American Auto, the coming comedy show set in the corporate and production halls of a major but fictional Detroit carmaker, Payne Motors, will run a special preview December 13 on NBC. The Peacock released this 30-second promo clip to give potential viewers a taste of what’s to come.

The clip is set in a corporate boardroom, where a group of executives gathers to ponder its first fully autonomous automobile, the Ponderosa.

“Wasn’t there a car that meant something bad in Spanish,” asks CEO Katherine Hastings in the clip.

“Quite a few of them, actually,” says a British exec in the room, listing the Nova (“doesn’t go”) and the Pajero (loosely translates as the British slang term “wanker”).

“You’d think these companies would hire at least one guy who spoke Spanish,” muses the PR exec aloud.

“Anyone here speak Spanish,” asks the CEO.

Of course, no one does. It’s a funny scene, not too camp, not too awkward, maybe even promising. But it’s only a 30-second promo. No idea if the whole show is going to be funny.

It has been in the works since getting a green light way, way back in 2013, which is ancient history in TV years. The pilot was green-lighted two years ago and shot soon after. Then the series itself was given the go-ahead for production to begin earlier this year. COVID got in the way and it’s not even very clear if there is an entire season’s worth of episodes in the can and if so, when they will be viewable on NBC. All we know is that the special preview is going to run Dec. 13.

Launching a TV show in mid-December used to be like launching in the middle of summer—it was where networks parked questionable shows in ratings doldrums when no one was watching anyway. But that kind of timing was in effect years ago when networks scrambled at the upfronts to get good titles to launch in the fall. Now, with so many media outlets going year-round, 24 hours a day, a mid-December launch does not necessarily mean a timeframe to unload turkeys.

Is American Auto a turkey so soon after Thanksgiving? We will have a much better idea Dec. 13.

Will American Auto succeed? Will you even watch? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Headshot of Mark Vaughn
Mark Vaughn
Mark Vaughn grew up in a Ford family and spent many hours holding a trouble light over a straight-six miraculously fed by a single-barrel carburetor while his father cursed Ford, all its products and everyone who ever worked there. This was his introduction to objective automotive criticism. He started writing for City News Service in Los Angeles, then moved to Europe and became editor of a car magazine called, creatively, Auto. He decided Auto should cover Formula 1, sports prototypes and touring cars—no one stopped him! From there he interviewed with Autoweek at the 1989 Frankfurt motor show and has been with us ever since.