Could we please declare a moratorium on “partially improvised” situation comedies? With rare notable exceptions–HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Comedy Central’s Reno 911–this challenging manner of storytelling just doesn’t work in an ongoing series format.
We’re suddenly on the receiving end of a rash of new programs from this questionable sub-genre. Oxygen debuted Campus Ladies on January 8. This week, Fox will run a preview of its new entry in the category, Free Time, after American Idol on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET. (Free Time will debut in its regular time period, Sunday at 9:30 p.m., on March 12.) On March 7, ABC will present Sons & Daughters, billed as a “hybrid comedy that offers a mix of improvisational and scripted humor.” These three shows aren’t going to do very much to advance interest in or enthusiasm for such fare, let alone the overall category of situation comedy, still at its lowest creative ebb in decades.
Unfortunately for the creators of such improvisational programming, nothing in recent memory or on the current landscape comes close to the sheer brilliance of the first four seasons of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, including last year’s uneven fifth season of that show. Indeed, Curb was in its first two seasons the funniest comedy on all of television. But during its fifth (and possibly final) run, enthusiasm for Enthusiasm was decidedly curbed. Ratings were down, and with the exception of a riotous appearance by the ever-reliable Wanda Sykes (who should have been honored with an Emmy as Outstanding Performance by a Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her Curb appearances by now), everything about the show suddenly seemed forced and, worse, not at all funny–especially the extended story about Richard Lewis needing a kidney!
There have since the premiere of Curb been only two additional improvised comedy series of note–the Bravo series Significant Others and Comedy Central’s popular Reno 911. Significant Others, about four couples in couples therapy, didn’t last long, but the goofy, giddy Reno was a hit for Comedy Central during its first three seasons.
Now we have Campus Ladies, about two unhappy forty-year-old women who go to college and plunge into the party life, which is simply silly; Free Time, which is simply dumb, and Sons & Daughters, which is simply not funny. To give praise where it’s due, most of the performances in these shows are quite good, especially those in Sons & Daughters. But none of these programs are as uproarious as Curb when it was in top form, nor as genially wacky as Reno. (Perhaps, in time, the loony Campus Ladies might get there.)
Free Time is pleasant enough, and mildly amusing at times, and its lead, an unknown actor named Josh Dean, is an agreeable new talent. But there is nothing memorable or particularly noteworthy about the show, which depicts the trials and tribulations of Dean’s character, a recent college graduate who returns to his small Midwestern town and moves back in with his parents to figure out his next move–and realizes that he no longer fits into the life he once had. His parents are involved in modern marriage therapy, his old bedroom has been turned into a gym, his friends have moved on with their lives and the girl he is interested in is engaged. It’s a strange idea for a show of this kind, in that its basic subject matter seems limited, especially in its opportunities for inspired improvisational comedy. Free Time will probably fade fast.
Although Sons & Daughters is also disappointing, it is too ambitious to dismiss outright. This show really strives to break through the barriers of filmed improvisational comedy and try new things. It has a large, multi-generational cast. It tells a number of ongoing stories about the relationships within a large extended family in a somewhat serialized format. And while it is by definition a comedy, it has sudden moments of unexpected human drama that should make viewers pay attention.
In addition, the cast is first-rate, especially Dee Wallace as the emotional family matriarch. (She’s very moving in one episode in which her character has a meltdown in a bowling alley and later lies motionless in her bed as one of her daughters tries to offer comfort.) The many kids on this show deserve special acknowledgement given the challenges of the genre, which would seem to be beyond the talents of children and young teens.
But while Sons is impressive both as a new form of television storytelling and as a showcase for an ensemble of talented actors, it just isn’t very amusing or especially clever. And, as presented here, there isn’t a character on its expansive canvas with any real appeal at all. It’s hard to imagine that anyone will want to get in the habit of spending time every week with these people. They’re annoying, but not so irritating that you want to watch them suffer like the characters on Seinfeld.
Sons likely will not survive in its current form. But there is definitely room on television for a comedy series about a large multigenerational family dealing with the pressures of contemporary life. By relying more on careful scripting and less on calculated improvisation, Sons could be that show.
