Reviews: Paul Reiser and 'Happy' People Fail to Amuse

Two inexplicable comedies premiere in the next couple of days. 'The Paul Reiser Show' (8:30PM ET Thursday, NBC) is the odder of the two, and 'Happy Endings' (10PM ET Wednesday, ABC) is more conventional yet no more capable of inducing laughter.

'Happy Endings' is yet another variation on a comedy format we've seen a lot lately. It focuses on an ensemble of six characters at different stages of their relationships, and it's quite similar to 'Better With You,' 'Traffic Light' and 'Perfect Couples,' all of which premiered during the current TV season.

'Happy Endings' is really no better than any of those other comedies, which is to say, it's pretty weak.

It contains sitcom types that are, especially now, extremely tired: Eliza Coupe plays the hyper-controlling, upper-middle-class, Type A wife of a more sane, laid-back dude (Damon Wayans Jr.). There's also the high-strung, desperate single gal (Casey Wilson) who makes every relationship mistake possible, even with the gay guy she befriends in the second episode. The show's resident gay character (Adam Pally) is self-effacing and cool, but none of these characters are truly memorable or stand out in any notable ways.

Elisha Cuthbert and Zachary Knighton play Alex and Dave, whose relationship crisis helps fuel the early episodes. But their characters are so generic and the pace of the show is so frenetic that it's hard to become invested in these people's frequently cliched problems (i.e., a hard-to-ditch girlfriend, a weird roommate). As an ensemble comedy or as a collection of observations about the pitfalls of modern relationships, 'Happy Endings' is, like the other new-ish half-hour shows working this territory, simply not that sharp or funny.

At least 'The Paul Reiser Show' is taking a new approach to the half-hour network comedy. Or it would like you to think that it is.

It's not about dating or relationships, so it's got that going for it, but it's also not imaginative or amusing. It's strange to see Reiser attempt to meld the very specific sensibilities of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' with those of a generic comedy about suburban life, and to say that the hybrid isn't viable is putting it mildly.

Part of the appeal of the show will depend your Reiser tolerance level, and I must admit, I was never a big fan of 'Mad About You,' his long-running NBC sitcom. Still, I was open to a show that mined his neurotic-Everyman appeal, but this show doesn't do that successfully.

The new show is based on Reiser's own post-mega-success life: He's rich enough to basically do nothing all day, so he's highly involved in child care and, in the show, he hangs around with other dads who apparently have a significant amount of free time.

'The Paul Reiser Show' is a single-camera comedy, yet the domestic comedy feels like it was resurrected from a mid-'90s sitcom. It's predictable, bland and feels like something you've seen before. But mixed in to the pilot are some diner scenes with Larry David that feel like outtakes from an average 'Curb' episode: The two men bicker and fight and those 'Curb'-flavored scenes are just jarring in this context, because they don't really fit with anything else.

Worse still is a guest turn from reality producer Mark Burnett in the first episode, when Reiser is auditioning as the host of a game show. Not only is Burnett's "acting" painful, the whole setup of the game show scenes have an unpleasantly condescending tone that more or less says, "The morons of America will watch anything! They'll even watch Paul Reiser insult people on a game show!" The whole story line is painful to watch.

Despite solid work from the show's supporting cast, none of the elements of this show really work. So far, the only thing it has going for it is that it kicked "Perfect Couples" off the air.

My colleague Maggie Furlong liked 'Happy Endings' much more than I did; she interviewed the cast here, and she's also got a Reiser interview here.

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