“Coupling” NBC Thursdays at 9:30 p.m.
Recommended
If “Coupling” looks a little too much like a
desperate attempt to keep “Friends” on the air after
its series finale this season, then NBC has done its job.
That’s all “Coupling” is, but that isn’t
necessarily a bad thing. While exactly what’s to be expected,
it’s occasionally funny and at least, more often than not,
amusing.
And when it comes down to it, “Friends” and
“Coupling” aren’t really that similar. Sure,
there’s the six-member cast parallel, but Ross and Rachel
could never dream of having the dead-shark relationship that Steve
(Jay Harrington) and Jane (Lindsay Price) have.
The pilot episode of “Coupling” deals more openly
with relationships and sex than a season’s worth of
“Friends” has ever done, or presumably will do, this
year. To be honest, it’s refreshing.
If only it were funnier.
The first two episodes certainly contain their funny moments,
but the valleys in between punch line peaks seem flat and
awkward.
Maybe it’s the sign of an inevitably unsuccessful sitcom,
or maybe it’s just because the series is new and hasn’t
found its footing. Either way, it’s too early to tell. But it
might be worth watching to find out.
“Skin” FOX Mondays at 9:00 p.m.
Ron Silver stars as Larry, a Los Angeles porn king and father of
Jewel, a high schooler who falls passionately for Adam, the son of
a district attorney intent on prosecuting Larry for kiddie porn
production.
The resulting story line is far from original: The families
forbid the young lovers’ relationship, forcing them to see
each other secretly. William Shakespeare wrote his version around
1597 and there have been more impressive imitations than
“Skin.”
Furthermore, the characters are flat. Adam’s parents are
predictably strict and Jewel’s more relaxed ““ until
they find out about Adam. The program’s attempt to portray
Larry as something other than a money-hungry producer of adult
entertainment who draws the line at child porn, is about as
convincing as Larry Flynt’s gubernatorial run as a
“smut peddler who cares.”
If nothing else, Bruins will enjoy the setting. In the first
episode, Jewel and Adam munch on fries at Mel’s Drive-In on
Sunset Boulevard and stroll on the Santa Monica pier.
Still, viewers shouldn’t get overly excited about
FOX’s descent into the world of porn ““ producers
promise no nudity.
“Karen Sisco” ABC Wednesdays at 10
p.m.
Karen Sisco is a beautiful woman. She’s also a
tough-talking, gun-toting U.S. marshal. And ABC is hoping its
viewers’ desire to see a sexy babe handcuff the bad guys will
be enough to overcome the sheer improbability of this new show.
The one thing “Karen Sisco” has going for it is the
excellent Carla Gugino, who pulls enough moxy out of her bag of
tricks to somehow make the character believable, despite all odds.
Even though Sisco doesn’t seem to own a single blouse that
could conceal a bruise she sports just above her bra-line
throughout the first episode, she manages to carry herself with a
dignity that says: “This tank top is my cross to bear, and I
will wear it proudly.”
As for the rest of the cast, Robert Forster makes a likable dad
for Sisco, even if his character’s first name, without a hint
of irony, is the same as Karen’s profession. Other supporting
characters only fade into the background, seeming more like
afterthoughts than valuable places to turn for story elements.
The first two episodes indicate that Sisco will often find her
job and a love life to be incompatible ““ hopefully the
writers won’t forget the whole beautiful woman, handcuffs bit
for too long.
“Like Family” The WB Fridays at 8:30 p.m.
Recommended
The idea is simple: A single mom leaves her New York City job
fearing her son has mixed with the wrong crowd, and moves in with
her friend’s black family in New Jersey.
Although its model has been tried many times previously,
“Like Family” succeeds primarily because it
doesn’t rely on tired “black meets white”
clichés. The family could very well have been Asian or even
white, and the show would still be amusing.
The show made few references to race or ethnicity. Instead, it
utilizes each supporting character strategically to evoke laughter
at any opportunity. Although its cast is primarily an ensemble, the
pilot’s centerpiece is the single mom’s rebellious son
Keith (newcomer J. Mack Slaughter). As the basic conflict demands,
Keith’s struggle to adapt to the new family and suburban life
sets many of the show’s comedic moments into motion.
However, the most entertaining instances originate from the
supporting cast’s knack for contributing the right amount of
comedic finesse. Whether it is the hard-nosed father (Kevin Michael
Richardson) and his affection for the toilet seat or the wise-crack
remarks from the lovable grandfather (J. Anthony Brown), each
character comfortably breezes through witty dialogue, adding the
necessary facial expression for each punch line.
With a pleasant supporting cast, “Like Family”
provides that welcome relief from worn-out racial clichés and
even entertains along the way.
“One Tree Hill” The WB Tuesdays at 9:00
p.m.
“One Tree Hill” centers on two half-brothers who are
complete polar opposites. One is a modest, sad-eyed teen living
with his low-income mother and whose muses are basketball and
Shakespeare. The other is a smug, arrogant rich kid who lives in a
big house and whose muses are basketball and his mildly hot
girlfriend ““ a girl who may or may not have a thing for
half-brother number one.
It’s a classic prince-and-the-pauper story line, which the
pilot episode plays out before the series gets a chance to hit its
stride. Protagonist Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray), the
intelligent, talented yet underprivileged kid from the streets
whose basketball talents are wallowing in obscurity, wants to be
recognized for his worth. Antagonist Nathan Scott (James Lafferty)
is the high school basketball star, but he feels threatened by his
half-brother’s potential to steal some of the spotlight. The
father of both teens (Paul Johansson), who only wishes to recognize
Nathan, adds to the tension as does the ultra-hip girl who has
attitude, but doesn’t know what she wants.
The result is a formulaic and tired show that will have to pack
some big twists to keep viewers interested.
“Married to the Kellys” ABC Fridays at 8:30
p.m. Recommended
Breckin Meyer stars as Tom, a New York author who moves to
Kansas City, Mo., at the behest of his wife Sandy (Kiele Sanchez),
who wants them to be closer to her family.
Tom finds himself feeling predictably out of place within his
large brood of Midwestern in-laws, who say grace in song before
dinner and play Taboo on a highly competitive and personal
level.
Luckily, executive producer Tom Hertz has taken care to create
characters who are more than just simple and silly Midwest
stereotypes. For example, Susan’s older sister, Mary (Emily
Rutherfurd), is a doctoral candidate whose place as the smartest
person in the family is now threatened by the entrance of Tom, who
creates some deliciously funny tension.
The first two episodes provide a number of genuine laughs as
Susan and Tom both struggle to adjust to their new surroundings,
with only a few jokes wasted on Susan’s inexplicably oddball
younger brother, who loves insects and steals Tom’s
clothes.
A few weaknesses aside, “Married to the Kellys”
shows a lot of promise as a strong new sitcom.
“Luis” FOX Fridays at 8:30 p.m.
One of P.T. Anderson’s favorite character actors, Luis
Guzman, has landed his own sitcom on FOX. This is a good sign.
Guzman has long delivered stand-out performances as memorable
sidemen, and it’s nice to see a network developing a show for
veteran performers and not just hot, young stand-up comics.
Sadly, while Guzman has been excellent in projects as widely
varying as “The Limey” to “Anger
Management,” he lacks the comedic timing and overall presence
to serve as the central character in “Luis,” a poorly
conceived show that is sorely lacking in laughs.
Guzman plays Luis, a divorced doughnut shop owner/landlord who
rents an apartment upstairs to his grown daughter, Marly (Jaclyn
DeSantis), and an assortment of colorful characters. But Luis
can’t seem to let his daughter make her own decisions about
her life, nor can he quite shake his ever present ex-wife, with
whom he created his doughnut recipes.
DeSantis and the rest of the supporting cast all do a fine job
of delivering their punch lines to Guzman’s overdrawn
straight man, but the boring story lines (Luis doesn’t like
Marly’s boyfriend), and tepid chemistry between the star and
his ensemble don’t bode well for future of television as a
place where hardworking actors are rewarded.
“Two and a Half Men” CBS Mondays at 9:30
p.m.
The dual father-figure model of “Two and a Half Men”
immediately brings to mind the late 1980s NBC sitcom “My Two
Dads.” While its predecessor featured two lifelong friends
raising a teenage girl who could be one of the dads’
daughter, “Two and a Half Men” presents a simpler story
about brothers Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Alan Harper (Jon Cryer)
taking care of Alan’s 10-year-old son, Jake (Angus T.
Jones).
Sheen predictably plays the Jaguar-driving, martini-drinking
playboy opposite Cryer’s neurotic and insecure
divorcee-in-waiting ““ an archetype that while seen before,
can still be entertaining. Alan’s crumbling marriage brings
him and his son to Charlie’s doorstep ““ where the
wealthy womanizer gradually warms up to the idea of living with a
boy, Ã la Hugh Grant’s character, Will, in “About
a Boy.”
Evelyn (Holland Taylor), the brothers’ snobby and
suffocating mother, and Rose (Melanie Lynskey), Charlie’s
psychotic stalker, provide adequate supporting characters, but
could never hope to be confused with a Karen Walker (“Will
and Grace”). The characters may be eccentric enough, but the
actors don’t quite carry it off.
This show’s livelihood rests on Charlie and Jake’s
relationship. However, the show’s formula can only carry it
through two or three seasons at most. Cryer has to become more than
Sheen’s sidekick for the show to go further.
“Miss Match” NBC Fridays at 8:00
p.m.
The opening shot of “Miss Match” shows Kate Fox
(Alicia Silverstone) saying something divorce-lawyer related
(it’s hard to tell what) into her cell phone as she tries to
arrive at a wedding on time. She’s wearing a bright red
dress, while the rest of the scene is relatively colorless, filled
with boring suits walking along gray stone steps.
From the get-go, it’s Silverstone’s show, for better
or for worse. And in the case of “Miss Match,”
that’s a bad thing.
Silverstone plays a divorce lawyer who doubles as a matchmaker,
a job that gets her into all kinds of trouble when she breaks up
with her boyfriend and so enters the dating market herself.
The drama, if you can call it that, tries to be cute and hip,
employing Silverstone to make a barrage of facial contortions in
numerous close-ups while playing various songs off the pop charts
in the background.
However, it comes off dull and tired, as everything Silverstone
does in the show has been done before (and done better) in
“Clueless.”
In fact, “Miss Match” might have worked better as a
movie, as its star-driven ad campaign may not be enough to draw
viewers in on Friday nights, week after week, when they could be
going out. Like a bad date, each episode of “Miss
Match” feels a lot longer than it actually is.
TV Reviews by Jake Tracer, Andrew Lee, Sommer Mathis, Pete
Flores, Kelly Rayburn, David Chang/Daily Bruin Senior
Staff