Caught an episode of the 1983 sitcom "Condo" recently.
The first problem is McLean Stevenson was supposed to play a heel but he couldn't, nor would the public accept him in that role after he'd played the mealy-mouthed, hapless Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Blake on M.A.S.H.
Second, reminiscent of one of Jerry Seinfeld's jokes, Colonel Stevenson just seems to be looking out at you saying with his eyes, "This sucks, doesn't it."
Third, his wife is supposed to be the typical dumb female sitcom character but she doesn't have good enough line
It was neat this sitcom featured the neighbouring Hispanic couple as main characters, but the overall poor quality of the show couldn't save them. Same goes for the white couple's teenage son Billy. (Billy, in fact, has the best lines.)
Also recently caught three and a bit of the four aired episodes of the 1996 sitcom "Party Girl", based on the 1995 movie of the same name.
It was truly awful. There are set-ups that made no sense for jokes that were unfunny.
As to the third episode, "Just Say No", if we've already established Mary is a flaky titular type of female, how do we then just turn around and make her the type of person who can't refuse to help anyone with a task?
The character of Derrick got the best lines but even those were pretty bad.
Next comes Payne, the 1999 American version of "Fawlty Towers", of which I watched all nine episodes. If you just take the show for what it is, accepting the fact no one can truly make an American version of "Fawlty Towers", you can enjoy this comedy. Had I known about the show and been the right age and in the proper circumstances in the spring of '99, it would have been a good thing to watch as far as having a few laughs after a hard day's work.
Finally, we switch to drama with the first episode of 2001's "First Years", about post-grads in their first year in the real world. I appreciate the fact this isn't just another lawyer show. However, "First Years" is certainly not without its problems.
First, beginning the premier episode of a program you have probably hyped as the next destined to be classic piece of television with a burping contest is truly not a good idea.
Second, in real life, grown professional adults, however young they may still be, would not talk about their sex lives in line at Starbucks or idiot box facsimile.
Third, the show features gay character Warren who is gay and you know his homosexuality will be the main aspect of him presented.
Those three things notwithstanding, I thought the plot was somewhat interesting and that the show had potential.
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