'Running Wilde' - 'Oil and Water': A job fit for the Colonel
Episode three shows improvement, but how much hope is on the horizon?
Keri Russell and Will Arnett in "Running Wilde."
A review of last night's "Running Wilde" coming up just as soon as I get out of the Easthampton drunk tank...
Yesterday afternoon, Vulture posted a very candid, fairly depressing interview with Mitch Hurwitz about his struggles with this show. In particular, he suggested that he's dealing with network notes far more than he ever did on "Arrested Development," and that FOX's push to simplify storylines is really impairing his writing staff's ability to make the funniest show they can.
I don't know that it's fair to lay all the blame at the feet of FOX, as I don't get a sense from the interview, or any of Hurwitz's previous ones, that he has a really clear sense of what this show is and why it should be working if he and the others were left alone. But the Keep It Simple, Stupid approach was very apparent in "Oil and Water." The "Arrested" version of this story, in addition to servicing a much larger cast, would have featured six or seven more twists in how Steve and Emmy felt about his job at the oil company, whereas here we only got a couple of reversals.
Still, this was clearly the strongest, and funniest, of the three episodes so far. I laughed pretty consistently at the running gag about Steve's home school teachers ("I had Marvin Hamlisch for math") enjoyed how Steve surprised everyone, including himself, by fitting in so well at the office, and was glad to see another side of Emmy as she got too into character at the job. I'm still not sure Steve is complicated and/or sympathetic enough to be at the center of a show, but this was a step in the right direction.
And for all of Hurwitz's talk in the interview about how "Arrested" comparisons are unfair, he and the writers keep inviting them. The bit where Puddle is narrating while Fa'ad does everything wrong to avoid frostbite was exactly the kind of joke Ron Howard would have told (and though I like Puddle, this one would have been funnier coming out of Howard's mature, sincere voice), while the KFC product placement (leading into an actual KFC ad) was as shameless as Tobias and Carl Weathers' trip to Burger King, only not as funny.
Still, I'll take a little improvement here, even if that interview, and the ratings, and the news that FOX is pre-empting the Oct 26 episode to double-run "Raising Hope," don't exactly fill me with optimism for the show's creative or financial future.
What did everybody else think?
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupBart Smith
October 6, 2010 at 9:10AM EST Reply to CommentRegarding the writers inviting comparisons to ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, you missed the most obvious: Andy freezing his Blue Man Group off and Fa'ad offering Puddle some forget-juice.
Tausif Khan Yeah I am finding a lot of Arrested Development jokes in this series. I remember in the first episode Hurwitz had Steve Wilde saying he had made a huge mistake.
October 7, 2010 at 2:48AM ESTBob
October 6, 2010 at 9:13AM EST Reply to CommentRe: AD references: You left out Tobias's comment about "freezing off [his] Blue-Man Group".
Jaymii
October 6, 2010 at 9:13AM EST Reply to CommentThanks for that link to the Vulture interview. I've been busy so I must have missed it. When reading it, a comparison came into my head and I honestly think its the closest thing - Eliza Dushku and Dollhouse. Joss was friends with her, she had a FOX deal, it all looked good until something changed and they wanted something else. This is like the exact same behind-the-scenes tale.
I certainly keep hope the show keeps chugging along though.
Hobart Reply to comment...
October 6, 2010 at 9:34AM ESTHobart I had the exact same thought. Send like the worst idea a showrunner can have is to create a star vehicle without being committed to the idea first.
October 6, 2010 at 9:37AM ESTTausif Khan But I don't think in either case the show runner is not committed to the show. They (Whedon and Hurwitz) want(ed) more complicated story line.
October 7, 2010 at 2:46AM ESTFor Dollhouse we saw what the show could have been after it was canceled culminating in the Matrix type episode "The Attic". Fox wanted to make a conspiracy spy thriller which undermines the importance of Whedon/Dushku's desire to discuss identity.
For Hurwitz I feel Running Wilde is a continuation of what Hurwitz started on Arrested Development in showing famlial relations as a metaphor for how stupid political/business decisions are made. Running Wilde has Emmy the judgmental liberal and Steve the out of touch conservative learn from each other how life in America actually is. Neither are completely correct and so it is evident Mitch Hurwitz has a larger point to make with the show as well.
Fox is getting involved and wants to make this show something similar to the fair on NBC's Thursday nights comedy block.
Tausif Khan This to me confirms my idea that they are trying to make Running Wilde the American Office version of Arrested Development:
October 7, 2010 at 3:35AM EST[Fox entertainment president] Kevin Reilly said to me, “You know, we’re going to get bad reviews for this. They’re going to want to compare it to Arrested. I went through this with The Office. The original’s too beloved.†But he said, “But that beloved crowd was not a big audience. So we’re going to do something slightly different here. We’re going to add more heart to the American version.â€
I was going to compare Running Wilde literally to The Office but then I realized that Arrested Development always had that element of heart. Michael Scott on the British version of The Office presides over The Office which is devoid of all hope and in that absence is filled with despair. The American office has a sense that there is a hope of a better tomorrow. For me that hope of a better tomorrow was always present in Arrested Development (Family first, you do right by your family) so on that level I think the comparison of (Arrested Development to the British Office) is unfair. I never thought Arrested Development was completely inaccessible.
With Running Wilde as with the american version of The Office I feel the story lines are just mollified.
October 6, 2010 at 9:27AM EST Reply to CommentAlthough this episode may have had fewer people than the "Arrested" version would, it still had more people in it than the first two episodes. In fact, those to me had this sort of creepy, isolated feeling, especially with Steve who didn't seem to interact with anyone but his servants, Emmy Fa'ad, and Puddle.
October 6, 2010 at 10:25AM EST Reply to CommentI'm trying really hard to enjoy this show and it has promise but it can be so over the top sometimes and just completely unbelievable. I hate to do another AD comparison but what made AD work so well was the fact these completely insane characters were at least believable. But a joke about guy who locks himself in a freezer and then takes off his clothes to warm himself bc he was raised in the desert and didnt know any better doesn't work. There's stupidity and then there's unbelieveable.
Nick
October 6, 2010 at 10:30AM EST Reply to CommentAfter giving the show another chance last night, I think that's it for me. It was thankfully better than the pilot but still unfortunately poor. Russell's just not funny at all and considering that she's one of the two leads and none of the supporting characters are bringing many laughs, that's a major problem.
Also, what the hell is with the narration? Maybe it'd work better with a different voice but, as is, it serves absolutely no purpose and often comes off corny.
Truck I was going to say this is the first time a person has said "I think this is for me!" after giving something multiple failed attempts, but it seems to have just been a typo.
October 6, 2010 at 11:05PM ESTOnlyMe
October 6, 2010 at 10:45AM EST Reply to CommentThe guy playing Fa'ad is great. The rest of the show isn't bad, but it isn't there yet either.
LJA
October 6, 2010 at 11:09AM EST Reply to CommentThat's it for me. Deleted from DVR series pass.
Tausif Khan I started to watch Arrested Development on DVD. I did not find the series really funny until about the 7th episode. That is when I really got the rhythm of the show. Here I think the writers have to find the rhythm of the show. I think it shares Arrested Development's mentality and could possibly show up in later episodes.
October 7, 2010 at 2:58AM ESTHow did you decide to stick with Dollhouse? It took the series until its 6th fifty minute episode to get where it wanted to go. Then also one of my friends remarked how the first couple of episodes of the second season went back to the stale stand-alone style of the first few episodes of the first season. How did people decide to stick with the show?
Mark
October 6, 2010 at 11:34AM EST Reply to CommentOther than killing 22 minutes of time, this show doesn't really do too much for me. I suppose I'll continue to DVR it, but I'll probably only watch it if there's nothing else to do.
Ed W
October 6, 2010 at 11:35AM EST Reply to CommentThis show suffers from the lead character being too passive. Too many scenes of him just hanging around the house talking with no real plans. It makes it come across as if the show itself has no ideas up its sleeve, not just him.
I'm sticking with it for now though. As we saw with the dismal Parks and Rec start, a show can take a while to get its footing.
October 6, 2010 at 12:19PM EST Reply to CommentI read a different recent interview with Hurwitz, one at the AV Club. There he also talked about how he's no longer interested in doing groundbreaking television, that he'd rather be successful. And yet I still couldn't help enjoying this episode. I agree, it's the funniest one so far. My favorite gag was that brief Office reference.
andy
October 6, 2010 at 12:23PM EST Reply to CommentI've taken to Raising Hope over Running Wilde. I think I'd watch anything with Garrett Dillahunt... who knew he could do comedy!
diemunkiesdie
October 6, 2010 at 3:41PM EST Reply to CommentOne thing I hate about product placement is after the "in show ad" they have a real advertisement during the very next commercial break. If there had been no KFC ad, or an ad had come during a different break (and not been the first ad) then I think it would have been less grating!
Serge B.
October 10, 2010 at 12:32AM EST Reply to CommentAwwww man. I actually quite enjoyed this episode. Just soon enough to start liking the show right before it gets canceled. Nuts.
October 13, 2010 at 10:05AM EST Reply to CommentI'm getting to like this show more and more. The line about "It was the Reagan years...a great time to be 7" had me laugh-crying.