Do I write a bittersweet mash note to a low-rated ABC sitcom almost certainly about to die? Offer it broadly and generously as the simple story of six Chicago friends insulated by their friendship? Do I suggest that it was unfairly treated and, in another time, under the right conditions, things might have turned out differently?
It would also fail to convey this: As much as we like to think TV is as verbal a medium as film is visual, shows that honor language โ the ones that rant in wild, abstract, delirious tongues โ usually translate into the smallest audiences. You cannot put us on in the background and still feel included. I spoke recently with Caspe and the Libmans about the unpromising future of their abrasively verbal oddity. Which meant certain death. I believe they are doing their best.
They can love the show and still have a hard time slotting it. Tap the phone once for yes. I think there is hindsight, in that they could have scheduled it better. It is a bit of a head-scratcher, but I also think that they know what they are doing. Which made me think of a moment on the second season when Cuthbert and Damon Wayans Jr.
They have a shorthand, like a tribe, which is how people who have known each other a very long time can act. Using one word as often as possible. And we never talk about how we sound, which is maybe why it happens. That being said, though, our goal here is never to be exclusionary. To keep this show going, we need to be inclusatory. By Christopher Borrelli Chicago Tribune. More in TV and Streaming.
