In Case of Emergency: Pilot (series premiere)
(S01E01) I'm not sure how I feel about this show. It's not bad. It's not good either. It's just there, wallowing in a sea of blandness. Honestly, what was so creative about this show that it deserved to get made? Maybe there's some sharp writing in upcoming episodes that wasn't displayed here. Which would be understandable of course. It is the pilot episode and you need to explain what the show is all about: four high school friends reuniting under unusual circumstances. That's a unique idea... right? Not even close.Everything just felt so clichéd and maybe that was the point. It seemed a little too, I don't know, expected? Predictable? Recycled? From aspiring author turned greeting card writer Harry (Jonathan Silverman) to the valedictorian turned erotic masseuse (Kelly Hu), it got to the point that it was corny. I felt like I knew these characters before I even knew them. That makes sense right? Some shows that's good. This one? Not so much.
It kept going though. Greg Germann's diet guru who fell off his own bandwagon into a pile of baked goods (literally) and David Arquette's suicidal accountant who worked for a company currently known for its Enron-esque practices. Haven't we heard of these characters before?
You can't blame a show for wanting to try and recapture that Friends formula. Plenty of shows have tried since the NBC sitcom took its final bow and few have succeeded. You can easily argue that How I Met Your Mother has done so but that same argument is going to be harder to win for In Case of Emergency. I think the main problem right now (beyond my dislike for the bland main players) is that there are too many questions still. Questions that I don't feel will have satisfactory answers. That's a double edged sword because I'll end up watching a few more episodes to see what happens. (How's that for writing? I'm complaining about clichés and I just used one. Ha!)
For instance, what's the deal with Joanna (Lori Laughlin)? She's a doctor, and unless someone gets injured in every episode, how is she going to be integrated into each show? She's in the credited cast and so my best guess is that Jason doesn't stop dogging for her. Again though... man falls for doctor after injury? C'mon.
Maybe I'm being overly critical but this show has a very talented cast and it's too bad they've been given such hollow roles. The whole theme of the show is that none of them turned out how they were supposed to be and the irony is that the show itself didn't turn out as good as it could have been.

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