On paper, liking Mad Love should be a no-brainer. First there’s Jason Biggs as Ben Parr; while it’s been quite a while since he’s been in anything I’ve enjoyed, who could forget movies like the original American Pie and Loser? His career isn’t exactly a blueprint for success in Hollywood, but deep down he knows how to make audiences laugh.
Tyler Labine as Ben’s buddy Larry Munsch is an awesome draw. Labine tripped and fell with Sons of Tucson, but he was funny on Boston Legal, and awesome as Sock on Reaper. There’s no question that he’ll eventually hit it big with a TV show … the only question is which one.
I just saw Judy Greer (here as Connie Grabowski) on something that I enjoyed her in: an episode of Californication as Trixie. I can’t say that I’m familiar with her work beyond that, but I suppose that doesn’t mean she’s not funny.
Sarah Chalke, on the other hand, is most definitely not funny. I take that back — I thought she was great on Roseanne, but once she settled into her Scrubs, Elliot persona, she hasn’t been nearly as much fun. And that continued right on through her appearance as Stella on How I Met Your Mother, incidentally the series Keith thinks laid the plans for Mad Love in the first place. Still, how bad could she be here as Kate Swanson?
Super bad, unfortunately (and that’s not a sly reference to the movie). I caught last week’s episode, which took place already “deep” into the relationship between these four friends/significant others. Ben and Kate are a couple, while respective best friends Larry and Connie hate one another (and obviously have a lot of sexual tension between them).
What’s different about the show is that this group came together only after two members started dating. Unlike on other ensemble cast shows like Friends, The Big Bang Theory, or even How I Met Your Mother, where members date but the group began as friends, the foursome on Mad Love exists only because Ben and Kate got together. I’m sure their relationship will have its ups and downs, but if they ever implode and Kate burns all of Ben’s belongings, chances are that the foursome is done for … as is the show. Kind of kills the romantic suspense, no?
What I actually think is that the “Mad Love” of the title is ultimately meant to be between Connie and Larry. I can’t think of a comparable relationship right now, but I’m sure they’re not the first enemies on TV to eventually couple up. Maybe Hyde and Jackie on That ’70s Show? Not sure, since I never really watched the show.
But I digress — I found Mad Love to be quietly awful. Forget comparisons to How I Met Your Mother — which are plentiful — it’s just bad, albeit in a soft, inoffensive way. The writing stinks, and I kind of don’t get the point of the story, if that makes sense. In fact, the best part of the half hour was the theme song — although I did also enjoy the visit from Dr. Leo Spaceman (Chris Parnell) — which for some reason made me think of Mad About You. And things like the Larry Munch Love Doctrine, meanwhile, are a blatant attempt at ripping off some Barney magic … that’s not cool.
And what’s funny about Kate and Connie’s neighbor Clyde (Martin Starr)? Ha ha, the girls have a stalker spying on them from across the hall. So funny!
On a side note: while I do have some more shows still on my list to check out, I’ve been thinking a lot about shows that are criminally underexposed. We all watch something we wish we knew someone else out there was enjoying, so share your favorites in the comments below. Let’s see if we can’t make some noise for our favorite overlooked series.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Apr 05, 2011 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
Actually, Judy Greer is probably best known as Kitty from Arrested Development, which she was great in. She’s also doing voice work for Archer now.
*POST AUTHOR*
I decided to avoid mentioning Arrested Development … let’s just say I was not a fan. :)
Archer is actually next on my list; I chose it as my first experiment in discovering whether it truly is criminally or deservedly overlooked. Chris Parnell’s in that too, right?