Network: ABC; Genre: Sitcom; Content Rating: TV-G; Classification: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4)
Season Reviewed: Complete Series (2 seasons)
You could call 'Life with Bonnie' a respectable failure - I'd like to if it wasn't such a self-indulgent star vehicle. It's a show that longs to return to the days where sitcoms where family friendly and inspired talk around the water-cooler with simple zaniness. But it's also an attempt to insert Bonnie Hunt as the Lucille Ball for a new generation - by no one other than Hunt herself. Canned studio audience applause can be heard as the intro comes up (an old fashioned montage of the faces of its cast) and it's gags are lengthy set pieces of 'Lucy' inspired physical comedy. It marks, I believe, the 3rd attempt to launch Bonnie Hunt as a network sitcom star (after 'The Bonnie Hunt Show' and 'Bonnie'). I adore Bonnie Hunt in movies, and she certainly has a misguided Michael Essany-like tenacity toward her shows. But all of them have been pretty much the same, making me wonder if Hunt knows the definition of insanity.
Watching the show you get an odd sense about it. And I don't mean just the non-stop parade of celebrity guest stars (from David Duchovney to Johnathan Winters) that lend their names and faces to Hunt's marquee each week. Watching it you get a strange sense that it is unable to control itself. The comedy bits wander on, long past the point where the concept was even funny. As if Hunt is trying desperately to make it work and won't stop until it does. As if the production is constantly on the verge of loosing control of the reigns entirely and spinning into an all-out mess. Sometimes, it actually happens. 'Life' pitches itself around one idea and then scrambles feverishly to stretch it out. The stories have no focus and often times no ending. I'm not asking for tightly wound resolutions, just something. Some level of coherence or sense of purpose.
Learning that the show is almost entirely improvised certainly explains things. I set-up the tone before mentioning this well known fact because improve comedies can be brilliant. But it has to feel real and 'Life' looks and feels completely phony even without knowing this. Learning, for example, that 'Freaks and Geeks' was often improved floored me, because that show seems so natural. That's what's missing in the strained slapstick and forced laughs of 'Life'. The escapades are made all the more unwatchable by an audience (or laugh track, although I doubt hunt wouldn't do this without audience feedback) that that squeals with laughter constantly, often at nothing at all.
It's a high-wire act and a good idea, but like any high-wire act it is either a big hit or a big miss. It's a gutsy gamble. Had it worked we'd be singing Hunt's praises as a comic genius, but it doesn't. And in the process Hunt pulls down everyone with it, including a talented David Allan Grier who could easily outshine Hunt if given the opportunity.
Early on, Hunt decided this was going to be her baby come hell or high water, firing the writing staff and revamping the series in this format mid-way through season 1. She casts herself as star, principle writer, producer and director. Wow! The show comes complete with over-the-credit outtakes where we even get to see Hunt directing herself. Well, at least she went down as the captain of this ship.
*
Season Reviewed: Complete Series (2 seasons)
You could call 'Life with Bonnie' a respectable failure - I'd like to if it wasn't such a self-indulgent star vehicle. It's a show that longs to return to the days where sitcoms where family friendly and inspired talk around the water-cooler with simple zaniness. But it's also an attempt to insert Bonnie Hunt as the Lucille Ball for a new generation - by no one other than Hunt herself. Canned studio audience applause can be heard as the intro comes up (an old fashioned montage of the faces of its cast) and it's gags are lengthy set pieces of 'Lucy' inspired physical comedy. It marks, I believe, the 3rd attempt to launch Bonnie Hunt as a network sitcom star (after 'The Bonnie Hunt Show' and 'Bonnie'). I adore Bonnie Hunt in movies, and she certainly has a misguided Michael Essany-like tenacity toward her shows. But all of them have been pretty much the same, making me wonder if Hunt knows the definition of insanity.
Watching the show you get an odd sense about it. And I don't mean just the non-stop parade of celebrity guest stars (from David Duchovney to Johnathan Winters) that lend their names and faces to Hunt's marquee each week. Watching it you get a strange sense that it is unable to control itself. The comedy bits wander on, long past the point where the concept was even funny. As if Hunt is trying desperately to make it work and won't stop until it does. As if the production is constantly on the verge of loosing control of the reigns entirely and spinning into an all-out mess. Sometimes, it actually happens. 'Life' pitches itself around one idea and then scrambles feverishly to stretch it out. The stories have no focus and often times no ending. I'm not asking for tightly wound resolutions, just something. Some level of coherence or sense of purpose.
Learning that the show is almost entirely improvised certainly explains things. I set-up the tone before mentioning this well known fact because improve comedies can be brilliant. But it has to feel real and 'Life' looks and feels completely phony even without knowing this. Learning, for example, that 'Freaks and Geeks' was often improved floored me, because that show seems so natural. That's what's missing in the strained slapstick and forced laughs of 'Life'. The escapades are made all the more unwatchable by an audience (or laugh track, although I doubt hunt wouldn't do this without audience feedback) that that squeals with laughter constantly, often at nothing at all.
It's a high-wire act and a good idea, but like any high-wire act it is either a big hit or a big miss. It's a gutsy gamble. Had it worked we'd be singing Hunt's praises as a comic genius, but it doesn't. And in the process Hunt pulls down everyone with it, including a talented David Allan Grier who could easily outshine Hunt if given the opportunity.
Early on, Hunt decided this was going to be her baby come hell or high water, firing the writing staff and revamping the series in this format mid-way through season 1. She casts herself as star, principle writer, producer and director. Wow! The show comes complete with over-the-credit outtakes where we even get to see Hunt directing herself. Well, at least she went down as the captain of this ship.
*