Mr Mayor

[steveh]

Couldn't see a thread on this. New sitcom from Tina Fey and Robert Carlock about an ordinary businessman  played by Ted Danson who becomes mayor of Los Angeles and then has to deal with the realities of city politics. Kind of a what if we did Trump but local and he was nice.

First six episodes are distinctly meh but then it starts to pick up a bit. It comes across though that the writers don't really know a great deal about local politics so their knowledge is entirely filtered through other shows. Danson's character I also found not especially interesting as a person - there seems to be more life in his deputy played by Holly Hunter who has the polar opposite, long life in politics but a bit kooky role. Some of the problems come from it being mostly a workplace comedy but with a bit of family sitcom thrown in, with the mayor having lost his wife and bringing up a teenage daughter. Maybe for season two they will figure out how to make it work.

For not-so-fans of Jeff Richmond (did you know he's...), the music does at least seem to be less obtrusive than on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Currently on Sky Comedy in the UK.

[Frank Stallone]

I thought it was pretty entertaining for a first season shot, so looking forward to it coming back with some tweaks and seeing if they can make it something great. There's not a huge amount of good comedy on broadcast TV right now, so I'm rooting for it.

I won't ever not think of the Mr. Manager/Manager dialog from Arrested Development when I read the title, though.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I watched the first few but like you thought it was very average so didn't make it through to the end of the series. That's interesting to hear that it picks up towards the end, I doubt I'll watch them now as my tv backlog is so huge as it is but I'll give it another shot when season two begins.

[steveh]

So, season 2. No significant tweaks, one new character, bit less of the mayor's home life. Just more of the same really and while it has occasional moments, overall it's rather average.

[McChesney Duntz]

Just got cancelled anyway (not that way, though I'm surprised a certain burnt-cork-slathered skeleton in Mr. Danson's closet hasn't come out to bite him in the hairpiece), so no matter, really. Kind of a shame - wasn't a barn-burner or anything, but the Fey/Carlock relentless-joke-delivery-system template pretty much always works for me. Oh, well, at least Girls 5Eva is still kicking.

[steveh]

Wrote the above message before watching episodes 8 and 9, about the mayor's battle with an influencer and having to go through a recall. Thought these were rather better than the earlier ones in the season, with a plot that you could care about and also maybe because they were in more familiar territory for the writers in critiquing the media.

Wonder if it would have worked better with the original plan as a spin-off from 30 Rock for Alec Baldwin and set in NYC.

[frajer]

Wonder if it would have worked better with the original plan as a spin-off from 30 Rock for Alec Baldwin and set in NYC.

Oh shit, I did not know that! 30 Rock remains one of my all-time faves so I'm glad this comfortably adequate show didn't bring back Jack Donaghy for a diminished return.