While most people are looking forward for shows like Gotham, The Flash or A to Z in the comedy front, the show I was the most excited about was Marry Me- which is why I’ll be reviewing this show on a weekly basis. So why? Why was Marry Me the show I was most excited about? Because it had David Caspe and Casey Wilson name on it. You see, I’m a Happy Endings fan, I hoped for this show to be as good as Happy Endings. And is it? The pilot seems to indicate that the show will be.
Annie (Casey Wilson) and Jake (Ken Mariano) have been a couple for 6 years, and after what looks like an unforgettable trip, Jake is about to propose, but just before he does it Annie goes on a tantrum about how he didn’t propose during the trip. If you saw the trailer, you already know what happens: the proposal falls apart and family and friends come out from hiding and leave Annie alone.
Marry Me does something extremely hard to do in a pilot: it hits the funny bone right from the start. Most comedies start with some exposition or world/character building moment that are not that entertaining and build in the comedy for later on, but Marry Me is hilarious right from the start, and that’s achieved by the talent of Wilson and Mariano, who delivered the first scene greatly- if it was done by mediocre actors, the scene wouldn’t have worked at all.
As the pilot progressed the show builds up on its momentum and delivers a lot of memorable laughs. We also get to see that the show isn’t all about Annie and Jake, we get to know their family and friends too, and we also get to see how they react to Annie calling them out for their flaws when she was on tantrum mode.
Some of the characters are broad strokes; Jake’s best friend Gil- described by Annie as a “garbage person”- is the stereotypical weird/chubby funny looking guy, Jake’s mom Myrna is the type A personality mom and Annie’s friend Dennah plays it as an airhead for most of the episode. This is the biggest flaw of the pilot, but even though all these characters are presented in a stereotypical way as time goes by you see that there is more to those characteristics into them. It is a mere presentation and it’s not particularly the best, but you know there is more to it, and there is an open invitation at the end to watch all these characters journey to become something else.
And yet, surprisingly I’m not worried: the similarities are obvious but they are never annoying; maybe I am going soft because this is just the pilot, but you can feel there is good will here and that Annie is somehow meant to be Penny and at the same time she is supposed to be herself; one of the key difference between the two characters is that Annie has it all figured it out. Lots of stuff happens in the way, but Annie knows what she wants and she fights for it, which is a character trait that I like a lot and that makes for a fresh air on this sitcom, since there are way too many ones in which the main characters don’t have any idea what to do with their lives.
The pilot has a great mix of funny moments and cute moments; as the pilot goes on we get to see how Annie and Jake came to be a couple and both the script and the acting is strong enough to sell them as a great comedic pair and believable romantic partners. The chemistry of Wilson and Mariano is strong and also a key factor to make the pilot- and possibly the show- work.
I would love to tell you more, but I don’t want to give anything away. Marry Me is one of the best comedy pilots I’ve ever seen; it’s not flawless, but it showcase a lot of effort and goodwill. I have no doubt that if you give this show a chance, you’ll fall for it.
Grade: A-
Stray Observations:
-Welcome to the reviews of Marry Me! May we have a great time.
-I don’t know why, but I love the opening sequence; it somehow reflects the heart of the show.
-I never found a moment to bring this up in the preview, but I love that Annie has two dads, and that one of them is Dan Bucatinsky- you may know him from Scandal!-. Both of them are very funny characters and the best supporting characters so far.
-There is going to be a Happy Endings cross over! Derrick is coming to Marry Me…! Eventually. You can’t imagine how excited I am about this!
-I must say, I'm still pretty surprised that Marry Me is not paired with A to Z; both shows are quite compatible.
-With The Voice as lead in Marry Me will most likely deliverr great ratings out of the gate. Let’s hope that it sticks.
-I was surprised to see that the youtube trailer for Marry Me has over 1 million views. It seems it is more anticipated than I thought it would.
-One thing I have yet to figure out: will Annie and Jake marry down the road or are they going to have constant troubles with the wedding and keep postponing it so that the show can be still called Marry Me? That’s the tricky thing about show’s titles.
