Its been said television is a wasteland full of reality, soaps, comedies and bizarre what not and I would have to agree. I am also like a blob of jello wallowing on my couch and soaking it all in and I'm okay with that. Every now and then something comes across the screen that makes me sit and take notice or more accurately makes me snort laugh while trying not to choke on my cheesy puffs. This tv season one standout has been a half hour comedy called Suburgatory. (you can also watch episodes at this link)
The set-up is a single father living in New York finds a box of unopened condoms in his teenage daughters drawer and decides then that to give her a better life he should move out of the city and into the suburbs. (Thing is the condoms weren't hers and she isn't using them as she's still a virgin but that's just a side note.) The hilarity ensues from the everyday interactions between the daughter who desperately wants to move back to the city and the kids she goes to school with and the dad and all his new neighbors. It's your basic fish out of water story and granted its been told a million times over but here they have managed to give it a fresh take and it's not stinky fishy.
Most of the story revolves around the young daughter Tessa played by Jane Levy, she's kind of an Emma Stone for the tv set. Playing the not really rebellious teen daughter she desperately wants to move back to New York City and schemes to convince her dad to go back. Till then she sarcastically puts up with being the new kid at school were everyone seems to think she's a lesbian because she dresses New York grungy while they are all Barbie and Ken extremes. Her voice over delivery of the exasperated "what is wrong with these people" observations is spot on. She's the snarky best friend everyone wants to have, except of course the kids in her new school.
Playing her sometimes put upon dad George is Jeremy Sisto. First of all I have to say when did Mr. Sisto get to be so hot?! I know he's been around awhile and I'd seen him on Law & Order and other stuff but he really hadn't tripped my red hot radar before but something about him in this role.....what can I say. He is a contractor guy trying to provide a good life for his kid while navigating the dos and don'ts of cul-de-sac living like figuring out why being the new folks on the block need to throw a barbecue or what do you mean no one puts up scary halloween decorations without neighborhood approval?
Helping them both through their transition to the new 'hood is Alan Tudyk as his best friend Noah Werner, Allie Grant as the geeky neighbor Lisa Shay who befriends Tessa, Cheryl Hines as the buxom slightly dim but smarter than you think neighbor Dallas Royce who's married but there is the slightest flirtation with George and her daughter played delightfully clueless by Carly Chaikin as Dalia Royce. And there's the always funny Saturday Night Live escapee Ana Gasteyer as the wacky neighbor across the street.
Now, sure, all this may sound like stuff you've seen before (which is possible) or even trite (which it's not) but I think you should give it a chance. Sure some of the characters are exaggerated a bit, but that is part of the funny and not in an offensive way, even down to the the two gay guys in the neighborhood who don't know they are gay, and yes it might be a stereotype but not a malicious one, it's played straight up and for laughs and it works, regardless of what some critics might say but hey he's from New York they don't really like anything that isn't gritty, dirty or filmed with shaky cam. Now this is one of those new non-CBS comedies so it doesn't have a live audience or a laugh track and not all the jokes are winners but no show is a laugh riot from beginning to end now is it. Still it's a good show worth giving a shot and besides what else are you doing at 8:30 on a Wednesday night besides waiting for Modern Family start?
Answer to previous post trivia question: yes I forgot to put in a trivia question, so there.
This posts trivia question: What was the first show broadcast in the United States?
The set-up is a single father living in New York finds a box of unopened condoms in his teenage daughters drawer and decides then that to give her a better life he should move out of the city and into the suburbs. (Thing is the condoms weren't hers and she isn't using them as she's still a virgin but that's just a side note.) The hilarity ensues from the everyday interactions between the daughter who desperately wants to move back to the city and the kids she goes to school with and the dad and all his new neighbors. It's your basic fish out of water story and granted its been told a million times over but here they have managed to give it a fresh take and it's not stinky fishy.
Most of the story revolves around the young daughter Tessa played by Jane Levy, she's kind of an Emma Stone for the tv set. Playing the not really rebellious teen daughter she desperately wants to move back to New York City and schemes to convince her dad to go back. Till then she sarcastically puts up with being the new kid at school were everyone seems to think she's a lesbian because she dresses New York grungy while they are all Barbie and Ken extremes. Her voice over delivery of the exasperated "what is wrong with these people" observations is spot on. She's the snarky best friend everyone wants to have, except of course the kids in her new school.
Playing her sometimes put upon dad George is Jeremy Sisto. First of all I have to say when did Mr. Sisto get to be so hot?! I know he's been around awhile and I'd seen him on Law & Order and other stuff but he really hadn't tripped my red hot radar before but something about him in this role.....what can I say. He is a contractor guy trying to provide a good life for his kid while navigating the dos and don'ts of cul-de-sac living like figuring out why being the new folks on the block need to throw a barbecue or what do you mean no one puts up scary halloween decorations without neighborhood approval?
Helping them both through their transition to the new 'hood is Alan Tudyk as his best friend Noah Werner, Allie Grant as the geeky neighbor Lisa Shay who befriends Tessa, Cheryl Hines as the buxom slightly dim but smarter than you think neighbor Dallas Royce who's married but there is the slightest flirtation with George and her daughter played delightfully clueless by Carly Chaikin as Dalia Royce. And there's the always funny Saturday Night Live escapee Ana Gasteyer as the wacky neighbor across the street.
Now, sure, all this may sound like stuff you've seen before (which is possible) or even trite (which it's not) but I think you should give it a chance. Sure some of the characters are exaggerated a bit, but that is part of the funny and not in an offensive way, even down to the the two gay guys in the neighborhood who don't know they are gay, and yes it might be a stereotype but not a malicious one, it's played straight up and for laughs and it works, regardless of what some critics might say but hey he's from New York they don't really like anything that isn't gritty, dirty or filmed with shaky cam. Now this is one of those new non-CBS comedies so it doesn't have a live audience or a laugh track and not all the jokes are winners but no show is a laugh riot from beginning to end now is it. Still it's a good show worth giving a shot and besides what else are you doing at 8:30 on a Wednesday night besides waiting for Modern Family start?
Answer to previous post trivia question: yes I forgot to put in a trivia question, so there.
This posts trivia question: What was the first show broadcast in the United States?
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