NEW SHOW: Partners

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Well, I think that the reasoning I used to try this show was faulty... the proposal wasn't actually a huge part of setting up this show... I think it would work if Ali and Joe were just dating. And, the idea of "another Monday night show" making me wary doesn't actually matter, as I recently cut Two and a Half Men anyway. [even though that moved to Thursdays.] The gimmicky beginning with Joe and Louis as kids wasn't great, especially as that doesn't seem to be an ongoing thing. I do like that "On Top of the World" theme song, but that clapping that brings you into the new scenes is really annoying. I don't think that it's a bad show, per se, but I don't think that it can work over a long period of time. [or a short period of time, really. The pilot only drew 6.5M viewers, the second episode 5.7M. ETA: the third brought 6.3M.] PLUS, the casting is a bit weird... Louis looks way younger than Joe, and Sophia Bush has a really raspy voice. 

Partners "Pilot" (S01E01): Joe and Louis have been best friends since they were kids. Joe has been dating Ally for a year and she's pretty much put up a "play-me-or-trade-me" ultimatum, and Louis suggests Joe cut her loose. [ha! "I always feel our work gets in the way of my drama."] He winds up proposing (his gut feeling) when she talks about how great she's doing at work. Great, except Joe doesn't update Louis before Louis sees Ali at morning yoga, so he assumed that she's been dumped. [LoL, "I got newer news!"] Before Louis can come clean, Ali calls Joe, and then Joe flies off the handle at Louis, claiming that he has done terrible things in the past, but this crosses the line and the cost of being friends is now higher than the benefits. [blah blah blah. no.] Louis goes to talk to Ali, saying that he wants her to be with Joe, to take care of him if Louis can't. [awww.] Joe runs into Wyatt (nurse, former Mennonite, dating Louis), who says that Louis has a great heart., so he decides to make up with his BFF anyway. [loved the "four people at this table but three couples."]

Partners "Chicken & Stuffing" (S01E02): Joe has asked Wyatt to help him get in shape for the wedding, but he tries to get out of it for the entire week. [I couldn't believe how easily Wyatt bought those excuses!] Later in the week, when Wyatt comes to get Joe again, he basically says that he'll never want to work out. [hahahaha!]

Louis thinks something is up with Joe, and it turns out that he and Ali haven't been intimate since they got engaged nine days ago. Louis thinks that maybe he should talk to her, but Joe tells him not to. Well, Louis does anyway, and Ali listens to him and spends some time with Joe that night. But, the next day, Joe is mad at Louis, knowing he got involved. Louis just gets more involved when he finds out that Ali hasn't been making dinners. [not a fan of this "not looking someone in the eyes" thing. I see this being a running gag here...] Ali does a terrible job making chicken, but it's the first time she's ever cooked for Joe. [who gets engaged to someone before ever tasting their cooking??!?!? hahaha, "that was about sex! This is about chicken! They're two completely different things! unless you're a rooster."]

Louis tells Joe that he's never helping him out, but it becomes apparent that he does, as Louis had forgotten Wyatt's fifth anniversary of being sober, but Joe orders a cake and writes a note from Louis. [love how they help out one another! but a Mennonite drunk? This kid has got some backstory!]

Also: Ali has a new helper in the store, Renata, who sucks. [haha, Louis wearing Ali's belt.]

Partners "The Jeter Exception" (S01E03): Louis wants to take advantage of Ali moving in with Joe to get rid of some of Joe's clothing. The guys are tempted to open a box that's marked "Ali Personal," and Joe eventually does. ["I was snipping at the air!" had me laughing so hard!] He finds a photo of Ali with Derek Jeter in Vegas, so he panics and tells Louis, who comes up with a plan to play "Celebrity" and put Jeter's name in the hat, which should get Ali to tell the story. [...no. that was NOT a genius move.] Thinking they were getting together to watch Swamp People, Wyatt begins to freak, as he's not familiar with a lot of celebrities and Louis is a bit intense when it comes to games - he's actually broken up with a guy before because he sucked at a game. [yeah, I could see that being a dealbreaker for several people I know. But it was REALLY too Will & Grace at Tribond!] Wyatt (of course) draws Jeter, and says "the guy who had hot desert sex with Ali," which gets his team kicked out so Ali can yell at Joe. She's not that upset that he went through her stuff, but she's worried that Joe won't be able to keep things to himself... so she tells him that she also slept with Justin Timberlake, just to see if he tells Louis.

The next time they're together, they play again, this time with Louis partnering with Ali. ["thinking boobs" ??] It's all going well until the winning point is "Justin Timberlake" and Louis can't lose, so he answers when Ali says "the other celebrity I slept with." [c'mon, Louis! do it for Joe!] Ali proves that Joe can't keep a secret, but after he apologizes, she realizes that she just needs to accept that Joe will be telling Louis everything. [this is a HORRIBLE message to take away from this experience!]

Photo: Monty Brinton/CBS