One of my least favorite sitcom plots is any plot which requires characters who are not normally idiots to behave like idiots in order to function. There is an exception to this, when the characters have a good, in-character reason to behave like idiots (frequent source of this: a character's ex they have no power against). "Big Glory" was not one of those exceptions.
Much like the pilot, "Big Glory" has some truly terrible character moments for its leads. It's not quite as bad on that front for two reasons, namely that at least in this episode they're idiots in equal measure, and this time, eventuallyt, they both realize they're behaving like punchlines instead of human beings. On the other hand, where the pilot remained watchable despite its god awful character arcs thanks to a few very strong jokes, "Big Glory" took a step backwards on the comedy front.
NvTV 11: Black-Ish "The Nod" and Full House vs. Chris Rock
I don't have too much new to say about Black-Ish this week. The three adult leads remain strong given limited material, though Fishburne remains underutilized. The children remain painfully bad (perhaps more noticeable here as the youngest girl was given a lot of good material to ruin with stilted delivery). The narration remains excessive, and the jokes remain surprisingly infrequent but occasionally sublime (the sequence with Andre in his car at the bus stop springs to mind). Perhaps most significantly, though, Black-Ish remains totally toothless.
Read moreNvTV 10: "In the Mix, On the Books, and In the Freezer" or "Three Places I'd Rather Be Than Watching Manhattan Love Story"
Contrary to popular belief, I love TV, and any show I sit down to watch, I want to enjoy. I'm really trying to be an optimist here, so let's start with the good, before I mention how I quite literally enjoyed the Botox commercial during Manhattan Love Story more than Manhattan Love Story.
1) They finally gave Kurt Fuller something to do.
2) At the end of the episode, there is a long scene, I'd estimate about four minutes or so. The beginning and the end of that scene are terrible, but there's a solid ninety seconds or so in the middle where Manhattan Love Story is something other than the television equivalent of a smoldering pile of burning corpses caked in the blood and feces of black plague victims. For ninety seconds (nearly two minutes if you throw in the two short Kurt Fuller scenes!), MLS is actually pretty good.
Unfortunately, it's a twenty-two minute show, and the other twenty minutes are every bit the comedy oubliette that the last twenty-two minutes were.
NvTV 9: "Un-Tag My Heart" and Selfie's Awareness
I'm not gonna lie to you, folks: this "review all the new sitcoms" project is not going as well as I'd hoped. I've seen six shows (and eight episodes) now, and I can't, in a vacuum, recommend a single one of them. I can't honestly say that I'd be sticking around for any of them if I wasn't doing this (though perhaps my love for John Mulaney and Kate Walsh, respectively, would buy their shows a little more leash)… except for Selfie.
It isn't great yet, or even really good, but it's got the strongest core, arguably the highest ceiling, and easily the bravest creative team so far. The second episode, "Un-Tag my Heart," is marked improvement from the first, and more importantly demonstrates an awareness about which parts of the first episode worked, and which didn't.
NvTV8: "Mulaney" and Regret
Oh, Mulaney. I had such high hopes for you. Sure, I know MLS and A to Z were gonna be hard to get through. I know Cristela and The McCarthys are unlikely to be much better. I knew Bad Judge and Selfie were going to be risky bets at best… but you, Mulaney, you were supposed to be the slam dunk. Great writer, awesome cast, tried-and-true format… you were secretly my favorite, the one I had the highest hopes for.
Why do you hurt me so when I show you nothing but love?
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