Jack Hoffman (As We See It)

Jack Hoffman

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Portrayed by	Rick Glassman
Appears in	As We See It
Debut	season 1, episode 1: "Pilot"
Year	2022

Jack Hoffman is a main character in the coming-of-age comedy-drama series As we See It.

Character creation

As We See It is based on the Israeli series On the Spectrum. Creator Jason Katims has a son with Asperger's and had previously created Parenthood, a series about a family with an autistic son. Contrary to Parenthood, where the autistic character is played by a non-autistic actor, Katims wanted to cast autistic actors for the autistic roles As We See It. All autistic characters are played by autistic actors, and some autistic actors play neurotypical characters. Aside from the actors, there were also neurodivergent people among the behind-the-scenes crew, including in the writers room. Elaine Hall, an autism consultant, worked to support neurodivergent cast and crew and to answer questions from neurotypical crew. She also had a small role as the acting coach for the drama club.Shooting days were short and the set was kept as calm as one can reasonably keep a TV set.

Actor Rick Glassman is autistic.

Biography

Jack lives in an apartment with his two roommates, Violet and Harrison, who are also autistic. They've known each other since preschool.

He initially works as a programmer at a tech company, but gets fired after calling his boss an idiot. His dad has cancer and worries about making sure that Jack will be okay after his death.

Jack goes with his dad to the cancer clinic to ask questions. There, he meets nurse Ewatomi.

He thinks his dad is lying about a biopsy having come back negative so he finds Ewatomi at an arcade based on location data from a recent social media post. Though she's not allowed discuss patient information, Jack manages to figure out that his dad's cancer has spread to 14 lymph nodes. He confronts his dad about this.

At Violet's birthday party, Jack is required to bring a plus one. He asks his coworkers, but they all can't make it or don't want to come, so he asks Ewatomi. He thought the party was going to be stupid but ends up having quite a nice time with Ewatomi and the night ends with them kissing at a bus stop.

His dad asks Jack's aunt and uncle to be his guardians after he dies, after Jack accidentally tells them about the cancer. His aunt doesn't want to, she's always kept the cousins away because Jack was a challenging kid. Jack overhears this and says he doesn't need a guardian, but his dad rebukes this: dad pays his bills and drives him around after he's lost his driver's license. They end up doing edibles together.

He has a fall-out with Ewatomi because he didn't text back after their kiss. She thinks he's an asshole. Jack says that he doesn't do dates or romantic stuff, but that he also doesn't usually dance either and he did dance with her at the party. He likes her and wants to give it a try.

On a date, Ewatomi says she understands that he's on the spectrum. Jack is shocked because he hadn't considered that he might not pass as neurotypical and if she knows, who else does? She says it doesn't matter and he's his own unique person, but Jack doesn't want to be unique, he wants to be a normal guy. He comforts Harrison, though admittedly for selfish reasons (he needs to practice empathy now that he's in a relationship).

He brings Ewatomi as a +1 to the graduation party of Harrison's sister—he wants to propose to her. However, she is going back to Nigeria to take care of her sister and might not come back to the US. They do end up having sex before she leaves.

Autism

Jack says what he thinks and doesn't sugarcoat things, which can sometimes come off as rude.

Cancellation

Despite stellar ratings, As We See It was cancelled after its first season. Amazon did not provide a reason for its cancellation.

External links

• As We See It on Wikipedia
• As We See It at IMDb