Pilotwatch: THE NEW NORMAL

NBC Tuesdays @ 9:30/8:30c
(premieres 9/11)

What's it about?
These days, families come in all forms - single dads, double moms, sperm donors, egg donors, one-night-stand donors... It's 2012 and anything goes.  Bryan and David are a Los Angeles couple, and they have it all.  Well, almost.  With successful careers and a committed, loving partnership, there is one thing that this couple is missing: a baby.  And just when they think the stars will never align, enter Goldie, an extraordinary young woman witha  checkered past.  A Midwestern waitress and single mother looking to escape her dead-end life and small-minded grandmother, Goldie decides to change everything and move to L.A. with her precocious eight-year-old daughter.  Desperate and broke - but also fertile - Goldie quickly becomes the guys' surrogate and quite possibly the girl of their dreams.
(from NBC.com)

You should watch if...
• you're an Ellen Barkin fan.
• you're a Ryan Murphy fan.
• you don't live in Utah (because you can't watch it there...sorry guys!).

So, how was it?
THE NEW NORMAL is one of those shows that gets a lot of flak from people who haven't even seen it before it even premieres.  Some people are offended by the very idea of a sitcom starring two gay men trying to start a family.  It has even been banned from one network in Utah.  Even those who may not be morally offended by it seem offended by the fact that it seems like a rehash of one-third of MODERN FAMILY.  To the former group of people, I would say don't bother watching -- it's obviously not the show for you.  To the latter group I would say, wait until the show premieres and then tell me what you think.

I found that THE NEW NORMAL bears little in common with MODERN FAMILY other than the fact that it's a comedy and there are two gay characters on it and they want to have a kid.  But in execution and tone, the shows are remarkably different.  MODERN FAMILY has a laid-back, faux-documentary feel to it.  THE NEW NORMAL, on the other hand, borrows the fast, quirky tone of one of creator Ryan Murphy's other shows -- a little thing you might have heard of called GLEE.  (GLEE and NEW NORMAL even share a supporting player: Nene Leakes as swim coach Roz Washington on the former and as personal assistant Rocky on the latter.)

Much like the tonally-schizophrenic GLEE, swinging wildly between over-the-top farce to weepy after-school-special, the pilot of THE NEW NORMAL varies wildly between caustic parody and teary-eyed sincerity.  Some viewers may feel turned off by this unevenness, but it is a style familiar to fans of not only GLEE, but of Ryan Murphy's other creations, like NIP/TUCK and AMERICAN HORROR STORY.  In fact, life is rarely just funny or just dramatic, so I find this combination honest, even when it's mentally exhausting.

On the more precious side of the scale, we have our leading lady, Goldie (portrayed by newcomer Georgia King).  Yes, her name is actually Goldie.  The first time someone called her this, I thought it was a nickname.  But nope, her name is Goldie.  She's so innocent and naive (and from Ohio!) that she wears what appears to be a combination of an apron and lederhosen.  On the opposite side of the scale is her grandmother, Jane (played by the redoubtable Ellen Barkin), who is so ignorant and bigoted that as soon as she is in a room with both a gay person and a black person, she nearly has a hysterical panic attack.  Even the gay couple at the center of the show occupy opposite ends of a stereotypical spectrum: Bryan (played by Andrew Rannells of BOOK OF MORMON fame), is the flamboyant, shopping-obsessed partner, while David (Justin Bartha of THE HANGOVER), is the butch, spots-loving partner.  These depictions are far from revolutionary, although the actors both deliver solid performances.  What is revolutionary, however, is the ease with which these two men relate on primetime network television.  The main gay couple on Ryan Murphy's other comedy, GLEE (Blaine and Kurt), took ten whole episodes to lock lips for the first time, and have kissed with alarming rarity since.  Bryan and David, on the other hand, are seen kissing, cuddling, and generally doing things that no one would think twice about a heterosexual couple doing, which I must give NBC props for.

(There's also a precocious young girl in the supporting cast dispensing beyond-her-years wisdom, much like Maddie on FOX's BEN AND KATE, with the one and only difference being that on this show she's eight, as opposed to five.)

There's a lot to love and a lot to be skeptical about with this show.  I love the idea of two gay men being front-and-center on a network comedy; I love the caustic wit of Ellen Barkin; I love the complicated relationships between a couple and a surrogate that haven't often been explored on television.  I'm skeptical about the stereotypical nature of most of the characters; I'm skeptical about the longevity of the plot; I'm skeptical about Ryan Murphy's ability to juggle not one, not two, but THREE major shows at the same time.  The pilot shows plenty of promise, and I am simultaneously optimistic for its success and trepidatious about its potential decline.

And the verdict is:
*** Solid. I'm interested and will definitely keep watching for the foreseeable future.
For all of its imperfections, I'm still very interested in THE NEW NORMAL and remain hopeful that the show will grow from its pilot, rather than deteriorate.  It's not my favorite new comedy of the season (that's still THE MINDY PROJECT), but I'm interested to see what Ryan Murphy has in store for these characters, and I fervently hope they outgrow the boxes of the stereotypes they arrived in.

What did you think, Fellow Addicts? Were you drawn in by the unique plot?  Or turned off by the formulaic characters?  Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!

What did you think of THE NEW NORMAL?

Pilotwatch: THE MINDY PROJECT

FOX Tuesdays @ 9:30/8:30c
(premieres 9/25)

What's it about?
THE MINDY PROJECT is a biting new single-camera comedy from Emmy Award-nominated writer/producer and New York Times best-selling author Mindy Kaling (THE OFFICE) that follows a woman who, despite having a successful career, is unlucky in love and desperately needs to get her personal life back on track before her friends and colleagues are forced to stage an intervention.
(from FOX.com)

You should watch if...
• you're a Mindy Kaling fan (duh).
• you don't already have too many doctor shows in your life.
• you're a young professional who desperately needs to get your life back on track before your friends and colleagues are forced to stage an intervention.

So, how was it?
I can easily see THE MINDY PROJECT being the breakout comedy of the this season.  It has a built-in fan base (fans of both THE OFFICE and of Mindy Kaling personally), it follows the mega-successful NEW GIRL on Tuesday nights, and it stars an imperfect young professional trying to get her life together.  Think of her as this year's Zooey Deschanel, with less perky adorkableness and more insecure drunkenness.  Now that I think of it, she perhaps has more in common with another recent multi-hyphenate female comedic breakout -- Lena Dunham, of GIRLS fame.

THE MINDY PROJECT shares a lot in common with GIRLS, from its awkward-realistic tone to its unflinching portrayal of its flawed protagonist.  (Of course, the show also doesn't share a lot with its HBO brethren, such as nudity, sex scenes and heavy profanity...this is network television, people.)  I do wish that Mindy (the character), as the main character and as a representation of a modern professional woman, spent less time obsessing about romantic comedies and finding true love, but I suppose that's going to be a part of the character's growth -- to find out there's more to life than that (at least I hope that's where we're headed). At times I couldn't quite tell whether THE MINDY PROJECT was parodying romcom stereotypes of women or just playing into them.  It's a fine distinction that Mindy (the actor/writer) will have to work hard to make clear.

The rest of the cast is rounded out by a few awesome supporting players: Anna Camp, who keeps proving how great she is at building a crackerjack resume (you may recognize her from a few small things like TRUE BLOOD, MAD MEN, THE GOOD WIFE, THE HELP, and the upcoming PITCH PERFECT), appears as Mindy's best friend Gwen, who has a slightly more mature perspective on life, given that she's already a mother.  Stephen Tobolowsky (steals his one seen as Marc, Mindy's boss at the OB/GYN clinic.  And Chris Messina (DAMAGES, THE NEWSROOM) kills it as Danny, Mindy's sarcastically antagonistic coworker (who you know she's destined to end up with).  His caustic presence helps to dampen (in a good way) what might otherwise be a too-frothy show.  Every time Mindy goes off on one of her romcom fantasies, Danny's always there to bring her back down to earth.

True to Mindy Kaling's style, there are a few off-color jokes that may turn some of the more politically-correct crowd off, but will be fodder for the audience this show is trying to attract.  THE MINDY PROJECT may not be the most inspired comedy of all time (I do wish she had found somewhere else to set her show than a clinic -- I really don't need any more actors in scrubs on my TV screen), but Mindy (the actor)'s biting sense of humor and smart sense of what it means to be a struggling professional in a big city should be enough to keep people from changing their channels after Jess and Co. finish tearing up the screen at 9:30 every Tuesday night.

And the verdict is:
*** Solid. I'm interested and will definitely keep watching for the foreseeable future.
While I can't quite give this show an ADDICTive rating, it is decidedly my favorite new comedy thus far, and I'm excited to see where the show progresses to.  This one definitely has a spot in my Hulu queue for the time being.

Your turn, Fellow Addicts!  Did you find THE MINDY PROJECT awkwardly funny?  Or just awkward?  Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!

What did you think of THE MINDY PROJECT?

Pilotwatch: BEN AND KATE

FOX Tuesdays @ 8:30/7:30c
(premieres 9/25)

What's it about?
What happens when an exuberant dreamer who always says "yes" moves in with his overly responsible little sister to help raise her five-year-old daughter?  BEN AND KATE, a new single-camera ensemble comedy, follows a pair of odd-couple siblings and their friends as they push each other out of their comfort zones and into real life.  (from FOX.com)

You should watch if...
• you're tired of sitcoms centered around will-they-won't-they.
• you're a sucker for precocious five-year-olds.

So, how was it?
Although the pilot episode is available to watch now on Hulu, the show's actual premiere will be sandwiched between two new episodes of last year's biggest comedy breakout, NEW GIRL.  It's hard to think how this show would compete against the adorkable juggernaut that is Zooey Deschanel, so it's a good thing they're on the same network.  BEN AND KATE is far more traditional in format than the zany hijinks that Jess and Co. get up to on NEW GIRL -- B&K is essentially an odd-couple show where the characters spend a lot of time at a bar and every now and then a five-year-old girl says something cute.

The aspects of BEN AND KATE that may keep people tuning back in will be in the ways the show departs from that traditional format -- mainly in the fact that the leads are siblings, instantly negating any will-they-won't-they romantic tension (unless they decide to pull a DEXTER circa-Season 6 and reveal that Ben was adopted and Kate discovers she has more than familial feelings for her faux-brother...ick).  It will be interesting to see what the writers do with these two characters without the chemistry and constant push-and-pull.  Say what you will about romantic tension, but there's a reason it's always used: it provides some easy drama.  Where is the tension inherent in a sibling relationship other than Ben's a big doofus and Kate's always exasperated with him?  And will that be enough to keep people tuning in over the long haul?  Only time will tell.  It certainly helps to have an adorable sidekick dispensing precocious wisdom / wisecracks / visual gags (see: Maggie the five-year-old on this show, Nene Leakes in THE NEW NORMAL, the monkey in ANIMAL PRACTICE).

Dakota Johnson is all wide-eyed spunky spirit as the young mother Kate.  She has one of those "where have I seen you before?" kinds of faces that instantly draws you in (and for the record, you saw her as the girl Justin Timberlake slept with in THE SOCIAL NETWORK).  She feels like a real person doing her best to raise her young daughter by herself -- she is definitely the straight man to Ben's clown.  Nat Faxon as Ben is, as yet, a fairly wide-drawn caricature that will take some character development before I can feel any attachment to him.  Between him breaking into his own sister's house in a hockey mask to dragging a full drumset through the middle of her date, it's hard to connect with this buffoon of a man-child.  I share Kate's frustration with him (and would, in fact, probably be far less patient with him if he were my brother).  But Nat Faxon also brings an eager charm to the role that does make it impossible to hate Ben.

Needless to say, Maggie Jones as Kate's daughter Maddie is all sorts of cute.  But so far, the two biggest supporting roles - Lucy Punch as the awkwardly-named BJ, Kate's fellow bartender, and Echo Kellum as bar-rat Tommy - are both rather one-note.  BJ is an inexplicably British floozy who is unbelievably socially unaware (she tries to give Maddie a makeover in an utterly pointless yet still somehow chuckle-inducing scene).  Tommy's only lines so far all have to do with how in love with Kate he is, which in the real world we would call a stalker, but in a sitcom is supposed to be funny.  These two will need some fleshing out pronto -- there's no danger of a Schmitt here (aka a scene-stealing supporting player who quickly becomes the most interesting character on the show).  BEN AND KATE will live or die based on how quickly people connect with...you guessed it, Ben and Kate (shocking, I know).

I don't think BEN AND KATE will be FOX's most successful new comedy (that honor will almost certainly go to THE MINDY PROJECT), and it certainly won't attract the crowd that its nightly follower, NEW GIRL, will draw.  But in a season where industry insiders have already written off the crop of new comedies as even worse than usual, BEN AND KATE might just have the quirky, non-traditional charm to go the distance.

And the verdict is:
** Okay. I may give it another episode or two to see if it gets better.
I wavered between giving this show two or three stars.  It's far from terrible, but in order to secure a weekly spot in my ever-growing television schedule, a show really has to hook my interest right off the bat.  I'm not ready to write off the show just yet, so I will certainly give it another chance, but I can't say for sure right now whether or not it will end up earning a coveted spot in my Hulu queue.

What did you think, Fellow Addicts?  Were you hooked in by the unusual (for television) sibling relationship?  Or were you turned off by the lack of romantic chemistry?  Will you be giving BEN AND KATE another chance?  Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!

What did you think of BEN AND KATE?

Pilotwatch: ANIMAL PRACTICE

NBC Wednesdays @8/7c (premieres 9/26)

What's it about?
ANIMAL PRACTICE is a new comedy centering on Dr. George Coleman, a top veterinarian with an impressive list of famous animal patients at the Crane Animal Hospital - a bustling New York City veterinary practice where it often seems as if the patients are running the place.  Despite his unorthodox style, George has an undeniable gift with animals of all kinds - except the human kind.  Much to his chagrin, George recently learned that his ex-girlfriend, Dorothy Crane, has inherited the family business and is now George's boss.  Whip-smart and ambitious, Dorothy shakes up the hospital as she brings order to the chaos and butts heads with George's animal-friendly administration.  (from NBC.com)

You should watch if...
• you have an urge to watch literal monkey business.
• you get a kick out of sight gags like turtles racing with hamsters on their backs.
• you legitimately have nothing better to do with your time.

You shouldn't watch if...
• you are a Justin Kirk fan, because it will make you hate the world.
• you are a television fan, because it will crush your soul.
• you are a human being, because you MUST have more important things to do with your time...like water your plants...or clip your toenails.

So, how was it?
You know your show's in trouble when the best thing I can say about it is that at least it was commercial-free -- because I only had to sit through it for 22 minutes instead of 30.

I desperately need someone to sit me down and explain to me how Justin Kirk, an incredible actor as evidenced by HBO's ANGELS IN AMERICA and by how he is often the best thing about WEEDS, could have been coerced into participating in this travesty of a show.  Even without commercials, the pilot managed to feel as long as THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (and that's long).

Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC, stated earlier this year that his plan for the network this fall involved "broadening the audience," aka steering away from critically-acclaimed shows with relatively small audiences like COMMUNITY and PARKS & RECREATION.  Basically, they want to become CBS.  ANIMAL PRACTICE is their first step down that road.  When one of a show's biggest stars is a capuchin monkey (Crystal, of HANGOVER and COMMUNITY fame), you know they're not exactly aiming for subtlety.  The "humor" (if it can be called that) on this show is as broad as it gets, with widely-drawn caricatures and thinly-sketched relationships.  And for the record, just because you acknowledge that something is cliché doesn't make it any less cliché.

The best I can hope for with this show is that it will be cancelled quickly, so that everyone involved can move on to better endeavors.  ANIMAL PRACTICE was even harder to watch than some of last year's biggest sitcoms flops like HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN and WORK IT! because of the level of talent involved.  And at least WORK IT! had a legitimate reason to be terrible -- it was a workplace comedy about crossdressing men, for goodness' sake.  ANIMAL PRACTICE, on the other hand, is just stale and boring.  When dozens of new television shows are jockeying for limited airtime, the only thing worse than being talked about for being offensive is not being talked about at all.

And the verdict is:
* Atrocious. I will never watch this show again. Ever.
I don't think anything more needs to be said.

Take it away, Fellow Addicts! Am I being too harsh? Or do you agree that it's doomed? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!

What did you think of ANIMAL PRACTICE?

PilotWatch: GO ON

NBC Tuesdays @ 9/8c (premieres 9/11)

What's it about?
Matthew Perry stars as Ryan King, a recent widower and sports talk radio host ready to get back to work after the loss of his wife.  Ryan's alpha-male boss, Stephen, played by John Cho, has a different plan in store for Ryan, making him attend grief counseling before returning to the air. A reluctant Ryan finds himself in a support group for "life change," where he meets an oddball cast of characters, all with their own backstories filled with varying degrees of loss.  (from NBC.com)

You should watch if...
• you're a COMMUNITY fan.
• you like comedies about sad things.
• you're still hoping that Matthew Perry may eventually find a post-FRIENDS sitcom that actually sticks.

So, how was it?
Well folks, the first premiere of the new season is here!  Granted, GO ON doesn't officially "premiere" until Tues 9/11, but there was a special commercial-less preview of its first episode tonight after NBC's Olympics coverage.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect -- I wasn't a huge fan of Matthew Perry's last attempt at headlining a sitcom (MR. SUNSHINE), and was nervous about a comedy centering around grief counseling (would it be overly offensive or overly schmaltzy?) -- but I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

After watching the pilot, I'm actually shocked that this new show wasn't paired with COMMUNITY, as GO ON seems to have quite a bit in common with that NBC cult fave.  Granted, it doesn't have the rapid-fire pop culture references and will probably never produce an episode completely in stop-motion, but the similarities are there.  Both are about a group of eclectic oddballs led by a cynical yet dashing man who initially doesn't want to be there at all.  And just like COMMUNITY has to be careful to have fun within the context of a community college without making fun OF community colleges, GO ON will have to do the same with grief counseling.  And so far at least (as in a grand total of 23 minutes of screen time), the creators managed to do just that.

I must admit I did find it a bit of a cop-out that the support group is a group for the hyper-vague "life change," but I do understand the necessity.  Matthew Perry can't be going to a group where everyone else lost their wives -- that would make for rather monotonous television.  So instead we are treated to a group of people whose "life changes" vary from the loss of a spouse to a sibling in a coma to being cheated on to a beloved pet dying.  (And a therapy session yields even more possibilities for a rotating cast of supporting actors and stunt guest stars than a community college study group does.)  Julie White (aka Shia LaBeouf's mom from TRANSFORMERS) is the best of the grieving bunch as the constantly angry (and constantly hilarious) Anne, who just lost her longtime partner.  Suzy Nakamura (DODGEBALL) is the perky teacher's pet of the group; Bill Cobbs (NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM) is George, an older man who's been through the wringer (blindness, a broken hip, a stroke); and Tyler James Williams (EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS) is Owen, a quiet young man whose brother just suffered a horrific skiing accident.  They are all led by Laura Benanti (THE PLAYBOY CLUB) as the seemingly put-together counselor Lauren, who may not be as qualified for her position as she seems.

And then, of course, there's Matthew Perry.  He plays Ryan as a man so untethered by his recent loss that he doesn't even know what he wants -- he thinks he just wants to return to work and forget it ever happened, but that yields predictably disastrous results.  In fact, that was my big problem with the pilot -- the plot structure was fairly run-of-the-mill, with very little in the way of surprises (and it's painfully obvious that the main source of drama in the show will be Ryan's feelings for his pretty brunette grief counselor and how those feelings will conflict with the memory of his dead wife and blah blah blah).  Fortunately the somewhat banal plot line was more than saved by such an appealing cast of characters.  And Perry does indeed pull his own weight as the straight man in the group of oddballs, a completely thankless job.  He is able to wield both humor and gravitas with apparent ease.  I was a bit surprised by his performance, to be honest.

And the verdict is:
*** Solid. I'm interested and will definitely keep watching for the foreseeable future.
All in all, I can definitely see myself coming back for more of this show come September.  It has a great blend of humor and heart with a just-quirky-enough (without being annoying) group of characters to get attached to.  I'm a little nervous about the long-term viability of a show taking place at grief counseling, but I'm willing to wait and see what the writers have in store for us before I make any judgment calls on that.

Your turn, Fellow Addicts?  If you caught the special preview, let us know what you thought!  Were you surprised by Matthew Perry's performance?  Did you enjoy March Sadness?  Who was your favorite "life change" victim?  Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!

What did you think of GO ON?