Breaking In

My friends and I found the pilot very funny and interesting. The show has a cute concept. I particularly like how you never know if The character Oz is telling the truth or lying. The character Dutch was hilarious during the brief moments he had on screen; I couldn't believe that was Smallville's Lex Luthor. The character of Meline was definitely a cross between bad ass, for lack of a better word, and a genius. The character of Cash called to my inner geek/nerd' I found his obsession with pulling pranks (especially when he flipped Cameron's car upside down), star trek and star wars very funny. The character of Josh was the jaded old golden boy who wanted to be back in the spot light. Cameron was the newbie intern trying to escape his fate; he was not keen in joining this team in the beginning but slowly came to accept it.

Cameron Price (Bret Harrison) works for mercurial security tech entrepeneur Oz (Christian Slater). Co-worker Cash Sparks is his best black friend and Melanie Garcia is his crush. Odette Annable leaves after the first season. The cast is joined by Megan Mullally and Erin Richards in the second season.

There are some good moments with the group in first season. The group is able to build some good chemistry. The cast turnover between seasons threw the balance off for the show. Megan Mullally could be fun for what she does but her over-the-top silliness pushes the show too far off-kilter. It's a different tone and not funny. They also threw in Erin Richards to replace Odette Annable. That's a hot chick for hot chick move. The problem is that Bret spent a whole season building chemistry with Odette. The desperate hail-Mary fails to work.

I was just getting to love this show, especially after they added Michael Rosenbaum as a full time cast member. The show was goofy and geeky with a leader of the group that is cocky, much like Community. In fact, it's very similar to Community and if you like Community, you probably like Breaking In.

Unfortunately Fox has decided to cancel this show even as it began to find its footing. What makes this show are the characters. The main character, Brett Harrison from Reaper, is a funny well grounded character (relatively speaking). His character is similar to Jason Bateman on Arrested Development where he plays off the wild actions of the supporting characters. Harrison is a very witty actor and found his acting style that I am sure will present him with another opportunity on a new show.

Christian Slater plays a wild, obnoxious but yet brilliant boss with horrible management skills but with a big heart deep down. The way he treats his staff makes Michael Scott in the Office seem like boss of the year. But just like Michael Scott, Slater's character still defends his employees.

Michael Rosenbaum plays a wild, obnoxious douche that has the brain of a 12 year old. He is like a high school jock that never grew up. He originally had just cameo appearance in the pilot but his character was such a hit they made him a full-time character after episode 3.

Oddette Annable (formerly Yustman) is probably best known for Cloverfield and The Unborn. She is one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood and perhaps the most beautiful woman on TV. She plays the only female character among the main cast. Brett Harrison's character is madly in love with Oddette's character and she herself is having romantic feelings for him. She is not a comedic center point for the show but she performs well as a former grifter that is lovable, warm at times, and a sex symbol.

Alphonso McAuley's character is a geek that will always live in his parents home (or garage as is the case here). His character is hilarious and provides many of the funny one liners or catch phrases (cover your mouth bitch!, Black Zeus).

Its sad to see Fox let another good one go. It did not run long enough to have a successful 'bring the show back' campaign like Family Guy and Futurama. I'd like see Slater and Rosenbaum go on to do other comedies.

I don't watch many comedies. It isn't that I don't like them, its that I don't like them enough to tune in every week.

But I thought I'd give this show a try just because the premise sounded interesting. It isn't about 20-somethings sharing an apartment or a middle class family with quirky neighbors.

What I found was a little bit different than what I'd expected. Instead of an office comedy (with the office being portrayed that of a security firm instead of an advertising firm or lawyers) this is a comedy about people doing oddball 'security' jobs, they remind me a lot of the characters from Sneakers (Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Akroyd, 1992).

Christian Slater - playing Oz, a Skymall obsessed security expert who reminds me a lot of the Robert Redford character in Sneakers, he motivates his employees with a mixture of blackmail and heart tugging personal stories (which I suspect will mostly be lies carefully crafted to elicit the required response).

Bret Harrison playing Cameron - the most recent addition to the company. He's the computer tech and sadly, I found all his geek cred to be lame and not terribly believable. I suspect the writers need to spend more time on Reddit. But he has an undeniable charm and his missteps lead to hilarious situations.

Oddette Anable as Melanie. She plays the sexy bad girl and possible love interest of Cameron. I know, I know, it's a trope - wild girl + geek = interesting romance, but gosh darn it if I don't love it to pieces EVERY darn time.

The most hilarious bit in the show was a brief moment with Dutch, Melanie's boyfriend who has a questionable job(aptly played by Michael Rosenbaum, Smallville's Lex Luthor, gasp, I didn't recognize him with hair!).

All in all, I liked the show and hope it does well enough to iron out the little problems with geek jokes and the occasional moments of overly scripted dialogue.

What I'd like to see is more character development, a multi episode story arc and more time with Dutch, Cash and Oz, my three fave characters. Also, they should spend more time with Melanie and Cameron, so we can find out what else he likes about her besides her being a sexy safe cracker.

Out of the gate fast Breaking In got my attention quickly and kept me engaged. I laughed out loud multiple times, something normally reserved for Big Bang Theory.

I found the characters and the interaction between them funny and interesting, I hope to see them grow and evolve as individuals and as a group. I particularly liked the practical joke theme that ran through the episode. Does that make me a bad person. The plot moved quick, maybe a bit silly, but then I like silly. I came to the end of the episode wanting more. Guess I'll have to wait until next week.

If you demand thought provoking issue driven entertainment this is not for you. If you want an escape and a laugh give it a try.