April Views

By Thomas Willett

It’s been awhile since I shared with you my thoughts on what shows to watch. Ahead of time, I apologize for even suggesting that Whitney had potential. This is small proof that whatever I end up recommending is subject to be terrible or cancelled before its time (Free Agents). I am by no means an expert, at most an indulger of the half hour sitcom with sprinkles of Breaking Bad for kicks. Keep this in consideration when I tell you that this April, there are a handful of promising female-centric shows premiering. I also assure you that we’ve gotten better since 2 Broke Girls (though I’m not ready to give it up entirely).

I have wanted to write about new shows worth checking out. However, there hasn’t been a stretch of time since my September entry with enough substance. I’ll admit that there were some good moments (Luck, Unsupervised), but nothing worth writing a whole entry on. Then April happened. Not only is my beloved Parks and Recreation returning on April 19, but we also see the return of the Ricky Gervais Show on April 20 and some hope that we can forget about Life’s Too Short. That alone is worth celebrating.

Then, among promotional materials and several Firewall and Iceberg podcast episodes, I realized something. We’re living in a time where women finally overpower the sitcom market. The days of machismo has been diluted to a cancelled Tim Allen show. I’m hoping things don’t get oversaturated, but at the same time, it makes for a more interesting culture. We’re finally getting the female perspective on everything, and it’s done tastefully. The second fiddle, dumpy girlfriend phase may still exist somewhere, but the media is finally presenting someone strong, independent, and funny.

You may be thinking to yourself that it has existed for decades. Look at the Mary Tyler Moore Show or Laverne and Shirley. These women are successful, are they not? You can even go more recent to Nurse Jackie or even 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation. Those shows are pinnacle, but ever since Bridesmaids stated the obvious in that woman can be funny, there has been a large surge in female-centric shows. There was a handful at first, but it grew into a plethora starting last September.

It is true that maybe at first it wasn’t that strong. 2 Broke Girls had funny moments, but was bogged down with broad racist stereotypes and smutty humor. Whitney was just a bad sitcom version of creator Whitney Cummings’ otherwise good stand-up. New Girl features inconsistent viewing schedules thanks to American Idol and baseball coverage. Enlightened won stuff as a comedy, but it was more of a drama.

While ABC was stuck doing shows like Man Up (which tanked), these were the building blocks to make this month’s shows a realistic schedule. I will not say that we started strong, but it was a start. Now we even have shows in development from Judy Greer, Mindy Kaling, and Sarah Silverman. Maybe this is all just going to be a tragic fad, but I’m actually excited if these end up being as good as Community and Louie.

With that said, I might as well tell you about these shows. Thanks to various marketing tactics, I have seen some of these shows ahead of time. The reality is that nothing has captured my interest just yet, but there’s still nuggets of gold buried somewhere. So here they are.

1. Girls (HBO, April 15)

Fans of the podcast will know that I have been dying to see this show for a long time. While not being a big fan of Tiny Furniture, I do see some potential in Lena Dunham to be, as she puts it, a voice of a generation. I have been obsessed with every trailer produced, and I almost hope this makes up for Bored to Death’s (and Eastbound & Down’s this Sunday) departure. While I notably got excited because of producer Judd Apatow’s return to TV since the great Undeclared, Dunham’s personality in interviews sealed the deal. Also, as a Freaks and Geeks lover, I am even more excited to see Becky Ann Baker is still around.

2. Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 (ABC, April 11)

While the title is a turn-off for well-meaning TV and the titular character is not Bumblebee Man, I took a chance with it. My history with current ABC sitcoms is very poor. I don’t enjoy Modern Family and don’t have any familiarity with Happy Endings or Cougar Town (outside of the Abed references ). Yet I watched this partially because as a big fan of Breaking Bad (and the Jane Margolis storyline ), I wanted to see Krysten Ritter do comedy. Of the two episodes I have seen, I see some promise amongst what feels like a flimsy supporting cast. Ritter is excellent and the mean nature feels like a more coherent and clever version of what 2 Broke Girls was going for. My initial instinct was to write it off, but I cannot just yet.

3. Best Friends Forever (NBC, April 4)

Is it bad that I only watched this show because of a Doug Loves Movies episode where I loathed the appearance of stars Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Claire? I spent that hour thinking that their show cannot be that annoying. To their benefit, the chemistry works. However, I still find them annoying, though not nearly as excruciating as Whitney could be. What held me over for this show was a promising subplot I felt connected the characters strongly. If I ever watch again, I would like to think that the writing improves. While the media is hailing it as the next Laverne and Shirley (a term I’m growing to loathe in favor of just putting on reruns), I don’t see any great characters to make it that. Some good writing, but I’ll stick to AV Club’s TV Club reviews to see if it gets better.

4. The Legend of Korra (Nickelodeon, April 14)

I am guilty of not seeing every episode of the Last Airbender. However, of the handful that I have seen, I have strong faith that this spin-off could work. If the pattern holds, I probably won’t watch it entirely, but I’m sure that I’ll speak high praise of what I see. It does have an impressive voice acting cast, including JK Simmons, Stephen Root, Maria Bamford, Dave Thomas and Janet Varney (whose J.V. Club podcast is worth a listen). I also got excited from this Operation Kino interview with the composers. The first two episodes are already available for viewing if you can’t wait.

5. Veep (HBO, April 22)

I will admit that creator Armando Iannucci doesn’t have the best track record with me. I found his film In the Loop to be pointless profanity and little else. I’d like to think that maybe it was a fluke and that this show, lead by Julia Louis Dreyfuss, can rise above my low expectations and deliver the poignant political commentary that everyone but me thinks that an Iannucci production has. While the promos give me the impression of an alternate Parks and Recreation, I am sure there’s something there. If not, I just have to wait until June for the Aaron Sorkin-penned, Greg Motolla directed The Newsroom for some juicy satire.

There may not be as many great shows this time around, but I enjoy the prospect of there always being something to capture my interest. Maybe Girls will join the pantheon of amazing Judd Apatow shows. Maybe Best Friends Forever will turn around unexpectedly. That’s the fun of everything. Pilot episodes tell you little besides characters and it’s up to you to stick around. What do you think? Is there any great new show coming out that I don’t know about? Am I daft in believing that we’re entering a more interesting time in the sitcom realm? Leave me some feedback and let’s get a dialogue going.

You can read Thom’s blog every Wednesday and hear him on Nerd’s Eye View every Tuesday and Thursday at nevpodcast.com . Send your thoughts to nevpodcast@gmail.com. You can also read Thom’s movie reviews for Cinema Beach at cinemabeach.com.