Underachieving 'Notes from the Underbelly' returns
In what has to be one of the most unlikely comebacks of the year, ABC's "Notes From the Underbelly" returns at 8:30 p.m. Monday on WLS Channel 7.
This couples comedy about young marrieds embarking on parenthood wants to be sophisticated, but not at the expense of alienating the dimmer elements of the audience. It wants to move past the formulaic sitcom shot before a studio audience and enhanced with a laugh track, but it never met a cheap yuk it didn't like.
Unfortunately, it can't have it both ways, and it doesn't get any more consistent on its second go-round.
The second season opens with Peter Cambor's Andrew sitting down to breakfast with a bunch of friends and pointing at his wife's burgeoning belly to say, "Hey guys, check out what I did."
Now that's sophistication.
Yes, Jennifer Westfeldt's Lauren is pregnant, after their friends Julie, played by Melanie Paxson, and Eric, played by Sunkrish Bala, had their baby last season. In marked contrast are Rachael Harris' bone-busting blond divorce attorney Cooper and Andrew's slacker buddy Danny, played by Michael Weaver.
So of course the three couples -- even though Cooper and Danny are most definitely not a couple, no, really, out of the question -- act out three divergent story lines.
In the best of the three, Lauren insists she wants Andrew to be more assertive and less of a milquetoast.
"We're supposed to be partners," she says.
"OK," he replies matter-of-factly, "you're the boss."
That's a fine little joke written by Shira Zeltzer Goldman, with the suggestion that she has perhaps better work and better series ahead of her once this one tanks. Because otherwise "Underbelly" is saddled with a reliance on easy laughs dictated by Risa Green's source novel as brought to the small screen by series creator Stacy Traub.
The other threads in Monday's episode are threadbare. Julie and Eric hire a domineering European nanny with a magic swaddling technique that immediately calms their baby -- to the point where they feel as if the child is being taken away from them. Then Danny and Cooper work out a barter agreement for some legal work he needs done, and he winds up cooking dinner for her -- more than once. But they're not dating -- no, really, out of the question.
Upcoming episodes don't appear to get any better. In one, Lauren and Andrew take their turn being stupid when they have to appoint a legal guardian as part of the will they're writing, and all they can come up with is the nebbishy couple down the street. Meanwhile, Cooper has to plan a party for her arch rival at the law firm and hires Danny as a bartender, only to find him in the bathroom with the guest of honor -- which turns out to be a good thing, as he goes on to distract her from her work, to Cooper's benefit.
High jinks ensue.
"Underbelly" is shot on location in single-camera style, but sometimes you can take the sitcom out of the studio, but you just can't take the canned jokes out of the sitcom. This is a dreary series, and -- writers' strike or not -- the sooner it's canned and the more promising writers on the staff are freed to do something else, the better.
Still, it's not the worst returning ABC show of the season. That title belongs to "October Road," the sentimental, stereotypical prime-time soap opera about a prodigal writer coming back home, which settles in behind "Underbelly" at 9 p.m. Monday on Channel 7, after being relaunched on Thanksgiving. Its only distinguishing characteristic is it's the unfortunate place Laura Prepon landed after "That '70s Show." But it's just a weigh station for her. She too has better work in front of her -- after she finishes with this tripe.
Remotely interesting: WGN Channel 9 presents the lighting of the Great Tree in the Walnut Room of the downtown Macy's -- on tape, mind you -- at 6 p.m. Saturday. … NBC's "Saturday Night Live" airs a new compilation of "Family Thanksgiving Leftovers" at 10:30 p.m. on WMAQ Channel 5, featuring classic skits.
WPWR Channel 50 airs the IHSA football championships from Champaign starting at 10 a.m. today and Saturday: 1A through 4A today and 5A through 8A Saturday. … WYCC Channel 50 presents a profile of ballerina and Chicago resident "Maria Tallchief" at 7 p.m. Sunday. … Fuse debuts the half-hour series "Videos That Rocked the World" at 9 p.m. Monday starting with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
End of the dial: WBEZ 91.5-FM marks the 20th anniversary of Mayor Harold Washington's death with a roundtable discussion of his "Legacy on Chicago Politics" on "Eight Forty-Eight" at 9 a.m. today. Ira Glass' appreciation of Washington on "This American Life" airs at 7 p.m. today.
Don't forget: Progressive-talk WCPT moves from 850-AM to 820-AM on Monday.
Waste Watcher's choice
Usually, there's nothing worse than a live-action Christmas comedy. (Anybody remember Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad in "Jingle all the Way"?) But as an overgrown adopted resident of Santa's toy shop at the North Pole, Will Ferrell makes "Elf" worthwhile. It's at 8 p.m. today on USA.