Go On & Animal Practice — A humble critique, by Bunky Bunk (The Uncut, Uncensored, Writer's Cut Edition)

First of, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do a thread about my opinion on those two NBC pilots but after I started commenting on this thread, I realized my comment would be too long and in case people would be bothered by that, I thought it'd be better on a different thread, in which I could develop a little and add pictures.

So here they are, my review of the pilots for the two new NBC comedies Go On and Animal Practice.

— Go On : 6.16/10.

Positively surprised by this pilot, which reminds me a little bit of Community. A soft, more mainstream version of the hit comedy series, obviously - although if you remember, Community's pilot was good but pretty ordinary and didn't show us how fun, weird and brilliant the series could become.

There's a lot of Chandler Bing in Jeff Winger's attitude (protecting themselves with distance and irony but in fact they're insecure), and there's a lot of Chandler Bing in Matthew Perry's new character Ryan King (like on Mr. Sunshine, he's stuck in that sarcastic mode in which he excels). And the situations we have here are reminiscent of the inception of Community : a guy is forced to be part of a group of mismatched weirdos (and he becomes their natural leader in a way), and he even tries to cheat his way through it (in the pilot, Jeff asked Pr. Duncan for the answers from all the tests, here Ryan lies to Lauren to get his paper signed).



Except Ryan has not been fired from his job, and that's too bad actually, because I think it will stop me from really caring about the group if half of the time we see Matthew Perry's character at the radio station with real-life athletes guest-starring, series regular Jon Cho & Allison Miller. I really like those two actors, but I'd have preferred if the show was only focusing on the group, now there will be the obligation to include this other part of Ryan's world in most (if not all) episodes and that, to me, will likely stop the show from spreading its irreverent, unpredictable wings. From being a new Community, if you will (I don't think NBC will be sad about that).



The scene where Ryan is ranking the reason why these people are in therapy (spoiler : blindness trumps almost everything, but you got to bring more to the game to go to the final) is genuinely funny, probably the best one of the episode. And what a great way to introduce those characters. And at the end of the episode, there's a great balance between comedy and drama. I'm so hoping we won't have a 'will they / won't they' dynamic between Ryan and Lauren (for Pete's sake, he's just become a widower), thankfully they didn't insist on it too much (unlike Animal Practice) but I fear we might have to deal with this (let's hope it'll turn out like Jeff and his 'love interest' Britta, i.e : Dan Harmon couldn't care less about that).



Also, I'm so glad Brett Gelman is on the show in a regular capacity. Actually, I didn't know his name until now, but I've seen him in various comedies (Curb, Bored to Death, The League, The Office, Comedy Bang Bang) and thought he was funny each time (he plays the mysterious/creepy guy, the kind of character I love).

It's fast-paced, I like the Community-esque tone, there was a certain amount of funny lines, Matthew Perry's comical timing is still great, I like the supporting players : I will most definitely go on watching (PUN !) this series.

— Animal Practice : 3.03/10.

Well, this one was disappointing, I didn't see that coming. The Upfronts previews were really funny, I like Justin Kirk's who has this sharp delivery required for smart humor, it's from the Russo brothers (AD ! Community !) and there's Annie's Boobs playing a doctor !

I was sold… or so I thought, because quite honestly, it was hard to finish the episode. These 22 minutes were the opposite of smooth, we go from one scene to another without conviction (Justin Kirk didn't seem to have much conviction either, he looked bored, maybe it has to do with the reshoots they had to do with the new lead actress).



I completely lost sight of the 'plot' of this episode (with the dog being 'kidnapped' by Justin Kirk because the owner didn't want to pay a lot for the pet to be cured) and all this love interest thing, will they/won't they shipper, whatever you call it between Justin Kirk and his ex-girlfriend (who will be his boss now, OH OH !!), it just isn't my thing. They made fun of that at one point (see screen above) but I loathe that kind of thing, and they insisted on it a lot.

And the House-like character who hates pet owners and sees humans as animals… really ? It got old as soon as it was brought up. And the supporting players are plain old clichés who are just comical devices for Kirk's character (except Tyler Labine, who btw seems to have gotten himself in another doomed show).



A few lines were great and the scene at the park (with the women and their matching dogs) was kinda funny, but it was in the Upfronts sneak peak. I'm not convinced, but I'll try episode 1.02. Why ? Because I had hopes for the show, and I refuse to stop after just one episode in a case like that. The exposition of George's relationship with Dorothy was such a drag, now that it's out of the way maybe they'll start to have good scenes (my hopes for that to happen are diminishing given that she's his boss AND his ex (le combo de la mort), I'm afraid it will play on that way too much to my taste).



Annie's Boobs was the best thing of the episode, actually. All fluffy and soft, giggling and bouncing around, Annie's Boobs pointed the episode in the right direction. It must be fun to have it around, I'd sure love to have Annie's Boobs on my arm, or shoulder, or else (double entendres : check).

Go On :

The pilot of Go On aired as a 23-minute commercial-free preview after the Olympics on Wednesday, August 8 at 11:06pm. Episode 1.02 will air on September 11 in the show's regular time slot, Tuesdays at 9pm, following The Voice's Result Show and before Ryan Murphy's New Normal.

Created by Scott Silveri (Joey, Perfect Couples). Pilot directed by Todd Holland (Miss Guided, Sons of Tucson).

Starring :

- Matthew Perry (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Mr. Sunshine) as Ryan King, recent widower and radio host.
- Laura Benanti (The Playboy Club) as Lauren, leader of the support group.
- Christine Woods (Perfect Couples, FlashForward) as Jayne, Ryan's dead wife (not in the pilot).
- John Cho (Kitchen Confidential, FlashForward) as Steven, Ryan's boss.
- Allison Miller (Kings, Terra Nova) as Carrie, Ryan's assistant.

And here's the support group :

- Brett Gelman (Eagleheart) as Mr. K. No one knows the reason why he's in the support group.
- Julie White (Cavemen) as Anne, coping with the death of her partner.
- Suzy Nakamura (10 Things I Hate About You) as Yolanda, copping with the divorce of her parents.
- Tyler James Williams (Everybody Hates Chris) as Owen, copping with his brother's coma.
- Sarah Baker (Free Radio) as Sonia, copping with the death of her cat, Cinderella.
- Seth Morris (Childrens Hospital) as Danny, copping with his wife having a baby with another man.
- Bill Cobbs (The Michael Richards Show) as George, copping with his blindness, diabetes, strokes, heart attacks.
- Tonita Castro (The Sarah Silverman Program.) as Fausta, copping with her family having been killed.

Yep, except for 3-4 of them, most of these people have worked on short-lived series, I wanted to point that out (hopefully Go On won't follow that trend). That's why I failed to mention that Scott Silveri has worked on Friends (and Matthew Perry too, duh!), first as a story editor / occasional writer (seasons 3-4) and then as a producer / writer (seasons 5-10), so we can trust him (Joey and Perfect Couples not being exactly reassuring).

Animal Practice :

The pilot of Animal Practice aired as a 22-minute commercial-free preview after the Olympics on Sunday, August 12 at 10:58pm. Episode 1.02 will air on September 26 in the show's regular slot, Wednesdays at 8pm, followed by Guys with Kids.

Created by Alessandro Tanaka & Brian Gatewood (The Sitter). Pilot directed by Joe & Anthony Russo (Arrested Development, Community).

Starring :

- Justin Kirk (Jack & Jill, Weeds) as Dr. George Coleman.
- JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Privileged, Better With You) as Dorothy Rutledge, George's boss / ex-girlfriend.
- Tyler Labine (Reaper, Sons of Tucson, Mad Love) as Dr. Doug Jackson.
- Kym Whitley (The Boondocks, The Cleveland Show, Black Dynamite) as Juanita.
- Bobby Lee (MADtv) as Dr. Kim.
- Betsy Sodaro (Comedy Bang Bang) as Nurse Angela.

My comedy lineup for this fall : Call Me Fitz, The Colbert Report, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, Community, Parks & Rec, 30 Rock, The Office, Raising Hope, Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, Don't Trust the B---- in Apt 23, Suburgatory, Modern Family, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, TBBT and HIMYM.

Go On is added to this list, and I'll give 4-5 episodes to Animal Practice to drastically improve otherwise it won't make the cut past October. Those two sitcoms were pretty much the only new comedies I wanted to watch this fall. In a way I'm glad, I've already too many shows to watch. FOX's Ben & Kate and The Mindy Project got some good reviews, I didn't want to watch either of them but maybe I'll give it a try, that's about it.

As for the new drama series, this fall's frontrunner is ABC's Last Resort tailed by Canal+'s Les revenants, and then there's NBC's Revolution, Arte's Ainsi soient-ils and The CW's Arrow.

Sincerely yours, your friendly neighborhood Bunky Bunk. Feel free to comment !