TV 2012: Go On

Image Source

One thing I am guaranteed to love? Matthew Perry being zany. I miss Chandler Bing and I want him to channel Chandler all the time. As much as I love him, I will admit that the previews for "Go On" did not look good and had me worried.

Fortunately, the show was much better than the previews. The previews were setting it up to be like "Community", a bunch of people thrown together who become a misfit family. However, after watching the pilot, it felt more like "Scrubs", some crazy characters with an occasional moment of tragedy. It is about a loss support group, after all.

Now to the details!

Pros:

• Matthew Perry being zany. I'm glad he finally got back to his zany roots after disappointing in "Studio 60" and "Mr. Sunshine".
•  Characters I like:
• Owen - sometimes being the straight man in a room full of crazies is the most appreciated role.
• George, the old, blind guy - every show needs an old guy. It just does. Someone to be overly honest and kind of outlandish.
• Fausta, the Hispanic lady - every show needs a foreigner. There are just too many good language/cultural jokes to make to not have a non-native. And she's just so excited when she wins the grief game.
• Anne, the angry lady - is it any wonder that I like an angry female character? Nope, didn't think so. Also, she's played by the mom from "Transformers", probably the only redeemable character from that franchise.
• I appreciated the montage of the people dealing with their grief. To me, it felt more real that way, like the opening montage in "Up". The greatest asset of this show will be its heart.

Cons:

• Under utilizing John Cho. While I'm glad the whole cast is strong, I want John Cho to be a more central character. He's Harold from "Harold and Kumar" for Pete's sake! My fear is that, down the line, the show will either have to focus more on the therapy group or the radio show to thrive. They'll cut the radio show, like "Up All Night" is cutting the talk show, and we'll lose those characters, which I like better than most of the support group people at this point. Maybe those actors will go on (ha! go on) to other projects that they'd rather work on, but I'll still be attached and sad.
• Characters I don't like:
• Sweater guy - he's too over the top right now. My prediction is that they're going to give him a terrible and twisted back story tragedy to explain his behavior, especially with him being creepy in a Lamaze class. But for now, I just don't get it.
• Lauren, the therapist/leader - why anyone takes her seriously is beyond me.

I'd give it a A-. It's a very fine line it's walking right now. If it stays on the current path it's on, it'll get better. If it becomes more sitcom-y, it'll be worse. Focus on the heart of the characters rather than making them comedic and zany (even though I love zany), and it'll shine.