Are we NOT supposed to compare Are you There, Chelsea? with Whitney? It's certainly not fair to compare Chelsea Handler's new sitcom with shows that elevate the genre, like Community or Suburgatory or Parks and Rec.
I'm not in a rush to condemn Chelsea, much in the same way I am not in a rush to condemn Flavor-Blasted Pringles. I know that like Chelsea, Flavor-Craver Pringles are thoughtlessly produced for the masses in the name of corporate gain, without a thought for basic human health, but damn if I don't want some Flavor-Ravin' Pringles sometimes. Okay, that sounded like condemnation. Lets bullet-point the unforgivable, and the redeeming elements, of Are You There, Chelsea?, shall we?
UNFORGIVABLE: The multi-cam, laugh-tracked format is going to kill it for a lot of you. I took Whitney to task for using this format. It looked tired and cheap on Whitney, and it looks tired and cheap on Chelsea.
REDEEMING: Having Laura Prepon play a 20-something Chelsea, while Chelsea Handler plays Chelsea's sister, is a graceful and innovative way to sidestep all that is aggrandizing/awkward about playing "yourself" on TV. The real Ms. Handler, in the role of her older sister Sloane, has undeniable comic timing and remarkable self possession. She's like an Olympian athlete, but for funny.
UNFORGIVABLE: There are several pretty gross stock sitcom characters running around this show. There's the requisite boring best friend. There's a handsome boss who is clearly the Sam to Chelsea's Diane (#Cheers). And there's a workin' man dad who is especially reprehensible, with an ambiguous New York accent and not one genuine human instinct. He's there only to toss handy softballs like, "Hey, what you got THERE?" Oh, and a little person.
REDEEMING: Okay, the new roommate is promising. Imagine Jess from New Girl, except played by an actual comedian. Her spacy charm and spot-on dork-girl references make her a BETTER version of Jess from New Girl, actually. There was a very unfunny cat imitation that was so awkwardly cut and that dragged on so long I started thinking it was a meta joke about sitcoms (which would have been awesome), but aside from that, the actress is so singular that I might keep checking in on this show just to see her develop.
UNFORGIVABLE: Pilots are all about set-up: A new roommate! Chelsea's sister is having a baby and her bro-in-law is at war; she needs to step up for her sister both for the birth and in coming episodes! There was a really brief love interest. I'd guess that, kind of like Seinfield, every episode will bring a new potential boyfriend and therefore give Chelsea's inner monologue a new source for comic material. Unfortunately, the source of humor for the first guy was his red hair. Readhead humor reached its zenith on South Park and every foray since seems like a lackluster homage, this one included. In terms of a first foot forward, this was a rolled ankle. It didn't help the guy was obviously not an actual redhead, and was basically wearing a Ronald McDonald wig.
REDEEMING: In Laura Prepon's hands, material that could be coarse comes across as insouciant and charming. She's grounded, lovely, and she has nailed that smoky, Lohan-esque party-girl voice. I like that she's sex-hungry and brassy, but also very engaged in the ladies around her. That's progressive, and I'll take it over boy-crazy Whitney, or a hot housewife shaking her head over her slobby hubby any day.
Watching the pilot, you could almost see Chelsea Handler's vision of an unapologetic, lovable lush fighting against the sitcom constructs the TV network imposes based on a very condescending idea of what the viewing public wants. ("What'll Middle America relate to? We'll throw in a workin' class dad. And the sister isn't single or divorced, her husband's in Afghanistan! And a little person!") The closing button was telegraphed about five minutes in. ("This camera feeds footage directly onto the sports bars monitors! Go use it to film your sister's birth! Whuh-oh, what's that onscreen?") Basically, Handler's wit has been profoundly dumbed down for her sitcom iteration. It's not worthy of your DVR space, but if its existence alongside her other shows means Ms. Handler can start throwing beach bonfires using only Picasso paintings as kindling, well, more power to her: She's earned it.
Questions:
… How did you like the pilot?
… Will Chelsea do as well as Whitney even if it's not quite as dumb?
… How awesome could this show be in the hands of a production team like the one behind Suburgatory?
… What's YOUR favorite flavor of Flavor-Savorin' Pringles?
I am still a marginal fan of Handler, but something's wrong. I still like Chelsea Lately, but it occasionally goes too far in the gross department. Chuy nursing Brad made me literally gag. I mean LITERALLY. Barf! She often comes off just plain mean, rather than edgy, getting her rocks off humiliating people. Her support of 'Whitney', one of the most lame-brained, cringe worthy sitcoms in years, stupefied me. Then this show? OMG. It's absolutely ghastly. And Handler with the brunette wig looks tough, hard-bitten, and totally trailer trash/roller derby. I watched it once. I gave it another chance. Then I deleted it from my recording list, just like I did for Whitney. My disapproval will hardly bring either show to its knees, but I don't give either of them much hope.moreless
It's clear that NBC is trying to compete when CBS and their successful model of traditional sitcoms Big Bang Theory, Mike and Molly, Two and Half Men, How I met your mother since those shows are much more wildly popular then anything on NBC's Primetime Lineup (other then maybe Football).
Depending on these these two and their unoriginal attempts at humor are the not the way to go, see when Cosby Show, Roseanne or Seinfeld came out respectively they were at least trying to present an intriguing premises with humor that were both well crafted and allowed the comedian to actually to deliver a part of their stand up into the series.
These two shows are terrible, and the fact that Rob was so highly rated makes me wonder why so many people in our society are so stupid lol.moreless
I really don't get all the hatin' on laugh tracks these days. All the sitcoms use them, and have since the dawn of time! What's the big deal? Having a laugh track doesn't make a show less funny. This show just Isn't funny. But WHITNEY is. It's even often hilarious at points. I think people decided not to like Whitney before it even started and now can't accept that it's actually a smart, funny show. Not perfect, but certainly better than a lot of popular crap out there. Two and A Half Men, anyone?
5 minutes, thats all I could stomach!
laugh track still did not make this funny! By the way, laugh tracks are so 60's!!!!
If you're about Pringles, it's gotta be BBQ. I go to the store and if I see them, they're mine.
But, Pringles shouldn't be put in the same story as Chelsea or Whitney. Pringles bring happiness while both Chelsea and Whitney both bring the sadness of a laugh-track drenched, formulaic, overwritten, under-funny series that should never been allowed to exist in the first place.
Can I get your thoughts on the dill pickle pringles? because frankly I thought they were a sad imitation of salt and vinegar.
I liked the pilot it was funny and not boring at all like whitney.
It was bad, not whitney bad, but bad.
"How awesome could this show be in the hands of a production team..." bobloblaw. You're severely overrating this show. These sort of jokes only live in a multi-cam environment, and they barely have any life in them as they are. This is a piece of television garbage that should be cancelled immediately so we can have our Community back.
Not anywhere as good as the sitcom forerunners (Suburgatory) but not anywhere as bad as some of the lesser ones either (Whitney, 2 Broke Girls). It's got potential and I'll be watching again.
Yeah, I've been moving past multi-camera laugh track comedies now. Watching 30 Rock, Community, and Parks & Recreation has set the personal bar high for what makes me laugh nowadays. Maybe I should give Happy Endings a shot as well?
Utterly horrendous. Cringe-worthy, awkward, roommate humour and out-dated, distasteful, ginger jokes were just sad. Stereotypical dumb blond who is constantly waiting for the next time she can get drunk and have sex with the first guy she meets ... I'll pass, thank you.
the roommate humor yes, was not revelatory, but the actress who played her was a nice surprise. Unlike the best friend sidekick, she felt way bigger than her role.
I was totally prepared to write this off as another Whitney, but I actually liked it! Some of the unforgivable things you mentioned, like Chelsea's dad and her fascination with little people, is straight out of the book. As a loyal reader of Chelsea's books, I put those in the redeeming category. And I actually thought the redhead material was funny, maybe because I don't watch South Park. Basically, I'll be tuning in for the next episode and hopefully more.
Bieeeeste!! \m/
Anyway, the show's not good, but I'm in. Not as good as 2 Broke Girls, better than Whitney, and all three kinda suck. Still, I can endure quite a bit if it has Laura Prepon involved. And where's Natasha Leggero?
Chelsea's not actually that funny on her own; it's all about Fortune and the chubby guy with the baseball cap in the Round Table. I really hope she just throws them in somewhere. And Joe Koy(?).
And nuggets need jobs, too. Hopefully, they got the jokes out of the way already and he can just be a cool character. He's not bad at all so far.
I am sorry from this article and the promos I cannot bring myself to even watch it, I am hoping that all of these new comedies fail so we can get back our beloved Community back and fast!
I love Chelsea and I'm definitely going to give this a chance. I think Chelsea even realized that the Pilot wasn't all it could be, cuz she tweeted something along the line of "The show gets better with every episode, trust me, I wouldn't put my name of it if i didn't think it was funny." something like that. So I'll take her word as keep watching.
Cmon Seriously? The 'little person' comment TWICE??? Finally no one uses a short person for a laugh but merelly just another character...and thats all u have to say about it? Can a short person just be a short person who gives ppl rides?
I think its kind of cool they've created a space for a traditionally underrepresented group (and they are not the first, sea East Bound and Down & Game of Thrones holla!) but they definitely used his height as a sight gag during the motorcycle ride and then they went for a laugh in the v.o. by saying "everyone makes fun of his disability...he's colorblind!" I don't know if that would have been a joke if the same character was played by a 5'8" actor. So that short person isn't just "a short person who gives ppl rides". Regardless, I think this show has generally positive intentions towards little people in general, but that for me is not a good enough reason to watch it or recommend it.
It was pretty much what I expected. I give it a solid "meh". The big problem is that it's just a regular sit-com. Nothing special, nothing innovative. I understand that every show can't be revolutionary, in fact only a small minority can be that. But shows should still try to push the limit a little, just to stand out. And that's something I expected from Chelsea Handler. The show clearly has a touch of her signature humour, but I expected it to be much more edgy.
This episode was only the pilot which in my mind grants it some leeway. Now we'll have to see how the show does in the future. I think it won't do so well. The reason Whitney is doing somewhat well despite it being shit is that it came first and cornered the market. But there isn't room for another show with a similar style. Out of these two shows I think "Are You There Chelsea?" is a little better, but it should have entered the airwaves before Whtiney to secure its place. I agree with you Lily on that Suburgatory question. The production style of a show like Suburgatory would bring life to this show. Right now, the old-school sit-com format smothers much of Chelsea's style of humour. "After Lately" is a good example of a show where Chelsea's sense of humour works better: No laugh track and the scenes are based more around awkwardness. None of the jokes in "Are You There Chelsea?" ever hit a home run. They were bland imitations of what Chelsea can do at best, and therefore quite a let-down for anyone who knows her style from before.
Laura Prepone on the other hand I liked. I have never thought she is great actress, and I still don't. She is pretty face but a very average actress. But I think she fits this role quite well. Judging by a few interviews, she is a genuinely nice and fun-loving person in real life. So taking on the role of a younger Chelsea seems quite effortless to her.moreless
Well that was worse than I thought. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. But laugh tracks are there to indicate when something funny just happened right? Because I actually watched the show and there were these times seemingly at random when laughter came out of the speakers of my tv. But I am not sure what for? Someone please help?
All sarcasm aside. Are you freaking kidding me?I mean really. Community was benched for this unfunny mess of a show. Now I like Chelsea Handler, I have seen her a few times live in her comedy act and she is pretty good. I watch her show on occasion and she is a good Talk Show host. Whenever Jay leno quits again if they reorder the lineup and put Fallon on The Tonight Show (don't do it Fallon) I would like to see her on a more prominent late night show. She is a good interviewer when the guest isn't a friend of hers. But come on! she has to have something big on the execs of NBC to get this and Whitney green lit. She has too.
Miss Sparks I liked the way you reviewed this show. However for me there is absolutely nothing redeeming about the show. Every single character on the show is 1 dimensional. And I say that because there 0 dimensional is strictly a mathematical topological space. And though it could be new to describe a character that has nothing appealing about them. I just don't want to be that innovative.
But there is nothing behind the what is basically caricatures of people. Chelsea is a caricature of drunken party girl that thinks the world revolves around them. Olivia is a caricature of an asian girl that has a hard partying white friend and attempts to act like her. The roommate is a caricature of what I presume their version of a virgin girl in her mid twenties. (I assume this because to be honest I have never met one). Sloane is a caricature of a overbearing christian older sister. The father is a caricature of well any lame father that has ever been on any comedy show in the history of comedy shows.
The jokes fall flat, my above sarcasm isn't entirely sarcasm. Every time the laugh track hit. I thought to myself. Are you kidding? Was that suppose to be a joke. Why would Chelsea put her name on this? It is horrible.
The acting is bad. Chelsea is wooden. And I mean wooden. She is funny and it was hard to watch. Laura isn't Chelsea, she can't deliver like chelsea, the whole counting of the steps to the apartment was unfunny. The interaction between her and olivia seems forced. The commentary on others like the virgin roommate and the redhead guy seem trite. The interaction between her and the bartender were stereotypical and Laura just can't deliver. Now imagine Mary Elizabeth Ellis in the role instead? How much better would that be?
And the jokes. Her jokes in her act and on her show are good, their are biting and harsh and often crude but they hit the mark. These don't. These try to be crude but just seem pushed on the characters or out of nowhere. Or worse, simply for shock value.
The little person was the worst. The ride to the hospital was something I would expect from Scrubs.
This can't compete with Suburgatory, which I watched instead (caught it on E). This isn't even in the same league as Community, Parks and Rec, 30 rock. You could never do a Remedia chaos theory type of hilarity with a show like this. This is nothing different then a dozen shows that NBC has tried and cancelled in the past. It is as lazy as whitney, doesn't push the genre in any new directions like the others. And seems like it has just been tried before. And failed so many times before. NBC is going after the name recognition but that can fix crap tv. It just can't. I enjoyed Perfect Couples more than this, hell I enjoyed Outsourced more than this. So these are my thoughts of the pilot and one more. Cancel this. cancel this now. And while your at it, cancel Whitney and The Firm. Bring back Community from the bench, bring back Prime Suspect. And fix your brand NBC.
Both Whitney and Chelsea shows are just dumb. I would actually put Whitney a little ahead of this. Not by a lot. But enough that if I had to keep one I would choose Whitney over it.
I don't think any production team could save this. Part of the reason Suburgatory is so good and Community is extremely good is the premise and the settings the show are in. You can write and produce far more diverse story lines for each. Because a fish out of water girl in a high school like that is an amazing place to have absurd stories. And the characters are just more compelling and their interactions are interesting. And with community, 7 individuals coming together in a group all with different stories to expand on and just in the crazy that is greendale. Stories just write themselves. But you add their extremely talented writing stafff and you get remedial chaos theory, modern warfare, fistful of paintball, documentary filmaking redux, and basically all that they are. You can't any of that with a show like this.
Oh and I kind of like Pringles Bacon Ranch.moreless
Thanks for this very thoughtful and heartfelt response. Its reactions like this that will force TV to get better. There has to be a passion for great entertainment there and this is a perfect articulation of how frustrating it is to see mediocre shows edge out ones, like Community, that inspire and engage. Thanks again.
I made it through the first few seconds. Her prayer to Vodka in jail was stupid. I don't really like Whitney, but I think it is better than this. Though, maybe I shouldn't say that, since I didn't watch the whole thing... but I really couldn't. Though, Chelsea has a best friend that is a little person, pretty sure that wasn't a network decision, but one from Ms. Handler herself.
Not groundbreaking comedy but I laughed. It was funnier than I thought, I'll stick with it for a few episodes and see what happens.
Felt clumsy and cheap, like NBC gave them $100 and 3 days and said "Make a pilot!" If anyone hasn't seen Chelsea's E! comedy "After Lately" check it out. It's much, much funnier.
the only time i laughed was when the new roommate said something
Cancel this show pleaaase
BBQ.