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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