'Hit the Road': 'Seinfeld's' Costanza Turns Rock Star

Where to Watch: DirecTV and AT&T Audience Network U-verse app

Premiere: Oct. 17

Stars: Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), Amy Pietz (Caroline in the City)

Two decades after Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, 58, is back as star, co-writer and producer of Hit the Road, AT&T Audience Network's raunchy series about a dysfunctional family band in a tour van, premiering Oct. 17. He tells AARP about his Tony Award-winning musical career, his edgy comedy, and how they came together at last.

People don't realize you're more than George Costanza — you're a musical guy who won a Tony Award in a Jerome Robbins show, dueted with Angela Lansbury in Streisand's tribute to Stephen Sondheim and directed big-time musicals.

I started out on Broadway, most of my TV movies are musicals. If you're watching me in Pretty Woman or Seinfeld, you might not know it.

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Now you play Ken Swallow, bandleader of the Swallows. Is he like Costanza?

Ken's more optimistic than George. I play hapless people, so there is some similarity to George, but Hit the Road is edgier, with more adult themes. And we have rather touching and emotional moments Seinfeld would've abhorred.

How does your dad on the show compare with George Costanza's dad, Frank?

Richard Dreyfuss plays my dad, who's excessively and needlessly cruel for reasons that you'll find out. I tend to have father figures who don't think well of me. Frank Costanza has no darkness, and I cannot think of Frank Costanza as anything other than a teddy bear because I love Jerry Stiller to death. 

Did the more wholesome Partridge Family inspire you to create the Swallow family?

My creative partner Peter Tilden's told hysterical stories about his friend whose family traveled in a circus. It's a family that can't get away from each other, they don't stay anywhere long enough to develop meaningful relationships outside the family. We started talking about the Partridge Family, with the most twisted ideas because David Cassidy and Susan Dey were gloriously attractive sex symbols, and I'm sure those actors were very attracted to each other.