Premise: Player decides to turn dweeb into a player.
It's hardly worth referring to Happy Hour, Thursdays at 8:30 PM on Fox, by name. It is more appropriate to refer to it as, "the show that comes on after 'Til Death," because it's clearly one of those shows everyone knows isn't much good and hopes to survive by being on after another show people like. Although Happy Hour has the misfortune to follow a show the network had high hopes for but is only marginally better than Happy Hour.
Happy Hour has “abysmal failure” written all over it. The premise is hopeless. Nerd, dumped by girlfriend, moves in with guy who never dates anyone for more than six weeks. Player decides to transform nerd into fellow Casanova, as he did with another nerdy friend whose carefree days are over now that he has a shrewish fiancée.
It’s a terrible premise and the show executes it poorly. The only redeeming feature is Betch Lacke as this girl who keeps coming into the apartment and complaining about her life. I guess she’s Casanova’s friend, but she seems rather disconnected from the premise. She’s got a husky voice and a slouchy presence that makes her stand out, although she doesn’t have any more luck at getting laughs than anyone else in this sorry excuse for a sitcom. I’m not saying she’s great — although she would probably do well if she got cast on something decent — but unlike everyone else in the cast, I felt it was worth the bother of looking up her name so I could stick it in the review.
This is not to say the show never gets a laugh. There are occassional laughs. But they're usually uncomfortable laughs. When you do laugh, you don't feel good about it. Fortunately there are few times you'll have to suffer through that uncomfortable feeling.
This is the sort of show that, were it to follow a hit show, might hold on to enough of the audience to survive. Although this strategy is itself in danger of cancellation. People with digital video recorders like TiVo don't watch shows just because they're on after other shows. When everyone has a DVR, perhaps networks won't even bother trying to foist crap like Happy Hour on us.
Conclusion: Not the worst sitcom ever made, which is a pity, because at least then it would be worth watching just to see the worst sitcom ever made. I refuse to believe this will go more than a few more episodes.
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