'Save the Date' - New Israeli series to hit screens this September

Israelis always manage to find time for fun in the face of almost every setback, and the latest escapist treat on Israeli television is Save the Date, which premieres on Keshet 12 after the news on September 2.

It’s a gossamer-light series, created by Ori Gross, about how Hadas “Dassy” Toledano (Adi Havshush), an unhappily single wedding planner – sure, you’ve seen that before but a series like this one is not striving for originality – suddenly finds herself, as the publicity materials describe the series, like Cinderella, multiplied by four.

Dassy’s problems with guys go back to high school, and now she’s 36. Describing a disastrous moment that should have been a triumph, when her dance with a cool guy at the prom ended in horrible embarrassment, she tells her therapist, “That’s what happens when Dassy gets a guy and feels pretty for a moment.”

She has been in a two-year-old relationship with Yoray (Tamir Bar), a performance artist whose specialty is provoking honest reactions from people, but he’s not interested in having children, so she has been freezing her eggs for a later date. Her mother (Orna Banai) brings her a gift of high-quality frozen sperm from a tall, European Jewish guy (Rony Herman) with a high IQ, but she is appalled.

It’s best to see the show without spoilers (although many of the spoilers are actually in the trailer), but based on the first two episodes released to the press, Dassy suddenly finds herself the object of four different men’s attention, after her grandmothers cast a helpful spell on her.

A few old friends from high school come back into her life, including the cool guy, Hen (Oshri Cohen), who briefly liked her, and Assi (Tomer Capone), her old best friend. Even Maya (Shira Naor), her mean girl-rival shows up and wants Dassy to plan her wedding.

It’s all silly and fun, with a lot of pratfalls and some satire of Tel Aviv life – like the art show by Yoray, which is only a tiny bit more absurd than many real exhibitions. There’s also a lot of classic pop music, much of it from decades ago.

THE REAL draw here is getting to watch some of Israel’s most appealing actors. Havrush has been great in the supporting cast of so many movies and series, among them Zero Motivation and Sisters, and she is more than ready for her close-up. This series wouldn’t work without her regular-girl persona and you can believe that she was an outcast in high school and that she is insecure about herself. She’s also a terrific dancer, and displays her skills several times early on, in a Dirty Dancing-inspired number and when she dances around her apartment to Tom Jones’ “Sex Bomb.”

The cast will also include Tomer Capone of The Boys

Hen, the nerdy friend she took for granted in high school who is now a huge success (this is reminiscent of Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion and so many other movies), is played by Tomer Capone, who has become an international star in recent years in the series The Boys, and will appear in the upcoming astronaut movie Slingshot. But he has also acted in Israel, and appeared in Fauda and, memorably, as an unexpectedly sensitive stoner in One Week and a Day.

Cohen has specialized in playing hot but relatable guys for years, and has played many comic roles, including the soccer player who goes after a mobster’s girl (Gal Gadot) and is forced to falsely come out of the closet in Kicking Out Shoshana.

Bar has appeared often on Eretz Nehederet, (A Wonderful Country) including being one of the clueless pro-Hamas students, and recently had a role in the series, Berlin Blues. He is perfect in Save the Date as the narcissistic but stunning artist.

Unlike previous recent series, this was obviously filmed during the war, and when Yoray is interviewed on television, TV personality Ofira Assayag wears a yellow ribbon pin. Dassy asks her therapist whether she knows about anything that isn’t connected to the Kaplan protests, and at Yoray’s show, a man criticizes the government and Yoray leads the group in a howl.

I hope we won’t have to have more shows like this that incorporate the war into the action, but for now, those weary of the news have something to look forward to when it ends.