What I’m Watching: Life in Pieces

Life in Pieces: Season 1, Episode 6 “Ponzi Sex Paris Bounce” (C+)

After a little over a week off and a timeslot change to Thursdays instead of Mondays, this show is back and just as uneven but somehow still appealing as ever. The main problem is the way that the show emphasizes its weaker elements, namely Jordan Peele’s Chad, who is a constant nuisance and contributes absolutely nothing to the story. I’m a very big fan of Matt and Colleen’s relationship, and there’s obviously more than enough material related to them, like Colleen trying to impress Matt’s family at brunch and their unsuccessful efforts to keep their relationship secret at work, that I can’t understand why Chad needs to appear and make things into a farce with his Ponzi lotions and immediate release from prison following an apparently unnoticed escape attempt. Moving on, the haircut plotline wasn’t great, and I prefer Tim’s hopelessly inappropriate and inattentive dad to the one who has to vie for his daughter’s attention and actually be serious about it. Showing young girls “Alien” was definitely a bad call, and whatever Tim did right, that counteracts it pretty strongly. What did work much better were the latest antics of new parents Jen and Greg, who didn’t have to contend with animals or uncleanliness but rather with the hilarious darkness-aided mistake of using hand sanitizer on sensitive body parts instead of a doctor-prescribed gel. They always seem to end up in the most bumbling and unfortunate situations, and I like both Colin Hanks and Zoe Lister-Jones in their respective roles.