What’s the name of the show? Partners
When does it premiere? Monday 4 August at 9pm on FX.
What is this show? You know how in the 90s (or in 2014 on CBS) they used to make sitcoms with big stars, laugh tracks, hokey premises and jokes that even borscht-belt comedians thought were old? Well, FX, one of the hippest channels on the dial (oh my god, remember dials?!) just made one of those.
What’s the show’s pedigree? Co-created by Robert L Boyette and Robert Horn (who wrote on Designing Women, Living Single and other classic sitcoms) this is executive produced by its stars, Martin Lawrence and Kelsey Grammer. It’s as if Kelsey ran into Rupert Murdoch at Bohemia Grove and was like: “Hey brother, do me a solid,” and this ended up on FX somehow.
What happens in the premiere? Allen Braddock (Grammer), a rich, aristocratic white-shoe lawyer, is fired from the family firm for being too unethical. With no place to practice, he strikes a deal with Marcus Jackson (Lawrence), a stand-up community leader, so he can practice at his firm. But first Braddock has to help Jackson with his divorce.
Wait, wasn’t that the plot of Jerry’s fake pilot on Seinfeld? No, that was about a man who had to serve as another guy’s butler, or something.
Does this have anything to do with Frasier? No, but Grammer seems to be playing a slightly less effete version of the same character.
Will Kelsey Grammer do anything for a paycheck these days? He’s still getting Frasier residuals, so I can’t figure out what his motivation is.
Which characters will you love? The only person who even approaches a modern voice is Veronica (Edi Patterson), the office assistant and resident detective. She loves to crack wise in that way that sitcom assistants often do, but she finds a way to make it her own. Marcus’s mother, Ruth, with whom he still lives, is also a lot of fun but mostly because it’s great to see Telma Hopkins (Bosom Buddies, Give Me a Break, Family Matters) back on TV.
Which characters will you hate? Marcus’s daughter Laura (Danièle Watts) is too sweet for our own good. Gay paralegal Michael (Rory O’Malley) mostly just drinks out of a coffee mug really weirdly.
Is this show any good? Partners could have been on ABC’s fall schedule in 1993, when Grammer and Lawrence were at the top of the sitcom heap. Just as Woody Allen essentially makes the same movies as when he was most successful and the Rolling Stones write songs like they’re still in their prime, the same can be said for this sitcom. It is old hat in the most glaringly obvious way. The jokes are stale, the laughs seem canned and the set ups are just a little too familiar to be camp. The stars, supposedly the main attraction, aren’t helping either. Lawrence seems particularly drowsy, like someone gave Big Momma a little bit too much Nyquil in her tea. Grammer seems to be phoning this in from season six of Frasier.
For some reason this reminds me of ABC Family’s recent missed opportunity, Mystery Girls, in which Tori Spelling and Jenni Garth play 90s teen stars who open a detective agency. Both these shows have rather silly high concepts that, if played just a little bit darker and with a single camera and no laugh track, would have been modern and interesting. However, they both hew to a decades-old formula that is staler than last week’s donuts in a bakery dumpster, sapping all the fun out of what could have been a clever confection.
What’s the best thing about it? The theme song is surprisingly good and catchy. God, sometimes I really miss theme songs.
What’s the worst thing about it? Whoever is doing Lawrence’s wardrobe should be shot and told to never buy anything at Jos A Bank, where all his cheap suits appear to be from, again.
Do you think Tisha Campbell could make this better? I sure do.
Should you watch this show? No, you should not. Well, if you’re the kind of person who watches TV Land or Nick at Night then maybe you should, because it feels like something that belongs on one of those channels. What makes Partners look even worse is that it’s on FX, the home of Louie, Archer, Fargo and American Horror Story. If you’re looking for a summer comedy, check out the channel’s delightful, fresh and modern Married and You’re the Worst on Thursday nights instead. You deserve something that feels like it was conceived after the Clinton administration.
Article source: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/aug/03/partners-kelsey-grammer-martin-lawrence-sitcom