Deadbeat

I really enjoyed seasons 1 & 2. Funny stories and good acting from Labine, DeVito, Deeley and Jackson. The 3rd season jettisoned costars DeVito, Deeley and Jackson and added Kal Penn. Every episode of season 3 was a steady diet of very crude, gross out "humor." Maybe funny to 14 year olds but few others. I just kept shaking my head at season 3, watching in hopes of seeing the humor that made the 1st two seasons entertaining but constantly frustrated that they got lazy and always took the low road, generally expecting laughs if they showed enough vomit, feces and farting instead of creating funny story lines. If the series had ended after 2 seasons, I would give it rave reviews. But the 3rd season is pure garbage.

I stumbled upon Deadbeat on Hulu last night, and was pleasantly surprised to find a fun new show. It's a perfect break after a long day with funny plot lines and hilarious characters. If you don't love the first episode, just give it a few and you'll warm up to it. I definitely had a few moments where I laughed out loud... by myself. No, it's not going to change your life, but it has enough humor and heart to give you a solid break from the 'real world' for 23 min. It's almost like "Ghost Whisperer" meets "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" - but without the melodrama of GW and the outrageous offense on IASP. It's a great show. I recommend it.

I really love HULU's new show. The main actor is so stupid, it's cute and hilarious. He can be smart sometimes though. He can see the dead but he's a total deadbeat himself. His drug dealer, Roofie, later helps him sell his ability. Meanwhile, Chamomile White, hates and tries to sabotage our protagonist (she's a famous medium). The show is really funny. I'd give it a 10 but some scenes were just a little dumb. I love how everyone just accepts that he can see ghosts. It cuts the usual dramatic "so hard to be me" that we usually get from medium stories. Also, the ghosts are just selfish and demanding. They're not all weepy, "I'm dead!" It's a really great and fresh way to handle a show about a medium. Should so watch.

Positive reviews must be fake? Seriously? Perhaps the often outrageous subject matter simply offends some people. Or maybe their humour glands are malfunctioning. Whatever; ignore these hatin' fools and check out this fine, fine show.

I don't watch a lot of TV comedy, at least not past the first ten minutes or so (tired jokes, the same old situations and canned laughter don't do it for me), but this had me hooked immediately.

Deadbeat is hilarious (as in laugh out loud and have to keep rewinding because you miss the dialogue for laughing). It's also surprisingly smart, especially when it's being dumb, which is a lot, okay most of the time.

And it has Tyler Labine! If you have seen any of his previous comedy work, you'll know this is one funny guy. I suspect a lot of ad-libbing goes on. Besides, it's worth watching just to see Tyler's wonderful range of facial expressions - I got a friend hooked by emailing a snapshot from episode one - priceless.

His annoying nemesis is too annoying for my tastes, but I guess that's the point. While Pacalioglu genuinely sees ghosts and lives in squalor, she fakes it into a successful career. The allegory tragically continues ...

There is one, maybe two episodes in the first ten that are merely very funny, but this is easily forgivable in the grand scheme of things (something Pacalioglu rarely gets!).

I give it one point for every episode that had me spitting my drink at the screen.

Season two, please!

What an enjoyable find. Well acted and mindless fun. Does it pander to stereotypes? Yes...in a way a comedy about an oafish, hapless, stoner who communicates with ghosts and whose only friend is his drug dealer would be expected to. This is not dumb and mindless like so many sitcoms where the unattractive always-wrong male lead is married to an impossibly attractive all-knowing female lead whose kids are smarter than them both, it's dumb and mindless like It's Always Sunny without being so over the top offensive (and I love It's Always Sunny) and with a bit of a sweetness to it. It's Us Weekly compared to Harvard Business Review. And a nice way to kill 22-23 minutes.