Pilot Review: The Exes

The Exes (TV Land)
Premiered November 30 at 10:30pm

I’ve come to know what to expect from a TV Land series. The network which used to specialize in rerunning classic shows has recently developed an enormously successful brand of shows made expressly for those who miss the days of laugh track-anchored sitcoms from previous decades. I know that I’m not in their target demographic, but I feel it’s worthwhile to give them a chance anyway. What I can say about this show is that it’s substantially better than the inexplicably renewed “Retired at 35,” if that’s much of a compliment. It fits perfectly in between “Hot in Cleveland” and “Happily Divorced” in theme, following, as all of the network’s shows seem to, unlikely roommates who are hardly primed to get along. The most egregious offender is David Alan Basche’s Stuart, who might be best described as a less manly version of David Hornsby’s Andrew from the short-lived “How to Be a Gentleman,” obsessed with trying to create fraternal bonding in the most unappealing of manners among people that have no desire to socialize with one another. Meandering with lackluster material are three former TV stars with highly memorable roles: Donald Faison, best known as Turk from “Scrubs,” as the promiscuous roommate; Wayne Knight, eternally remembered as Newman from “Seinfeld,” as the couch potato; and Kristen Johnston from “3rd Rock from the Sun” as their divorce lawyer and landlord. The show’s jokes are broad and the punchlines heavily rehearsed, and there’s very little that’s actually funny in the entirety of the pilot. It’s not a terrible way to spend half an hour, however, and these characters and their situation aren’t nearly as off-putting as they could be.

How will it work as a series? This is a set-up that could allow the show to run for years on end, which it probably will. Three roommates means the potential for plenty of shenanigans and back stories, plus Johnston’s Holly’s dual careers and her assistant Eden’s promiscuous lifestyle. This show will never run short on story ideas, but I wouldn’t necessarily expect them to be terribly creative.
How long will it last? The pilot earned the least respectable ratings of any TV Land series premiere broadcast, but it was hardly too low to be facing cancellation anytime soon. I imagine that this show will fit right in with TV Land’s crowd and should be expecting a renewal sometime soon.

Pilot grade: C