Love Bites is Love American Style for the 21st Century - and it's not half bad

I stumbled upon a cute program the other night and was pleasantly surprised.  On NBC on Thursdays at 10, Love Bites is Love American Style for the 21^st century. (Some will remember Love American Style from the 70’s, a whacky series of love stories and vignettes that were racy for the time, but outrageously funny.)

Love Bites is different in that it has three regular characters, but an otherwise rotating cast.  It’s described as an hour-long romantic comedy anthology series featuring three loosely connected modern stories of love, sex, marriage and dating with an irreverent twist.

Anchoring the series and appearing in each episode are the very talented Becki Newton (Amanda from Ugly Betty) as Annie Matopoulos, a single New York City girl looking for "Mr. Right Now"; and Constance Zimmer (the studio exec on Entourage) and Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Felicity) as Colleen and Judd Rouscher, a happily married Venice Beach couple.  He owns a tattoo parlor.

The episode I saw was the second in the series.  It revolved mostly around the main couple, Colleen and Judd, and his fascination with the advice of a TV sex therapist, a Dr. Phil look-a-like played by Jeffrey Tambor.  Funnier though was the guest segment about a gay couple visited by one of the guy’s parents.  It featured the usual political incorrectness on the part of the parents, the son’s indignation, and a couple of misunderstandings that added up to some good comedy.  One gag about the son’s insistence on hanging a suggestive painting in their living room, the Mom’s recognition of a familiar site therein, and the ensuing drama, was very good.  In both stories, the writers pushed the envelope a bit on the sex side, but seemed careful not to dive over the edge.

Guest stars for the pilot episode included Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer), Craig Robinson (The Office), Kyle Howard (My Boys), Steve Howey (Bride Wars), Lindsay Price (Eastwick), Larry Wilmore (The Daily Show), Guillermo Diaz (Mercy), Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad), David Giuntoli (Privileged), and Charlyne Yi (Knocked Up).  Let’s hope that level of talent continues for the remaining run.

Emmy Award-winning producer/director Marc Buckland (My Name Is Earl) is a director and executive producer.  Other executive producers are Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally (Will & Grace, Ugly Betty).   Emmy Award-winning writer/producer Cindy Chupack (Sex And The City) is the creator and consulting producer.

That’s a pretty great assembly of talent and from what I saw this show holds promise.  Love Bites is worth keeping an eye on.