Full disclosure: I caught an episode or two of Breaking In last season. I didn’t find it to be good or bad, just blah. There was nothing special to it, and as much a fan of Bret Harrison as I am — and as badly as I feel for Christian Slater that he can’t make TV work for him — I just couldn’t get into it. It did lead me to check out Harrison in The Loop, which I hadn’t seen yet … that reminded me a lot of Breaking In; I just didn’t get it.
Anyway, I decided to check back in with the show, considering that it’s back for a second season and has recently added new cast member Megan Mullally. I was a huge fan of Megan’s on Will & Grace, but have not enjoyed the various guest spots she’s done since then. I was curious which Megan would turn up here.
I still totally didn’t get the show. It’s just run-of-the-mill humor, and I couldn’t find where the hook was to get in. It’s not bad, but I’m kind of surprised that it motivates enough viewers to have gotten a renewal order from FOX.
Harrison’s Cameron Price is in love with Melanie (Odette Annable), and apparently this season she knows it. But the premise makes Cameron a lot like the part of Sam (on Reaper) who was in annoyingly unrequited love with Andi. It’s just by chance that the episode I watched found Cameron and Melanie sleeping together, but then Melanie took off, so who knows if they’ll actually be getting to a relationship place.
Cash (Alphonso McAuley) is just a hair too nerdy, like a slightly off version of Leverage’s Hardison. I can’t tell if his role is minimized by his playing sidekick in Cameron’s love life, so I do wonder where his character will go if Melanie really is gone. “Metalnie?” Weird.
Slater’s Oz is the weirdest kind of boss/mentor/guru that can be. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but I do think that he’s basically been the same character for his last few shows. If you saw The Forgotten you know what I’m talking about.
Which brings us to Mullally’s Ronnie. I don’t know … maybe this is who Karen Walker was, and it’s all a matter of setting and circumstance, but I found Ronnie to be really grating, similar to how I’ve found her by-and-large in some of her other recent projects (yes, I have seen her on Parks and Recreation). She gets some good lines (see below for my favorites), but those are few and far between. Too bad, too, because I do think that she could add a lot to a show that’s lacking a “Wow” factor.
Maybe she, and Breaking In, will find their footing as they go. For now, for me it was neither here nor there.
Megan’s best lines:
“You know your dog is a possum, right? I can tell because this is a possum.” – Ronnie to Creepy Carol
“This is my The Blind Side.” – Ronnie, on helping Jamal
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 28, 2012 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
I was going to do a post about how horrible this show is now that Mullally is on the cast. When I heard she was going to be a main cast member, I had a feeling she was going to do the same whiney voice and schtick from her other roles. Guess what — she’s the same, whiney woman from anything else she’s been in.
I used to like the show a lot before it returned, and now it’s unwatchable. Time for Bret Harrison to polish up his resume again, because this turkey’s done.
Yeah, I only caught the premiere this season and it had nothing to bring me back. I liked the dynamics last season (until they added that boyfriend who is thankfully gone). I have enjoyed Mullally as Penny’s mom on Happy Endings, but that’s about it for me. Aryeh, grating is the perfect word.
I really liked the show last season and thought it had a certain zaniness about the premise. I can’t stand the addition of Meagan Mullally’s character; she is just too over the top. I feel like the show is trying ride the wave of other comedys like New Girl and Raising Hope.
I completely agree with the previous three comments and would like to subscribe to their newsletters.