January Sitcom Round-up: Work It, Are You There, Chelsea?, Rob
New Sitcom Round-up: Work It, Are you There, Chelsea?, and Rob
So it looks like 2011 is off to a really bad start with new sitcoms. After the unforgiveable and uncalled for sitcom that was Work It – which, thankfully, got pulled off the air after only two episodes – and the very unfunny Are you there, Chelsea?, we were presented with another dud: Rob. While each show has its own unique pitfalls, they are all united in one central aspect: the shows just aren’t funny or relevant.
Work It
I’ve already reviewed the pilot for Work It so if you want a more in-depth view then you can check it out here. Work It is a show that should have been quickly shot down based on its premise alone: two guys who need to dress up as women because, supposedly, men aren’t able to get a job in today’s work force. While not only having a premise that is flat-out inaccurate about today’s economic situation and grossly ignorant about the history of women’s movements and their effort obtain equality at work, the show just isn’t funny. The costumes and set designs are cheap and unbelievable – even one of the characters jokes about how he can’t believe people are falling for it in the second episode! – and the humour really doesn’t move past poking fun at the idea that these men are dressing up as women, a premise that gets tiring within the first few minutes.
After the second episode, ABC wasted no time in pulling it from its line-up after the poor ratings and scathing reviews it had received. They’ll be replacing it with Cougar Town that will start up again February 14 – a much welcome change by critics and fans alike, since Cougar Town has actually become a pretty solid show in its second season. It’s not to say that the rest of the episodes won’t get aired, they may eventually in the Summer off-season, but, God, it’s a move that ABC should have seen from the moment they accepted the pilot. Farewell, for now, Work It, and good riddance.
Are You There, Chelsea?
It’s tempting to spend most of this review talking about Chelsea Handler and her part in inspiring and playing a supporting acting role in this show. Chelsea Handler, the comedienne and actress whose book Are You There, Chelsea? It’s Me, Vodka was the inspiration for the show, only plays a minor role in the show acting as Sloane, the main character’s religious sister; but it’s so tempting to discuss the issues surrounding her involvement in the show. I would ideally like to to avoid spending this whole review discussing how odd it is that they changed the title of the name of the show from the book, so that the vodka now seems to be addressing Chelsea; how weird it is to see Chelsea Handler’s real life character played by Laura Prepon from That 70s Show when the real Chelsea Handler is right there on the screen; and how this show relates to her comedic work in her late-night talk show Chelsea Lately. The problem with avoiding talking about Chelsea Handler? You are left with nothing really interesting to talk about – a stale sitcom that really isn’t very funny or interesting.
I will say that this show is the only one out of the three that, while I didn’t enjoy it, has the potential to improve since it’s not completely crippled by a flawed premise. The show overextends itself by trying to quickly develop both the comedy and emotional parts, but it never is really able to make either of these work. The dramatic parts between Chelsea and her sister are really rushed and feel superfluous, leading to the really abrupt ending with Chelsea realizing that she needs to be by her sister’s side while she’s haing her child. There’s no development throughout the episode, no narrative push, that leads to this final narrative point – it’s only there because, you know, sitcoms are “supposed” to end with this goal.
Along with the dramatic elements, the comedy often falls flat with the show’s over-reliance upon drinking and sex related jokes. Most of these jokes aren’t really funny and lose their effect as the show drags onward. The one character that could either really work in this show’s favour or go against it is the roommate. While I eye-rolled at her over-the-top performance, I know a lot of other people enjoyed her quirky performance, so we’ll see where this leads to in future episodes.
The show definitely wasn’t good, and Chelsea Handler’s presence wasn’t really a game-changer at all, but at least it wasn’t as bad as Work It or Rob, although I know that’s not really saying much…
Rob
Rob is the last of the trinity of disappointing sitcoms to start this January. Starring Rob Schneider, Rob is a new CBS show that premiered on Thursday to surprisingly high ratings (13.48 million. 30 Rock only had 4.57 million that night). Although every critic in the world seems to believe that Rob Schneider can do nothing right, it seems that America thinks otherwise and is willing to tune in to get their laughs for the week.
The premise for Rob is fairly tired and the material has been handled much better by various shows and films that preceded it. Rob has quickly gotten married to his new wife Maggie (Claudia Bassols) whom he only met six weeks ago in a very neurotic and unbelievable way that the show tries to tell you is charming. Maggie is of Mexican descent and hasn’t told her family yet about the marriage so the rest of the show, and the series, is about Rob trying to fit in with this stereotypical Mexican family *insert every stereotypical Mexican joke you can think of about Catholicism, family values and how their culture is perceived in America*. At a time where there’s a wide variety of ethnic groups that are participating in the entertainment industry, I’m pretty amazed at North America’s obsession with not moving past ethnic stereotypes in TV shows (Outsourced, Two Broke Girls, etc.). Along with being racist, they are not allowing for any character development or any jokes that break out of the stereotype.
In a lot of ways, Rob is basically the level of quality that you would expect from Rob Schneider – meaning if you love Rob Schneider then you’re just going to love this, but if not… then don’t expect much – but in some ways it’s also not what you would expect from Rob Schneider. Rob is essentially a show where Rob Schneider tries NOT to play a Rob Schneider role and instead tries to play a more typical sitcom role, but then moments of Rob Schneider appear and you’re just like “Really, Rob Schneider? Just play yourself if you’re going to do this”. Rob is supposed to be a normal guy with a bit of OCD in him – a fairly tame character by Rob Schneider standards – but then there are moments where the story digresses into your typical Rob Schneider comedic moments (a moment of supposed hilarity involves the family mistaking Rob for raping the Mexican grandma). They just should have went all or nothing which would have at least lead to Rob Schneider’s fans at least being completely pleased.
In Concluding
The only way I would recommend these shows to someone is if they want to see what a really bad sitcom entails. All of these shows are pretty perfect examples of “what not to do in a sitcom”.
Work It 
Are You There, Chelsea? 
Rob
Related posts:
- TV Show Review: Work It (Pilot) A TV review of ABC's new comedy, "Work It". Critiques the poor pilot episode....
- Injuries at Work Stories I have mentioned numerous times on my personal blog and this blog that I am literally a real life Ben...
- Blog Earnings for January 2010 I have full disclosure for my blog earnings to show readers and other bloggers how much I earn from my...
- Best Of Luck To Everyone Trying To Find Work I want to take a post out of my normal technology and entertainment category to say that I want to...
- NBC Heroes Season 3 Premiere’s Tonight I am so excited to see Heroes Season 3 tonight, however I may not be able to catch it live...
dragonblogger How I pine for the days before Handler's anti-gay jokes didn't make me stop watching her.