Review: 'Go On' - 'Pilot': Could I BE any more in grief?
What did everybody think of the new NBC sitcom?
Matthew Perry meets his new support group in "Go On."
Credit: NBC
I posted my review of NBC's "Go On" this morning. Now it's your turn. What did everybody else think of Matthew Perry's latest comeback vehicle? Better or worse than "Mr. Sunshine" (Yay)? Did you also see the similarities to the "Community" pilot — and, if so, did that bother you in any way? Do you think the show has the ability to make grief into the subject for a sitcom? Did you laugh at anything outside of March Sadness? And will you be watching again when the next episode airs on September 11?
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Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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August 8, 2012 at 11:34PM EST Reply to CommentSPOILERS
Saw it, and I thought it was an interesting pilot. My main problem was the last part when the therapy group went outside dressed up like knights chasing the Google Cam car. It interrupted what was a nice somber moment for Matthew Perry's character.
DB Cooper
August 8, 2012 at 11:48PM EST Reply to CommentAgree. Odd tone.
The show reminds me more of Dear John than Community, despite the structural similarities.
unclevanya
August 9, 2012 at 12:25AM EST Reply to CommentIS death the new opener to comedy? Bunheads..Hubble dies. At least we sa him once.
tHEN WE GET Go On and Perry's wife is already dead.
When should I start laughing. This show is bordering on pathetic. It has something, but I think funny is Friends, Curb, Seinfeld.
Todays comedy shows are awkward, if this is a copy of Community, O.K. someone copy Curb Your Enthusiasm
Ephus
August 9, 2012 at 12:30AM EST Reply to CommentHow has it escaped everyone's comments that this show is basically appropriating Bill Simmons' life and giving him a dead wife and no kids? Matthew Perry plays a transplanted Boston Sports Guy (Bruins t-shirt, interview of Kevin Garnett, analogies to the 2004 Red Sox) in LA who turns everything into a series of March Madness style tournaments. When he mentions that his best friends are Jack P and Homes, does Simmons get royalties?
Matt_H Because Simmons is the only transplanted Bostonian in LA... Other than the fact the Perry is apparently a Boston fan (and the only real evidence we have for that is the Bruins T-shirt. He's a sports radio host, so yeah he'd interview KG, he interviewed TO too, does that make him an Allen Wrangler fan?) who works in sports media, they have nothing in common (like you said, dead wife/no kids vs. living wife and 2 kids).
August 9, 2012 at 9:33AM ESTOh, and creating a bracket to determine a winner for something, any big-time sports fan would come up with that idea in that situation. Simmons hasn't even done that very much in his career (Grantland has done it twice recently, but he'd never done it before that). Now if Perry tries to start a Grief Fantasy League, then you might be on to something.
Tedd Like Matt_H said, there are a few things Simmons is particularly known for--pop culture and sports gambling references--that the show doesn't seem to be incorporating. That and the fact that (though he does do a podcast) Simmons is a writer, not a broadcaster.
August 9, 2012 at 6:38PM ESTThere's not nearly enough there for more than a mildly passing resemblance between the two. Thus far, anyways.
KobraCola I have to agree with MATT_H and TEDD here, I see very few similarities between this guy and Simmons, and I used to read Simmons religiously.
August 10, 2012 at 1:40PM ESTCaitlin
August 9, 2012 at 12:31AM EST Reply to CommentI really liked it. Don't know how good it will be as a sitcom. If it was a indie movie like Jeff who lives at home it would be good.
Syd I agree-- the plot would be better as a movie.
August 22, 2012 at 3:06PM ESTKen Scott
August 9, 2012 at 12:48AM EST Reply to CommentI agree, i think the show is more of a movie as it stands right now. At a certain point, next season, or in 4 episodes, the characters are going to have to "cope" or go on with their lives, and we really need to see where they go with show. As it stands it looks like they are focusing more on the group then the office politics, but maybe next episod will be different.
S. Tarzan
August 9, 2012 at 1:35AM EST Reply to CommentI laughed occasionally at the March Sadness bit, but aside from that, I found myself agreeing with Matt Zoller Seitz's take: there's something really phony about the therapy group and about Ryan's whole One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest approach to it, and I found that really off-putting. (Real grief and healing would make a great subject for a comedy that was willing to get uncomfortable, but I'm skeptical that Go On can be that comedy.) Also, did they really need to undercut the group leader when it seems like they're going to have likability problems with her down the road?
Tom
August 9, 2012 at 2:42AM EST Reply to CommentI kept waiting for the Matt & Kim needle drop.
I don't mind that is has a Community feel, in fact, it is a complement to Community. I think that, like Community, the support group sessions will only go for so far.
After that, I don't know what will become of the show, and although I doubt it will happen, I'm holding out hope that they will move into bigger, fast-paced, self-contained escapades.
Jake
August 9, 2012 at 4:20AM EST Reply to CommentI loved it. It was very heartwarming.
Jeff
August 9, 2012 at 5:31AM EST Reply to CommentAs pilots a pilot it was pretty solid. As a series it can go either way. Wouldn't be surprised if it turned out great or if I decide to tune out after 5 eps. They put together a nice staff which gives me hope it will be a funnier show going forward. I was very happy to see Victor Fresco is consulting! Jon Pollack is hit or miss but has worked on some really good shows, I think this is Liz Brixous first staffing job outside of being the creator of Nurse Jackie, Lesley Webster wrote some strong New Girls last season, and they got some old SNL people writing as well. Hopefully Jon Cho is given more and funnier things to do. Although he had more screen time here then he did in all of the horrible horrible Total Recall remake. Sarah Baker (cat lady) is also a very funny comedic actress and is great in The Campaign as Galifinakis wife.
velocityknown
August 9, 2012 at 8:03AM EST Reply to CommentI understand some of the Community comparions, but the show isn't so much like Community that its distracting or even worth discussing.
I thought it was a solid pilot, at least solid enough to keep me around for a few more episode (along with the goodwill Matthew Perry has leftover from his Friends days).
I am curious as to how this series will progress. They seem to have a nice collection of characters, but, like many people have mentioned, they can't be in group therapy forever. And it'd be awfully mean of the show to keep making them lose things.
David Thiel
August 9, 2012 at 8:21AM EST Reply to CommentMy wife and I both enjoyed it. "March Sadness" was funny, of course, but Matthew Perry had snappy dialogue throughout. I liked "Mr. Sunshine" (yay) perhaps a bit more, but still, not bad for a pilot.
mayoungkin
August 9, 2012 at 9:27AM EST Reply to CommentLiked it. Perry is an engaging actor and I honestly didn't think about Chandler Bing once. We don't watch Community so don't have that to refer to
JedyKnight
August 9, 2012 at 10:31AM EST Reply to CommentYes, the pilot ep seemed like a mirror version of the Community pilot.. but im sure it wont try to follow Community's habit of experimenting with format and thinking outside the box. And I could be wrong, but it seems more like MP will be the indisputable lead, contrary to Community's ensemble aspect.
Didnt love it, but i like Perry, and it seemed.. harmless to watch it, so i'll do.
Col Bat Guano
August 9, 2012 at 11:05AM EST Reply to CommentNot great, not a trainwreck. They need to develop the group characters as they move along, but I laughed a few times. Is there a betting pool on when he gets together with the therapy group leader?
sajid anwar Yeah, let's get that going. I'm going with middle part of season 2. Yes, that's a risky move considering it might very well be cancelled before then. But while I didn't love the pilot, I am intrigued enough to come back. There's a chance it will get better as we go along. So I'm going with middle of season 2.
August 9, 2012 at 11:13AM ESTRay @Sajid, what do you think this is, the 80s? Things have to move faster nowadays. They should be together and broken up by the end of the first season.
August 9, 2012 at 2:45PM ESTCol Bat Guano I'm taking the middle ground and say they get together at the end of the first season. Break up in S2.
August 10, 2012 at 2:08AM ESTBrettPoker
August 9, 2012 at 11:53AM EST Reply to CommentI enjoyed the pilot and am interested to see where the show goes from here. Like it has been suggested, based off this one episode and the presumed ongoing set up, it seems like this will be Community Lite. And as far as I'm concerned, a comparison to Community is not a bad thing.
AL
August 9, 2012 at 11:56AM EST Reply to CommentI thought it was okay, and I agree with previous comments that it feels more like a dramedy-type movie than a sitcom.
I think the key question here is: What will the show be like after the suits inevitably tweak it?
Ann V.
August 9, 2012 at 12:27PM EST Reply to CommentNothing was as bad as Mr. Sunshine. I enjoyed Go On last night (until I fell asleep on the couch).
Kmarko
August 9, 2012 at 2:20PM EST Reply to CommentI'd say OK....just good enough to watch another, with the understanding that pilots are usually kind of weird shows anyway. Doubt it'll last, though.
MaryAnne
August 9, 2012 at 3:40PM EST Reply to CommentI loved it ... but then, I adore Matthew Perry, and to paraphrase Randy Jackson, I would probably enjoy listening to him reading the phone book. But I found the other characters amusing or touching as well - can't believe the kid from Everybody Hates Chris is so grown up; and I remember liking the group leader a lot on Eli Stone. So it gets a solid thumbs up from me & my TiVo.
Scott Rosenberg
August 9, 2012 at 8:27PM EST Reply to CommentThe show has the potential to be a great show punctuated by strong comedy as well as deep drama, and I found it to be more consistently humorous than Alan did, but I think significant retooling and a bit of recasting is needed to make it float.
Starting with Perry, I think the writers believe they wrote Ryan is a snappy, narcissistic guy with humorous quirks, when in reality he vacillates between being so close to stock as not to even register, and being someone who does not remotely resemble a human being. Perry has the ability to play the role with aplomb, but the writing needs to be elevated to do that.
His foil in all of this is Laura Benanti, whose one solo scene with perry was a poorly acted version of a very blah character, who wasn't interesting and didn't generate the chemistry with perry she was supposed to.
As for the rest of the study group, Tyler James Williams, Bill Cobbs, and the widowed lesbian all showed depth and gravitas enough to help carry this show, and creepy bearded guy is just fine for one off laughs. However, the other five were complete throwaways, cartoonish or poorly acted or both, and the dead cat girl and asian assistant were both particularly awful.
The workplace folks I can take or leave. I expect the show itself and cameos will eventually be bringing the funny for the workplace segments, without much expectation on the coworkers.
Benanti has had success in other roles, so if she can pull it together, and our focus is drawn to the better members of Transitions, this show can be very good. That still leaves some changes for Perry, but many writing staffs take a few episodes to find a soul, and Perry certainly has the ability to make it work when they do.
Dudleys Mom
August 9, 2012 at 8:30PM EST Reply to CommentI liked it. Based on my track record of shows that I liked, it's doomed to cancellation in less than 10 episodes.
KobraCola
August 10, 2012 at 1:50PM EST Reply to CommentI actually found Matthew Perry to be great in his role and fairly funny. The rest of the therapy group are caricatures at this point, but I suppose it's asking a bit much of 1 20 pilot to flesh out all of its characters in such a short time period. Right now, though, some of them are already bordering on pretty flat caricatures, most notably Yolanda (the 2nd-in-command woman), Mr K. (the especially strange character that Perry keeps making cracks at), and possibly George (blind guy). In addition to Perry's character, I enjoyed Tyler James Williams' Owen, though that may just be his acting at this point. Anne (the angry woman), Don (war veteran whose wife left him), and Lauren (group leader) have potential. I, too, would love to see more John Cho and, selfishly, more sports-related material. I see Go On's sense of humor as possibly being similar to New Girl's (despite differences almost everywhere else): quite broad, but potentially with enough well-written one-liners to captivate my attention. Overall, I think it has potential to be a second-tier comedy, but that potential has a while to go to be realized.
KobraCola *1 20-minute pilot
August 10, 2012 at 1:51PM ESTunclevanya
August 10, 2012 at 11:43PM EST Reply to CommentThe cast is excellent. but the story line is terrible. If they do a completely diffent spin, with the same actors (love Mattew) I would watch it. But, not only do we start with a tradgedy, you also have Matthew Perrys intended love interest.
Arthur F.
August 11, 2012 at 3:27AM EST Reply to CommentSaw it, nothing particularly standing out yet. Mostly I wonder why a kid who proved to be able to carry "Everyone hates Chris" is now one in a kind of "therapy" ensemble (as believable as on an old Newhart episode). Oddly, I keep believing in Perry, I think if he's asked to deliver, he could. He doesn't seem to have improv training, as past colleagues Kudrow has and puts to use in Web Therapy even, and you need that kind of acting for the energy within a "Community" feel. Script-wise, he seems to be able to play inside of "Studio60" dramedy, witty-vs-jokey, and also broad sitcom. But I would rather see him do some returning guest-spots on Community as a prof, then try to introduce a show that is Community-influenced. I fear confusion ahead, similar to the Kelsey Grammar/ P. Heaton "Back to You", where the viewer could feel big switches made in each episode, more desperate as the show went on. I would like to hate to see this show just shift quickly to knee-jerk sitcom standards, but so far, don't see a failsafe against that.
cadfile It also played to me like a 1970's Bob Newhart episode focused only on the group therapy part. I also didn't buy the facilitator of the group has no professional credentials - although they fixed that plot hole by having the group meet at community center.
August 12, 2012 at 3:22AM ESTJason Bateman had a lot duds after "The Hogan Family" until Arrested Development and I hope this show isn't one of Perry's duds.