Apple TV+ ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ FYC event with Brie Larson draws capacity crowd to TV Academy for Sunday screening and panel

They lined up early on Sunday morning – many adorned in 1950s-style garb – to take in a screening and panel event of the acclaimed eight-part Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry.” The streamer was promoting the Emmy Awards candidacy at the TV Academy’s Wolf Theater in North Hollywood. A capacity crowd of 600 people took in an episode before witnessing a panel talk moderated by Jessica Radloff of Glamour magazine and populated by star Brie Larson (a 2016 Oscar winner for “Room” and a Golden Globe and SAG Award nominee for “Lessons”); co-stars Lewis Pullman and Aja Naomi King; executive producer/showrunner Lee Eisenberg (a seven-time Emmy nominee); and director Sarah Adina Smith (a DGA Award winner for the series earlier this year).

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Bonnie Garmus (a co-exec producer on the series), “Lessons in Chemistry” is set in the early 1950s through the early ’60s and tells the story of Elizabeth Zott (Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is hamstrung by society’s sexist limitations of the time. She’s forced to work as a lab tech while dreaming of completing her PhD to pursue a career as a chemist. Her singular focus is altered when she meets Dr. Calvin Evans (Pullman), with whom she falls in love. He becomes her champion in her work and they grow to become close colleagues and finally lovers. When he is tragically killed in an accident, Zott finds herself alone again in fighting the patriarchy as well as a single mother.

After being fired from her lab job, Zott grudgingly accepts a position hosting a TV cooking show entitled “Supper at Six.” She incorporates technical science and feminism into her on-camera recipes and becomes a national sensation in a country of overlooked and underestimated housewives. King portrays Harriet Sloane, an African American next-door neighbor who becomes an anchor for Zott. An activist, she dedicates her life to an impassioned fight against a racist bureaucracy to keep the 10 Freeway from devastating her predominantly Black neighborhood. The series also features a goldendoodle with an intense inner life named Six-Thirty.

On Sunday, once the “Lessons” screening and panel were complete, attendees were released to the historic academy campus courtyard framed by the Hall of Fame Garden. It features busts, statues and plaques honoring such television luminaries as Walt Disney, Bob Hope, Betty White, Norman Lear, Shonda Rhimes, James Garner and Carol Burnett. Those on hand could also hang with life-sized statues of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as well as “All in the Family” stars Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton and late-night legend Johnny Carson.

Those streaming out of the theater were excited to chow down on a half-dozen culinary delights either directly pulled from or inspired by the series, offered on trays by uniformed servers. It included Chicken Pot Pie, a Caramelized Onion Tart with Cashew Ricotta, the Garden Galette with Asparagus Leek Mushroom, Lasagna Cupcakes (both meat and vegan options), Grilled Cheese with French Onion Soup and Steelhead Trout on a Potato Cake with Lemon Dill Cream. It was all washed down with a cabernet, a chardonnay or a pair of choice beers.

It was, all in all, an event Elizabeth herself would surely have appreciated.

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