MR SUNSHINE
FEBRUARY 9, 2011-APRIL 6 2011
Sitcoms have slowly removed themselves from the art of “funny.” American comedy has begun to rely on the English for creating our (new born) sitcom direction. Benny Hill, Saturday Night Live and screwball comedy does not bring in the masses of half-hour sitcom viewers.
Before we dive into the body of this show lets make it clear there is no making us happy without a live audience. Even if sitcoms pump in laugh tracks it can give some assistance to the viewer so we have some idea when the punch line is over.
If this sitcom has any chance of survival they will have to write to the strength of Allison Janney (Crystal Cohen). Every scene that included Janney was the highlight of real humor. She comes from a family background of entertainers that include her mother who was an actress and her father and brothers who are musicians. Janney’s credits cover a wide variety of characters in serious movie dramas, soap operas and comedies. Janney has an internal clock that seems to know when the audience will laugh and this gives her the ability to pause for the response.
The remaining cast, as well as, Matthew Perry (Ben Donovan) has been deluded by the creators. The creators include perry, Marc Firek and Alex Barnow. Possibly ABC did not want Perry to find a home on another network so they were willing to accept a less than mediocre sitcom.
Never a fan of “Friends” we never hold actors to the standards of previous work. Courtney Cox won us over in “Cougar Town” (and yes without an audience or a laugh track.) this happened because of the clear character development and intelligent writing. Perry and his gang of creators were just unable to make us laugh with the exception of Janney’s character.
As always we will watch it through the end of its run this season and if it can not fight to become a stronger presence it will be given its pink slip a.k.a. walking papers.
RUSTY
2/14/11