I work in television. That’s something you might or might not know about me.
What People Think That Means: I have a cool job and get to talk to a lot of celebrities.
What It Actually Means: I work on the computer all day and send a lot of e-mails. Some of which are to celebrities… assistants.
There is a bonus, however: I get to watch a lot of television and claim that it’s “homework” or “research” or “tax write-off”.
This also means that I’ve watched as many of the comedy pilots as have been released thus far (either online or on the actual TV). Some shows (Go On, The New Normal) I’ve even seen two!
Based on these, I can now give you my wholly informed opinion of what you should and should not be putting your energy into:
Go On (NBC, Tuesdays 9/8c)
What: Matthew Perry is surrounded by weird people he met in company-mandated grief counseling. Oh, and John Cho is his boss.
Watch? If you really like Matthew Perry. People have compared this to “Community”, as in “it’s like Community but without all the crazy things that Dan Harmon does.” I think the people who have made that comparison decided that because both shows have an Alpha male type not dealing with his emotions surrounded by oddballs that they don’t want to be with (initially, anyway), that they’re the same. They’re not. “Go On” hasn’t yet proven (and it’s obviously still way too early to make a judgement on this, but still) that they can tell a full story for any character other than Matthew Perry’s Ryan. Maybe they’ll get there. But until they do, the two shows are fundamentally different in a way that probably hurts this one.
The New Normal (NBC, Tuesday 9:30/8:30c)
What: A gay couple hires a surrogate to start a family and inherit her, her daughter, and her racist/homophobic grandmother.
Watch? If you really like Ryan Murphy’s sensibilities, because his fingerprints are all over this one (EP, co-creator, writer, director). I didn’t really enjoy the pilot all that much, largely because the characters are painted with a very broad brush (I get it, the grandmother is very racist and homophobic), although, to be fair, there was a lot of story they had to cram in. The second episode, which had a much slower pace, was a little better.
Guys With Kids (NBC, Wednesday 8:30/7:30c)
What: Three guys have kids (two of them have wives, one an ex-wife) and live in the same apartment building.
Watch? If you miss sitcoms that were taped before live studio audiences and tell you that at the start (they did this in the pilot). To be honest, there was nothing offensive about this show at all, although that also means that I really don’t remember much of what happened. I think they learn a valuable lesson at the end, though.
Animal Practice (NBC, Wednesday 8/7c)
What: Justin Kirk and the gang run an animal hospital. And there’s a monkey!
Watch? If you love watching a monkey act like a human. The monkey is very funny. To be fair, there are a lot of funny people in this cast (Justin Kirk, Tyler Labine, Bobby Lee, Betsy Sodaro), so the talent is on the roster. Whether they gel faster than the 2012 Los Angeles Dodgers or not will likely decide the show’s fate.
Ben and Kate (FOX, Tuesday 8:30/7:30c)
What: Slacker brother moves in with single mom sister and her daughter. Chaos ensues.
Watch? If you want to root for the underdog (even with Nat Faxon, who won an academy award for co-writing “The Descendants”, this show probably has the least star power of any that I’ve seen so far). The pilot doesn’t really give a sense of what will happen on a week to week basis beyond our initial basic rules (Ben will screw things up but for a good reason, Kate will forgive him), although it sets up some fun characters to play around with. The cast and crew are talented enough, though, that I’m interested to see what happens next.
The Mindy Project (FOX, Tuesday 9:30/8:30c)
What: A doctor tries to juggle personal life and professional life.
Watch? If you want to prove Fox’s theory of building a powerhouse comedy bloc around female leads apt. This one surprised me. I read the script and thought it was just okay. The preview didn’t really sell me. But the pilot as a whole was very impressive – a lot of the humor relied on timing that didn’t quite read the same on the page or in a commercial. This suggests the potential for great chemistry between the cast (which was on display in the pilot, as well), and hopefully a funny show.
That’s it so far. I’m predicting that by the end of my “give a show three episodes to win you over” rule, the following will still be recording on my DVR:
The Mindy Project
Ben and Kate
…which does not bode well for NBC. Or wouldn’t if I were a nielsen household.
NEXT WEEK: FOX launches THE MOB DOCTOR, NBC launches REVOLUTION, I continue to pine for HAPPY ENDINGS to return.