Millions of people (perhaps the same people) tune into the array of CBS comedies every week. But aside from "Big Bang Theory" and "Mike & Molly," I don't get the love for the others. I gave up on "How I Met Your Mother" three, maybe four seasons ago, "Two And A Half Men" and "2 Broke Girls" make me want to throw something at the television and I don't find anything remotely funny about freshman series "Mom," "The Crazy Ones" and "The Millers." (Scratch that, in the pilots of "Mom" and "The Millers," I did laugh out when Anna Faris says the "Christ-y" line and the first of Margo Martindale's many fart jokes were uttered, but those were the high points.)
So needless to say, I didn't have high hopes for "Friends With Better Lives." But since expectations tend to be the biggest source of disappointment out there, I kept them low -- which is really the best way to approach any new show. And, thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. OK, not exactly rave reviews, but after giving it another go, this time with my husband chuckling along beside me, I realized that CBS might have an actual deserved hit on their hands.
"FWBL," from creator Dana Klein ("Friends," "Kath & Kim"), follows six pals at different stages in their lives, something I think all friends go through at one point, be it getting married, getting divorced, having babies or being single. Bobby (Kevin Connolly, "Entourage") and Andi (Majandra Delfino, "Roswell") are happily married with two kids but are in that comfortable rut long-time couples with young children fall into. Will (James Van Der Beek, "Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23") is Bobby's best pal and business partner (they're doctors who share a practice), and he's newly single. Jules (Brooklyn Decker, "What to Expect When You're Expecting") and Lowell (Rick Donald, "House Husbands") are in the throes of a fresh, new love (or is it lust?) and Kate (Zoe Lister Jones, "Whitney") is a super-successful single gal searching for Mr. Right. (One glaring omission has to be the lack of a non-hetero character, but I'm hoping they'll eventually add one. C'mon, CBS, it's 2014.)
The series looks at each person's life and their relationships, as each side-eyes the others wondering if the grass really is greener. I think it's something we can all identify with, wondering if another person's life -- even a friend's -- is better than our own. It sounds kind of depressing, a little sad, even, but by heightening the stories for the sake of television, it's anything but. In fact, there were several times I laughed out loud, which is what any viewer/producer/writer hopes for in a comedy.
My life may be most like Andi and Bobby's (sex all the time and no television? No thanks), but it was the single characters who had me laughing most. Will manages not to be a Debbie Downer despite where his life is, and Van Der Beek proves he can be hilarious as someone other than an exaggerated version of himself. And while I get that there are some who will be turned off by Kate's bitchiness, I absolutely loved her and thought she had the best lines.
So the pilot had its fare share of penis and oral sex jokes -- big whoop. If anything, it fits right in with the current schedule. The lines aren't written nor delivered in an offensive manner. Rather, the drollness is what makes it so funny, unlike the predictable, ba-dum-bum delivery that many of CBS's other so-called comedies "boast."
If "FWBL" takes what it does in the premiere, refines it and runs with it, then this could finally be the latest laffer the network has been waiting for. "Partners" and "We Are Men," "FWBL" is not.
"Friends With Better Lives" premieres Monday, March 31 at 9 p.m. ET before moving to its regular 8:30 p.m. ET timeslot on Monday, April 7 on both City and CBS.
City 2013-14 TV