tvthatdoesntsuck

Before the fall season, I made a list of TV shows I thought might be worth checking out.  I’ve made it a point to check out all those shows myself to give a bit of follow up.  So far, the only show I’ve missed is 90210, and I apologize, but I just couldn’t bring myself to watch it.  I did, however, watch the premiere of The Ex-List this Friday.  While it was a spotty premiere, it was also really funny and entertaining in spots, and it definitely has the makings of a good show.

 Never once during the show did I look at the clock, which is more than I can say for any other pilot this year, good or bad.  It was quirky, funny, and a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.  It’s not as hilarious as the best comedies on TV (The Office, Weeds) but the makings of a really hilarious show are all there.  The writing is above average, elevating a show that could have been primetime’s version of a chick flick to a very watchable show.  While I’m not really sold on the supporting cast just yet, Elizabeth Reaser as Bella Bloom is a fantastic lead.  She’s a talented and beautiful woman, and I’m glad that this seems to be centered around her, the main character, as opposed to an ensemble piece.  I thought Rachel Boston (Bella’s sister) and Alex Breckenridge (Vivian, her roommate) were both great, but the characters are surprisingly similar, which struck me as odd for a pilot.  One would think each character would have a specific role and different personalities, but in this episode, these characters seemed very much the same.  Unlike the females, who I all thought were quirky, the male members of the cast struck me as weird, and I really couldn’t relate to them.  Guest star Eric Balfour–known best, perhaps, as Gabe on Six Feet Under–was great and really unpredictable in his role as the ex of the week.  He and Reaser were definitely the highlights of this episode.

On the meh side of things, I thought the pubic hair subplot was pretty ridiculous.  Two characters act like it’s a pretty big and semi-shocking thing when a girl decides to go bald (she calls it “The Gandhi”), which sort of makes me feel like the writer is a bit out of touch with reality.  It was pretty funny for what it was and how it was handled, but in this day in age, you’re ten times more likely to come across someone with “The Gandhi” then you are someone who resembles Bin Laden’s beard.  That subplot reeked of wake up.  Other than that, the only parts of the show I found fault with was the fact that it began at 8:58.  Not at all the writer’s fault, but in the age of Tivo and automated DVRs, you just can’t do that.  I missed the opening chunk of the episode because of that.

I’m a bit worried about the direction of the show, because creator Diane Ruggiero left after the sixth episode due to creative differences with CBS.  Rick Eid (odd name, how would you say that?  Ay-eed?  Eee-eyed?) will take over as show-runner from that point on.  Ruggiero, who worked on Veronica Mars, was really the initial reason I started watching, so I’m a bit ruffled by this.  But the fact is that the pilot, despite a few flaws, was actually really good.  Good enough to keep me interested to see how it develops without Ruggiero.  This has happened before, notably with Dead Like Me, which was still fantastic after my man-crush Bryan Fuller left.

Overall, it’s an above average dramedy.  I will definitely tune in next week, and I think you all should too.

7/10

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