situation whatever

They are called sitcoms after all, for situation comedy, but the more that I see half hour comedies succeed and fail, the more the situation seems less important. I don’t think ‘Friends’, or ‘Seinfeld’, or ‘The Cosby Show’ really were great because of how they were set up. It came down to the writers, the actors, and the relationships. Which brings us to two new sitcoms that premiered over the past couple weeks, and a few that returned after a little strike break. New shows added to the roster are ‘The Return of Jezebel James’ by fan favorite Amy Sherman Palladino and ‘Miss/Guided.’

In Jezebel we meet two sisters in a sort of Odd Couple premise. Parker Posey, mostly known for indie Christopher Guest films like ‘Waiting for Guffman’, and who I generally dig, plays the type A sister who works in children’s publishing, recently broken up, and unable to have kids. Lauren Ambrose, who I also dig due to Six Feet Under excellence, plays the ‘loser’ sister who has been out of touch until now, agreeing to carry Posey’s baby. They move in together and hijinks ensue.

So what’s the problem? This is basically the same premise as a show that I find pretty funny ‘Two and a Half Men’. Type A brother moves in with bachelor stud brother with crass, lazy kid visiting on weekends. They manage to push the humor in a just beyond stereotypical way. In Jezebel, aside from the zero to sixty start of the carry-my-child relationship, the writing and the characters just weren’t quite beyond the stiff archetype. And Posey somehow found a way to feel more stilted as each line came out of her mouth. Part of the problem is that I expect more out of these gals, and maybe Palladino isn’t quite as comfy in the half hour laugher (and please cut the laugh track), so I will give them time to mature into something worthwhile.

And what of Miss/Guided? Well typically amusing Judy Greer returns to her high school as guidance counselor, where she hopes to have outgrown her geeky ways and is faced with many of the same challenges. This show comes off as a sort of ‘New Adventures of Old Christine’ with an awkward lead with a dash of ‘The Office’ as far as one-on-ones with the camera, in a documentary sort of way.

Again, the show has potential but, as unlikable high school rival Brooke Burke points out to cute-guy, if Greer didn’t reek of desperation… and though I could almost agree with him that the optimism was likable I too found Greer too desperate. Whereas there is something about the way that Dreyfuss on Old Christine is both awkward and not optimistic at all, that lets her comedic timing shine and we’re happy to laugh at, as well as with her. Again I think the Miss’s character and the balance of talk to the camera shots could be finessed to keep folks amused but with the quick burn through of episodes and strike issues not sure they’ll have the chance.

The other returning show that I wanted to give a shout out to is the pretty continually funny ‘How I Met Your Mother’. Now this has a premise of a dad telling kids… well you know… And while I find the premise on this sometimes annoying, it has often enough used the premise successfully. What’s generally a show about five friends plays up the retrospect angle of stories about their relationships in a fresh way and does some funny things with flash forwards (still in the past of telling the story but far ahead of where we’re at in the show).

But again, as much as the premise allows some structure that they’ve actually done a decent job with, it’s really the writing and the ‘supporting’ characters that make this show. Neil Patrick Harris as Barney has been written a role that is priceless with his delivery of one liners and more. And surprisingly the ‘old married couple’ on the show has found a way to make even the dullest moments about tea amusing.

I’ll be tuning into CBS for a chuckle or two during their comedy lineup tonight.

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