The Awful-ness of The [US] Inbetweeners

Did MTV learn nothing from 'Skins'? The American adaptation of 'The Inbetweeners' aired for the first time on MTV overseas on Monday night, stripped of any of the originality, charm and humour that the earlier version had when it debuted in the UK in 2008. I can assure you now, this is no “the first one is the best” or “Brits do it better” debate, it is merely a fact of the matter that the first episode was undoubtedly sub-par. 

Joey Pollari plays Will, an ex-private school numpty that is forced into normal education after his parent’s divorce.  He meets and is stuck with three of the most gormless teenagers you’ve ever witnessed: Simon (Bubba Lewis), Jay (Zack Pearlman), and Neil (Mark L. Young), who are all somewhere ‘in between’ the nerds forced to stand up against a wall during lunch, and actually standing a chance of losing their virginity by the time school finishes.

MTV needs to make scripted comedy take a backseat instead of shoving it to the forefront as it has done for too long. The ‘M’ currently stands for ‘miscellaneous’. Maybe even ‘mediocre’ in a sea of bland teen oriented shows. Even the great 'Awkward' has slipped into generic territory, with the current season revolving almost entirely around a love triangle...which seems like a pretty lazy route to take.

Although it seems like a tough critique of a show that has only aired one episode, 'The Inbetweeners' already shows signs of slipping into standard teenage nothingness. While there will be those that find the show hilarious, it is doubtful that the proposed 12-episode series will run smoothly without criticism and without comparison to MTV’s version of 'Skins', a show that received mass amounts of flack for being the same as the British version- only much worse. 

Finally the bleeped language was killing me. Either do it properly, or don't do it at all.

2 Broke Girls- Season 1 (TV Series)

left: Max (Dennings) and Caroline (Behrs)

Before ‘2 Broke Girls’, I would’ve said that the half-an-hour laugh-track sitcom was dead. Or at least dead to me. After dipping in and out of several other CBS sitcoms such as 'How I Met Your Mother', 'Rules of Engagement' and the dreadfully unfunny 'Two and a Half Men', I’d already said “no” to '2 Broke Girls' before I’d even given it a chance. But as time went on and critical buzz continued, I decided to give the show a viewing.

The show follows the brazen and sharp-tongued Max Black (Kat Dennings) who works in a diner in Brooklyn, New York. In the first episode she is accompanied by Caroline Channing (Beth Behrs) a sweet, ultra girly (ex) heiress who is forced into the working class after her father is arrested for embezzlement, therefore losing everything she’s ever had. The binaries of the two character personalities are an obvious premise for a sitcom, but it still makes for interesting and watchable television.

Max and show-saver Earl (Morris)

What actually saves this show from just being another middling sitcom among a wave of others is Caroline’s idea for the two to start a cupcake business, where the pair would “only” need to save $250,000 to open up their own  shop. The end of every episode ends with a tally of how much Max and Caroline have made (and sometimes lost) throughout the show. It is this defining feature that has kept me coming back episode after episode.

Truth be told, '2 Broke Girls' isn’t necessarily always laugh out loud hilarious. The show contains maybe three or four chuckles an episode, mostly coming from the fact that the show is pushing the boundaries of sexual innuendo for the often prudish prime time American schedule. Other characters in the diner such as chef Oleg (Jonathan Kite) and owner Han (Matthew Moy) are for the most part, two-dimensional racial stereotypes. However Earl (Garrett Morris) the cashier and Max’s father figure of the show is a great, if not the greatest character in this bumpy but enjoyable female-led sitcom.

C+

Key Episodes: “And The Rich People Problems” “And The Broken Hearts” “And The One-Night Stands”

Happy Endings- Season 2 (TV Series)

The US TV season is beginning to wind down, and breakout post-Friends sitcom Happy Endings has been one of the most enjoyable shows of the season. It started out as the “Year of Penny” and appeared to be that way throughout most of the season, with attention shifting from Dave (Zachary Knighton) and Alex’s (Elisha Cuthbert) non-wedding in the pilot to Penny’s (Casey Wilson) hilarious romantic desperation and “abbreeves”.

Although there is no official word as of yet whether Happy Endings will be renewed for a third season but hopefully the ABC network will make an announcement soon, as although the sitcom may not have the viewership of other ABC juggernauts Modern Family and Revenge or even the long-running Desperate Housewives which is set to finish for good next month, it deserves a place among the schedule as it is a hilarious and well put together series.

From Left: Brad Williams (Damon Wayans Jr.), Jane Williams (Eliza Coupe), Max Blum (Adam Pally),
Alex Kerkovich (Elisha Cuthbert), Penny Hartz (Casey Wilson) and Dave Rose (Zachary Knighton)

Happy Endings seems to have found its footing since its inception, as any show that features a group of six friends is bound to bare similarity to…well Friends; and although it may have finished in 2004, the image of the close knit clan stays ingrained in our minds and will do for years to come. And yes, even though we have the successful yet borderline snooze-some How I Met Your Mother, every other amazing sitcom seems to be relegated to cable channels, almost saying that you can’t be funny without being down right dirty. Happy Endings proves this wrong, by having a more diverse and interesting group of protagonists than many of their contemporary counterparts, the bloated, sluggish, gay Max (Adam Pally) and Yuppie-ish interracial couple Jane (Eliza Coupe) and Brad (Damon Wayans Jr.).

The season ended the same way the last did- with a wedding, only this time the wedding saw recurring character and super drama queen Derek, and his partner Eric tie the knot, as well as setting up a dreaded love triangle between Alex, Dave and Penny. But will the potential triangle make the show grow old fast? I hope not. I’m pre-ordering the box set as SOON as that hits amazon.

A+

Key Episodes: “Yesandwitch”, “Spooky Endings” “Four Weddings and a Funeral (Minus Three Weddings and One Funeral)”