I’m currently in somewhat of a transitional period with the television shows I’m watching. There are a couple of new shows that I’m really into, and a couple of old favorites that I’m letting go of.
OUT WITH THE OLD
I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to fully abandon “House“, because doing so means that I’m abandoning my favorite performer and character currently on TV. Each season, the supporting cast of characters backing up Hugh Laurie’s brilliant title character becomes less and less interesting and palatable, and it has driven me to the brink of fandom. I end up asking myself if I can really sit through an hour of television that contains one good character and a bunch of boring-as-hell doctors on what would otherwise be Just Another Hospital Drama.
In fairness, the Cuddy and Wilson characters (played by Lisa Edelstein and Robert Sean Leonard) have their moments of greatness. But as the years wear on, we see the same tired, recycled storylines for them; both characters are stuck in 2005. I cringe when Omar Epps appears on screen nowadays, because his Foreman is criminally boring. Olivia Wilde is wild(e)ly attractive, but has been saddled by the writers with so many “issues” that the audience can hardly keep up with how bizarre she is. Worse yet, we don’t even care, because despite the attempt at spice, the character remains painfully disposable.
I hate the idea of missing a classic Hugh Laurie rant. I truly believe this is one of the best characters in television history. But the rest of the show is so profoundly weak that I can hardly rationalize suffering through what amounts to a bad TV show with one spectacular character.
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The other show I’m just about done with is “How I Met Your Mother“. This one’s a little easier to rationalize dropping from my line-up when I consider how hot it burned when it was really good a few seasons ago, and the unfortunate direction it has gone since.
Where the writers would, in the first couple of seasons, focus on the humor and hijinks that made the show great, there has been a palpable shift toward standard, coma-inducing romantic comedy territory. For as funny and talented as Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris are, they can’t overcome the lazy, clichéd pap written for them over the past year or so, and neither can I.
That’s the problem half hour comedies must overcome with me; they’re fairly disposable. Have a bad couple of weeks, and I’m just about done. But with this show, it’s more than a bad couple of weeks. I’ve been dissatisfied for an entire season now, and unfortunately for them, there are plenty of options.
IN WITH THE NEW
Two new half hour comedies have caught my eye so far this year. The first is NBC’s “Community“, a wacky show about a bunch of community college misfits who were scammed into joining a study group in the pilot, and haven’t quite figured out that they’re getting no studying done.
This show stars Joel McHale, of E!’s “The Soup“. The man’s delivery is hilarious, and worth the price of admission alone. Chevy Chase supports with a hilarious know-it-all executive-turned-student character who serves to add his brand of racist comments and worldly wisdom, which his peers wisely disregard.
The style of this show is a blatant knockoff of “30 Rock“. But if you’re going to rip off another comedy, why not rip off the funniest show on TV? The formula works; quick-witted, sarcastic, jerky character who you shouldn’t like yet can’t help but love, and a lovable-but-kinda-clueless girl who is the foil in the wake of all of his shenanigans. Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy on “30 Rock” serves as the template for McHale’s Jeff Winger, and Jillian Jacobs plays the Tina Fey-like foil.
I have my doubts about the shelf life of this show, but while it’s fresh, I’m going to sit back and enjoy. McHale is truly hilarious, and the supporting cast is not far behind.
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The other comedy I’m enjoying thus far is ABC’s mockumentary-style “Modern Family“. A very strong ensemble cast fleshes out well-written, only-mildly-exaggerated members of three branches of an extended family. Ed O’Neil plays the patriarch, and exactly the kind of old man you would’ve expected a non-slapstick version of Al Bundy to become. Grouchy, somewhat homophobic (which provides ongoing conflict with his gay son) grandpa whose trophy wife – the painfully gorgeous Sofia Vergara – is a good twenty years younger and a little too much for the old boy to handle.
As with all mockumentary shows like “The Office“, the comedy is in the awkward encounters. Disconnects between gender, generation, culture and sexuality within the family provide the meat and potatoes of the comedy in this show. These aren’t new themes, of course, but the cast is so damned funny that any sense of familiarity is quickly diffused by the terrific execution the actors provide. This show is the “home life” counterpart to “The Office”, and could very well reap similar success.