FWBL: Why Bother?

This show is just terrible. Will hasn't dated in a while, but he hasn't been living under a rock! Plus, Kate as the new great-career-sex-fiend Barney isn't working - she already has a soft side! Furthermore, that couldn't have been a cheap faux-wedding to stage, so it's pretty unbelievable. The sex jokes only make matters worse, and the blatant corruption at the hospital isn't helping anything. I'm out, how about you?

Friends with Better Lives "Game Sext Match" (S01E03): Andi is helping Jules plan her wedding without Kate, as they think her single nature means she's not interested. Kate finds out, confronts the duo, and joins in the fun, only she goes from helpful to overbearing really quickly. [bridal magazine subscriber or not, she knew a lot of details specific to Malibu...] After "firing" Kate, the girls feel bad, so they make it up to her by setting up a mini-wedding which Kate would love. [on short notice, that was impressive, I guess.] 

Will is trying to get into sexting after he gets to third base on a first date. He's struggling, but when he doesn't know how to dirty-talk, he's only saved by his willingness to try kinky stuff. [oh boy!] But, before anything really happens, he's tied to the bed with Christmas lights as the girl runs out after her cat, which went out the window. [seriously??] He eventually realizes that he can hit his phone with his foot, and he uses Siri to call his friends to rescue him. [I gave this my best McKayla Maroney face.]

Trae Patton/FOX ©2013 Fox Television. All Rights Reserved

Bobby gets into tennis, and he's excited about an upcoming tournament, but he's told that if he doesn't throw the match, he might end up with terrible future assignments at the hospital. He obeys until some older doctors start dissing Bobby's partner, and then they go for it, and apparently win. [was this like a filler C-story? part of me wonders if they came up with the title as a play on "sexting" and had to then work tennis into the equation for the joke...]

FWBL: Not Looking Good

This show is not getting any better. The pilot didn't live up to the hype, in my opinion, and this episode, while a nice fit for CBS, focused too much on sex to interest me. I'm going to need more if they want me to stick around. It would be nice if the relationships built in the first episode came out more in this one, and if the jokes were a little more mature. Most importantly, however, it would have been great to know WHY 4+ months have passed in the show's timeline since the previous episode! That seemed absolutely ridiculous and unexplained, bothering me to my core. What are you thinking at this point?

Friends with Better Lives "Window Pain" (S01E02): Will is back on the market, and because he hasn't dated since 1998, Kate helps him get back out there. At first, he tries to do it without her, but quickly learns in a grocery store that "being a doctor" isn't the great selling point he thought it would be. He doesn't know what to say to women... at all... so he tries to play a "man of few words." But, the only woman into him wants a threesome, and because he just wants to move on and experience sex with someone besides his ex-wife, he keeps that fact from Kate. The friends wind up competing for the woman's attention, which comes back to bite them.

Michael Yarish/CBS ©2013 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Back at home, Andi is pregnant again, and goes from the high-powered sense of smell stage to the deeply passionate stage, and beyond. Also, Jules is struggling with being a vegetarian around Lowell. 

NEW SHOW: Friends with Better Lives

When Friends with Better Lives was announced, I was pretty excited. I often think about what it would be like to live in the cities of friends, or have children like other friends, or focus on the careers of yet other friends. As more details about the comedy were released, it became apparent that the show yearns to be the next Friends (which is already problematic because in the Guide, it reads the same as the iconic 90s series) or How I Met Your Mother (as evidenced by piggybacking onto the series finale), but maybe I couldn't relate to the issues after all. The main circle of friends seems to contain a married couple with an infant, a divorcee, a freshly-engaged peppy girl, and the female version of Barney/Joey who isn't looking for something deeper. As with many new shows, the pilot was spent setting up the relationships between the characters, something which appears to be particularly integral in this program. I wasn't a big fan of the jokes, but I'll give it a few episodes to prove its worth. Did you try it out?

Trae Patton/CBS ©2013 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Friends with Better Lives "Pilot" (S01E01): Will has been staying with fellow OBGYN Bobby and his wife, Andi, for six weeks, after his wife, Val, slept with their couples' therapist. He goes for midnight bike rides by his old house and ends up being served with divorce papers by the end of the episode. [like Ross's marriage ending on the pilot for Friends.]

Bobby and Andi have been married for seven years and are in a bit of a rut... they are so accustomed to being tired after caring for son Charlie that they don't do much besides watch Homeland, so when they hear about how often their friend, Jules, and the new man in her life, Lowell, are sexually active, they decide to spice things up. [did Marshall and Lily go through something similar at the beginning of How I Met Your Mother?] But, when they mutually forget their anniversary, Andi winds up making a fool out of herself by preparing to orally pleasure Bobby during a surprise party. [how awkward!]

Speaking of Jules, though, it is unclear if her engagement will last, as she has only known Buddhist vegetarian Lowell for six weeks.

On the other end of the spectrum is Kate, who attempts to look for a nice guy after dating tons of losers, only to admit that she really is superficial and not looking for much more than that. [again, Barney to a "T."]

Fun Friday: My Midseason Broadcast Network Picks

So, last June, I broke down all of the new broadcast network pilots, giving a little summary about what they're about and which interest me the most. [CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC, CW] (I also did this in 2012 and 2011, if you're nostalgic.) In September, I posted a look forward to the fall pilots I was interested in, and the time has come to remember what's in store for mid-season!

You'll notice that more than half of the listed programs are on NBC, but that's not hard to do when that network comes up with the most new series. No ABC or FOX to be found, but I still think there's a pretty interesting spread, demographically speaking. 

Midseason Premieres:
Friends With Better Lives (CBS comedy) has a group of thirtysomethings in different life stages wondering if their friends have it better than they do. Not gonna lie... this show hits a little close to home for me. I don't have a lot of friends in the same stage of life, so I'm quite enthused to watch this one and see if it plays out realistically. James Van Der Beek might bring it down, though, so let's hope that doesn't happen. Getting the slot right after the long-awaited series finale of How i Met Your Mother may help as well. (premieres Monday, March 31st)

CBS

Intelligence (CBS drama) follows a man, Gabriel, who has been implanted with a super-computer microchip, allowing him to connect to (and hack) the Internet, the telephone, and satellite data. Gabriel helps the government. I've actually already given up on this one (it premiered a month ago already) and I don't think it'll last, anyway.

CBS

Star-Crossed (previously Oxygen) (CW drama) has Aimee Teegarden in love with an alien. The boy, part of "The Orion 9," has spent the past ten years in an internment camp and is just being integrated into suburban life. I saw an early pilot back in July, and I was intrigued, so I'll see what else will happen. (premieres Monday, February 17th)

CW

About a Boy (NBC comedy) is an adaptation of the novel and film following the relationship between an immature single guy and a young boy. I really want Benjamin Stockham to make it in SOMETHING (Sons of Tucson,1600 Penn), so I'll give it a go. However, it's been so long since the popularity of the Hugh Grant film, it might be too late to find an audience. (premieres Saturday, February 22nd, but will regularly run on Tuesday nights)

NBC

Growing Up Fisher (formerly The Family Guide, Untitled DJ Nash) (NBC comedy) is a show about a divorced family where the father is blind, and is based loosely on Nash's life. I'll give it a try simply because I am constantly interested in the life experiences of others who are quite different from myself, and blindness is a disability I haven't seen in a main character since Becker. (premieres Sunday, February 23rd, but will regularly run on Tuesday nights)

NBC

Undateable (NBC comedy) is a group of friends who struggle with relationships. Bianca Kajlich is the only reason I'll give this one a chance, and I'm wholly expecting it to fail... if it even gets a fair shot! (premiere TBA)

NBC

Crossbones (NBC drama) has been in the pipeline for quite a while now, and I'm still as intrigued as ever... John Malkovich as Blackbeard in 1715. It's still high-concept and very risky, but a period pirate piece just sounds like fun. Plus, it's been hyped for so long, how can you not give it a try? (premieres this summer)

NBC

What will you be trying out?