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Search Party (2016)
Compelling Mystery and Main Character
Search Party isn't a non-stop laughfest, nor is it a dreary ID crime investigation, and it certainly isn't a perfect blend of the two. What it is, however, is a realistic journey of self-trust.
This isn't a show where the main character is a genius and can link clues at a rapid pace or where a team of expert analysts know exactly where to find the next missing piece. This is a show where an everyday woman with nothing to lose puts herself in charge of her own life and throws everything she has into this mystery.
Each episode doesn't give leaps and bounds of clues for the mystery, like investigations in the real-world. Dory is an everyday woman, and Search Party follows her personal conspiracy and investigation in a real-to-life pace.
The characters are flawed, just like real people, and if you find them distasteful it's because they were written to be that way. The whole opening theme is that Dory finds herself stuck in life. Stuck with a dead-end job, stuck with lackluster friends, and stuck with a unsatisfactory boyfriend, but the one thing she does have, (as another character notes), is this conspiracy of a girl from her past who goes missing.
If you want an action show watch Hawaii Five-0, if you want a comedy watch Angie Tribeca, but if you want a realistic underdog story this is the show for you. You're not supposed to be recovering minute-to-minute from drama or laughter, real people don't have that every waking moment of every single day, you're slugging it out with Alia Shawkat (who SHINES) and witnessing Dory make something out of herself.
The Great Indoors (2016)
Underestimates and Insults its own Audience
I want to preface by saying this show had me SO hyped. All the actors and actresses are people I've seen before and always thought they had great potential. Almost all of them let me down, and I can't figure out if it's because of the writers or not. This review is based solely off of the pilot, which for me aired tonight.
The older characters (particularly the lead) are written to constantly belittle the ideas of the younger ones. The lead insults a woman with a service dog within the first thirty seconds, other older characters say things like "Go back to your cell phones" or "I want to beat them with their selfie sticks" either at or in reference to the younger characters. They're always self- righteous about not needing technology or about the fact that they do things in the 'real' world. The lead shows no respect for boundaries or basic decency in an attempt at humor that never lands. Joel McHale may play this guy, but he's no Jeff Winger, not by a long shot.
The younger characters are written to be stereotypically "Millennial". They all have journalism or tech jobs but somehow they're all less intelligent than the main 'older' lead character who, (of course) just so happens to be the only rational one. They're written to be self-obsessed, entitled, and easily offended. They always have a screen in their faces and were actually handed trophies for finishing a day of work. The writers for this series have refused to write realistic characters in favor of blowing up massive stereotypes because they assume it's hilarious (Spoiler: The only indication that a 'joke' has just been delivered is the studio laughter track, because you won't pick up on it yourself simply because the lines just aren't funny at all.)
I'm not even trying to be cynical, there are just shows (Like 'Younger') that do these type of stories and character relationships better. Watch that instead, they actually take the time to write realistic characters for each generation and THEN slate humor on top of it, not try to belittle the generations in an attempt at humor.
The only thing that prevents this review from becoming a 3 is because the interplay between the 'Millennial' and older perspectives offers a funny moment. Literally ONE funny momenT. Singular. No 's' afterwards.
Hopefully the writers just went overboard with the stereotypes for the pilot and begin tone it down now that the show was greenlit to the network.I'll give it one more episode before closing the casket and encourage you to at least try to do the same. There's potential here if the writers/producers pull their heads out of each other's..