Shows just come and go, but there are those shows who would really last for quite lengthy years. But there are those would would really fall short out of what has been expected.
Here comes 'Big Lake', Comedy Central's first attempt at a multi-camera, live-audience sitcom falls short for a couple of reasons. Most importantly, it's just not funny. The two episodes that CC sent for review, which air back-to-back tonight at 10PM ET, barely poured out some laughs from most audiences as what most reviews in the net right now are saying. It also fails in trying to establish an edgier form of the traditional sitcom as what one writer from TVSquad says. Moreover, accdg to Joel Keller, TVSquad's known writer, "the show fails to mine its subject matter for deeper satire about the recession, going home after a fall from grace, and the fallacy of trusting people who say they can make you rich."
PLOT:
Chris Gethard plays Josh Franklin, a young financial whiz who was living the good life in New York until the fund he was managing collapsed, he was fired, and the brokerage he worked for went under. Think Lehman Brothers with a hint of Bernie Madoff, and you'll get the idea.
Josh goes back to his Pennsylvania hometown and moves in with his parents (James Rebhorn, Deborah Rush). He lost their retirement savings in the collapse, a fact his bitter father reminds him of every single day. Once back, he reconnects with his immature buddy Glenn (Horatio Sanz) and his old history teacher Mr. Henkel (Chris Parnell). Oh, and he finds out that his little brother Jeremy (Dylan Blue) isn't the squeaky-clean lisping teenager he portrays to their parents.
'Big Lake' tries to come off as an old-fashioned '70s or '80s sitcom that pushes the edges of Comedy Central's standards, but for some reason the attempt feels forced. When Josh sincerely tells his dad he'll do whatever it takes to make back the money he lost for his parents, Josh's dad says "F--- you." Jeremy is a latter-day Scarface, dealing in Ecstasy, answers to tests, and pretty much any other criminal endeavor happening in Big Lake. Mr. Henkel is burned out and spends his time popping pills and putting together conspiracy theories. Glenn tries to open a museum in his house when he thinks it was the childhood home of Lee Harvey Oswald.
---from TVSquad
Comedy Central I think needs to decide whether they want the show to last long and be edgy not for edgy's sake but to give out some funny lines 'with some edge' because if it isn't, their audience just isn't going to be there for the long haul. Writers of the show are all flattened by a forced joke line patterns which they "think" what the show is needing because it was a live-audience show. Not all jokes that are good to laught should be scripted or SHOULD be on papers. Most jokes that are reasonable enough to give us some burst of laughter are those smart jokes that those actors blow off as one-liners.
