'Welcome to Flatch' relies a lot on Minnesota jokes and actors

"Welcome to Flatch" wasn't shot or set in Minnesota. But the new Fox sitcom leans heavily on the state — and two famous former residents — for its biggest laughs.

The series, filmed in the mockumentary style adapted by "Modern Family" and "The Office," is largely seen through the eyes of a onetime Minnesota couple adjusting to their new lives in fictional Flatch, Ohio, where youngsters amuse themselves by watching the local bus run over Big Gulps and grown-ups dream of winning a skillet-tossing contest.

The Rev. Joe Binghoffer (Seann William Scott) brings the same upbeat spirit to his new church assignment that helped his former Christian boy band become an international sensation.

Cheryl Peterson (Aya Cash) brags about being a former reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In the first episode, debuting at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 17, on KMSP, Ch. 9, we learn that Binghoffer dumped her shortly after they made the move together.

Instead of returning to the Twin Cities newsroom, she decides to stick around the town and run the local paper, circulation 535 — and rising.

Both actors have plenty of Minnesota experiences to draw from. Scott grew up in Cottage Grove where his mom was heavily involved in church.

"She was very, very excited about this," said the actor best known for playing the sex-crazed Steve Stifler in the "American Pie" movies. "When I said, 'I'm playing Father Joe, she's like, 'Amen. Finally. Thank you, Jesus.'"

"I still love Minneapolis so much," Cash said during a video conference with TV critics earlier this year. "It felt so right that I got to play someone from there."

There are some good-natured jabs about Minnesota during the first seven episodes, all of which will be available for streaming on Hulu and Fox Now by the end of this week. Cash's accent veers into "Fargo" territory during a scene in which her character gets drunk.

But for once, the Twin Cities isn't treated as fly-over land. To Flatch residents, it's a cultural mecca — but not as intimidating as, say, Chicago.

"Minneapolis feels like the right size," said head writer Jenny Bicks ("Sex and the City"), who based the show on a British sitcom, "This Country." "People in Minneapolis are really thrilled to be there. But it's a smaller version of a bigger city. And that's what I loved about it. It has its own character."

But don't think for a minute that "Flatch" looks down on people from rural America, even if the town gets a little too excited about its annual Scarecrow Festival.