Will Garfunkel And Oates Be Music To Your Ears?

What Is This Thing?

Best friends/roommates Riki (Riki Lindhome) and Kate (Kate Micucci) let us join them on their kooky adventures, occasionally interrupted with comic musical numbers that comment on the episode's events.

When Is It On?

Thursdays at 10 PM on IFC.

Why Was It Made Now?

It was kind of made a couple of years ago, actually; HBO made a pilot, which sounds a lot like this year's version. As for the reason this iteration was made now: after IFC's success with Portlandia put it on the map with people in the alt-comedy world, the network went on to try building half-hour series around comedy-podcast all-stars like Scott Aukerman (Comedy Bang Bang), Marc Maron (Maron) and Chris Gethard (The Chris Gethard Show, coming soon). Garfunkel And Oates is part of this tradition.

What's Its Pedigree?

The titular Garfunkel And Oates have been performing together since 2007 and released three albums in that time; Fred Savage -- yes, the one from The Wonder Years -- who's put together a pretty nice CV as a sitcom director in recent years (with credits including Happy Endings and Playing House among many others) -- directs every episode; Childrens Hospital EP Jonathan Stern is an EP here as well. The episode that went up early features Nick Thune, Christopher Nicholas Smith, T.J. Miller, and Ashley Johnson in guest roles; according to IMDb, future episodes will guest-star Ben Kingsley, Artemis Pebdani, Abby Elliott, Moshe Kasher, Jon Daly, Brett Gelman, Matt Braunger, and Malcolm Barrett. LEM!

...And?

So as you see in the spoiler box up top, the episode IFC put up early isn't the pilot; it's Episode 3, which will air on August 21. But let's assume that the decision was made for THIS one to be offered for early sampling because it's pretty representative of the series, and if that's the case, the series will probably be pretty good! The episode opens with a funny premise: that there's a certain kind of guy who is happiest dating very recessive girls -- in this case, a girl who won't speak in front of her boyfriend even when directly addressed. (Since I have noted this characteristic with funny guys I have known, I imagine that Lindhome and Micucci, who live in the professional comedy scene, have seen it, oh, like, thousands of times.) This leads Riki to propose a social experiment: they have blind dates coming up, and they should see how long they can go without talking before the dudes notice. Things go differently for each girl, but the situation is sharply observed before it turns absurd.

Speaking of sharply observed: "Sports, Go Sports" pretty well encapsulates my own feelings on the subject and thus is an instant classic in my personal opinion.

(This is the original video, not the version in the IFC episode. Still great.)

...But?

Maybe it's that she's getting bad direction (like "be yourself," perhaps), but Lindhome is a much more stilted actor than Micucci in most scenes -- not unwatchable, but just a little self-conscious and stiff. And given that, it makes me sad that someone thought that, if the show had two leads -- I won't even make it sexist, but...okay, I will: two female leads -- one of them had to be "the dumb one," and that the "dumb one" role went to Micucci, the better actor of the two. While it's funny to give the Riki of the show a congenital correcting-people problem (...because I get that, hard), she didn't necessarily HAVE to turn that tendency on Kate because Kate is dopey.

Also, this is less a problem with the show than with Garfunkel And Oates, the band, but, like, there are two of them. WHY do they insist on singing in unison all the time? Try harmony! PEOPLE LIKE IT.

...So?

The show is a bit tentative compared to other recent sitcom débuts featuring two female leads, but it's unfair to expect any sitcom to arrive at TV as fully formed as Broad City or Playing House; sure, Lindhome and Micucci have been writing together for years, just like Broad City's Abbi and Ilana or Playing House's Lennon and Jessica. But Micucci and Lindhome haven't been writing and performing sketch comedy together, so since this is a departure for them, it's okay that it shows. And though I think it might be stronger if it were half as long, I get that not every network has the balls to do Adult Swim. So I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic! If you liked Flight Of The Conchords, you should give this a shot.