I think pleasant is a good way to describe this show. It wasn’t really funny, nor was it unfunny, and I didn’t mind having it on. However, I kinda liked the whole Ava thing. Though the show wants to focus on “Smaller,” home based stories.seriously, there haven’t been enough domestic based comedy shows?
SNL Alum Emily Spivey’s new series demonstrates that NBC still knows, after last year’s rather dismal showing, how to make a decent sitcom. This one has the potential to actually be quite good. It won’t be as manic as 30 Rock, or as textured as Parks and Rec, but this is a nice, domestic work that really matters where it counts: it’s funny. Not Community funny, but funnier than any of NBC’s attempts last year.
The show’s about Christina Applegate, who’s the personal assistant to an Oprah variant (Maya Rudolph gets to use some of her spot on SNL Oprah for this), and Will Arnet (who plays a less abrasive version of the character he usually plays), the stay at home dad, who have a baby. That’s really all there is to this show, it’s not overly complicated: two people who have some maturity issues have a kid. it happens to just be disjointed enough to have some more surreal moments (Arnet’s grocery store showdown with an elderly woman), and retains a realism to it (far more than any of NBC’s other comedies) that lends itself to some genuinely emotional moments. Is it must see? Not yet, but it could get there. The problem I see is that both lead’s stories feel like b-stories. How the show reconciles them, and balances them, or which it mines the most for laughs, will make or break it.
