Love And Other Insignifigances
I disagree with roughly two-thirds of this review of Signifigant Others, a new sitcom that premiered on Bravo last night.
The “unscripted” series (meaning plots are loosely laid out by writers and scenes are then improvised by the cast) isn’t 100% there yet. But it is a solid 75%. I’ve got to say I laughed aloud a lot more watching SO than I have critics’ darlings like Curb Your Enthusiasm or hits like Friends or One & 1/2 Men. Or pretty much any current sitcom apart from a really good episode of Scrubs. I also differ greatly with the reviewers statement that “the ingredient crucial for successful satire [is] heart.” Um, no.
The ingredient crucial for successful satire (see: The Daily Show, Doonesbury) is “irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity,” to quote Dictionary.com. Heart doesn’t enter into it unless you’re Disney. Or John Cusack.
I also disagree that “by jump-cutting between punch lines and editing out the interstitial material, director Robert Roy Thomas (who also co-created the show) breaks whatever improvisational rhythm the performers have established.” I think that’s what gives the show what chance it has of having a point.
I don’t like improvisational TV shows or movies, as a rule (Whose Line Is It Anyway notwithstanding–but that’s not really pure improv, it’s just really purely funny). I think eight or nine times out of ten it’s like watching actors in a circle jerk–which is, in itself, a wonderful idea for a series and here I am just throwing it to the wolves.
A good editor (and Thomas does need to learn to leave another beat in here and there) can at least take something like that and turn it to something artful. Remember: Art is about choice, not what you pull out of your ass.
