In Canada: Mondays, 8pm, CTV
Time for a third-episode verdict on CTV’s latest sitcom, Satisfaction, in which three twentysomethings – a couple (Luke Macfarlane and Leah Renee) and his old college room-mate (Ryan Belleville) – who all live together in one flat end up going through all kinds of wacky twentysomething dilemmas.
And surprisingly, three episodes in, as we found with the first episode, it’s still quite funny. Yes, it’s attachment to the situation in ‘sitcom’ is still negligible, preferring to just give us loosely connected funny incidents. Yes, it has a roster of stereotypical ‘freaks’ to support the main, normal cast. And yes, it’s not going to win any awards for the subtlety of acting.
But despite all that, it’s actually pretty good, garnering a pretty good laugh quotient each episode with absurdity and the occasional piece of well observed satire, including last week’s fake TV programme, The Horse Doctor, and this week’s “guy who gave up his job saving the world so he could become a hipster who designs fonts because it’s more meaningful”. It has some good lines, the characters are reasonably fleshed out and likable (although could do with some development), and it can even be quite clever
Give it a go.
Barrometer rating: 3
Rob’s prediction: Should get another season, assuming CTV doesn’t cut back its original programming budget again