In case you haven’t noticed, things haven’t been all that funny over at NBC lately.
The network that brought us Cheers, Seinfeld, Frasier, Friends and The Office has fizzled with such fare as Outsourced, The Michael J. Fox Show and Sean Saves the World.
Want more examples? How about Perfect Couples, The Paul Reiser Show, Whitney, Up All Night, 1600 Penn, Go On and Welcome to the Family?
You can’t really blame the actors in these examples. Many have starred in previous successful comedies and are wellknown commodities. Besides Fox (Family Ties) and Reiser (Mad About You), some of the stars in the above fails were Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Christina Applegate (Married … With Children), Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg) and Matthew Perry (Friends).
The lesson: Just because you have a funny person who starred in a funny series doesn’t mean comedy lightning will strike twice.
Evidence: Mr. Robinson, a new comedy that debuts at 8 p.m. Wednesday on NBC and stars stand-up comic and former music teacher Craig Robinson, who played fan favorite Darryl Philbin on The Office.
In case you’ve forgotten, Darryl was the warehouse foreman at Dunder Mifflin.
NBC liked what it saw in the pilot enough to place a six-episode order for Mr. Robinson way back in January 2014. A year and a half later, the show (without several cast members from the original pilot) has finally made it to air.
Sadly, the uneven sitcom wasn’t worth the wait. And that’s based on having seen all six episodes. Don’t get me wrong; even without much cast chemistry, the show has its humorous moments. But it relies far too much on sexual innuendo, double entendre and puerile puns. A little of that goes a long way, especially out of the mouths of kids.
But maybe you are a huge fan of Robinson’s. Go ahead and watch the pilot to see if I’m holding NBC to too high a standard. Comedy, after all, is the most difficult art form and is always subjective. One person’s crass and vulgar is another’s refreshing and bold.
Here’s the scoop on the show that was inspired by Robinson’s real-life experiences as a music teacher.
Craig Robinson (played by Craig Robinson) is the lead singer of a five-piece funk band called Nasty Delicious. Craig plays keyboards, and his little brother Ben (Brandon T. Jackson, the Percy Jackson films) handles guitar and backup vocals.
Nasty Delicious is the frequent house band at Flo Jacks music lounge, but the gig doesn’t pay enough to keep food on the table.
To make ends meet, Craig’s day job is as a substitute music teacher at Studs Terkel High School in Chicago. Craig cares about his kids, but sometimes it seems they are just interested in coasting. They are, after all, teenagers.
Peri Gilpin (Roz Doyle on Frasier) plays principal Taylor, a real stickler for the rules. That means she also frowns on Craig’s avantgarde teaching methods as well as his trying to cozy back up with his old high school crush (Megan Good, Think Like a Man), who teaches English at the school.
Inexplicably, Taylor also flirts with Craig and his brother in a most suggestive manner, especially when she’s drunk.
What passes for dramatic conflict comes when Craig is torn between the two worlds of music and teaching.
As NBC says, “If Craig wants to get the girl of his dreams and teach these kids the joys of music, he’ll have to buckle down, shape up and get the funk out.”
“Get the funk out” is an example of the show’s juvenile humor. That sort of suggestive comedy was defended at last winter’s TV critics’ press tour in Los Angeles.
During an NBC panel session, one veteran TV writer asked the cast, “Can’t you be funny without being crass or vulgar?” Jackson chimed in rather patronizingly.
“My generation has what’s called the Internet,” Jackson said. “In order to reach millennials, you can’t have this ‘fake talk.’ You have to make it where it speaks to my generation. This, to me, personally, speaks to how our generation sounds. Mixing old school with new school is genius the way it’s done.”
My opinion: The 31-year-old Jackson is old enough to know better. Crass is crass, and “keeping it real” is a crutch for lack of originality and true humor.
Executive producer Rob Cullen (Lucky) wasn’t so snarky. He said, “They’re speaking honestly, because they’re talking about Chicago and it’s an inner city school. It’s very real there. That’s one aspect of the show.”
In addition to those mentioned above, the cast includes the scene-stealing Ben Koldyke (Back in the Game) as phys ed teacher Jimmy Hooper; Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games) as student Halle Foster; Tim Bagley (Will & Grace) as Supervisor Dalton; and Spencer Grammer (Greek) as math teacher Ashleigh Fellows.
Oh, yeah. Fellows moonlights as a stripper, allowing for even more sex jokes.
How’s that for speaking to millennials?