Mad Love: "Pilot"

A review of the show, at least as seen from the pilot, after the jump....

On some level, I have to assume Matt Tarses knows sitcoms. In the opening minute of Mad Love, it is clearly stated that the show is going to be told from the prospective of Larry (played by Tyler Labine, or as I like to think of him, Bert 'Sock' Wysocki), the male sidekick of the show. This would seem to be a smart move, not so much a stunt as a creative decision of a show runner to get ahead of the game. So often on sitcoms, it is the sidekick, or some other side player, that becomes the most popular member of the cast, the ends up defining the show. (Think of Urkel on Family Matters, just to name one extremely obvious example.)

Yet one another level, I can't help but think that Tarses doesn't know a thing about sitcoms – or he knows them too well. For while the premise is itself quite interesting, the show surrounding it isn't. The cast may be charming enough, but that doesn't change the fact that this is yet another show about white twentysomethings living in a big city, and hanging out at a bar every episode. (And you can't deny that the bar these guys hang out at looks way too much like McLaren's on How I Met Your Mother. And while the cast has some solid comedic players – Sarah Chalke and Labine especially – that doesn't change the fact that the jokes aren't funny, and that many of them are telegraphed from miles away. In a sitcom jokes matter, and even if every other element in good, if you can't make the audience laugh, then the show is going to fail.

But even all of this wouldn't be so bad if the show could just stick with its premise. By my recollection, Larry's narration was only present in the opening and closing minutes of the show. If this is truly meant to be from Larry's perspective, then why don't we here more of his thoughts? And by that logic, why do we spend so much time with Ben and Kate? (Seriously, Tarses couldn't come up with some more original names?) Now logic dictates it's because the characters are played by Jason Biggs and Chalke, and one doesn't waste that kind of talent. Yet I would have been happier if the show had hired no-name actors for these roles, and increased the focus on both Larry and Kate's best friend Connie (played by Judy Greer), and just made the whole show like the Buffy episode “The Zeppo” (or, if you prefer, the House episode “Wilson”). Now that would have been some truly original television.

Yet despite all these complaints, I kind of like the show, or at least I like the central idea, and parts of me want to see more. (The other parts are too busy with grad school and don't want to have to keep up with yet another television show, so I have no idea which section is going to win out.) Jokes can always be improved, and so can the execution of the premise (though the latter would take more episodes to fix than the former.) And though we've seen the relationship dynamics at play here in plenty of other shows (notably HIMYM), the cast, as stated above, is truly charming, and makes all of these moments work – even when they probably shouldn't (the moments, not the cast.)

As it stands, Mad Love is an adequate addition to CBS's Monday lineup, and far better than Rules of Engagement, the show it replaced. I'm just not sure if its the best the network can do.

What did everybody else think?


Additional Thoughts:

I like to make a game of predicting when RoE is going to get renewed. Even though its been on the air for years now, I don't think it's ever had a full season, yet for some reason CBS keeps renewing it. It's a good thing I don't actually watch or care for the show.

Seriously, I miss Reaper.