Essentially, creator Dan Berendsen has the premise of 3 Men and a Baby
(1987), except the men aren't men here but more like the Judd Apatow
type of man-boys suffering from arrested development, but, in the wake
of FOX's Raising Hope and tons of TV shows and movies that have
used the comedy of a guy or guys collectively, either not wanting or
stupidly not knowing how to care for a baby, this show's pilot is simply
tedious as well as its second. By the third, the issue of these young
men having to deal with suddenly having a baby is all but abandoned or
ignored, which is both good and bad in the search of a coherent and
thoroughly entertaining series.
ABC Family is the cable network that really pushes as its slogan, "A new
kind of family." You hear that and you think that maybe it's a
reference to families that aren't traditional or that aren't the nuclear
families of yesteryear, which were seen as the ideal, but, instead
something like gay families. It might also reference families of
cultures that don't get much play on mainstream TV like Asian or
Hispanic families.
Jean-Luc Bilodeau co-starred in the ABC Family sci-fi series Kyle XY, which incorporated comic book elements into a Dawson's Creek-like teen angst story that in many ways was better than the way Smallville
did it. Bilodeau played a skinny, yet smooth, smart aleck of a kid.
Here, he stars as Ben Wheeler, a twenty-something living in Manhattan
who could very well be the same character with a different name. Ben
works as a bartender and lives in an apartment shared with his best
friend, Tucker, played by Tahj Mowry (Single Guy) who's exact
profession wasn't made clear in the first three episodes, and his
pro-hockey player brother Danny, played by Derek Theler.
Ben welcomes Danny who was recently traded to the New York Rangers. A
minute later, Ben finds a baby girl left on his door step and a note
from Angela, the baby's mother, saying that the baby is Ben's.
Strangely, the character of Angela is never shown. It's the same as in 3 Men and a Baby
at first. If the series plays out like the movie, then Angela might
show up in the finale to take the baby back or something, but it makes
Ben's arc a bit predictable.
It makes a lot of the hilarity like the guys being repulsed at changing
diapers or the baby cramping their bachelorhood a bit predictable too.
None of that matters in these multi-camera sitcoms though. Often, what
does matter is the level of joke writing, the chemistry and comic-timing
of the actors. The level of joke-writing is moderate to low if you
compare it to something like Two and a Half Men, which has more
one-liners and gags per minute than this. The comic-timing is on par
with the writing and the chemistry of the actors is tenuous.
I barely believed that Ben and Danny are brothers. There is a love
triangle that's being drawn out and danced around that I also barely
believed. If you hold it up against even another new ABC Family sitcom
like Melissa & Joey, it's dull how little chemistry the
characters here have. Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence have chemistry
to spare. Both also have a rhythm and energy that this series so far
lacks.
That being said, Bilodeau proved with Kyle XY that if he's given
good material, he can be a valuable asset. He's sweet, charming and
definitely funny. This show at least gives an opportunity for him to
show off his talents, which include juggling liquor bottles. I would
really love to see him tested on Saturday Night Live, just to be sure but he could be a comedic star in the not so distant future.
Two Stars out of Five.
Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 30 mins.
Wednesdays at 8:30PM on ABC Family.
Available via Hulu.com.
