On flailing NBC sitcoms, 'funny' depends on chemistry
In "One Big Happy," another malfunctioning NBC sitcom that premieres at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Elisha Cuthbert (of the late, great "Happy Endings" or, if you prefer, eternally Kim Bauer of "24") stars as an uptight lesbian named Lizzy who has decided to make a baby with her best friend and roommate, a hunky-dory straight guy named Luke (Nick Zano).
Just as fertilization occurs, Nick announces his quicky engagement to Prudence (Kelly Brook), a free-spirited British woman he just met in a bar. With her visa set to expire sooner than a viewer will remain interested in "One Big Happy," Nick and Prudence need to get married, or she'll have to go back to England.
Lizzy, who prides herself on organization and considers the weekly farmers market to be the epitome of fun, doesn't approve of this development, especially after the first morning, when we see that Prudence likes to parade around the house in the nude.
I kept freezing the frame - not for a better look at her, but to see whether the kitchen calendar said "1998." The unconventionality that serves as the show's principal hook - A guy and a lesbian having a baby! A woman getting married because she needs a green card! - is too rote to elicit much curiosity; as such, everything about this show feels like it's 15 steps back in TV history.
There's very little in this Ellen DeGeneres-executive produced sitcom to dissect or think about or, least of all, laugh at.
That's not to say there aren't a few chuckles in each episode. (Of course there are; creator-writer Liz Feldman, whose work includes CBS' "2 Broke Girls," did hire writers, who wrote jokes.) Cuthbert's time on "Happy Endings" serves her well enough, and Zano amiably keeps up his end of the garden variety rat-a-tat-tat dialogue.
The show is pleasantly and forgettably mediocre for the few minutes before Brook bounces in, delivering each of her lines in a way that is only ever grating. A few viewers out there may warm to her, but certainly all viewers can relate to the sensation of knowing that, no matter how many episodes they make, something here is just never going to click with a certain character.
"One Big Happy" becomes an excellent case study in failed chemistry lessons, especially when paired with creators Bill Lawrence and Adam Sztykiel's "Undateable," which returns for a second season tonight, right before "One Big Happy."
A reader recently asked me how a show like "Undateable," which had a relatively successful run last summer, can still be around when measurably better (or at least possibly better) NBC comedies like "A to Z" and "Bad Judge" couldn't catch a break last fall.
"Undateable," which returns to the NBC lineup at 8 p.m. Tuesday, has two solid qualities going for it: The writing is deceptively sharp, and the show lucked out when it comes the uncertain science of ensemble casting.
Perhaps even more galling is the fact that no one on "Undateable" is exceptionally talented, and yet even this works to their advantage. Playing the exact same arch-eyebrowed dude he played on "Whitney," comedian Chris D'Elia stars as Danny, the alpha male among a bunch of losers who hang out in a struggling Detroit pub. Another comedian, Brent Morin, plays the pub's owner, Justin, who tends to self-sabotage when it comes to dating or even just hooking up with available women. It's up to Danny to school Justin in modern manliness. The other bar customers - more comedians, including Ron Funches as Shelly - provide a surplus of humorous distractions and riffy asides.
There's nothing new going on here, either (people sitting around in a bar insulting one another is as at least as old as "Cheers"), but in "Undateable's" case, it makes for accidental perfection.
Again, it's all about the mix. Where the trio on "One Big Happy" look like they're getting too many notes from producers and trying five times too hard, the gang on "Undateable" acts like it's over the moon about getting a C on the test. One of these shows is attempting to be "funny"; the other one actually is a little funny.