Let's Review Review

What Is This Thing?

Viewers write letters asking what various life experiences are like, and intrepid journalist Forrest MacNeil (Andy Daly) tries them, documents the process, and presents a starred review.

When Is It On?

Thursdays at 10 PM on Comedy Central (with repeats through the week); the first full episode is embedded above.

Why Was It Made Now?

Because everyone's an amateur critic? Who pushes shit too far? And then is pretty sure they're going to die? Or maybe because Comedy Central has had good results with formats that combine faux news with sketch comedy, MAYBE YOU CAN THINK OF SOME.

What's Its Pedigree?

Though star and Executive Producer Andy Daly has guest-starred in countless network sitcoms (most recently Enlisted and Modern Family, though you may remember him as the lascivious Benjamin Franklin impersonator on The Office), he's never lost his alt-comedy cred, cemented as a series regular on Eastbound & Down and appearing on Drunk History, Adventure Time, and the Comedy Bang Bang podcast. His fellow Executive Producer Jeffrey Blitz also worked on the hotly anticipated (by me) Playing House and has directed lots of sitcoms, but before that, he directed the Oscar-nominated documentary feature Spellbound, no big whoop. The whole thing is produced by Abso Lutely, home of all things Tim & Eric.

...And?

Like The Daily Show, Review features a comic performer mimicking the tropes of TV journalism. Unlike The Daily Show, everyone on it is also a comic performer in on the joke, so the viewer doesn't get that queasy feeling of seeing ordinary people being used as unwitting punchlines. At least in this first episode, no one is more ridiculous than Forrest. Also, Best Friends Forever alumna/Playing House star/gorgeous genius Jessica St. Clair plays his wife, Suzanne. (The pilot doesn't give her a ton to do, but I'm optimistic.)

...But?

I guess Megan Stevenson is supposed to be giving us nothing as A.J. Gibbs, Forrest's spokesmodelish in-studio sidekick? But judging from the pilot, it's not clear to me that she's intentionally unfunny to be funny or just unfunny (which, I admit, is sometimes my hangup with lots of Tim & Eric stuff).

...So?

A show like this is going to work or not based entirely on how you feel about Daly, a dad type whose aggressive cheeriness is always juuuuuuuust covering a boiling cauldron of rage -- you know, like all dads. But Daly is so likable that he keeps you on board even when Forrest is robbing a bank, asking his babysitter to her prom (a deliciously cringey scene), or hoovering coke. I'm in.