(June 20th, 2011)               Christopher Moynihan (100 Questions), Mather Zickel (The Cape), Dan Fogler (Balls of Fury), Teri Polo (Meet the Fockers), Amanda Detmer (What About Brian) and Henry Simmons (Shark) star in the half hour comedy Man Up, coming to ABC, Tuesdays at 8:30pm, this fall.

Three modern men try to get in touch with their inner tough guys and redefine what it means to be a “real man”. Will’s grandfather fought in WWII. Will’s father fought in Vietnam. Will plays Call of Duty on his PS3 and drinks non-dairy hazelnut creamer. So what happened to all the real men? They’re still here, they just smell like pomegranate body wash now. Meet Will (Zickel). His evolved, sensitive nature is why his awesome wife, Theresa (Polo), married him. But Will and his friends find themselves wondering, in a world of Axe ads and manscaping, what does it really mean to be a guy anymore? Will is more interested in finding the perfect gift for his son Nathan’s (Jake Johnson) 13th birthday than in doing his job selling insurance; sensitive soul Craig (Moynihan) still pines for his college ex, Lisa; and Kenny (Fogler) clamps down on his anger and asks himself, “What would Tobey Maguire do?,” when his ex, Brenda (Detmer), starts seeing a guy (Simmons) who is everything he’s not and much better looking. After Craig crashes Lisa’s wedding to try to win her back, they are all faced with an opportunity to Man Up and be like their forefathers.

I enjoy the premise that men have over-evolved. On the face of it, there seem to be a lot of things to say on that subject. I am disappointed to find that the pilot episode of this comedy already seems short of good topics to support their own theory. This is yet another one camera dramatic comedy that does not have the strength in the characters or in the writing to accomplish what they are trying to pull off. None of the actors have the strength in their performance to rise out of this lethargic cast. I think that is because the characters they have been asked to play are just not interesting enough, or funny enough.

Sooner or later, the one camera comedy will no longer be new and trendy. That is a time I look forward to, so that half hour comedies can select the style that is right for the premise, instead of having to go with the hot new idea. The one camera format is much more difficult to deliver humour, as you are without a live audience and there is no way to cover the soft parts of your script with a digital laugh track.

As a standard studio sitcom, this one may have had a chance. But in the now cluttered world of one camera comedies, this effort falls short of the strength needed in the writing to compensate for the lack of other sitcom qualities.

 

 - Editor.

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