‘Cupid,’ ‘My Boys’ are feel-good TV
Published: March 31, 2009, 12:30 am
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Romance is in the air tonight with two competing amiable, light series—“Cupid” on ABC and “My Boys” on TBS.
In these troubled times, there is a worse way to spend 30 minutes or an hour than hanging around with some lovable characters on shows that don’t aspire to do much beyond making you feel good.
If “Cupid,” premiering at 10 tonight on Channel 7, seems like it’s been done before, that’s because it has. It’s a remake by creator Rob Thomas (“Veronica Mars”), who tried the same concept a decade ago with Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”) and Paula Marshall (“Gary Unmarried”).
In the spirit of remakes, I revisited my 1998 review when “Cupid” played opposite “Walker, Texas Ranger” on a Saturday night, and I billed it as tough man Chuck Norris vs. the 140-pound weakling Jeremy Piven.
“ ‘Cupid’ doesn’t stand a chance,” I accurately predicted. “That’s too bad. ‘Cupid’ is a sweet, sentimental show in which Piven plays a goofy guy, Trevor Hale, who believes he is Cupid and tries to convince his shrink, a relationship expert named Claire Allen (Marshall).”
That mini-review pretty much stands for ABC’s new slightly modified version in which Bobby Cannavale (“Will & Grace”) stars as Trevor Pierce, a guy who thinks he is Cupid and needs to get 100 romantically challenged couples together before being allowed to return to Mount Olympus.
Trevor goes into therapy with a psychiatrist and best-selling relationship author, Dr. Claire McCrae (Sarah Paulson of “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”), who believes he is delusional. Trevor is a wide-eyed romantic, Claire a pragmatist, and they battle over who is right. Of course, love wins out.
In the stylish, music-filled opener, a romantic Irish musician comes to Times Square in New York City on New Year’s Eve to look for the woman of his dreams. He saw her briefly a while back and can’t get her out of her mind.
Cupid tries to bring them together by getting a pretty news reporter to do a story about the Irishman’s search for love. I don’t think I have to tell you what happens if you’ve ever seen an episode of “Love Boat.”
Along the way, there is a romantic lesson or two about going for what or whom you believe in mixed in with cynicism about New York. It’s all rather hokey and seems more suited to 1970s television, but it’s hard not to love the cast’s attempt to sell it.
Sporting life
“My Boys” is a pleasant series about an adorable female Chicago sportswriter, P. J. Franklin (Jordana Spiro) and the adventures of her henpecked brother (Jim Gaffigan) and her romantically challenged gang of thirtysomething male friends who have mustache-growing contests and generally act half their age. It airs at 10:30 tonight on TBS.
Spiro is a delight, and her character is a good friend of all. But she is rarely totally honest with herself — or her friends — about her feelings. Cupid could probably fix her with one conversation about going for it.
The show often uses sports cliches to explain situations. The phrase “out of left field” is defined in tonight’s episode, which contains a plot line that TBS wants protected. All I’ll say is the episode is a “game-changer” that will affect P. J.’s relationship with everyone. As usual, there aren’t many laughs, but the relatable series is amusing in an “Entourage” sort of way without the HBO language or sexual content.
Kids change everything
“My Boys” is much more amusing than ABC’s latest comedy, “In the Motherhood,” which has it second cliched episode at 8 p. m. Thursday. The scripts are based on ideas from real-life stories submitted to a Web site, which may account for the cliches about the stress of motherhood, the dating difficulties of a divorced mom and the reliance on Oprah and Dr. Phil jokes.
Cheryl Hines (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) plays the divorced mom who couldn’t survive without a male nanny, Horatio (Horatio Sanz) and desperately needs some help from Cupid. Jessica St. Clair is her younger, married sister with two kids. Megan Mullally is their scheming friend.
The show is undoubtedly trying to grab female viewers, and it showcases the three actresses. But Sanz is the most lovable character and steals the show. Unfortunately, the number of cliches in the first two episodes make it petit larceny.
Survival stories
ABC’s desperation for a comedy hit is further illustrated by its new Bob Saget series, “Surviving Suburbia,” which premieres at 9:30 p. m. Monday. It was originally supposed to air this fall on the CW from a program supplier called Media Rights Capital.
Saget stars as Steve Patterson, a bumbling husband and father whose neighbor is a thirtysomething man who owns a strip club. His wife, Anne (the ageless Cynthia Stevenson), is tired of his tendency to be as annoying as Larry David on “Curb.” His daughter is an adorable fan of Zach Efron. Steve also has a teenage son who doesn’t have dad’s back when he makes a mess of things. Jere Burns pops in as Steve’s troublesome friend.
Saget seems bored by the whole thing. “Suburbia” is more predictable than life in suburbia can be. It belongs more on ABC Family, the Disney Channel or the CW than the big network.
Turn on the ‘Lights’
Attention fans of “Friday Night Lights”: Contrary to the listings provided to The Buffalo News for TV Topics, Channel 2 is carrying this Friday’s 9 p. m. episode as scheduled. “ ‘Friday Night Lights’ has a very loyal audience,” said Channel 2 General Manager Jim Toellner. “It is one of NBC’s best quality shows. We would never preempt that.”
Instead, Channel 2 is preempting two episodes of “Howie Do It” at 8 p. m. Friday for a locally sponsored golf show. The “Howie” episodes will air at 3 a. m. Saturday.
Television Reviews
“Cupid”
★★½
(Out of four)
10 tonight Channel 7
“My Boys”
★★★
10:30 tonight TBS
“In the Motherhood”
★★
8 p. m. Thursday Channel 7
“Surviving Suburbia”
★★
9:30 p. m. Monday Channel 7
apergament@buffnews.com
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