Wednesday, January 4, 2012

ABC's Work It Doesn't Work

Work It, the new ABC sitcom that debuted last night, isn't exactly like Bosom Buddies.
 
True, like its 80's look-alike, Work It stars two thirty-something men who dress up as women looking completely unconvincing. And, it's clear one of the guys will end up trying to get with his female boss.
 
But Bosom Buddies was funny. It starred two bona fide comedic actors - Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. And the point of the cross-dressing was to live cheaply and meet women. It was pure farce.
 
In this iteration, the two men are desperate, which makes the situation somewhat sad. The star, Lee Standish (Ben Koldyke), has a wife and kids, but no job. Unable to pay his bills, most notably his daughter's cell phone bill, Lee is "this close" to selling his wife's jewelry.
 
He has to cross dress to become a pharmaceutical salesperson, a position said to be reserved for females who can use their sex appeal with doctors. (In this world, apparently all doctors are men.)
 
The anti-feminism continues when the woman doing the hiring remarks that most of the women she interviews "think clinical trials are the things Lindsay Lohan keeps having to go to."
 
In this, like so many other shows, the guy and his friends are jerks. In one scene the family is shown to have no money. In the next, Dad's at a bar drinking with his buddies. That costs bucks, doesn't it? Even worse, he decides to go out partying without his wife, the one who's been supporting him during his year of unemployment.
 
There are some funny bits - like when Lee realizes he can't have a hero for lunch; he has to eat lettuce like the rest of the gals. There's also the part when  Lee's resume is revealed to show he was a college football player. And it's a little funny when the guys go out dancing with the other women in the office, shaking and grinding like they're one of the girls as the ace bandages binding their man parts fall off.
 
Work It does provide a couple of laughs, but I give it only a couple of weeks on the air.

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