Gary Unmarried: Pilot [series premiere]
By fred | September 25, 2008
(S01E01) I had reservations before I even started watching this show, because of what I had heard of it and because of a few promo clips I had seen, none of which seemed very promising. So I wasn’t sure this would be any good, but I’m a TVoholic so I kinda had to see for myself how bad it could be, plus I liked Peter Dragon (Action) very much so it was worth the shot!
The real truth is, the first time I ever saw a clip of this show, months ago, it actually made me laugh. No really, it did. Oh sure it wasn’t very good, the situation seemed cliché, the characters were a little stereotypical, but here’s the thing, it was still funny – and I laughed.
Now that I’ve seen the entire episode, I can say that this first impression was actually very close to how I feel towards the entire episode, as a matter of fact it’s quite exactly the same : it’s nothing new, we’ve all seen before the show about a divorced parent who’s trying to date while raising her kid and of course having to deal with the other parent, it’s classic stuff there days! Hell, that’s actually the premise of another CBS sitcom, which just so happens to be Gary Unmarried’s lead-in.
See, small word. Now I have still never seen New Adventures Of Old Christine - not sure why, but I haven’t – so I can’t do any comparison between the show, but as far as this one goes, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. Situations and characters are quite common at best, often clichéd, more than once it all feels forced — I mean really, the ex-wife dating their marriage counselor was a bit much, but that the guy asked Gary and his new girlfriend for a consult right there like that, that’s already going too far.
The fact that they actually went with it, now that’s beyond everything humanly possible. Or something. You can’t expect anything new from this show, it’s the classic jokes of the girl hidden under the bed (even if for absolutely no reasons at all), or being low on beer when the fridge contains nothing but a couple of beers, and everything gets resolved within the half-hour of the show very conveniently. But there are a couple real laughs in it.
It’s not a show I see myself committing to, it’s nowhere near the quality or standard of other comedies like The Office or CBS’ own How I Met Your Mother, not even close, but the show is actually fun and enjoyable if you don’t expect much from it, the cast is very likable, and there’s a few lines that made me laugh, so should it stay on the air, if someday you got nothing better to watch, why not?
But will it stay on the air, is there still an audience for this kind of show today ? Did you like this episode ? Do you see yourself tuning in every week ?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Gary Unmarried
