Thursday, September 27, 2012

New Comedy Shows

I watched three new comedies since Tuesday: Ben & Kate (FOX), The Mindy Project (FOX), and The Neighbors (ABC)

I can describe both Ben & Kate and The Neighbors as weird, quirky, and hopeful! I really like the premise of Ben & Kate - with them as siblings and not a couple. Ben is a weird character but I like how Kate interacts with him; and the daughter (Maddie, played by Maggie Elizabeth Jones) brings the adorable factor! The writing is quirky and I loved how at the end Kate runs into the drums after putting her daughter to sleep; Friends would have said "come on" and Grey's Anatomy, "seriously" - I liked how these writers kept their voice unique with the interaction between Ben & Kate! That's also why I find this series hopeful... it should fit right in on a Tuesday night with New Girl and Raising Hope.

The Neighbors is more weird than quirky; the whole premise is not normal. A family moves into a community to find that all their neighbors are aliens with pro-athlete names. I'm not sure if this show will fit on Wednesday nights with The Middle and Modern Family - I like Happy Endings a whole lot better. One saving grace of this show may be the chemistry between Jami Gertz (from Still Standing) and Toks Olagundoye (who plays Jackie Joyner-Kersee) - they should build more off of their friendship.

My least favorite of these new comedies, though, is The Mindy Project - I can appreciate the humor and can understand the audience it's going after (Bridesmaids anyone?). But I think they need more supporting players rather than the randomness of the work friends and girlfriend. They just come and go and Mindy has to be in the room in order for them to be on the screen -- not sure if that will last long. Even though it's on FOX and may find an audience, I think some things need a little tweak before hitting their stride.

1 comment:

  1. I just finished watching all 3 of these premieres on my Hopper DVR. I was blown away by how good the ratings for The Neighbors were. It seems like an alright show to relax to; I suppose that causing a few laughs is always good for closing out the day. Maybe I’m just a biased The Office fan, but I actually thought that The Mindy Project is promising. Kaling gets to write and star in her own PrimeTime show—good for her! I probably wouldn’t have watched Ben and Kate, but 1 of my coworkers at DISH is a big Nat Faxon fan, making me promise to give it a chance. I’ll probably watch a few episodes—maybe more, since my DVR auto-records the PrimeTime shows, leaving me no excuse. Cheers to a great Fall TV lineup.

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