'Better With You' - 'Pilot': Through the years
What did everybody think of the new sitcom?
The cast of "Better With You."
I never got around to writing a review of "Better With You," and due to massive technological fail on my end, I couldn't even discuss it on a podcast today. (Fienberg, at least, wrote something on the subject.) For the most part, the shows I've been skipping this week haven't been the ones I hated (see this, this and this today), but the ones I felt ambivalent about, and this one qualifies. I like a bunch of the actors (particularly JoAnna Garcia, Jennifer Finnigan, Debra Jo Rupp and Kurt Fuller), and it didn't grate the way either of the new Thursday sitcoms did, but nor did it make me laugh, or even smile, and that's a problem on a traditional multi-camera comedy with a laughtrack. It seems a weird fit with "The Middle," "Modern Family" and "Cougar Town," and given that I usually don't have time for "The Middle" (which is much funnier), I can't see me finding the time for this within a week or two, if that.
What did everybody else think?
News From Our Partners
-
Why Do I Own This?: A pint glass nicked from Forks, Washington, a.k.a. “Twilight, U.S.A.”
Scenic Routes: A quiet scene from The Matrix demonstrates how to make exposition compelling
Nerd Curious: Why the essential collection Bradbury Stories explains how to live forever
-
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Star Trek Softer Than Expected at #1
Weekly Ketchup: Will Smith to Star in Wild Bunch Remake?
Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh
-
One Direction Thank Their Fans for 2013 Billboard Music Award Wins
Drake + Jay-Z Working on New Music [Pic]
Taylor Swift Gets Grossed Out When Selena Gomez + Justin Bieber Kiss Backstage at 2013 Billboard Awards [Pics]
-
The Women TV Is Still Missing
Jason Isaacs Reveals The One Co-Star He Won't Work With Again
WATCH: La Toya's Tearful Break-Up Phone Call
-
'Star Wars Rebels': New Animated Series Will Take Place Between 'Episode III and 'Episode IV'
James Badge Dale, 'Iron Man 3' Star, Is Also in 'World War Z' and 'The Lone Ranger'
'Blue Jasmine' Poster Debut: Cate Blanchett Is Strikingly Stoic (PHOTO)
-
Sony Teases PlayStation 4 E3 Console Reveal in New Video
George Takei as Every Character in 'Star Trek Into Darkness'
Nintendo Promises Details on New 3D Mario, Smash Bros Before E3
-
'Star Trek Into Darkness': What's Next For J.J. Abrams And The Cast?
'Star Trek Into Darkness' Spoiler Special: Burning Questions Answered
'Anchorman 2' Trailer Had Us At 'Hello': Watch Now!
-
The Telefile - Veep: The Episode's Best Insults
The Telefile - Saturday Night Live: Straight Outta 8H
The Telefile - Game of Thrones: Our Weekly Westeros Scorecard
Get Instant Alerts on What's Alan Watching
Latest Posts
-
A police procedural that doesn't bother with whodunnit, but doesn't replace it with anything interestingMonday, May 20, 2013
-
The paperback is being re-released tomorrowMonday, May 20, 2013
-
Don and Stan get a special shot, the agency loses a leader and Sally meets her 'Grandma Ida'Monday, May 20, 2013
-
The Lannisters throw a wedding, Daenerys faces a new army, and Stannis meets GendrySunday, May 19, 2013
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupthe2scoops
September 22, 2010 at 9:16PM EST Reply to CommentI'm willing to give it 3 episodes, mainly built on the goodwill I have for Jennifer Finnegan and Josh Cooke based on "Committed", which was never a hit but I always liked.
Justin
September 22, 2010 at 9:18PM EST Reply to CommentI strongly disagree. This show was unbearably 'grating'. It just seemed like the absolute worst of the worst, bottom-of-the-barrel garbage. I'm sorry.
KC
September 22, 2010 at 9:25PM EST Reply to CommentI'm willing to give it 3 episodes, mainly built on the goodwill I have for Kurt Fuller and Josh Cooke based on "Big Day", which I never watched, but felt like mentioning.
Chelsea
September 22, 2010 at 10:15PM EST Reply to CommentI was appalled. By every aspect. But here's something I have to get off my chest: The six are in the restaurant in a booth with plants behind them. An arm reaches over with a tray of six glasses of champagne, which one of the actors takes and distributes. I'm sorry but it's cardboardy crap like that that makes me feel like I'm watching an improv skit in a middle school acting class.
September 22, 2010 at 11:14PM EST Reply to CommentJennifer Finnigan and Josh Cooke in the same show again? One show killer isn't enough, let's go with two!
DonBoy
September 22, 2010 at 11:28PM EST Reply to CommentSeveral of the actors looked weirdly different...by which I mean, I don't like Garcia's look -- she used to be a fair-haired cutie, and the dark hair doesn't suit her persona. Also Debra Jo Rupp's look, which was presumably to distinguish her from Kitty Foreman, was odd.
I did get a big laugh from this:
[Together 35 years]
He: How do I look?
She: Oh, let's not fight.
...but it has the sound of an old joke.
Anon
September 23, 2010 at 12:32AM EST Reply to CommentSomeone didn't do the math - the characters' ages and their histories didn't make sense and the comedy wasn't funny enough to distract me from that.
forg
September 23, 2010 at 12:45AM EST Reply to Comment"given that I usually don't have time for "The Middle" (which is much funnier0"
I'm just happy to see some good feedback, even just in passing, about The Middle here in this site. It's often ignored by TV media :(
About Better With You, I'll give it a shot because I like the cast, things could improve
ZacharyTF
September 23, 2010 at 12:59AM EST Reply to CommentUnlike The Whole Truth, I watched the entire pilot of this show. However, just like Truth, I won't be watching any more episodes.
I like the actors on the show with the exception of the guy who plays Casey. I found him annoying and douchebaggey.
I wonder if it would be possible to watch this without the laugh track and see what I would find funny without being prompted to by canned laughter.
At the beginning, when they were showing how long the couples had been together, I correctly predicted the parent's relationship length. I felt proud of that. :)
Jake I remember reading Joanna Garcia mentioning a live audience for this show, but I am convinced that most of this episode was not filmed in front of one. The rhythms and sense of space were off. For one thing, except in special instances such as when the camera is diegetic, traditional multi-camera sitcoms do not use handheld camera shots. Not even How I Met Your Mother does that.
September 23, 2010 at 11:46AM ESTI'll continue watching. I like the actors, feel a little nostalgic for this kind of show, I'm not watching anything else in the time slot, and think the show can improve.
Tyroc
September 23, 2010 at 2:41AM EST Reply to CommentIt was perfectly okay, getting better in the 2nd half (as most comedy pilots do as it's hard to do character-based jokes in the first half when the audience doesn't yet know who the characters are.) The cast is quite strong, although it was interesting to me how much more fleshed out the women were on this show than on the Chuck Lorre shows. Here they seemed like the stars of the show. Which makes sense given a female writer at the helm, but at least in that regard it was refreshing (as tired as some parts of the rest of the show felt.)
jimbriggs
September 23, 2010 at 8:39AM EST Reply to CommentPure filler and a waste of time. Not even mildly amusing.
Better Without
September 23, 2010 at 10:38AM EST Reply to CommentUgh. And ABC couldn't be bothered to test out 'Better Off Ted,' a superb comedy that would have been right at home, in this time slot even once. I'm convinced that the 'ABC powers that be' simply saw too much of themselves in Veridian Dynamics. Anyway ... this is ho hum and sadly disappointing. 'BOT' or even the still dearly departed 'Samantha Who?'could've made this night complete. *sigh*
Bob
September 23, 2010 at 11:24AM EST Reply to CommentHorrible show... Nothing worse on TV....
September 23, 2010 at 11:37AM EST Reply to CommentFor a variety of reasons, I found it very easy to identify with the characters and situations, so liked it quite a bit.
My chief concern is making Mia pregnant for what it does to the storylines longer term. Adding a baby to this type of sitcom is rarely a good idea, as either the baby takes over the show, or the baby becomes an easily discarded plot device (see, e.g., Emma Geller on Friends). I think it's far more interesting to mine the characters for humor without that push.
Tyroc Good point, Matt. The conflict of the younger sister getting married so quickly would be heightened if it was done out of her personality (jumping in two feet first without considering consequences) and not due to an outside push (and notice once again no mention of getting an abortion for an unplanned pregnancy. *sigh*.)
September 23, 2010 at 12:20PM EST
September 23, 2010 at 12:27PM ESTSuebo
September 23, 2010 at 11:54AM EST Reply to CommentTotally agree that Better Off Ted would have been a MUCH better keep than this show. This was a bit too silly in terns of plot and characters.
bibbyroo
September 23, 2010 at 1:58PM EST Reply to Commentdoes anyone else find it weird that joanna garcia is playing the exact same character she played on 'Reba'? a girl who gets pregant with a kinda dumb guy and must tell her parents about it. sounds like she is going back to that well and seeing if she can draw a hit again...
Nigel
September 23, 2010 at 4:28PM EST Reply to Commentwhy couldn't ABC have just bought "New/Old Christine"? That kind of family sitcom would seem to fit well in between The Middle and Modern Family..