Where have all the decent scripted shows gone? To cable, of course. Over the last few years cable has become the home to the better (and, in many cases, best) dramas and comedies that we find on television. That’s why more and more cable shows dominate the awards ceremonies against fewer and fewer legacy network programs.
Additionally, it’s also why more and more veteran TV stars are flocking to networks like FX, AMC and, especially, TNT to do something different than their previous roles. TNT is taking one of the more ambitious directions in bringing original programming to itself and is getting some pretty high caliber talent to star in its green lighted shows. One of these programs, Trust Me, takes two well-established comedy stars and throws them into a slightly more serious drama about friendship, the cost of success, and getting the right tag line for the client.
Trust Me (premiering on January 26th at 10:00 pm on TNT) stars Eric McCormick (Will & Grace) and Tom Cavanagh (Ed, Scrubs, Eli Stone) as creative partners and best friends at a Chicago ad agency. Both partnerships are tested when Eric’s character, Mason, is named Creative Director at the agency while Cavanagh’s character, Conner, remains a senior copywriter. As both men move along their now separate paths they encounter new challenges.
For Mason, the challenge is to satisfy the clients while calming a workforce who had many issues with the previous C.D. Conner’s challenge is learning to adjust to Mason’s new title and learn the boundaries that have now been established. Together, their challenge is to maintain some sort of creative partnership that will help the advertising agency survive during these tough economic times.
While this all sounds pretty dramatic, Trust Me is more of a comedrama than a dramedy. It’s hard not to be when you have two stars who spent years working to get laughs rather than tears. The humor isn’t as broad as on their previous shows, but there are definitely more points where you will smile. Not only from the interactions between these two characters, but also between other agency employees like Sarah Krajieck-Hunter (Monica Potter), who is smart and talented but has an aversion to hair care products, or Tom and Hector (Mike Damus and Geffory Arend), a junior creative team and the agency’s comedic duo.
I had a chance to review two episodes of the show — the pilot and the second episode. Unfortunately, I watched them in reverse order. Even though I did this I thought that the pilot episode was better than the second episode. Probably because it was the pilot there was more meat to it in terms of plot and conflict between characters. Plus, it featured Jason O’Mara from Life on Mars as the Creative Director replaced by Mason. The second episode just established the new status quo of the agency and dealt with a somewhat flimsy plot of finding a new tag line for an advertising campaign. There were some good moments in that second episode, particularly between Mason and Conner, but it just seemed to be missing something.
Like any new show featuring actors from other popular series, Trust Me will probably be a show that people will need to get used to. While McCormick and Cavanagh’s characters aren’t that different than characters they have previously portrayed, there is enough change that viewers will need to adjust. Once they do, I have a feeling they will enjoy the series as long as it balances the relationships of the characters with the business of advertising.
Clacked by Richard Keller 
on Jan 21, 2009 @ 16:32 EST5EDT
I like both “Ed” and “Will & Grace” and I can’t wait for this to come to TV.
I mean compared to “The Starter Wife” *shudders* this has to be good.