Review: Mad Love Episode 1.09 "Pub Quiz"

CBS

Today is a great day to cancel Mad Love.

The follow text conversation took place between 7:41 and 7:57 CST

Jeramy: The fact that you didn't rip Mad Love apart makes me doubt you. Strongly

Blake: It is better tonight.

Jeramy: Are you watching the same show I'm watching?

Blake: It is charming. Certainly not the best, but not horrible.

Jeramy: It is horrible. The laugh track makes it worse.

Blake: Yeah, the laugh track is bad, I will give you that, but the show is not nearly as bad as you think. It is a solid 5.

Jeramy: It's a solid -5. You only like it because Sarah Chalke makes you moist.

Blake: Yep.

Jeramy: I don't know who's worse... cliché fat guy, cliché straight guy, or the two barely distinguishable chicks.

Blake: Fat guy is funny and the chicks are cute. Straight guy is horrible.

Jeramy: Fat guy isn't funny. The chicks aren't naked enough to be a draw.

Blake: Well, I disagree. It won't matter though, it will get axed.

Jeramy: The cliché wackiness is making me reach for my gun.

Blake: Haha! Sounds like you should write the review tonight.

Jeramy: Don't worry dude, Sarah will be doing softcore porn in a few years.

Jeramy: ...which will be better scripted than Mad Love.

Blake: I hope so.

Mad Love Review: Episode 1.08 Paw and Order

CBS

Today is not a good day to cancel Mad Love.

This is one frustrating show.

By the eighth episode of a series, you can usually start to see everything start to gel. The writers get a good handle on the characters. The actors start gaining chemistry with one another. Basically, the whole show finds its footing . . . or it doesn't.

I am not ready to say that Mad Love is not going to discover these things, but it took a giant step backward from the momentum it had gained over the past several episodes.

This weeks plot was N-42 on the sheet of sitcom B-I-N-G-O the writers must have been playing, which is an overwritten way to say that it was boring. Kate (Sarah Chalke) has to dogsit her bosses dog, it doesn't like her and of course it runs away. Of course, after the dog is found it is a case of mistaken identities and they have to pull the ol' switcheroo (0-89 on that sheet, if you are keeping score).

The bright spot of this series so far has been the wonderful acting of the two supporting roles, Tyler Labine as Larry Munch and Judy Greer as Connie. Even they were unable to rise to the occasion this week as Connie tried to get used to her new boyfriend while openly fawning over Larry (I-22) and ultimately getting dumped by said boyfriend with the realization by her that she has feelings for Larry in the end (G-71). Wow, none of that was expected.

Am I being rough on the show? Absolutely. The talent is present to make this show much better than what tonight showed. The principal cast is strong and the show runner, Matt Tarses ([Scrubs], Sports Night), has the talent to lead them to that point.

That being said, time is running out. The ratings have been pretty consistent with How I Met Your Mother, and it would seem like a natural companion for that series, but with several other bubble sitcoms and a fresh stock of pilots on CBS, Mad Love has to be better than this.

And for the record, I think it will be, but what do I know, I just lost my own game of B-I-N-G-O.

-Blake