Each week, I take a look back at a pilot from the 2010-11 season, first reviewed on my blog during that season. This week, I am looking at an ABC family comedy attempt: Better With You!
The Details:
Premiered: September 22, 2010 on ABC
Starring: Joanna Garcia, Jennifer Finnigan, Josh Cooke, Jake Lacy, with Kurt Fuller and Debra Jo Rupp
Created by: Shana Goldberg-Meehan
What I Thought Then:
"Better With You showed promise in its pilot... the show has good ideas and good moments."
"The cast is strong... the parents are early standouts."
"ABC should give this show some time to grow."
"It occasionally slipped into sitcom cliches but for the most seemed likable and enjoyable. And best of all, it has a theme song."
What Others Said:
"Better With You is a genuinely funny, well-acted traditional sitcom reminiscent of Dharma & Greg and other past successful romantic comedies." - Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Surprisingly clever dialogue, great characters and an excellent cast will make you enjoy this very typical sitcom in spite of yourself." - Heather Havrilesky, Salon
"It's a low-key premise, but not a bad one. And when you have comic actors this solid on-board, you can almost believe that this flimsiness has substance." - Daniel Fienberg, HitFix
"It's ABC's attempt to replicate last season's wildly successful intergenerational comedy Modern Family, and, like many genetic experiments, it ends in mutant disaster." - Glenn Garvin, Miami Herald
"The cast and the writing are solid, and I think we can assume there's wisdom ahead. It's definitely a family that could grow on you. But I wouldn't go so far as to marry into it." - Paige Wiser, Chicago Sun-Times
What I Think Now:
This show had some promise because there was a good cast and it's a very simple premise that can be explained quickly. Sitcom pilots are always tough to judge because the cast takes some time to gel. This wasn't one like Modern Family where everything clicked right away but it wasn't hard to get through like plenty of sitcom pilots I have seen in my time. It went down easy. The pilot did a nice job of introducing the three couples right at the top of the show without the need for a voiceover or anything like that. But then I felt like they took too long to bring back the show's clear MVPs - Debra Jo Rupp and Kurt Fuller. They didn't appear again in a regular scene until more than halfway through the episode, which I think was a mistake. Rupp played a similar character to Kitty Forman, but she made her different enough while still nailing the impeccable comic timing. Of the four younger characters, I had a differing thought from my take in 2010. I thought Jake Lacy was the most likable as a carefree goofball who had shades of Chris Pratt in Parks and Recreation (though not as strong as that character). The show also was very obviously taking a lot of its DNA from How I Met Your Mother with the hybrid approach and tons of quick jump cuts. Those only work when the jump cuts are worth it and aside from the opening scene, it wasn't really worth it in this pilot.
What Happened to the Show:
Heading into the Fall of 2010, ABC was riding high on Wednesdays nights after successfully launching a brand new comedy block in 2009-10 that included breakout Emmy-winning hit Modern Family as the centerpiece at 9pm. They also had a solid performer in The Middle, which was ready to be the 8pm lead-off and Cougar Town, which would continue at 9:30pm. All they needed was a new show to replace the instant bomb Hank. Enter Better With You, with a chance to be the missing piece to the Wednesday comedy puzzle. The show did decently with critics (64 on Metacritic) and decently with viewers and made it a full season on the air, nestled between The Middle and Modern Family. While the ratings were not terrible, they were nothing to write home about it and ABC thought they could do better in the slot (and they did, at first, with Suburgatory the next year). It was cancelled after 22 episodes but it went down to the wire with a chance of renewal all the way until two days past its season finale. All six actors have continued to work steadily from Debra Jo Rupp returning to her previous role in That 90s Show to Jake Lacy getting an Emmy nomination for the first season of The White Lotus. I watched the entire series but have very little memory of the show beyond this first episode. It was perfectly fine but perfectly forgettable.
Final Episode: May 11, 2011
Episode Count: 22
Where to Watch: Currently streaming on Tubi & The Roku Channel
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