So, who was the least funny member of Kids in the Hall?

[yendi]

Last night, I just got paid money to be a part of a research panel to watch two episodes of Carpoolers, created by Bruce McCulloch. Which means that I can't, in all honesty, say that the show is so bad that I wouldn't watch it if you paid me.

But I can say that, for watching this show, I most certainly did not get paid enough.

What a piece of crap. A recycled piece of crap. Imagine Jerry O'Connell (a man not meant to set foot in a sitcom) trying to channel Neil Patrick Harris on How I Met Your Mother (only without the wit or charm). Throw in a henpecked husband (played by Jerry Minor, who's normally funnier) with a wife who we never actually see (can we say "Vera?"). Add a young, nerdy guy who's just SO EAGER, with his ditzy blonde wife. And throw in the perpetually employed (for reasons that escape me) Fred Goss as every nebishy, neurotic character (married to a much hotter wife than he deserves, in this case the slumming Faith Ford) ever to round out the lot.

None of that would matter if the writing was good. Or even decent. Or if the plots weren't recycled. We get jokes about vasectomies, sperm counts, marital sex, and other fun stuff. The second episode I saw (which, if the show doesn't get canceled, airs on October 23, according to the IMDB) does have a damned funny opening scene. It sinks to a low point, however, when it invokes multiple stun-gun attacks on the four leads (after a road rage incident) as "humor."

I was worried, when filling out the forms, that I was the sole person in the room who hated it, but I was pleased, when we had the group discussion afterwards, to learn that most folks thought it was either mediocre or bad (and we were the male test subjects; given the clearly-targeted male demographics of the show, I can only imagine the reaction of the women in the other room). The guy next to me, however, gave the show a ten. That's because he "likes comedy stuff." Turns out he's the guy that sitcom writers have been aiming shows at for years.

Best comment: As we were walking out (money in hand), one guy commented that the problem is that he'd have to spend all that money to drink enough to forget Carpoolers.

I wish I could agree, but actually, the show is pretty fucking forgettable on its own. In one month (after it's been pulled pre-Sweeps), I can't imagine anyone remembering that it had even been on the air.

(Aside: I did think Bruce was pretty funny on KitH. I blame his staff writers. Although the IMDB says that this group includes Kevin McDonald, which is also sad.)

Comments

[curt-holman.livejournal.com]

Back when I regularly watched KiTH, I strongly believed that Kevin McDonald was the least versatile of the troupe as an actor. I always enjoy seeing him appear in sitcoms and movies and whatnot -- his appearance as Harry Potter was one of the two funny things about Epic Movie.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

we're not even going to talk about brucio's directing credits...

[yendi]

Hey -- his Harvard movie was better than James Toback's!

Which is damning with the faintest praise imaginable, admittedly.

[muse0fire.livejournal.com]

Dave Foley is the only one I've found genuinely funny outside of KITH. I think in this case the guys have particular talent that works well in conjunction with all of the others as a team, but not so much on an individual level.

[curt-holman.livejournal.com]

Have you seen 'Slings and Arrows?' I've heard great things about it, including Mark McKinnney's onscreen performance.

[muse0fire.livejournal.com]

Yes, actually it's a FANTASTIC show - probably one of the best in the last 10 years. I think Mark writes for it as well? The story lines with his character are usually the weakest (a bit slapstick) but he does give an excellent performance.

Highly recommend the show - it's out on DVD.

[yendi]

He not only writes for it, he was one of the co-creators. :-)

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's supposed to be meta. . .?

[yendi]

If by "meta," you mean, "sucktastic," sure. :-)

[laurel]

I liked the first two episodes of Carpoolers, but found them more "pleasant" than funny or worth recommending. I recommended the premiere 'cuz I figured KiTH fans wold be interested and the show likely won't last long.

Each of those episodes had some funny stuff in there, but also the more pedestrian humor that didn't work. Both the ones I saw were written by McCulloch (they've both aired already).

I won't be going out of my way to see additional episodes, though I'm kinda curious. Too many better shows out there. I doubt the show will last much longer.

[yendi]

I suspect that the opening episodes might have at least answered some of the questions we all had (like, how do four guys at different offices manage to carpool together, what do three of them even do for a living, and why the hell would the two "lead" characters even be best friends in the first place?).

What frustrated me the most is that the show didn't seem to have any sense of self -- it pitched a zany, over-the-top incident here, some unfunny cruelty-based comedy there, and typical family misunderstandings in the other place.

[laurel]

Jerry O'Connell is a dentist; Fred Goss is a counselor of some sort. The young guy is new to the carpool and was brought in by the one with the huge family and never-seen wife. I don't recall what jobs they have or if we were shown them.

I believe they all work in the same office complex; 'cuz the Jerry O'Connell character has sometimes popped in on his friend Fred Goss in his office.

Jerry O'Connell and Fred Goss have been friends for quite a while. Like most or all of Marmaduke's life. So I'd guess they met in school or something (or it's possible their wives were friends first, who knows?).

The stuff I found funniest in the first two episodes actually had to do with the actual carpooling. Stuff in the car. Or in competition with the "old guy carpool" or the "rich guy carpool" (which included Scott Thompson in a blink and you'd miss it part).

I do think there's a decent idea here, but the writing just isn't there. Highly unlikely the show will survive much longer given it's paired iwth Cavemen and up against so many other (better) things. I called it a "death slot" when it debuted.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

I always had this assumption that after making the brilliant solo album Bruce McCullogh used up all he had in talent.

The funniest member of Kids in the Hall of course was Bellini btw.

[yendi]

Bellini did, indeed, rock.

[bluedressdevil.livejournal.com]

my husband and I watched the first (I think) episode of carpoolers just randomly (I wish I had got paid!) And it was like a trainwreck we couldn't look away from. My husband just kept muttering "I am so not the target audience of this show".

I was surprised it got two episodes even@!

[yendi]

Well, it's paired with megahit Cavemen. *shudder*

[bluedressdevil.livejournal.com]

We actually watched Carpoolers because we were watching the last five minutes of Cavemen. I had to see how awful Cavemen was because it was everywhere in the news how it had got slammed by the critics. And then Carpoolers came on and it was like a double whammy of awful.

Those two shows make me hate our freedom.*
I would rather they bring back the show Century City (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377153/).**
Meanwhile, I kinda like the new show The Big Bang Theory and I am sure it will get canceled before I post this comment. :P

* this line is stolen from David Cross
** I never actually saw this show but I remember the commercials and I wish I had seen one episode since it looks so awful.

[laurel]

Century City was actually quite cool. Science fiction court cases, basically. So cool in a geeky way with court cases involving cloning, genetics testing, etc.

[bluedressdevil.livejournal.com]

I saw in a description somewhere that in Century City's version of the future Oprah was President which cracked me up.

I also find it amusing for the title. Century City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_city) is an actual place in LA where a lot of lawyers have offices.

[thelastrobot.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Man. Creating things is so hard. And I don't mean that in a "You shouldn't criticize" way. You should definitely criticize. But, man, that must be terrible coming up with something and then having it change into something weird as it passes through all the executives and casting directors and writers and so on. I sure worry about it.

Or you know. It just wasn't a very good idea.