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August 19th, 2010

Melissa & Joey: My Take

Paul asked yesterday if anyone watched the pilot episode of Melissa & Joey. I did. I wanted to see Clarissa explain it all to Joey.

I was a bit taken aback. This is an old school sitcom. Multicamera, shot primarily in the living room and kitchen of the house. Apparently filmed in front of a live studio audience (but clearly punched up with a laugh track). And, essentially, this is Who’s the Boss? for 2010 (as I’m sure many others have pointed out).

It’s definitely a “safe” sitcom, very much a throwback to the mid-90s. Back then, it would have been just one in a pile of other similar shows. Now, though, it’s actually unique since it still follows that formula when every comedy show is shot like The Office.

However, don’t get me wrong. Being unique doesn’t equal being good. Because it’s not. Like… Joey signs on to become a nanny and less than a few hours later, he’s able to go out onto the roof and talk to the troubled daughter like they were best friends. To the viewers, this discussion was the first encounter they’d even had! Some really sloppy writing on the pilot, to be sure.

The acting pretty much sucks outside of the two main characters. No surprise there.

All-in-all, it’s one of those shows that I certainly won’t hunt out, but I may stop on to watch for a minute or two like I used to with “Blossom” and “Clarissa Explains it All.”

Whoa.

(Feel free to watch the pilot episode now.)

Posted in Television, Movies, and Music

Paul August 21, 2010, 6:13 pm

I downloaded the pilot and watched it as well. My thoughts are similar to Ryan’s: it’s a very, very, very lightweight show. It would absolutely fit in on TGIF.

I was surprised at one of the core jokes, though: a kid got in trouble for writing something disrespectful about a teacher whose last name was Lunt. You can figure out the rhyming insult there, but this did surprise me. The kids these days!

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