Shelved

This show is a rip off of Abbott Elementary, and unfortunately not a good one. It's so by the numbers I wonder if AI helped write it.

Earnest lead black female character- check.

Nerdy black young male - check Conservative old white guy - check Overly progressive hippie - check Characterless and boring LGBTIQ+ to make up the numbers - check

Progressive plot episode early to virtue signal and meet quotas yep that too.

But worst of all, it's just rarely funny. Not laugh out loud funny and not cringe funny. Just try hard funny.

Sad becuase the setting had a lot of potential and the actors are all really trying. Lyndie Greenwood shows she can act and is a pretty face, but she's not from what ive seen a FUNNY actress.

And the show also contains the most annoying and unfunny character I've seen in a sitcom for a long time- Wendy the homeless lady. You can skip her scenes.

It's just an average standard sitcom that doesn't really do anything to advance Canadian entertainment. Nothing really outstandingly good or bad here. People have told me the creator of the show is beloved by a lot of white executives in power. But I don't think he's a very strong TV writer. Not the best diverse voice Canada has but he is well-connected.

It's a very forgettable experience when you watch an episode. You don't feel compelled to come back so that will definitely hurt it.

But CTV could very well keep renewing this despite nobody watching because they need to have some Can Con and the diversity that is forced by the CRTC.

It's important to note that this is an actual sitcom though where you can see the clear jokes unlike CTV's "Children Ruin Everything" which is a cringe fest.

I really really wanted this to be more than it is. The actors seem to really try and although I love the library and the idea of a workplace comedy in one, it just comes off as average or slightly below. The characters are very similar to Parks and Rec but it is all just so lowest common denominator humor that pretty much just makes fun of the Ron Swanson ripoff and his WRONG conservative leanings and (yay Derrick from Shadows!) the librarian from the main city branch and his need to see things run normally. All the while laughing off public porn watching, egregious building code violations, theft, and feces in the aisles so everyone feels safe smh. Maybe it will grow, but hasn't so far... Do better. If you are totally copying a show and formula and characters a decade later, it should be pretty easy to come up with situations and jokes that transpose until you get your footing, otherwise the current writing feels amateur and doesn't bring anything new. If cheeseburgers were really good 10 years ago and then someone in Canadada sells a CheeseBeef Sandwich, then it should have something to differentiate itself. Add mushrooms, pickled bananas, something to make it memorable and appealing. Just not enough real laughs to be a comedy and comes more across as a fantasized biography. Ooooh tha Widdle Twain dat Could, so cute to watch the underdog win when it somehow feels deserving but why get new computers when there is feces on the floor, bathrooms destroyed, no public water fountain, and a trip hazard one of the locals uses to balance themselves, and the mentally incapable to physically and sexually harass your staff? It sounds like great management and the branch is totally deserving of new computers and respect because the boss is nice and has a big heart... zzzzzz I'll give it a couple of more episodes but it really needs to pick up the comedy part of sitcom. And someone drop a piano on that hateful desk assistant. She is just an awful, judgmental, negative person. It was fun to see her get schooled by the other women before launching into their gender-affirming resolution.

I have high hopes for this series. A typical office comedy series, with various character and their shenanigans. But sadly this is not it. The story itself doesn't bring us as the audience to care, or even knowing the characters personally. The characters heavily rely on the 'label'; the boss, the new worker, the mysognistic, the feminist, etc etc. Where's the funny? And what makes it even sadder, I hardly see the use of the public library as a setting. I only see they sort of 'interact' among the book, but not the actual job of librarians or what they actually do everyday. It feels like written by someone who seach about librarian's job and make a story about it.

I'm disappointed. After four episodes I decide to wave my white flag.

I think, for a first season, it's a good start.

I think Manager Wendy is too "otherworldly" for this. A lot of her lines sound like a badly written childrens' book. She's really unbelievable, the way she's written, and it's almost insulting if I'm honest.

Many of the characters are interesting but yeah - first season, underdeveloped; that's normal. Some good sight gags and punchlines - I lol'd once or twice. I like the pacing and the patter.

To be honest - I came here JUST to defend it cuz I knew it would take a beating but I don't want anyone to give up on it. I think it has SO much potential, and is ONE of the best ideas Canadian Television has had in a long time. Canadian TV has seemed to step up a little lately. I'm appreciating that.

Love the premise, love the path. Now just a little polish. I like it.