Fri-Yay: Netflix's Disenchantment Is Messy - But Should You Stick With It?; NBC's I Feel Bad Gets Preview

Friday, August 31, 2018

Fri-Yay: Netflix's Disenchantment Is Messy - But Should You Stick With It?; NBC's I Feel Bad Gets Preview

It's time for another edition of Fri-Yay! That means we will take a look back on some sitcom happenings in recent days or weeks or other fun sitcomy stuff. It's a sitcom lover's paradise! Happy Fri-Yay!

by Vincent

This month, Netflix dropped half of the first season of Disenchantment, a new animated from Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening. The show was highly anticipated as the first new Groening project in quite some time, and has a fairly stacked voice cast, featuring the likes of Abbi Jacobson and Eric Andre. And yet, the show didn't exactly light up the television world upon debut. It received decisively mixed reviews, with most calling it a disappointment that shows some signs of promise. These reviews generally have it right - while the show has its bright spots, it's incredibly messy and seems to have difficulties settling on a consistent tone. Because of this inconsistency, Disenchantment feels like it's sort of been brushed aside for flashier, shinier shows with better reception, despite its high pedigree. This makes sense - there's so much TV that no one has time to wait for a middling show to get better.

And yet, I can't help but think how early episodes of The Simpsons or Futurama would've faired in this environment, two shows whose earliest episodes also featured some tonal imbalances and struggles to streamline their humor. While I'd say both shows earlier episodes are superior to Disenchantment's, they were far from perfect, and it's easy to see either show getting brushed aside. However, both shows premiered during a different era of TV, when there were far less shows and it was worth sticking with a show that you thought had potential even if it wasn't quite there yet. It'd be really tough to imagine a world where too few people gave The Simpsons and Futurama a chance and neither shows wound up being able to become the incredible, groundbreaking shows they became. Am I saying Disenchantment will become as influential and great as those shows? Not necessarily, but I could see it happening - however, it'll require more people to give it a chance. There are still 10 episodes yet to premiere in Disenchantment's first season (Netflix split the show's 20-episode first season into two parts) - hopefully, those episodes will offer a glimmer into the type of show Disenchantment will be, and if they show improvement, will allow more people to give the show a fair shot

I Feel Bad

NBC will sneak preview the first two episodes of its new fall comedy I Feel Bad on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT following the season 13 finale of America's Got Talent. The series will premiere in its regular 9:30 p.m. Thursday timeslot beginning Oct. 4. Emet is the perfect mom, boss, wife, friend and daughter. OK, she's not perfect. In fact, she's just figuring it out like the rest of us. Sure, she feels bad when she has a sexy dream about someone other than her husband, or when she pretends not to know her kids when they misbehave in public, or when she uses her staff to help solve personal problems. But that's OK, right? Nobody can have it all and do it perfectly. From executive producer Amy Poehler comes a modern comedy about being perfectly OK with being imperfect. The cast includes Sarayu Blue, Paul Adelstein, Madhur Jaffrey, Brian George, James Buckley, Zach Cherry and Johnny Pemberton.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight

Thursday, June 8

Young Sheldon - "Pancake Sunday and Textbook Flirting" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Mary struggles to make new friends while Mandy pushes Georgie to date another woman.

Ghosts - "Alberta's Descendant" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Alberta is thrilled when a living relative, Alicia (Ashley D. Kelley), visits Woodstone to learn more about her, but things take a turn when she hits it off with Todd (Rodrigo Fernandez Stoll), Sam’s podcast co-host. Also, Nigel uses his knowledge of Trevor and Hetty’s secret tryst to try to blackmail Hetty.

Animal Control - "Dogs and Geese" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Dispatch radios a report of a goose on the loose; the precinct hosts an adoption day.

Animal Control - "Pigs and Minks" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The team welcomes back Patel even though he is still on suspension; Shred and Victoria are called into the principal's office on a school visit; Rick heads back into the field with Frank.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 5)

Thursday, June 8

Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory/8 Simple Rules/Ladies Man) - Catch Kaley on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Tom Hanks (Bosom Buddies) - Tom appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Lea Michele (The Mayor/Scream Queens) - Lea is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Janelle James (Abbott Elementary) - Janelle appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Chris Messina (The Mindy Project) - Chris will be on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
Laurie Metcalf (The Conners/Roseanne/The McCarthys/The Norm Show) - Laurie chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Boris Kodjoe (The Last Man on Earth/Second Time Around) - Boris is a guest on a repeat of The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever) - Maitreyi talks about Never Have I Ever Live with Kelly and Mark, (check your listings) and on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Eva Longoria (Telenovela) - Eva appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
Marcus Scribner (grown-ish/black-ish) - Marcus joins the Tam Fam to discuss the final season of grown-ish on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Nia Long (Uncle Buck/The Cleveland Show/The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) - Nia appears on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Lauren London (The Game) - Lauren is a guest on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Fortune Feimster (Kenan/Bless the Harts/Champions) - Fortune appears on a repeat of The Jennifer Hudson Show, so check your local listings. She also talks about FUBAR on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Kelsey Grammer (Frasier/Partners/Cheers) - Kelsey is telling Rachael about his recent movie, the Frasier revival and what he's got going on next on a repeat of Rachael Ray, so check your local listings.
Marilu Henner (Evening Shade/Taxi) - Marilu talks about Hallmark's Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Vivica A. Fox (Mr. Box Office/Getting Personal/Arsenio/Out All Night) - Vivica stops by to discuss her involvement with the Tony Awards and her Fox Soul talk show Cocktails with Queens on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Marsha Warfield (Night Court/Empty Nest) - Marsha drops by to talk about her iconic comedy career, her The Book of Marsha comedy tour and finally sees the green room at Sherri that was inspired by her, so check your local listings.
Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That.../Sex and the City/Square Pegs) - Sarah will be on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.