MANHATTAN LOVE STORY: Tuesday 8:30PM on ABC
THE FACTS: Boy (Jake McDorman) meets girl (Analeigh Tipton), but here’s the gimmick: we hear all of the couple’s hidden thoughts throughout. The series creator is Jeff Lowell, whose sitcom writing/producing career goes back to Cybill and Spin City.
WHAT IT’S SAYING: He’s cute, she’s cute, and together they’re exponentially cute. How sweet is it that she’s new in town and wants to visit the Statue of Liberty! How darling that he couldn’t keep tears from his eyes when he saw Lady Liberty, and how hilarious that it made her think he might be gay!
WHAT IT’S REALLY SAYING: Please let this be 20 years ago, when it might not have seemed incredibly retro and borderline offensive that a guy’s thoughts were entirely about a woman’s rack while a woman walking down a New York street would think only about which handbags she wishes she had. If the nonstop interior monologues voice-overing the dialogue and action are annoying after a 3-minute trailer, how are they supposed to work as the basis for an entire series? No, really–is this one of those fake comedies like the ones that were supposed to have starred Adam Sandler’s character in Funny People? Was Mixology really so bad?
THE OUTLOOK: Grim. The two stars are indeed appealing, but launching against The Voice is bad enough, having Selfie as your lead-in is worse, and being this show may be worst of all.
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About the Author
Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."
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