Michael Starr

Michael Starr

TV

Greg Poehler on Nordic track in ‘Welcome to Sweden’

I know what you’re thinking: That Greg Poehler’s new NBC sitcom, “Welcome to Sweden,” is on the air only because his older sister — “Parks and Recreation” star (and Golden Globes co-host) Amy Poehler — appears on the show and is an executive producer.

I don’t know if that’s true, but I can tell you that it doesn’t matter: “Welcome to Sweden” is a charming new entry into the genre, and after watching the first two episodes I’ll be coming back for more.

The setup here is that successful accountant Bruce Evans (Poehler) — tired of the rat race — quits his high-paying midtown Manhattan accounting job (sister Amy plays his distracted boss) to move to Sweden. There, he’ll live with his Swedish girlfriend, Emma (Josephine Bornebusch), who’s accepted a banking job in Stockholm. What could possibly go wrong once they’re back in the Mother Country?

Greg Poehler as Bruce Evans in a scene from “Welcome to Sweden.”AP

That, in a nutshell, tells you all you need to know about the show’s thematic framework — the “fish out of water” guy trying to make a go of it with his understanding girlfriend while looking flustered and bemused, aided-and-abetted by the requisite cast of wacky characters.

Amy Poehler and her brother Greg PoehlerAP

But there’s more than meets the eye; Poehler, who resembles a younger Greg Kinnear, doesn’t overdo the “befuddled” bit and underplays the comedy. Unlike other shows where you scratch your head — “What did she ever see in him?” — you can believe that Emma (who speaks perfect English) really is in love with Bruce.

Of course nothing is simple once Bruce arrives in Sweden. For starters, the apartment he and Emma are supposed to share isn’t available yet, which means living for a while with Emma’s parents: Snarky therapist Viveka (Lena Olin) — who likes nothing about Bruce, particularly his height — and Birger (Claes Mansson), Emma’s more understanding father.

There’s also Emma’s flabby, ne’er-do-well brother, Gustav (Christopher Wagelin) — rife with Ralph Kramden-ish moneymaking schemes — and her uncle Bengt (Per Svensson), a lover of all-things American who’s learned everything he knows about the US from watching movies. (Patrick Duffy and Illeana Douglas, as Bruce’s parents, appear later in the series.)

Bornebusch, Olin, Mansson and Wagelin are all Swedish, so each episode is rife with subtitles (and, yes, they also speak in English).

I often find subtitles distracting but they work here, adding to the comedy and air of whimsy.

Poehler is treading familiar territory, which helps: He moved to Sweden after earning a law degree from Fordham and graduated from Stockholm University with a Masters degree while immersing himself in Swedish culture. (He and his Swedish wife, also a lawyer, have three kids.)

It’s nice that Will Ferrell plays (a skewed) version of himself in the second episode — he was likely corralled by his former “Saturday Night Live” cohort Amy Poehler — but “Welcome to Sweden” succeeds on its own merits.