Deadly Furniture

Considering the amount of new television shows that magically start airing on television, I would have completely missed Traffic Light if my favorite blog hadn’t reviewed it. I don’t usually watch FOX, now that I’ve stopped watching Glee, and I haven’t really been paying attention to mid-season shows (with the exception of Parks & Recreation). But it got reviewed, I’m in the midst of “funemployment,” and I thought, what the heck? It could be the next Arrested Development and I could say I watched it back when no one else did.

Fueled by this chance to be in front of the fan base for once, I’ve watched all five episodes to date. The story centers around three close friends all at different points in relationships. David Denham’s Mike is married with child, Nelson Franklin’s Adam just moved in with his girlfriend, and Kris Marshall’s (that guy from Love Actually--right, the part you don’t really watch) lives with his dog and has a new girl every episode. He’s basically the fun single guy in a group of five friends (hey…why does this sound familiar?)

So I’ve seen five episodes and last night, and as closed the browser tab on the Hulu link, I finally asked myself if this was something that I wanted to be at the front of the fan base of. Sure, the series has its good moments. The relationship between Mike and his wife Lisa (played by Liza Lapira) isn’t always the typical comedic marriage. Sometimes Mike is actually allowed to be in the right and the couple has some chemistry that makes you believe that they would actually marry each other. Adam has that sarcastic sense of humor that’s totally in right now and Ethan is British. But there’s nothing within these plot lines and characters that really make me care. By five episodes in, I know that nothing terribly drastic or unexpected is going to happen anytime soon. They aren’t going to throw in a divorce, Adam will survive if he breaks up with his girlfriend, and even if Ethan ever enters a long-term relationship, we’ve all seen that plotline many times before.

Add to this the fact that the show’s writers seem to be able to write, at max, one good storyline an episode. There’s usually three arcs going on at once, and although Plot A is usually pretty solid, Plot B and especially Plot C are usually pretty blah. Plot C could even be called Plot Ethan. Perhaps because he’s the most stock-character of them all, Ethan gets the most familiar, and thus boring, of storylines. It almost seems that sometimes the writers think, “Oh! He’s British! Let’s just have him talk Britishly! Storyline written!” and then pat themselves on the back for a job avoided. Although one good plot can cover many faults, it doesn’t take more than a couple of episodes for viewers to wise up and see the Ethan.

Traffic Light has its funny moments, it may even have a couple of hilarious moments, but there is nothing new or fresh about it. Instead of the step forward that I wanted the show to be, its quietly settling into the predictable and mainstream. It is far from the unexpected brilliance of Arrested Development, and its understated humor doesn’t come close to Flight of the Conchords. It’s a fine show, it may even be a better than average show, but with so many other comedies out there, and with so many more original and exciting characters, I’m pretty sure that I won’t be starting a fan page anytime soon.