Outside of the fact that it's not funny, they don't even bother trying to keep with the premise. Since the show is supposedly based on Handler's books about her earlier years before she became a standup and Prepon is supposed to be playing her at that age, it seems to me that the show should be set in the 90s. However, there are so many contemporary references in episodes that it seems to be set in an alternate universe where Handler doesn't have a late-night talk show on E! Are they assuming that the audience has never read any of Handler's books?
Of course, even if the "Happy Hour" is going bust, NBC has to find some broad multi-cam sitcoms to change their fortunes and I'm guessing that "Comedy Night Done Right" as we know it will be gone next season. When the Wrap puts out its list of NBC pilots, I'll be curious how many comedy pilots are multi-cam and how many are one camera/shakycam/mockumentary/awkward pause shows (and yes, I realize that one camera don't all have those things--although "30 Rock" uses some shakycams, it and the other Lorne Michaels show "Up All Night" do use straightforward storytelling without the confessionals or awkward pauses. On Sun, Mar 4, 2012 at 11:58 AM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > I had about 4 episodes of "Are you There Chelsea" on my DVR this weekend, > and figured I might as well watch before deleting (I was looking for > something I could have on in the background while grading a big pile of > back-logged papers yesterday). This is not a good television program. I am > going to put to the side for the moment the question of whether or not it > is a funny program (which is not my cup of tea, but I suspect I am not in > the target demo), but, funny or not, it is just not put together very well. > > Jerry Seinfeld was never much of an actor, but he was almost always > comfortable and easy to watch on camera. Laura Prepon seems a likeable > young lady (she seems vaguely familiar, but I can't place what her previous > work has been), but her acting, and that of the rest of the cast, is > shockingly bad for a network program. Most of the time she seems as engaged > in her role as Lindsey Lohan was in most of her sketches last night. The > writing is clunky and cliched, and the pace is plodding. I am not familiar > with the comedy of Chelsea Handler (who actually is the funniest and most > interesting person on camera, though this is pretty rare) - maybe the show > is intended to be an extended parody of a sitcom (half the time it does > read like a really bad imitation of Cheers), and maybe at that level it is > funny. > > The TVBYTHENUMBERS guys have this show as likely to be cancelled, so it > looks like it wont be around much longer - I am curious though as to how > something this bad got on the air in the first place - even on NBC's > desperate air. > > I have been monitoring most of the Whitney episodes, and while I still > don't particularly like it, I no longer detest it (the blond woman on that > show, and Whitney's boyfriend, have begun to grow on me). > > > ** > > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
