Should You Pledge Your Troth To Marry Me?

What Is This Thing?

When Jake's surprise proposal to Annie doesn't go exactly as planned, will they be able to find their way back to each other and continue making their relationship work? Spoiler: yes. (I mean, it would be kind of a weird way to start the series if they didn't?)

When Is It On?

Tuesdays at 9 PM on NBC.

Why Was It Made Now?

NBC might have given up on Thursdays as its default sitcom night, but not on sitcoms altogether! Given that the three it launched last fall all died -- so no one would have probably blamed the network for abandoning the genre -- let's say this one is replacing...The Michael J. Fox Show?

What's Its Pedigree?

Series creator David Caspe previously brought us the late, lamented Happy Endings, and brings over from that show one of its stars -- Casey Wilson, who as of this spring is also Caspe's wife, and who plays Annie. As for Ken Marino, who plays Jake: you have seen him on/in The State, and in basically every other sitcom you've ever watched. Rounding out the ensemble cast are Dan Bucatinsky and Tim Meadows as Annie's gay dads, both name Kevin; JoBeth Williams as Jake's mother Myrna; John Gemberling (Broad City's Bevers) as Jake's friend Gil. Wilson's Real Hotwives Of Orlando co-stars Danielle Schneider and Tymberlee Hill also pop up in small roles in the pilot.

...And?

The premise of the show is that Jake and Annie have been together for six years and now they're engaged. That's kind of it, and thank god. The A to Z pilot was fine, but what it has in common with the odious Manhattan Love Story is a twee, overwrought, high-concept framing device that the best sitcoms about people in relationships just do not need (and which I still think the creators of How I Met Your Mother wish they'd thought of back when they were trying to sell their show and probably not really thinking they'd ever do more than a season of it). All that's required are two people, a couple of supporting cast members, a situation, and some jokes. That's all I wanted from Marry Me, and when I got it, I was pretty thrilled.

...But?

I know that by the time they get in front of my eyes, pilots have already been tooled and retooled and noted beyond all reason, which is why if there's even a whiff of promise in one, I'm willing to give it a few more outings before I strike it from my life. But is it just me or does it seem like this year's pilots are trying to introduce every character that will ever appear? In this case, the construct of having an obliviously furious Annie unload on Jake for not proposing when she'd been pretty sure he was going to, running down all their friends and loved ones in the process, only to turn around and see that he IS proposing, and also that their friends and loved ones are all hiding in her apartment to surprise her and heard her whole rant. (Calling your soon-to-be mother-in-law a bitch in her hearing? Excruciating situation; funny scene.) Fine. Then we follow some of the more important ones on their ride home as they discuss what they've just seen and heard. Also fine, since we all know the car ride after the party, when you gossip about what happened, is often the best part. But then they all come back AGAIN for a make-up engagement party? Enough already. Roll out the parents and siblings and co-workers over time; don't dump them all on us at the same time. We've been meeting new characters for a month now. We're tired.

There's also the matter of Gil. I love Gemberling, and I love Bevers. But he makes no sense as Jake's best friend. If you're going to introduce a character who sticks out so far from the ensemble, explain why he's managed to weasel his way into the group. At least the Weird Beard on Mulaney has the excuse of selling weed.

...So?

Wilson and Marino are sitcom pros and there's certainly more than a whiff of promise here, so I'm definitely in.