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!
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