TV News and Reviews

So, TV.com has word on Amy Poehler’s new sitcom. It’s apparently going to be an <i>Office</i> style mockumentary, with Amy Poehler as a Parks and Recreation Department worker in Indiana. The plot will center around the characters trying to get a construction pit turned into a city park. The plot sounds completely inane, but sometimes sitcoms aren’t really about the plot–it’s about the characters and the dialogue. I love Amy Poehler, but have never found <i>The Office</i> funny, so I’m not getting my hopes up.

Somewhere along the line it seems that America’s sense of humor has changed, and I don’t get it. Well, I don’t get some of it. I love Big Bang Theory and often laugh until it hurts; How I Met Your Mother is uneven but often very good comedy. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss has to play the idiot a bit too much in her Christine sitcom, but she makes the absurdity work a lot of the time with the help of some skilled physical comedy–and the supporting cast are hilarious. Gary UnMarried sometimes grates because he gets nearly all the best lines, and his ex-wife borders on shrill shrew too often, but those good lines are awesomely devilish, making sarcasm an art form.

So yeah, I can still find funny in primetime TV. But The Office–well, I tried. It just didn’t make me laugh. Maybe having dealt with annoying clueless coworkers and bosses in real life has made me irritated by such characters rather than finding it hilarious satire. The most the show ever got out of me was a mild smile or two. I truly don’t get how enamored people are with The Office. I also don’t get the 30 Rock mania, though in fairness I haven’t watched it in awhile. I gave up on it when Tina Fey’s character started being the typical female character on sitcoms–in other words, a completely clueless loser. Alec Baldwin was still ridiculously outrageous and is a major contributor to the success of that show–without him, I’m not sure it would have lasted this long. And while I loved Tina Fey on SNL, I just don’t see the appeal here so much.

So another show in this vein just doesn’t inspire me with confidence. I’m willing to check it out to see if Amy Poehler can make something out of it that I find watchable, but if it’s going to be uber dry, lifeless droning mockumentary that strives to make everyone watching uncomfortable…er, not so much. I wish Amy Poehler success, and it seems that even if I don’t like it, there may be a whole audience of Office lovers who go crazy for it.