The winner is a: [Insert Obvious Joke Here]
Rob Corddry sitcom disappoints
KERRI WOLOSZYN STAFF
The Winner’s Rob Corddry, from his 2006 visit to the University of Manitoba
Rob Corddry has made his career playing dumb. As a correspondent on The Daily Show, Corddry was stupid with such conviction so as to make the political humor accessible. Much more of a class clown than the more “cerebral” Stephen Colbert, Corddry used dumb humor to make a point. And that was smart.
Now Corddry stars in a new Fox series called The Winner which attempts to utilize his goofy charm in standard, four-camera sitcom style. Unfortunately where on The Daily Show Corddry’s poop jokes had a satirical edge, here they are simply poop jokes.
Corddry plays Glen Abbott, a 30-something man who has never gone through adolescence because of a seemingly impossible amount of neuroses. We are told, through The Wonder Years-esque voice-over, that Glen eventually becomes a huge success, hence the show’s title. But for now Glen still lives at home with his parents and spends so much time watching Wings that he hasn’t the time to look for a job. Oh yes, Wings. You see, the show takes place in 1994 and the writers mine the heck out of the topical humour of the day (O.J. Simpson’s high-speed chase makes it into the two first episodes).
In the first episode Glen sees that his childhood crush, Alison, is moving in across the street and, inexplicably, decides that now is a good time to make a move. He ends up befriending his old flame’s 14-year-old son because, naturally, they are adorably similar. Glen is a hypochondriac, so is the son; Glen has trouble with the ladies, so does the son; Glen is a virgin, so is the son. You get the idea. The two attempt to help each other out and hilarity is meant to ensue.
But it doesn’t. The Winner was created by Ricky Blitt of Family Guy fame. However, whatever redeeming qualities Family Guy’s non-sequitur-heavy comedy has (and I would say they are few and far between) is lost in the more traditional format used by The Winner. The real problem seems to be simply coming up with a story of some merit, as the first two episodes revolve around almost the same plot. And although The Winner is meant to be untraditional with its sometimes surreal, often crude humor, the more traditional aspects overshadow the creative moments. It says a lot that the funniest joke in the first episode came at the expense of the mentally challenged.
If The Winner tries to do anything for the now almost dead, thankfully, traditional sitcom, it fails on almost every level. The overzealous laugh track seemed like a gag in and of itself before I realized that the show takes itself far too seriously for this to be the case. The characters, like the angry working-class father and the ditzy mother, are your standard sitcom clichés with nothing extra added. Even pretty Alison, the show’s plot device, is nothing more than a love interest. And I would probably remove the interest.
And what of Corddry himself? Well, he is charming, that’s for sure. But we know he is capable of using his doofus shtick to better and smarter effect.
Viewers could certainly do worse than The Winner (Little Mosque, anyone?) and its extremely broad strokes. But TV junkies have been spoiled as of late with truly untraditional comedies like 30 Rock and the late Arrested Development. And when it comes down to watching The Winner, TV viewers are out of luck.
