US TV

In the US: Wednesdays, 10/9c, ABC
In the UK: Not yet acquired

This is Us was an unexpected hit for NBC, which usually does lukewarm versions of other networks’ dramas with a hint of added smartness. As its portentous title suggests, the show tries to depict universal emotions – it might as well be called ‘this is the human experience’ – and that’s one of the keys to its success.

ABC must have been annoyed when it saw how well the show did. This was ABC’s natural territory after all. ABC is the network of gushing emotionality, after all.

Cue A Million Little Things, ABC’s necessary rejoinder to This Is Us. Based on the idea that friendship isn’t one thing, it’s a million little things, the show is unusual for ABC, however, in being about a bunch of male friends: David Giuntoli (Grimm), a music teacher and stay-at-home dad who is having marital problems; unsuccessful movie director Romany Malco (Weeds); womaniser and breast-cancer survivor James Roday (Psych); and successful businessman Ron Livingston (Office Space).

Typically, they don’t really talk about their emotions much, just watch sports together, so when Livingston jumps off a tall building, it comes as a big surprise to all of them. Was he depressed? What did he have to be depressed about? Say, is there anything you guys aren’t telling me, too?

Cue all manner of revelations.

Continue reading “Review: A Million Little Things 1×1 (US: ABC)”

With the US Fall season now cranked up to full, there are plenty of new sitcoms hitting the screens. Unfortunately, none of them are any good; worse still, none of them really want me rambling on for a full review about them. So rather than leaving them all to WHYBW tomorrow, I’ll just do them now, instead.

Murphy Brown (US: CBS)

Latest of both the sitcom revivals and CBS’s attempts to plunder the 80s archives for remakes, this first episode sees Murphy getting the old band back together to start a new cable network morning news show to do proper news in the era of Trump, with the minor complication that her son (Limitless‘s Jake McDorman) is now a host in the same timeslot on a rival #FakeNews channel. She’s also looking for a new secretary, of course, but the first one, Hilary Clinton (that’s only one l), might not be suitable…

This was naturally never going to be particularly fresh, but this comes on the back not only of Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, but CBS All Access’ The Good Fight, where Trump-induced liberal rage was the name of the game. So none of it feels particularly fresh and the jokes are all mere shadows of the ones that have already aired in those shows. And that’s before we get started on having an Indian guy as the channel’s social media guru – that’s practically a Dev Patel Newsroom tribute. After that, it’s jokes about how Murphy can’t use her new smart phone because she’s old (hilarious) and how Trump hires are brain dead (that’s practically a The Good Fight tribute). It would help if the show’s producers could even get Donald Trump’s Twitter handle correct, if they’re going to start making jokes about not understanding tech, of course…

It’s nice to see all the old gang back together, but I’d rather be watching a third season of Great News instead, thank you.

Continue reading “A few quick Monday reviews of some new US sitcoms: Single Parents, The Cool Kids and Murphy Brown”