MagneticMediaFed

TBS’s 10 Items or Less premiered on the network for five episodes back in December of 2006. The series, which focuses on the employees and perhaps not-too-competent manager of a family-owned grocery store, was co-created by and stars John Lehr. Lehr first showed up on my radar back in the mid-nineties as characters in those first three Noah Baumbach films (Kicking and Screaming, Mr. Jealousy, Highball), and would always be one of those actors who would appear in a series causing me to point at the screen and say, “Oh, hey!” (He played Christina Applegate’s brother on Jesse, hosted ABC’s reality show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, and has appeared on Friends and Once & Again amongst others). With 10 Items or Less, which returns to TBS for a second season on Tuesday January 15th, Lehr seems to have found the perfect project to play off of his rather extensive background in improvisation. Last week Lehr took some time to talk with MagneticMediaFed about the show’s second season, why he prefers improv to scripted dialogue and the type of audience he hopes his show will reach. Read the full interview after the jump…

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The gang gets some culture at the Art Institute.

In the first of Monday’s two finale episodes of My Boys, Andy buys a boat… and a book on knot-tying. He called the boat Metaphor. That is about as gold of a cold open as one could possibly desire. One of the structural flaws of the series (aside from the god-awful narration) is the sad reality that Andy, played by Jim Gaffigan, is arguably the funniest of all the characters, but also the one character intentionally built into the periphery of the series. You can have an entire episode of My Boys without him and it wouldn’t feel strange, so giving the guy a pretty great scene right off the bat speaks well for whatever was to come. More thoughts after the break…

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There were probably several reasons as to why I was a little bored with Monday’s episode of My Boys. Maybe it was the fact that as much as I love television, there’s just something about watching it on Labor Day that doesn’t seem right. It’s like going to a concert and wearing a t-shirt of the band you’re about to see. Sure, you can do it, but you won’t feel good about yourself. Likewise, we’re also getting into that final stretch of summer when the cable shows are winding down and the networks are gearing up to once again convince themselves that they’re relevant.

Either way, My Boys just didn’t do it for me this week. It’s a shame, as the gang went out to suburbia to enjoy a BBQ at Andy’s place. I love suburbia, despite the fact that I fled it like a ski-masked hooligan after a botched robbery. Granted, I love it as much as I hate it, but you get the idea – there was plenty of good comedy to be mined: cicadas, the instant familiarity, office parks, chain restaurants, and redundant streets (true: my parents lived on 160th Ave, which was right next to 160th Street. This is a point that would have to be emphasized to visitors outside the subdivision). None of the jokes really hit.

Next week is the season finale, bringing the My Boys episode total to a tight 21 after this two-part first season. Hopefully it’ll deliver some solid laughs amidst the inevitable relationship nonsense.

Is it cool to think Ryan Reynolds is funny? Most of me thinks no, but then again he did have the “What does it mean?” line in Harold and Kumar. Either way, his appearance in this week’s episode was a welcome surprise – er, at the very least a surprise that I was OK with welcoming. He seemed to playing himself as one of now-super-cool Brendan’s friends. Regardless, he was only in the show during the cold open then disappeared never to be heard from again. Just enough time get this paragraph written. Let’s move on (after the jump…)

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Wow. You’re bearded and beautiful.

Jeremy Sisto guest starred this week as PJ’s old “summer flame.” People seem to love this guy. To me, he’s always been a poor man’s Liev Schreiber, but then again I never stuck with Six Feet Under. He could be the rich man’s Liev Schreiber for all I know, though I find that hard to believe due to one key fact: Sisto has not — to my knowledge — fathered a child with Naomi Watts. That’s worth a lot. Here, I always find PJ’s relationships (or potential relationships) to come off as unnatural and strained. I suspect this is because Jordanna Spiro is far superior at acting natural when in the company of her co-stars (which makes sense given the show’s log-line). When she’s asked to act “romantic” we can see the acting. This is problematic over the long-term as PJ’s character will eventually need a boyfriend — in theory, of course. Maybe the writers have a few tricks up their sleeve to keep this from happening. More after the break…

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Every week I sit down and I watch this show and I have the exact same thought process: how is it that this series makes me laugh as consistently as it does? I swear, if you read the transcript of this show (Hey Rick, I think some people call that a “script.” Hmm, yeah?) you’d say to yourself, “My god, Kenny, how on earth did this show ever get made?” And yet, here I am, watching, laughing, enjoying… occasionally grimacing at the sometimes lousy dialogue or unbelievably cheesy (and derivative) narration. But it’s funny. Funny is worth a lot. Funny can overwrite your faults. Funny makes your lazy eye go away and allows people to look past your horrible case of dandruff and inability to converse with girls.

And not just faux-funny, like Entourage, where everyone tells you its a comedy, but where there are rarely actual funny moments. No, My Boys is legitimately funny — just not hilarious. That would be an overstatement.

This week has maintained the show’s par status: Andy’s cheap briefcase, Mike’s meat obsession, the gang’s urinal envy, Mikey’s pyramid scheme which isn’t a pyramid scheme… no wait… it is.

Good stuff. Not great stuff. But good. And funny.

I looked at my DVR to see what was going to be on tonight and almost startled myself into a coma. Tonight is the most jam-packed night of programming since the standard television season ended in May. It is a clear sign of things to come as the fall gets underway and sleeping patterns greatly diminish. In any case, here’s a list what I’m hoping to watch:

• My Boys (TBS, 10pm)
• No Reservations (Travel, 10pm)
• Weeds (Showtime, 10pm)
• Californication (Showtime, 10:30pm)
• The Hills (MTV, 10pm)

What’s that? Scheduling conflicts? I don’t understand. I’m just thankful I bailed on Big Love two months ago or things might have been really hairy.

Four of five of those shows will likely work themselves into the regular weekly rotation (Californication is a toss-up as early word is it sucks). The real question mark is on MTV’s The Hills, a series I watched during its first season and was more or less repulsed by. That being said, when a friend’s Gmail away message today reads “Spencer Sucks” I have to wonder if perhaps I was grading the show a bit too harshly and not savoring its “cattier” qualities — so I’m going to give it another shot.

Oh my God, this show is fair to good!

My Boys is one of those shows I’m surprised I enjoy watching as much as I do. It has a lot of problems, not the least of which being a narration track loaded with not-particularly insightful baseball metaphors and reeks of Carrie Bradshaw. There’s also the “female friend” of our tomboy lead P.J. who never once presents a legitimate reason as to why the two are friends. There’s also the general problem of a show about a bunch of friends who all go to the same bar every night and trying to make that idea seem new. And yet I watch it and I like it. More after the jump…

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With all of these comedies coming out, I kind of don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve been complaining for months (years?) that the situation comedy has all but vanished from the nightly lineups, and then what do they do but go and release three of them in a week (I thought My Boys premiered last night, but it turns out that it was actually last week. More on this later).

Big Day is a holdover from the fall, that finally gives Help Me Help You a companion piece during ABC’s nine o’clock hour. The premise is: half-hour sitcom about a couple’s ZANY wedding day meets 24’s real-time storytelling motif, but without the quad-boxes and creepy clock (Big Day’s clock is quite charming in its whiteness and lower-thirdness).

The show itself is really what a situation comedy should be (i.e. comedy derived from situations, not jokes). It isn’t hilarious so much as it is fun, though I will say that I laughed out loud a couple times when Wendy Malick’s character said, “Caesar, is a ridiculous salad!” I don’t care who you are, that’s funny. The show is also a solid improvement over Help Me Help You, which has yet to really impress me outside of its casting Judd Apatow in the role of one of Ted Danson’s psychiatrist friends. ABC has been exclusively known for its dramas for the past three seasons (and its dancing stars)– perhaps this January, once Knights of Prosperity premieres, it might be fully back in the comedy game (though According to Jim doesn’t help).

TBS’s second (or first) new comedy this month is My Boys, a charming tom-boy-meets-boy story set in Chicago. After the jump I’ll tell you more…

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TBS is launching two new comedies this week. This makes sense because TBS has rebranded itself as the network for comedy. Interestingly enough, these are the first two original programs the network has developed in many years. Its standard fare is comprised of Everybody Loves Raymond and Sex in the City reruns. You might also have noticed that it is the time of the TV season when most shows go on hiatus for a month or two, making it the perfect opportunity for a smaller show to grab some content-starved viewers.

The first of the new shows, 10 Items or Less, premiered last night with My Boys premiering tonight. We’ll get to My Boys later.

10 Items or Less is a generally unimpressive television comedy, but is worth watching for the following reasons: 1) its a comedy, and perhaps you haven’t noticed, but no one seems to be making comedies anymore. 2) The star of the show is John Lehr, who most people will recognize as “the guy in the box at the top of this article” but who savvy comedy will remember from his work in various Noah Baumbach projects of the 90s. He is funny and fun to watch. 3) It’s almost December. What else were you going to watch? Breaking Bonaduce?

For those who checked out last summer’s Lovespring International on Lifetime, 10 Items or Less will seem awfully familiar. It’s basically the same show, but in a grocery store. You’ve got your collection of lovably wacky employees. You have an enthusiastic manager/main character. You have a basic David versus Goliath plotline, mix it all together under the freedom of a scriptless, improv comedy format and shot with the cheapness of hand-held digital video and BAM you got yourself a stew going on! (Since Curb Your Enthusiasm hit, scriptless comedy shows have become the 99¢ Store of the television landscape. Sure, you can find some gems in there, but everything just looks so damn cheap).
Still, there are laughs, and who doesn’t like to laugh. I’ll be checking it out for the next couple weeks at the very least.

Though I do have one concern, the preview for next week’s episode (I don’t usually watch previews, but the show is new and I wanted to see where it was going) suggests that the main plot focus is EXACTLY like an episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia from this past summer. THAT, is not cool.