HEH! Work It's been Canceled!

[Muppet Master]

That show Of Kings and Prophets just got cancelled off of ABC after 2 episodes, every show that airs Tuesdays at 10pm on ABC is basicilly screwed.

 

[mr3urious]

That show Of Kings and Prophets just got cancelled off of ABC after 2 episodes, every show that airs Tuesdays at 10pm on ABC is basicilly screwed.

Doesn't help that it was compared negatively to Game of Thrones, either.

 

[D'Snowth]

Hey, not every show can rip off another show and then be more successful than the show it ripped off like NEW GIRL did.

 

[Drtooth]

Doesn't help that it was compared negatively to Game of Thrones, either.

Probably has too big a budget for anything lower than stellar ratings as well. I'd admit it doesn't look bad, just not the sort of thing I'd watch.

Hey, not every show can rip off another show and then be more successful than the show it ripped off like NEW GIRL did.

I'm guessing New Girl actually has an audience, and mostly because Zoey Deschanel is the show's star. I admit, I did sort of like it first 2 seasons, but I just felt that other than whatever show D'Snowth is talking about, it was tonally identical and inferior to "Happy Endings." Heck, they shared Daiman Wayans Jr.! That should tell you something.

And frankly, he was better on Happy Endings anyway. Still think that show should have got a TBS rescue like Cougar Town did. I love how they portrayed the gay character as a sloppy, masculine dudebro instead of the no longer funny mincing queen type. That was a pretty progressive attitude for this series.

 

[D'Snowth]

The show I'm refering to is that short-lived TBS sitcom that flopped called MY BOYS: it was essentially the same show. A girl who's "one of the boys" and has a bunch of male friends she hangs out with . . . Jim Gaffigan was even one of those male friends. But again, it flopped and lasted only a couple of seasons or so, then a year or two later, NEW GIRL came out, and people were like, "Really? MY BOYS all over again?"

TBS can't ever seem to hold onto an original sitcom, but then again, much like TV Land, all of their original sitcoms are terrible . . . they try promoting the heck out of them all the time, and even keep attaching big names as executive producers to lure people in, but the shows are just crap. TBS is essentially the all-BBT network anymore anyway.

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm really surprised Matthew Perry's ODD COUPLE did well enough to get renewed for a second season, but then again, I'm surprised Matthew Perry's ODD COUPLE did well, period. Then again, THE ODD COUPLE has gone through many adaptations from Neil Simon's original play, and we've had a number of different Felix's and Oscar's, that I suppose it's easy for people to adjust to another new pair of them.

Interestingly enough, I read one article a while back that explained why the concept of THE ODD COUPLE wouldn't work today, and that's mainly because divorce isn't as sensitive an issue today as it was back in the 60s and 70s, so the idea of two divorced men sharing an apartment doesn't really seem like such an odd (no pun intended) and unusual concept.

Although I haven't actually seen the new show, I've seen glimpses of it in promos and such, and I really have to wonder, why, exactly, does Felix and Oscar live in such a swanky apartment? Is this version's Oscar well-off or something? In the original, Oscar was always struggling because a majority of his income went to paying his ex-wife's alimony (as did Felix's), and they were lucky enough that Oscar was able to afford the apartment he did have . . . but I mean to say, in this version, Oscar's apartment looks like it's in the same building as Frasier's apartment.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm really surprised Matthew Perry's ODD COUPLE did well enough to get renewed for a second season, but then again, I'm surprised Matthew Perry's ODD COUPLE did well, period. Then again, THE ODD COUPLE has gone through many adaptations from Neil Simon's original play, and we've had a number of different Felix's and Oscar's, that I suppose it's easy for people to adjust to another new pair of them.

It got a mid-mid-mid season slot. Like just before everything's May finale. Something tells me it's not quite as successful as they state.

The remake felt like something from an alternate 1990's. It isn't so much for me that it's a remake of The Odd Couple, it's just a lousy sitcom on all counts without needing to be a remake. I've been stating for a while that the problem with modern laugh tracky type sitcoms is that they essentially write to the reaction instead of writing story and characters. Like what was wrong with every forgotten 90's sitcom (usually ones on NBC in between Friends and Seinfeld or something on Tuesdays). It's trying to imitate a lot more than just Odd Couple. Their version of Felix is a poor man's Niles Crane, for example.

And frankly, it's one of those shows that is so badly written, no one is funny. It's the big beef I've always had with Will and Grace. For the longest time I wasn't a fan of Megan Mullaly, until I saw her in things that weren't Will in Grace (Bob's Burgers, Children's Hospital, and her guest shots on Parks and Rec especially). I mean, that show made John Cleese unfunny. John "doesn't even have to do much and still gets an uproarious laugh" FREAKIN' Cleese. Eric Idle can swing wildly based on the quality of the project (I liked Casper's live action first film, but felt he was utilized poorly), but the only time Cleese didn't make me laugh was in freakin' Will and Grace. And seriously, I'm so programmed to laugh at Cleese, I can guffaw at something as simple as a picture of him.

Which brings me back to the New Odd Couple. While I've never been a fan of Friends, I have sort of a begrudging respect for the fact it has an audience and sometimes it did have a good bit or two in there. Anyway, I did like Mathew Perry in some of his other projects. I liked him in Mr. Sunshine and while I didn't like the one about group therapy he was at least good in it. Not so much here. Thomas Lennon has actually been funny in some other projects, but again, just not so much here. I can see the appeal of almost every CBS sitcom currently in production, just not this one. I mean, it's hard to get the same quality of the original TV cast. I mean, I do like Walter Mathau and Jack Lemmon, but somehow I feel Tony Randal and Jack Klugman just did the roles better justice. But even if I distance the play, movie, and prior show, I just see Standard Mismatch Comedy #452.7B.

 

[D'Snowth]

The remake felt like something from an alternate 1990's. It isn't so much for me that it's a remake of The Odd Couple, it's just a lousy sitcom on all counts without needing to be a remake.

Y'know, I actually have similar feelings about the first season of the 70s sitcom. Granted, I usually have a stronger preference for those kind of single-camera, laugh track-only sitcoms of the 60s because of the artistic and cinematic look they have to them that multi-camera sitcoms lack, but that first season of the 70s version that was single-camera with only a laugh track, it falls kind of flat, and it feels like some left-over 60s sitcom that wasn't even good enough to make it to air in the 60s. Once they went multi-camera with a live audience the following season, the show really started to pick up then.

I mean, it's hard to get the same quality of the original TV cast. I mean, I do like Walter Mathau and Jack Lemmon, but somehow I feel Tony Randal and Jack Klugman just did the roles better justice.

The thing about Tony and Jack is that they worked very much in the same fashion that Jim and Frank did as Ernie and Bert: they developed such a rapport with one another - on and off camera - that they often would just do the scene their own way, rather than go by what the script said, and even in many cases, the writers wouldn't even bother writing dialogue, they'd maybe write a skeleton of a scene (to wit: "Oscar teaches Felix how to play football"), give that to them, and they'd just do their own way before the audience. That's pretty much another reason why, as I say, the show did better when it went multi-camera in front of an audience, but Tony and Jack were really able to do so much more with what they were working with - both of their performances really improve and have a lot more gusto (Tony especially) as opposed to doing the lines off the script pages during the first season. As for the movie cast, while Jack Lemmon's Felix didn't do much for me, I will agree that Walter Matthau was actually a pretty good Oscar, if only because if other movies like THE BAD NEWS BEARS and DENNIS THE MENACE are anything to go on, he's just really good at playing those types of grumpy, curmudgeonly characters that Oscar is. Then there was that black version in the 80s that had Demond Wilson, a.k.a. Lamont Sanford, as Oscar . . . that was painful to watch - even Demond didn't like it.

 

[Drtooth]

There's just something special about the two. I almost wish they reunited for a Grumpy Old Men sitcom remake (considering who played them in the movie). Most shows tend to improve after the first season, yet shows that have stronger first seasons than subsequent ones don't last too long. And trust me, there are some that have that "we know what we're all about" down pat at the beginning but can't quite capture that lightning in a bottle. Shows need room to grow, or it'll be like Heroes where even the show runners don't know what they're doing.

Still, it's telling that CBS withheld The Odd Couple for so long if it was considered successful enough to renew yet not successful enough to put in either the September premiere slot or even a Mid-Season winter debut. Not to mention the fact that when a new series premiered in winter it lasted a good 2 episodes before it was canned. They did try comedy shows on Wednesday night, but that's probably the reason why Mike and Molly wasn't just cancelled, but removed from the schedule. It just didn't work because the only ones still watching CBS that night are the holdouts that keep Survivor on even though it lost its relevance before Bush left office.

 

[D'Snowth]

Why is Patrick Warburton already starring in a new sitcom that looks just like his previous sitcom?