Well, it happened. The cares of life got in the way, and I've been too distracted and busy to blog for well over a month. How sad! It's been so long since I last blogged that when I started typing the Active Viewing web address into my browser today, Internet Explorer didn't offer to finish it for me.
But I'm here to tell you that starting in November, the dry spell will be over. More posts are on the way, and I'm kicking off the new month with a real doozy, so stay tuned (and put your philosophical thinking caps on). Can't wait!
In other news, Free Agents, the awful new series I predicted wouldn't last 14 episodes, hasn't even lasted five. It was canceled the first week of October after its fourth episode, and I can't say I'm surprised. May it rest in peace. Likewise, How to be a Gentleman performed so abysmally (compared to its lead-in, The Big Bang Theory) during its Thursday-night premiere that it was immediately moved to Saturdays, where it was effectively canceled after the airing of its second episode. CBS tried to make use of the seven remaining episodes by continuing to air them on Saturdays, but even that idea was nixed after one week. So goodbye, crappy comedies! I anxiously await the premiere and sudden cancellation of the other new show I dubbed as "going nowhere" -- I Hate My Teenage Daughter. It starts at the end of November.
On the flip side, the two biggest hit comedies of the pilot season are 2 Broke Girls and New Girl. Looks like funny females are “in” this year. Zooey Deschanel’s personality is even more magnetic than I anticipated in New Girl, and I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the one-month hiatus to be over already. Come on, FOX! You snatch away this little gem after whetting our appetites with only three episodes?? Bring it back!
2 Broke Girls, on the other hand, would be exactly as I pictured if only it would tone down the crudeness. Raunchy jokes are completely unnecessary when you’ve got great characters like Max and Caroline to work with. These girls are terrific together! At first I was concerned their friendship would be a carbon copy of Blair Warner and Jo Polniaczek’s in The Facts of Life, but it isn’t. It’s completely original. Max and Caroline go places Blair and Jo never did, like bargain-hunting at Goodwill and scraping money together for a cupcake business. And Max isn’t resentful of Caroline for having been rich—in fact, she’d love to be rich herself—and that’s a breath of fresh air after watching Jo get angry about Blair’s money in episode after episode of Facts of Life. All in all, 2 Broke Girls has consistently ranked first in its timeslot, and despite the crude humor, I think it’ll be around for a while.
Full-season orders are also in for Up All Night, Whitney, and Suburgatory, but it’s still too early to tell what the future holds for Man Up! and Last Man Standing, which have only been on for a few weeks. What we do know is that their ratings drop a little more every week, which doesn’t look hopeful at this point.
But I must conclude by getting something off my chest—I was wrong. (You’re shocked, I know.) Yes, I admit it, I thought Steve Carell’s departure from The Office was a sure sign of its forthcoming demise. But I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the seriessince Steve Carell left. In fact, this is the first season I’ve watched regularly. Haven’t missed an episode. The ensemble cast sustains the show quite well without Michael Scott, and making Andy Bernard the new boss has given it an interesting twist. So accept my apologies, Office fans. I wish your favorite series a long-lasting future.
You can’t judge a book by its cover, but no one ever said you can’t judge a sitcom by its trailer.
Welcome to the first annual Lineup Roundup, where I predict the staying power of the new fall comedies solely on the basis of their ads. Here’s how the game works—after viewing all the promotional materials I can find for each show, I rate the series on the following scale:
Built to Last – All the makings of a long-running hit
Shows Promise – Not a knockout, but looks funny
Mercy Vote – Probably won’t last beyond the first season
Going Nowhere – Don’t even bother. There will be no episode two.
Then I defend my rating. Quite simple, really. (I’m only hitting the major networks’ live-action shows because I don’t have cable and, well, it makes things easier.)
Remember, kids, this is just for funsies. These are predictions, not mandates. Shows evolve and improve all the time, and with TV, anything can happen. So let’s begin!
Up All Night. **Shows Promise**
A career mom, a stay-at-home dad, and an unplanned newborn who can’t stay asleep. This Lorne Michaels series takes a look at one couple’s transition from wild partiers to responsible parents. When Reagan (Christina Applegate) has to go back to work and Chris (Will Arnett) has to baby-sit solo, they soon discover that maturity is a lot harder than it looks. Maya Rudolph co-stars as Ava, Reagan’s boss and kooky best friend.
For my personal tastes, ehh, it’s all right. It looks funny. What concerns me, though, is that the entire premise, including the title, lacks foresight. Eventually these parents are going to learn to cope with their new roles, right? They can’t flounder forever. And eventually that baby’s going to be old enough to stay asleep. So, are the writers going to continually invent new reasons for the couple to be “up all night”? Will they have a new baby every season? How long can that go on? Aside from that gripe, the show’s got star power in its favor, and its single-camera, documentary-esque comedy style reminds me of Arrested Development and Modern Family. So I think it’s got a shot.
Network: NBC
Time Slot: Wednesdays at 8/7c
Premieres: Sept. 14
Free Agents. Going Nowhere
Alex (Hank Azaria) is a recent divorcé. Helen (Kathryn Hahn) is a widow. Neither of them is ready to move on. But when these two co-workers end up in bed together, suddenly Alex wants a relationship while Helen wants to be friends. Another sexual encounter later, and they’re not really sure what they are anymore.
If this show is trying to put a new spin on the “will they or won’t they” romantic tension story, it has failed. Casual sex is a poor substitute for winsome flirting, and the premise is better suited for a movie than a TV series. But my real issue with the show is the weak male hero. The previews show two clips of him crying—realistically—for laughs. I don’t know how those things even go together. A man crying just makes me sad. It doesn’t strike me as funny whatsoever. Overall, the characters seem uninteresting, and I don’t care to involve myself in their crazy lives. Thirteen episodes are already scheduled for the first season, but I do not foresee an episode fourteen.
Network: NBC
Time Slot: Wednesdays at /7:30c
Premieres: Sept. 14
2 Broke Girls. **Shows Promise**
Max (Kat Dennings) has been poor all her life, so she has very little sympathy for Caroline (Beth Behrs), a former billionaire who recently lost all her money. They work together as waitresses in a New York diner and end up roommates with only one thing in common—they’re both broke.
Okay, I’m biased. I’m a big Kat Dennings fan, and I was tempted to rate this as Built to Last because of my own wishful thinking. Then I had it at Mercy Vote for a while, but I bumped it up to Shows Promise, and here’s why. The characters are real. They’re not the well-off women of privilege you usually see on TV. They’re working women struggling to make the rent every month. The humor may be a little mediocre at times, but I find myself interested in where this friendship is going. And I think the premise has a lot of potential. Caroline and Max come from different worlds and have a lot to teach each other. I’ve heard comparisons to The Odd Couple and Laverne & Shirley, but it reminds me more of Perfect Strangers—two average Joes from different cultures, learning about each other’s way of life. 2 Broke Girls might just make it after all.
Network: CBS
Time Slot: Mondays at 8:30/7:30c
Premieres: Sept. 19
New Girl. **Shows Promise**
Zooey Deschanel (500 Days of Summer) is Jess, a girl who decides to move in with three guys from Craigslist after being dumped by her boyfriend. She’s cute and a little offbeat, and she needs serious help getting over her ex. That’s where her new roommates come in. They may not know much about living with an emotional female, but they’re ready to learn.
Deshanel has a lot of personality, sort of like Sandra Bullock. She’s the very funny girl next door. The success of this series will largely depend on the audience’s opinion of her. If you ask me, the main character is hilariously charming, and this series is going places.
Network: FOX
Time Slot: Tuesdays at 9/8c
Premieres: Sept. 20
Whitney. ***Built to Last***
Whitney’s a modern, opinionated gal living with Alex (Chris D’Elia), her boyfriend of three years. They go against convention and live life their own way. And they’d be lost without each other.
Just like New Girl, the success of this series is going to depend on the audience’s response to its star, Whitney Cummings. She’s a mixture of Rosie O’Donnell’s obnoxiousness and Lucille Ball’s screwball comedy, but… in a good way. Her gigantic personality will either charm viewers or scare them off quickly, and it’ll be interesting to see the outcome. But regardless of the star, the premise itself intrigues me. It’s ultimately an examination of social mores. The times are changing, and Whitney asks the question—what’s “traditional” anymore? One scene from the pilot shows Whitney putting on a yellow dress since “you can’t wear white to a wedding.” But when she shows up, the bride is wearing yellow, too. And she’s ticked! The show makes you question those ideas that are always taken for granted, and gives you a few laughs along the way. Cummings might have to tone down her character a smidge, but the concept has a bright future ahead.
Network: NBC
Time Slot: Thursdays at /8:30c
Premieres: Sept. 22
Suburgatory. *Mercy Vote*
Worried that his teenage daughter isn’t being brought up right, a single father (Jeremy Sisto) moves them from Manhattan to the suburbs. But it’s not the suburbs of Father Knows Best. It’s an eerily perfect place where everyone is rich, snobby, and plastic. And these city folk aren’t sure they fit in.
What I’m wondering is, what suburbs are those? Where the heck are they? I grew up in the ‘burbs, and they were nowhere near as hellish as this show portrays them to be. Okay, okay, it’s a satire, I know. Just sayin’. The show is narrated by the daughter, Tessa (Jane Levy), in such a way that reminds me of Malcolm in the Middle. I found some of the trailers humorous, but only in the interactions between Tessa and her dad. Unfortunately, that’s not what the show is about. It’s primarily about how they adjust to life in their Beverly Hills-like suburban town. But none of the suburbanites are real enough to be likeable. I give it a year.
Network: ABC
Time Slot: Wednesdays at /7:30c
Premieres: Sept. 28
How to be a Gentleman. Going Nowhere
In this modern-day Odd Couple, gentle manners columnist Andrew (David Hornsby) runs into his tough former high-school bully Bert (Kevin Dillon) at the gym, and an unlikely friendship is born. Bert takes it upon himself to teach Andrew how to be a man, while Andrew teaches Bert how to be a gentleman.
The premise is reasonable enough, but I’m not interested in caricatures. And that’s what Andrew and Bert are—caricatures. They’re “types” with no real goals or aspirations to give their characters humanity. Their points of view are entirely predictable. Consider this exchange from the pilot: Andrew says of a female neighbor, “I kill many of her bugs.” Bert replies, “You should be taking off many of her pants.” Don’t get too attached; this show will be canceled in no time.
Network: CBS
Time Slot: Thursdays at /7:30c
Premieres: Sept. 29
Last Man Standing. **Shows Promise**
Mike Baxter (Tim Allen), a married father of three and the marketing director for an outdoor sporting goods store, lives in a house full of women. He doesn’t always understand them, and they rarely understand him; nevertheless, they must learn to coexist peaceably as a family.
If you took Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor in all his grunting glory, but removed the male friends from his life, he wouldn’t be the same ToolMan. That’s the dynamic addressed by Last Man Standing. Mike is a manly guy living with four females, and he’s in desperate need of a male support group. Allen told ClevverTV that he is fascinated with the communication between the sexes, and I have a feeling this fascination will play a major role in the series’ humor. I’m looking forward to the results. The show isn’t just about Mike clinging to his masculinity, but also the role women play in making men feel manly. Whether you’re a man or a woman, you’ll be able to relate to something in this show.
Network: ABC
Time Slot: Tuesdays at 8/7c
Premieres: Oct. 11
Man Up! *Mercy Vote*
Will’s a husband and father, Craig’s a single musician, and Kenny’s a pudgy divorcé. They’re three best friends at different stages in their lives, all trying to figure out what it means to be a man. Yet every time they take charge and act manly, they massively screw up. But it’s okay. At least they’ve got each other.
This one’s more for the guys than the girls, so it’s not much of a surprise that I’m not interested in it. It could be a funny buddy comedy, or it could be a complete failure. It’s hard to tell which it will be. With only the commercials to go on, I expect it will be a one-season wonder.
Network: ABC
Time Slot: Tuesdays at /7:30c
Premieres: Oct. 18
I Hate My Teenage Daughter. Going Nowhere
Annie (Jaime Pressly) and Nikki (Katie Finneran) are best friends and single mothers whose teenage daughters make them feel insignificant, just like the mean girls in high school used to. In an attempt to give their girls the privileges they never had, these moms have inadvertently created two spoiled monsters.
I find no humor in a show glorifying disrespectful teens, and I hope the American public feels the same. The trailer only frustrates me. A mother who is afraid to punish her child is pitiful, sad, not funny. I hate their teenage daughters, too! And thus, I won’t be watching. Will anyone?
