Pilot Review: Undateable

Undateable (NBC)
Premiered May 29 at 9pm

I’ll start this review off with the line that I thought as soon as this pilot began: “Undateable” is unwatchable. This is the kind of series that would have made sense to premiere about fifteen or twenty years ago, and even then it would have seemed lackluster and deplorable. Laugh-track sitcoms are becoming more and more of a rarity these days, and they tend to be especially bland and uncreative. The third of what constitutes the 2014-2015 TV season is this awful comedy from NBC, which viewers will have the unfortunate displeasure of watching twice every Thursday night for the first half of the summer. I immediately recognized star Chris D’Elia and couldn’t place where I knew him from. Some quick research reveals that it was from the similarly terrible “Whitney,” and a glance back at my review of that pilot indicated that I didn’t blame D’Elia for the horrible nature of his character. That’s not true here, since D’Elia is unbelievably irritating and makes the slimy, annoying Danny infinitely worse than he probably was on paper. I cringed every time he deflected an insult hurled his way by making a sound. The rest of the cast and characters are far less unbearable to watch, but that doesn’t say much. Simply put, this show is not funny, and, worse than that, it’s not even interesting. Briga Heelan’s Nicki is a prime example, completely devoid of any personality or charm in spite of Justin’s obsession with her. Though I would hardly commend Heelan’s lead character on “Ground Floor,” she’s a hell of a lot meatier than this. This show has nothing positive to offer, and plenty stacked against it.

How will it work as a series? Though certain plotlines, like Leslie not sleeping with Justin, may not be addressed, there will be plenty of opportunity for Danny to show Justin what he knows about getting women and also what he doesn’t know. The second episode featured the “pants buddies,” a miserable preview of the sophistication of what’s likely to come in the future.
How long will it last? The ratings were actually pretty decent, following a recent trend of scripted summer series doing relatively well on broadcast networks. I commented in my review of “The Night Shift” that NBC had yet to find its flagship summer show, but maybe it might have more than one, and this could be the other? It’s hard to believe, but who knows?

Pilot grade: F-