OK so after being told by everyone that this show is fantastic, a few friends last night showed me a few DVR'd episodes.
because of all the hype, obviously i put on the critic monocle. we all do it. we have to. it's our natural defense mechanism. you tell me that something's great and force me to believe it...i'm gonna try and prove you wrong just for the sake of it. BRick Rule.
but here's my take:
1. the show is very funny. i laughed out loud more consistently than i have at "30 rock" or "the office" in years. it's well written and well paced, the plots are engrossing and the characters are pretty well drawn. had no problem following the storylines even though i didn't watch it from the start. i like that they kind of make fun of the cliches of sitcoms.
2. the cast is pretty good. the only ones i'd say aren't all that great are the fat gay guy (too obvious and over the top) and the son of hot julie bowen who just doesn't seem to pull off his character. maybe he'll grow into it. but his dialog is delivered somewhat awkwardly, like he'd been practicing his lines all week. the girls are fine, though.
3. here's my first criticism i'd say of the format: not a fan of the confessionals. i know what they're trying to do, but they wind up being too "explainy" when there's a joke that's already been delivered. my perfect example of this is in "unplugged" (which was a really good episode): the two gay guys are trying to get their adopted minority kid into a really good preschool. ok not exactly the most inventive plot. but there is a great sight gag when they're "one-upped" by a handicapped indian lesbian with a black kid. i was howling. but then it cuts to the couple and they literally spell out what the joke was by saying what happened. that was totally unnecessary and NOTHING funny happened in that particular confessional scene. you lose that confessional scene, the joke still works and works better because once you SEE what happens, you're laughing. now maybe sometimes the confessionals work, but i'd like to see something more out of them. they seem to just hang there.
4. second criticism, sometimes the actors try too hard to be manic and funny rather than just letting the plot take care of itself. bowen in the episode "fizzbo" when she makes that pouch thing...for a comb. funny idea, but of course another wasteful confessional clip of her talking about it. and there are just a couple of scenes where she's just overdoing it. again, i point to the fat gay guy. he's not a very good actor. the other guy is funny because he tones it down and i realize the idea is the fat gay is more obnoxious. he just isn't a very funny actor. he has no presence. he's just a typical fat guy.
5. ed o'neil still is the best part of this show, and they know it. his family is my favorite. i like the "precocious kid" and he DOES pull it off. the hot latina wife thing is funny, and i like how she kinda hams up the accent and broken english. i liked the parrot joke in "unplugged".
so overall, i did enjoy the show. i'm going to try and make a point to watch it more often. i've heard this season isn't that great but the two episodes i watched, i laughed. i just think there are some Comedy 101 things they're not getting right. but nothing's perfect.
oh...
out of
aaanndd...done.
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