Grade: 69/100
From open to close, FOX’s “Mulaney” is chasing “Seinfeld’s” tail.
To clarify, while it isn’t on the same level as “Seinfeld” by any stretch of the imagination, “Mulaney” certainly tries to be. There’s the opening segment, in which comedian John Mulaney does some stand-up for an unseen audience — a “Seinfeld” staple. Then there’s its premise. A group of 20-somethings doing 20-something things in New York City. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? In that regard, perhaps, “Mulaney” may have just as much in common with “Friends” as it does with the signature show about nothing.
But the similarities don’t end there. The show’s title has to count for something. And lest we forget, John Mulaney, a stand-up comedian, is playing himself in a show that is ostensibly about nothing.
As for the content itself, there was very little Sunday night to suggest to me that “Mulaney” has much of a chance of making it past this season. While Jerry Seinfeld was, by his own standards, a poor actor, creator Larry David made sure to surround him with fantastic comedic actors to pick up the slack: Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards.
As for “Mulaney,” though the acting isn’t necessarily bad, there’s a lot of work to be done to develop any sort of rapport between the actors. Comedy dialogue, while scripted, shouldn’t seem scripted — one reason the laugh track should be done away with forever. The audience should know when to laugh on their own, in my opinion, without the assistance of a recording. But that’s another argument for another day.
Don’t take all of this the wrong way — the pilot was funny. It was a “Seinfeld” for the millennials, if you will. Mulaney spent the first several minutes of the show trying to wring some free Xanax out of his doctor, which was funny enough.
The supporting cast, including Zack Pearlman as drug dealer Andre, Nasim Pedrad as roommate Jane and Seaton Smith as incisive fellow stand-up comedian Motif, each had their own decent introductions, though the producers were perhaps trying to do too much juggling to render each character a little less forgettable.
The show, while often formulaic, has an edgy black comedy that is an eternal rarity these days on cable. The characters seem to genuinely hate one another; there’s more of a Newman/Seinfeld vibe to this one than there is Chandler/Joey.
After Mulaney’s behind-the-scenes work at “Saturday Night Live” and his stand-up, the anticipation for this show was massive, and that’s probably why audiences were so disappointed. But keep in mind that reviews for the first season of “Seinfeld” were poor as well, episodes were slow at times and the show was nearing cancellation after its initial run. It pulled through, obviously, and now look what it’s done. So maybe there’s hope for “Mulaney” after all. Viewers will be hoping right along with FOX on this one.