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A.P. Bio (S1, Glenn Howerton's new sitcom)

Started by Small Man Big Horse, February 02, 2018, 07:25:20 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

This is the show that might take Howerton away from It's Always Sunny, unless he works out a way to do both at the same time. I think it might have coloured my opinion of the show a little as if didn't effect Sunny I might have enjoyed it more, but a lot of the time I was wondering why he'd prefer to do this. It's yet another "Bad Teacher" show and whilst there's the odd funny joke (the saxophone guy in the closet, Patton Oswalt on the stairlift) and it's better than a lot of network comedies, it's certainly nothing special yet.

Ratings wise it's started poorly - http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/tv-ratings-ap-bio-nbc-1202685413/ - and the second episode doesn't air until the 25th of February, which is quite the scheduling fuck up, so it'll be interesting to see if word of mouth can save it or if it'll be a one season flop.

up_the_hampipe

I think Glenn Howerton recently said he's coming back to Always Sunny, so don't worry about that. I'm tempted to check out this show purely because I love Howerton and sometimes Patton Oswalt. But everything else about this show looks quite bad.

Is Kaitlin Olson's show any good?

Mobius

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on February 02, 2018, 07:27:21 PM
Is Kaitlin Olson's show any good?

It's actually great. She's essentially Dee. It very quickly ramps up to Sunny levels of depravity.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: Mobius on February 02, 2018, 07:29:29 PM
It's actually great. She's essentially Dee. It very quickly ramps up to Sunny levels of depravity.

Oh cool. I shall watch. I could never tell what it's like from the promotion.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on February 02, 2018, 07:27:21 PM
I think Glenn Howerton recently said he's coming back to Always Sunny, so don't worry about that. I'm tempted to check out this show purely because I love Howerton and sometimes Patton Oswalt. But everything else about this show looks quite bad.

Ah I didn't know that, but it's great news. And despite the mixed review I'll definitely stick with this for a few episodes yet, but I'm not optimistic about it being successful, especially as Americans have a history of hating oddly named sitcoms.

QuoteIs Kaitlin Olson's show any good?

I watched two episodes and found her character funny in it, but stopped due to disliking the kids. I do hate the fuckers in general though, so YMMV. Mrs SMBH has stuck with it and enjoys it, but says "It's pretty much the same thing every episode".

Quote from: Mobius on February 02, 2018, 07:29:29 PM
It's actually great. She's essentially Dee. It very quickly ramps up to Sunny levels of depravity.

That sounds intriguing, is there any episode in particular that you'd recommend?

selectivememory

Quote from: up_the_hampipe on February 02, 2018, 07:27:21 PM
I think Glenn Howerton recently said he's coming back to Always Sunny, so don't worry about that.

Howerton is coming back as a writer and producer, but he's still unsure whether Dennis is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWi3c8Arrl0

But it sounds like his appearance in this show has no bearing on whether he'll come back or not.

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: selectivememory on February 02, 2018, 08:02:37 PM
Howerton is coming back as a writer and producer, but he's still unsure whether Dennis is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWi3c8Arrl0

But it sounds like his appearance in this show has no bearing on whether he'll come back or not.

Seems like Dennis is coming back based on that too, he just doesn't want to ruin last season's cliffhanger.

Penfold

It's probably because I've watched so much Always Sunny but Howerton just seems to be playing Dennis in this. Especially when he's talking about how he is going to bang lots of women.

Same with The Mick, Olson is just playing Dee but the rest of the cast aren't very good. I watched most of the first season but then gave up.

I'll stick with this though despite the gap. I don't know why they couldn't have had Great News finish last night with The Good Place and put this on after the Winter Olympics.

up_the_hampipe

Watched the pilots for The Mick and A.P. Bio. I liked The Mick, it was pretty shaky in places, but there were enough funny moments for me to continue. A.P. Bio was not good. As mentioned, the bad teacher plot is a tired trope, and Oswalt's character just letting him get away with his bullshit was a bit too ridiculous. Also, what's going on with the colour? It's very blue.

Penfold

Episodes two and three are available on the NBC website, so online "elsewhere" shortly, if not already.

kidsick5000

Episode one is up on YouTube (officially, even)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyfRkPDZuz8

Totally rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know if the combined awfulness of the Sunny characters made them more bearable, or maybe that they're not portrayed as heroes, but solo Dennis as a supposedly charming lead is hard to get through.
Even if they do Wes Anderson the colour grading.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: kidsick5000 on February 10, 2018, 03:59:21 AM
Episode one is up on YouTube (officially, even)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyfRkPDZuz8

Totally rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know if the combined awfulness of the Sunny characters made them more bearable, or maybe that they're not portrayed as heroes, but solo Dennis as a supposedly charming lead is hard to get through.
Even if they do Wes Anderson the colour grading.

I vaguely enjoyed the first episode but when I watched the second all of our complaints began to bother me, and the colour grading is offputting to me. I've got a feeling it's going to crash and burn now, and be cancelled after eight episodes at the most.

RedRevolver

I get more of a Jeff from Community vibe than Dennis. This guy isn't a sociopath, he just thinks he's above being a teacher at a poorly performing high school teaching a subject unrelated to his scholarly work. 

Dennis would never ever have owned up to what he had done to save the Principal nor would he have given a fuck about the guy who was in teacher jail, etc.

Anyway, disappointed he's not doing a different character. His small role in Fargo was fantastic and I'd like him to play that 'duplicitous, yet relatively harmless, idiot who gets into all kinds of scrapes' character again.


kidsick5000

Quote from: RedRevolver on February 11, 2018, 10:14:45 PM
This guy isn't a sociopath,

Recklessly drives and crashes onto school property, chases someone away with a crowbar, tells his plans of sexual conquest to teens and co-workers.
Yeah, in no way a sociopath ;)

Ant Farm Keyboard

The series fails so far at a basic level for an American sitcom. What character are we supposed to root for? The lead is a terrible person, and he isn't actually that fascinating, in the way the main characters from IASIP can be. Besides, we know that Mac, Dennis, Charlie, Dee or Frank will ultimately lose, which is why we may want to watch how they will lose. A.P. Bio doesn't offer anything like that.
The three female teachers and the students are also barely defined, which isn't impressive at all, given that it took much less time in, for instance, School of Rock, to develop the kids into actual people. Then, the second episode already sidelines one arc (with the bully and his victim) that was introduced at the end of the pilot, in favor of some focus over the CPR dummy dater.

The Mick, starring Kaitlin Olson, is anything but a masterpiece, it's inconsistent, and there is a ton of hacky stuff, but at least the lead character is energetic and is capable of kindness from time to time, which means that there's some kind of inner struggle we can focus on. Jack Griffin is just a depressed self-centered person, who happens to do horrible things, with no relatable quality.

Penfold

It seems like episode 3 should be episode 2 due to the Principal's assistant just appearing in 2 as part of the show but not being introduced until episode 3.

Although I quite liked episode 2, ep 3 went back to being bad.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Penfold on February 12, 2018, 11:01:12 PM
It seems like episode 3 should be episode 2 due to the Principal's assistant just appearing in 2 as part of the show but not being introduced until episode 3.

Although I quite liked episode 2, ep 3 went back to being bad.

I began actively disliking the show with episode 3, which isn't a good sign.

ieXush2i

Quote from: Penfold on February 02, 2018, 09:21:32 PM
It's probably because I've watched so much Always Sunny but Howerton just seems to be playing Dennis in this. Especially when he's talking about how he is going to bang lots of women.

Same with The Mick, Olson is just playing Dee but the rest of the cast aren't very good. I watched most of the first season but then gave up.

I'll stick with this though despite the gap. I don't know why they couldn't have had Great News finish last night with The Good Place and put this on after the Winter Olympics.

Yeah. I think I prefer Guardian Dee to Teacher Dennis so far. The Mick has a 90s kids movie setup - a dropout fuckup suddenly has to care for her rich sister's children! Lessons about responsibility will be learned - but balances being progressive with a lack of sentiment, and a love of impropriety. Each character pairs up extremely well with Olson (especially Alba) who gets to show off her physical comedy chops. This is just one moment from an excellent scene:


ieXush2i

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on February 12, 2018, 08:34:20 PM
The series fails so far at a basic level for an American sitcom. What character are we supposed to root for?

The pupils, I thought. Their scotched rap-with-sax was the highlight of episode one for me.

ieXush2i

Saw the second ep of this, and it does madly appear that everyone apart from the lead character is really funny in this. The writing and performances elevate it while using a lot of tropes we've seen in a ton of modern school-based sitcoms from Teachers to Vice Principals, for instance the Glee Club-motivated showdown between put-upon Oswalt and Dennis' teacher advocate (he is Dennis in this if Dennis went to Harvard and listened to NPR), indicating the perineum, "dating... the CPR doll", Taran Killam's passionate sub and the Baker Street warning cue... I would be happy if this is picked up and Glenn Howerton buggers off back to IASIP.

Plus the show's world seems to be populated by characters as off-kilter as teacher Dennis is, reducing the impact of a Bad Teacher setup. But more please!

kidsick5000

Quote from: (Ex poster) on February 28, 2018, 12:19:01 PM
Saw the second ep of this, and it does madly appear that everyone apart from the lead character is really funny in this. The writing and performances elevate it while using a lot of tropes we've seen in a ton of modern school-based sitcoms from Teachers to Vice Principals, for instance the Glee Club-motivated showdown between put-upon Oswalt and Dennis' teacher advocate (he is Dennis in this if Dennis went to Harvard and listened to NPR), indicating the perineum, "dating... the CPR doll", Taran Killam's passionate sub and the Baker Street warning cue... I would be happy if this is picked up and Glenn Howerton buggers off back to IASIP.

Plus the show's world seems to be populated by characters as off-kilter as teacher Dennis is, reducing the impact of a Bad Teacher setup. But more please!

I'm trying to think of a sitcom that shed it's lead character after one season.
Cuckoo?

remedial_gash

Quote from: kidsick5000 on February 28, 2018, 08:24:40 PM
I'm trying to think of a sitcom that shed it's lead character after one season.
Cuckoo?

Yeah but that was because Samberg got Brooklyn nine-nine not because they actively dumped him - I could be wrong though.

(EDIT) - Ben Chaplin in game on - maybe because he got some film work? Truth about cats and dogs perhaps?

With regard to 'The Mick' comparisons, I can understand complaints about their characters being just Dee and Dennis in different situations 'with hilarious consequences'  but even as a lowest common denominator 'eurgh' comedy 'The Mick is something I at least forward to, yeah it's full of assholes and often relies too heavily on bodily functions as a punch line or at least quite severe violence, most of the cast are pretty good at being objectionable dicks.

Last nights episode with Sabrina lezzing it up, Micky introducing Chip to gambling and Jimmy trying to save his fellow athletes by ending up in a mass brawl and lots of (fairly justified) male on female violence was a pretty neatly tied up 22 minutes of comedy, even not counting the (obviously resolved) Alba sub-plot.

Not to everyone's taste but I thinks it's pretty watchable.

Um, sorry was all a bit off topic.

Ant Farm Keyboard

The brawl in The Mick was one of the most delightful things I've seen in a network sitcom for a long time.

gmoney

Quote from: kidsick5000 on February 28, 2018, 08:24:40 PM
I'm trying to think of a sitcom that shed it's lead character after one season.
Cuckoo?

It took them two seasons to get rid of Mark from Parks and Rec. Hardly anyone remembers he was in it.

kidsick5000

Quote from: gmoney on March 04, 2018, 03:05:50 PM
It took them two seasons to get rid of Mark from Parks and Rec. Hardly anyone remembers he was in it.

He wasn't the lead character though, was he? (Genuine question, have not seen much early Parks and Rec


Quote from: remedial_gash on February 28, 2018, 09:08:40 PM

(EDIT) - Ben Chaplin in game on - maybe because he got some film work? Truth about cats and dogs perhaps?

Technically, they kept the character but in one of the stupidest decisions ever, changed to a non-handsome actor negating the mystery of why someone so good-looking would  be such a shut-in.

They got another couple series out of it, but only in the way some sitcoms trundle on because they're grazed upon, not actively watched.

ieXush2i

It wasn't a mystery why he was a shut-in, his parent's death on a car crash and his feeling responsible was part of the series premise.

Mark was a lead character.

Community survived characters leaving and returning. Excellent ones, too (yes I loved Buzz)

kidsick5000

Quote from: (Ex poster) on March 07, 2018, 04:59:06 PM
It wasn't a mystery why he was a shut-in, his parent's death on a car crash and his feeling responsible was part of the series premise.

Which was not revealed until the second episode of the second series (thanks, wiki)

Anyway, it is still the strangest change in actor (for a role of a regular human being) I can think of. From the dark brooding looks of a Hollywood romantic lead to (unflattering comparison removed) Neil Stuke

QuoteMark was a lead character.

And therefore does not count.

SteveDave

Thanks to this thread I've discovered The Mick and have been loving it. Wonderful performances from everyone involved. Thanks. Again.

SteveDave

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on March 04, 2018, 01:59:17 PM
The brawl in The Mick was one of the most delightful things I've seen in a network sitcom for a long time.

Seconded. It was spectacular.

Ant Farm Keyboard

To my great surprise, episode 11 (Eight Pigs and a Rat) turned out to be very decent, mostly due to the direction by Carrie Brownstein, who toyed with the lighting and the framing. The writers have also started to tone down Glenn Howerton's character, who is less stupid and clueless than in the first half of the season, which resulted in a very effective delivery of a spiteful line near the end. The script was also reasonably well paced, with a good recurring joke about the teachers' presentation.

The show is still not great, or even good, but this episode showed glimpses of some better stuff for everybody involved.