Imagine a romantic comedy mini-series. That's what "Bent" puts me in mind of, in a good way.
Recovering gambleholic and stud-pants contractor (young(ish) veteran actor David Walton ) bids on kitchen remodel for newly-divorced hottie, single-mom (Amanda Peet) and spends a lot more time there than the job requires including midnight emergencies to fix a fountaining faucet. Okay, so it's romantic comedy reality but it's still cute, clever and charming. The three "C's" of romcoms.
Toss in a great supporting cast like veteran Jeffrey Tambour and some really witty and funny dialogue, directed with precision, and you have a pretty terrific new entry to NBC's lineup.
And it's sucking in the ratings, unfortunately, so don't expect it to last.
Damn.
Creator Tad Quill ("Scrubs") took the old "Murphy Brown" conceit of the house painter who never left and turned it into a funny, engaging, fast-paced and well-done sitcom. The show just bleeds quality from the casting (the always incredible Tambour and an especially good Joey King who plays Peet's daughter) to the camera work. Not sure why it didn't find an audience the first two eps but I'm hoping that it does so we can continue to enjoy the snappy repartee between the characters for a few more seasons. It's as good as "Modern Family" in some respects but feels lighter and freer but not as pretentious as "Happy Endings" another show I really like but can get a bit nerve grinding.
Don't get me wrong, "Modern Family" remains the top of the sitcom mountain and shows no signs of relinquishing that role but "Bent" can challenge if it remains as well-written and NBC gives it a chance to find an audience.
Two eps of "Bent" played on Wednesday night with four more scheduled. If you're interested you'd better catch it now before it goes away.
"Key and Peale" is on Comedy Central. It's just been renewed for a second season and stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele two veterans of "MadTV" now fronting their own sketch comedy show.
Key, who used to do a funny turn as a tightly-wound high school coach on "MadTV" is more manic than Peele but both have a fun and twisted persona that makes for entertaining comedy.
They talk on stage to a live audience for a bit, goofing on each other and trying to crack each other up, then push over to some sketch comedy sorta like Chappelle used to do on his show.
Like all well-done sketch comedy shows, some segments are brilliant and some are so-so. The segment where they played "mouth" musician Bobby Mcferrin and human sound-effects machine Michael Winslow battling it out for King of the Mouth Noises crown was pretty funny. Also, Peele doing a spot-on President Obama with Peele as his "ghetto interpreter" was/is hilarious. Likewise the bit where the gang member poops his pants while waiting to make a move on other gang members.
I always think all writers would benefit from understanding the process of sketch comedy where you have to have a high concept, a good structure to tell the story effectively, and efficient writing to get it done quickly. Watching these veterans makes me realize how essential it is to have something solid to say when writing, be it genre, drama or comedy.
My one crictism is the men seem to rely much too much on "the black thing." Yeah, okay they're black so that makes sense but it does seem a bit tired at times. Apparently that deep mine of "black people do this and white people do that" is inexhaustible, at least to comedians.
"Key and Peele" isn't going to change your life but it will refresh it. Catch it on Comedy Central on Tuesday nights (I think) but the episodes play over and over all the time so you're in no danger of missing it.
