New Beginnings and Happy Endings

ABC has FINALLY found a Comedy to replace their horrible streak of wannabes (Better With You, Mr. Sunshine. Sorry, Matthew Perry, your Chandler character is only funny in friends.)

I was hesitant about the show. I really wanted it to work out because Elisa Cuthbert (She was in the later seasons of scrubs as a dude acting chick intern and was in an episode of Flight of the Conchords also as a chick who acted more like a dude when it came to sex.) is phenomenally funny, and hot. It took my 14 year old sister to point out that the brunette female was on one season of SNL (kicked off after cursing on air in the beginning of the season, although they did let her play the rest of the year out). But honestly, she's way better off doing this show than SNL. This woman is easily the most funny character on the show. She really was the only one that instantly grabbed my attention in the scene where the ladies are at the gym and she just yells at herself "COME ON YOU STUPID SLUT. YOU CAN DO THIS!" or something along those lines. Can't say I didn't see a little of myself in that.

Another refreshing character is Max, the chubby gay guy who is described as a straight dude who likes guys (which we're seeing more of in Hollywood with the new movie Friends with Benefits where Woody Allen appears to play a similar role). It works perfectly.

Elisa Cuthbert changes up her standard character by playing an organized, controlling, and sexy married woman reaching more into the feminine and branching away from her dude-esque roles she played in Scrubs and Flight of the Conchords, and it works perfectly. I suppose in every role she's played, she is the dominating force in her relationships. Not that I'm complaining, I'd be submissive towards her any day.

The episodes run pretty causally throwing in zingers every once in a while, but most of the comedy comes from the brunette, the gay, and Elisa Cuthbert. The others seem to be there to mostly set up the comedy for the other three. I'm guessing as the season progresses the others will find their niche in the show as well. It is fast paced, smart, and all the characters are likable and funny (excluding perhaps the blond chick who ran out on the wedding in the first episode. We have yet to get a feel for why she's funny or why we should even care about her.)

A lot of haters out there are calling it a Friends rip-off. Well congratulations for finding the similarity between the two shows: 3 guys and 3 girls that are all friends. You must have gone to Harvard to figure that one out. If we vilified every show that seemed to copy the formula for another show, nothing would be legit anymore. Cougar Town: 3 guys, 3 girls, and it even has Courtney Cox pretty much playing Monica again. Has anyone noticed the latest slew of 5 people going through life together where 4 of them are obviously going to end up as couples, and one is left being the sex fiend? It happens because it works. Ratings go up when diversity appears in a show because obviously more people can find something to relate to. Stop hating and start enjoying a happy ending when it is given to you.

Luckily, as with most shows, they become more enjoyable the more episodes you can watch in a row to get a better feel for it. You can watch the first 4 episodes on Hulu right now.

You gotta do it. Who doesn't love a happy ending?