and published writer) broke up in their time at college.
• Brian has made manager at the arcade and is dating Jowanna (director of Davenport High’s athletic department), but they break up when she gets an offer to coach the Detroit Red Wings.
• Hugo is a delivery driver for Doordash, Lyft, and Weedmaps.
• Thomas is now a famous celebrity due to his appearances on American Ninja Warrior and Big Brother.
• Lauren is working at a thrift store and dates a handsome surfer named Shane, though they break up when he moves to Australia.
• Molly is a psychologist with the FBI and comes out as bisexual.
• The gang reunites for Luke and Aileen’s wedding, prompting Finn and Sabina to give their relationship another chance, which may be cut short when she gets a job offer in Seattle. Not wanting to lose her again, Finn proposes and they get married at the end of the season.

SEASON 6

…is set a month after Finn and Sabina’s wedding.

• After an impromptu honeymoon in Hawaii, they move in with Brian and Hugo.
• Lacey retires to spend more time with her family and recommends Sabina to be her replacement.
• Pete quits teaching to work for Brian at the arcade.
• Brian learns that his ex-girlfriend Lucy became a stripper.
• Thomas and his dad try to convince the NBA to expand the franchise to Davenport.
• Molly resigns from the FBI to open a private practice.
• Lauren launches her new clothing label, Ingram. After a wild night of celebrating, Shane returns to Davenport on her doorstep the next morning.

SEASON 7

…is set one minute after Shane’s return and will also be the last as our characters leave Davenport for the next chapter in their lives.

• Shane wants to get back together with Lauren, unaware she slept with Brian the night before.
• Lacey and her family move to her family farm in North Carolina.
• After winning the lottery, Pete moves to Bend, Oregon and buys The Last Blockbuster.
• Luke and Aileen become globetrotting sightseers.
• Molly moves to Tallahassee.
• Brian, Hugo, Thomas, and Lauren head to California.
• Brian in Los Angeles when an old script he submitted is now optioned as a feature film…
• …Hugo in Santa Monica to run a skate shop with Marina…
• …Thomas in Hollywood to host a revival of American Gladiators…
• …and Lauren in Venice to open her first store location after her label becomes acquired by Ralph Lauren.
• Finn and Sabina join them before starting their new lives in Chicago.

7 SEASONS. 125 EPISODES. GAME, SET, MATCH.