Take Me To The Pilots ’12: CBS’ ‘Partners’ – by Daniel Fienberg
The Pitch: You know that show that aired on FOX in the ’90s about the two friends who are architects and co-dependents? That show that was created by the guy who used to work on “Will & Grace”? That show that was also called “Partners”? Well, this show is nothing like that. Except for the ways it is. Which you won’t recognize anyway. Because nobody watched that “Partners.”
Quick Response: “Will & Grace” creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, masters of exploiting the really, really obvious differences between gay folks and straight folks for very, very broad multi-cam laughs are back with what might be their most autobiographical show to date. It’s also possibly their broadest show to date, which is saying a lot. I’m not really comfortable judging “Partners” solely off its pilot, which is aggressively unfunny, but is also over-invested in establishing a premise that isn’t nearly complicated enough to require this much set up…
The premise is repeated over and over and over again, underlined at every opportunity. I got it. And I wasn’t all that amused. But because of the belaboring, I don’t know how stories are going to be told in subsequent episodes, so I’m going to have to watch again, against my better judgment. The flaw in the structure of the pilot is that at least in the first 20 minutes, Krumholtz and Urie don’t really have all that much chemistry, or at least their characters don’t. I’d have sacrificed the repetition in the pilot for just one or two effective illustrations of why these guys are friends and one or two positive examples of their friendship at work. It’s the kind of thing that could have taken place through their work at the architecture firm, except that the profession isn’t even an afterthought in the pilot.
And people complain that TVWriter™ is harsh! DF, you’re our kinda guy.