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Reviews
The Muppets. (2015)
Wouldn't watch it with human stars, and adding muppets just makes it worse.
This was the most titanic failure of a franchise reboot since the Jem and the Holograms movie. The Muppets was nothing more than a crappy daytime soap opera centered around a mopey middle-aged loser, his Mean Girl diva ex, and the bumbling idiots he works with. It would make for a completely and utterly forgettable TV show if it were populated completely with real humans, and making it The Muppets that are delivering these horrible, soul-withering lines just makes it the blackest of befoulments. Jim Henson would be projectile vomiting all over the inside of his coffin if he still had access to his material body, and quite rightly. Don't expose your kids to this trite tripe. Don't expose yourself to it, either. The best thing that could possibly happen to this show is that it could die a quiet, ignominious death somewhere far, far away.
The Crazy Ones (2013)
Fast, smart, and brilliant comedy with very poignant moments.
Robin Williams is finally back to doing what he's always done best -- off-the-cuff riffing on whatever subject you put in front of him. He's brilliant. While America's sense of humor has changed a bit since Mrs. Doubtfire, Williams' ability to turn his incredible sense of humor into a source of drama (it's obvious that his characters' silliness is a response to his own desperation) shows that as an actor, he's gone from silly to serious and come back out the other side with a remarkable ability to showcase the two simultaneously and sensitively.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is perfectly cast in her role, as a foil for Williams. Her ability to (act like she can) see the serious and important sides of absurd and silly situations -- honed to a keen point in Buffy -- is exactly what Williams' character needs to have the truth of his tragicomic situation highlighted.
Also, this is the first show that I've ever seen where the unabashedly promiscuous person (Zach/James Wolk) is a guy -- and it's AWESOME! The way that everyone treats him (the line was something like "Zach, lose a layer. If it goes badly, two.") is perfect. ("To be safe, I'm going to need some meat. Zach! Vaya con queso, amigo!") I realize that Zach is theoretically supposed to be the main character of the show, and honestly, he's *almost* able to hold his own next to Williams and Gellar. Give him a few episodes, and he'll shine. He's pretty and obviously a great actor, and I can't wait to see him blossom.
This show isn't going to appeal to everyone -- it's paced like Scandal, has the emotional volatility of the Newsroom, and the pop culture references of Franklin & Bash. ("Lopez wants to be paid in diamonds, Aidelle is British...and Pink threatened me.") The problem is that it's billed as a zany comedy/Mad Men with Robin Williams, but the truth is that it's actually a very dramatic story hidden beneath zaniness, and a lot of people are going to have a problem with that.