Year: 2012

In the US: Wednesdays, 8.30pm EST, NBC

The big four American TV networks have something of an alcohol problem. Or at least a problem with alcohol. In any given TV show, anyone shown to be drinking a lot or generally having alcohol-related fun must have a problem and they need to give up alcohol ASAP if they’re to get their life into gear.

Who knows what would happen if they ever remade Inspector Morse.

The last time the networks had a go at a show about people who quite liked drinking, it was Showtime’s Shameless remake, in which Frank’s drinking is the root of all evil (although he’s not much better off the sauce, addmitedly). And before that, it was the “anything but” Happy Hour on Fox.

Now NBC is trying to make a comedy based on talk show host Chelsea Handler’s autobiography, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea. And that’s what the TV show was called until very recently, until it was nonsensically renamed Are You There, Chelsea? (because having vodka in the title would put off viewers, apparently.) In it, a thinly veiled version of Chelsea Handler (who actually plays Chelsea’s born-again Christian sister in the show) works in a bar and tries to navigate through the complexities of work, boyfriends, friends and family while repeatedly getting rat-arsed – and everyone telling her she has a drink problem.

Here’s a trailer. It’s from the now almost-completely reshot pilot. If you’re in the US, you can view a proper trailer after that, too. Neither will make you laugh.

Continue reading “Review: Are You There, Chelsea? (NBC) 1×1”