What's it about?
Max is a witty mid-twenties waitress who has had to work hard her entire life. Caroline is the high society daughter of a Bernie Madoff-esque investment advisor who is now facing justice. With nowhere else to go, the formerly wealthy Caroline gets a job at Max's Brooklyn restaurant and the two girls become friends.
So, how was it?
I am not the world's biggest fan of multi-cam sitcoms.* The only comedies I follow right now are single cam comedies. I hate laugh tracks, I've despised every glimpse of TWO AND A HALF MEN that I've caught, so I was prepared to suffer silently through a half hour of sitcom drudgery. Instead, I found myself laughing. Quite a lot, actually. Granted, the usual sitcom tropes that I've always hated still bothered me. The laugh track was grating and distracting. The supporting characters were all widely drawn caricatures. But the two leads, Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, were so dang likable that I found myself genuinely interested in their story. Damn.
Ms. Dennings is pitch-perfect as the bitingly sarcastic Max, who takes no guff but actually has a heart of gold. Ms. Behrs is naturally chuckle-inducing as the oblivious Caroline, who thinks that "marrying ketchups" means to pair them together into little couples. The show is clearly going to make most of its laughs out of this odd couple pairing -- and fortunately for the writers, these two young women are surprisingly good at what they do and play off each other incredibly well.
I'm not so sure about the rest of the cast yet. Every single other person who works in the restaurant is a glaring stereotype, and I couldn't decide from the first episode whether the writers were being daring or offensive. There was the jolly old black cashier, the short asian managew who can't speak proper English, and the lewd Russian line cook who makes inappropriate passes at the waitresses. I have a feeling that just one of these would be incredibly offensive, but having all three is clearly intentional, so the writers are going for some sort of comment on stereotypes or something...we'll see. The one bright guest star spot was the mother that Max nannies for as her second job. Brooke Lyons as the ultra-rich, ultra-snobby Peach was American consumerism and unintentional stupidity writ large. Her antics verged on being almost unbelievable while always remaining ridiculously hysterical.
The one thing that bothered me was the setting -- the girls work in The Williamsburg Diner and presumably live within walking distance. As someone who has lived in Williamsburg, that is NOT Williamsburg. Max tells Caroline that she can't wear her fancy leather coat outside at night in that neighborhood. I'm sorry, but yes she can. Williamsburg is a very trendy neighborhood in Brooklyn populated almost entirely by young artists and hipsters. It is the first neighborhood across the river from Manhattan and therefore one of the safest. The way they were acting, they should've at least been in Bushwick (zing!).
Rating:
*** Solid. I'm interested and will definitely keep watching.
At this point, I will be tuning back in solely for the hysterical chemistry between Dennings and Behr. Hopefully the rest of the cast will kick it up a notch and become positive additions rather than distractions. And hopefully the writers will stick to comedy -- the one attempt at seriousness at the end of the pilot was saccharine and unwatchable. "This is Caroline. She may have gotten your order wrong, but she does get some things right." I almost vomited. Keep it funny, kids!
*(For those who don't know, multi-cam refers to the fact that the set is mostly one room -- in this case, the restaurant -- and multiple cameras capture that one set from many angles at the same time. Single cam, on the other hand, means it's shot more like a movie with only one camera at a time, allowing the show more flexibility and a more cinematic quality. The other advantage of single cam is that there's no laugh track. All dramas are single cam, and more and more comedies are leaving the typical multi-cam setup that was most popular in the 70s and 80s. Think TWO AND A HALF MEN, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, THE BIG BANG THEORY versus MODERN FAMILY, 30 ROCK, THE OFFICE.)
Take it away, Fellow Addicts! Were you also drawn in by Max and Caroline? Or did you hate it? Why? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!
(For a quick glance at the other pilots coming out, check out my Fall TV Preview.)
No comments:
Post a Comment