Adaptation of Israeli sitcom ‘Beauty and the Baker’ gets rise out of US audience

A chance meeting between an international celebrity and a working-class member of an ethnic minority proves the power of love in both the hit Israeli TV sitcom “Beauty and the Baker,” as well as its new American adaptation on ABC, “The Baker and the Beauty.”

While the Israeli series is centered around an Ashkenazi supermodel and a Yemeni Jewish baker, the American version revolves around an Australian entrepreneur and model, and a Cuban-American baker. Dean Georgaris, who developed the US series and is one of its executive producers, is delighted with audience responses as the third episode gets ready to air on April 27, at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

“It’s a tough marketplace out there, but they fell in love with the show as much as I fell in love with the original Israeli filming,” Georgaris said in a phone interview with The Times of Israel.

He credited a boost for the show when ABC re-aired the premiere immediately after the star-studded coronavirus benefit ‘One World: Together at Home’ on April 18. The premiere had previously aired on April 13.

“ABC gave us one of the best time slots on Monday night, after one of the ‘Bachelor’ finals,” Georgaris said, “and I think they believed in the show enough that they wanted to air [the premiere] twice, after the ‘One World’ concert. I’m incredibly grateful for it.”

The Israeli version, titled “Lehiyot Ita” (To Be With Her) in Hebrew, was created by Assi Azar and accumulated high ratings since it debuted in 2013. It follows supermodel Noa (Rotem Sela) and her romance with baker Amos (Aviv Alush).

Although Georgaris did not go to Israel to meet with Azar, the two have been in touch over the phone during the adaptation of the series. “We’re close friends,” Georgaris said. “He keeps promising to give me sort-of the grand tour when I come over. He’s probably the world’s greatest tour guide.”

As for the show itself, “The source material was entertaining, funny and emotional,” Georgaris said. “I watched it, and after less than 15 minutes, I already knew I wanted to take this and bring it to the [American] stage.”

Georgaris did so while working with Keshet Studios, the US-based production wing of Israel’s Keshet International. “I really like working with them,” he said, including on the Anne Heche NBC series “The Brave” in 2017-18.

Georgaris transitioned to TV from a career as a film writer and producer; his credits as an executive producer include the 2012 Academy Award-winning film “Life of Pi.” However, he said that he thinks television is “a much more natural fit for me.”

Last September, he started pitching the pilot of “The Baker and the Beauty.” He relocated the setting from Israel to the United States — specifically Miami, home to a substantial Cuban population. Although the original series explores tensions that members of the Yemeni Jewish community may feel within Israel, the American version looks at the relationship between Cuban-Americans and the wider US.

“It does not break down exactly the same way, but I think it is about as close as I could find,” Georgaris said. “It allows us to, at least, talk about two different cultures, two different approaches, within one nation.”

In the American version, Georgaris said, “there’s a lot of Spanish in the show. I think it keeps the actors authentic. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, which is great.” Characters sometimes speak in Spanish with English subtitles.

“Thankfully, ABC is supportive of that,” Georgaris said. “Sometimes in America, there’s a reticence to [do] it. But you’re going to see a lot more of it.”

The show opens with viewers meeting a young Cuban-American, Daniel Garcia (Victor Rasuk). Daniel works in his family’s bakery, run by his parents, Rafael and Mari Garcia. He’s a working-class guy who gets uncomfortable when his Latina girlfriend Vanessa (Michelle Veintimilla) takes him to a swanky restaurant for dinner.

By chance, he meets a glamorous stranger (Nathalie Kelley) during a moment away from Vanessa. Back at the table, Vanessa proposes to him. With the crowd watching and, in some cases recording with their cell phones, Daniel turns her down. He is left walking home on his own, although not for long. The glamorous stranger — who like her Israeli counterpart is named Noa — pulls up with her entourage and invites him to join them for a night on the town. He realizes that she is a celebrity, and decides to face the unknown.

“Miami is a city where I believe these two characters could meet one another,” Georgaris said.

Daniel joins Noa for some unexpected evening excitement, to the amazement of his younger siblings — aspiring DJ Mateo and high-school student Natalie.

“Our Daniel is different than the character in the Israeli format,” Georgaris said. “He’s an actor you like to see do things.” For example, at Noa’s spontaneous suggestion, he makes tasty Cuban pastries, a specialty of the family bakery. “In the Israeli format, he’s a little more lost, adrift, taking life as it comes,” Georgaris said.

“On Noa’s side,” Georgaris said, “I didn’t want to try replicating Rotem, because I felt like people had seen that character on American TV before, particularly ‘Entourage.’” He praised the performance of Dan Bucatinsky — “a terrific comedic actor and a writer himself, on ‘Scandal,’” — as Noa’s manager, Lewis, who tries to persuade Daniel that he is out of his depth with Noa.

Georgaris expanded the role of Vanessa after discussing her character with Azar.

“She was so good that I kept her alive,” he said. “Not only is Michelle so talented, but I knew people would fall in love with her character.”

That seems to be the case with American audiences and the show in general. The first episode retained over 99 percent of its viewers.

He promises more drama ahead for everyone watching, as well as an increasingly different look from the Israeli version.

“Because of all the other characters in the American version, there are different stories, sort of more complicated,” Georgaris said. “The pace of Noa’s and Daniel’s relationship is moving faster. Once we get to episode five, the shows become distant cousins.”