Welcome To Sweden gets 10 more chances to humiliate Greg Poehler in Scandinavian fashion

By Erik Adams | August 5, 2014 | 8:18pm

Aux Features TV

If NBC has to program something during the summer, it might as well be a charming fish-out-of-water rom-com starring the brother of one of the network’s funniest sitcom stars, so Welcome To Sweden has been renewed for a second season. The show’s premiere made a decent showing in the ratings, but the rest of the season hasn’t been a Nielsen blockbuster for the Peacock, with its fourth and most recent episode earning a 0.7 rating among adults under 50. However, its renewal chances were helped tremendously by the fact that TV4, the Swedish network footing part of the bill for Greg Poehler’s comedic emigration, ordered 10 more Welcome To Swedens back in April.

And besides: The show has only scratched the surface when it comes to making Poehler’s Bruce feel like a stranger in the strange homeland of his true love, Emma (Josephine Bornebusch). For example, he’s only alienated one former member of ABBA—there are still three more he could accidentally insult! And what if, one time, Bruce thinks he’s lost in a bustling Stockholm market, but he’s actually back in the U.S. and just got turned around on a Saturday-afternoon visit to IKEA? And those are just the first stereotypically Swedish things that popped into my head—professional comedy writers should be able to think of at least 10 better ideas than those! (Please keep in mind that Lena Olin hasn’t made nearly enough threats on other characters’ lives, Welcome To Sweden writers.)