I Just Want My Pants Back

Peter Vack is the weak manchild hipster lead in an MTV series about a bunch of aimless 20something slackers. One night he had incredible sex with an amazing girl, but she steals his pants and disappears. But unlike the title 'I Just Want My Pants Back', he actually wants more than just his pants back. He wants her back, too.

Kim Shaw plays a great sassy best friend. She has great chemistry as the best friend. Elisabeth Hower and Jordan Carlos play their more responsible friends. They're the most stable couple they know. It lasted 12 episodes. They made great group chemistry. That's their biggest asset.

First of all, I started to watch this show without any expectations, only for easy entertainment. I liked the basic idea of the show, and all the simplicity of the sentence "I just want my pants back" sounded good to me. Maybe it's way too similar to How I Met Your Mother, but I still like it. The story had potential, but in the first some episodes, they've ruined it. The acting was poor, the hand recorded footage were too unfocused and so... I didn't really see the future in the show, but I gave it another go. And so I was right. The actors got way better, they started to build their own characters, and so the story got back to the main topic, with short side-stories. I think that's all I want from this show, to be simple and entertaining. So I Just Want My Pants Back is good for a teenage easy entertainment TV show, and if they'll put in the effort, and get all the potential out of the story, then it can be a very good production, that we will remember in the future.

Sharp, funny, clever show. I loved Tina and Kent the intern, both were very funny together!!! The show depicts a lot of the modern angst of 20-something kids trying to succeed in a difficult world today given career issues, down economy, looking for love, being on your own, etc. But it did so in a very sharp witted way, making it very entertaining. For example, Jason telling an elderly man sitting in a chair on the sidewalk that he has a "hot date", and the man expectorating to the ground in response--funny. You really see all the foibles of uncertain decisions made by the characters in terms of who/how to fall in love, but you are really rooting for Jason, Tina, and Kent the intern to succeed in their quests.

If you turn off the audio, this show looks like it accurately depicts the modern generation of twenty-somethings. The settings, fashions, hair-styles & accessories all look relevant.

But once you turn the audio back on, this show sounds like it was made back in the 80's or 90's. The lead characters have one-dimensional pursuits, retro dialogue & totally cynical natures...which all lead you to believe there's a generation gap.

If you're in your mid-late twenties (as I am), then you're part of the most curious & engaged generation North America has ever produced. Those who live it know it, and those who don't are welcome to check academic & public opinion studies on the subject.

This generation has melded sharing & consumption, vanity & morals, & the personal & the civic. They're harnessing their purchasing power to affect the way companies design & produce their products. They're harnessing the very act of being fashionable to make statements. They're harnessing their bodies to fill the ranks of NGO's & social movements like #OccupyWallStreet. And they're harnessing their online presence to push both individuals & society towards pursuing higher standards of quality.

This is not the generation the show depicts.

The problem seems to be the characters of Jason & Tina. Since they receive the most individual & paired screen-time, the problems surrounding their characterizations end up dragging the show down.

The most obvious problem is the bizarre dialogue. Jason & Tina sound like a pair of mid-90's stand-up comics who watched way too many Woody Allen movies. They motor-mouth ridiculously long commentaries, in tones fit for staged theatre rather than naturalistic television. They also blurt out dated pop-culture references (seriously, few people my age even know who Steve Buscemi is...much less bond over him in public parks). None of this is the fault of the actors because it's impossible to deliver that sort of dialogue in any realistic manner.

A bigger problem however is the one-dimensional nature of Jason and Tina. It's impossible to believe they actually grew up in the era of the internet & global awareness. Sometimes, it's even hard to believe they've lost their virginity's. They have no interest in anything...except for mating. It seems like their every word & deed is structured to remind the audience of this shallow fact.

The biggest problem though, IMO, is that the writers might actually despise the very generation they're depicting. Why is it that every twenty-something character Jason & Tina come into contact with is depicted as annoying or stupid? Especially when these characters are reflective of certain mass cultural groups like hipsters, immigrants, environmentalists, & even recently lower class black kids. As Bill Maher said, these people aren't the fringe or counter-culture...they are the culture. If you don't respect them, then you don't respect us.

It's sad, because the actors look good & are definitely talented. But the writers seem to be ignorant about the people they're trying to depict.

Finally, a sitcom like show about people my age! most sitcoms are about kids in high school played by actors in their 20's or people in their late 20's played by actors in their 30's who eventually get married and have kids.

What we need are more shows about that time just after college or university, moving to the big city and finding themselves (20-25).

I love Seinfeld, Friends and new shows like How I met your mother and community. These shows are slightly easier to relate to because its current but there are so few shows that are set for my age group. and actors my age are all playing kids in high school.