Animal Practice

I don't know why new shows aren't given a chance, but this show deserved one. I could see it working in a line up with Parks and Rec. I find it imaginative and it got better as it progressed. I saw the pilot and couldn't remember what night it was on. I saw they had the show online and I wanted to catch up, then realized it was gone and only had eight episodes. That sucks. It's a lot funnier than new shows like Go On and Guys With Kids. Plus, other shows like Up All Night and Whitney get renewed and they aren't as interesting. AP does have a Scrubs like vibe, but it is also its own show. I would think if you liked Scrubs, you would like this show as well.

Dr. George Coleman (Justin Kirk) is the top veterinarian at Crane Animal Hospital in New York. His ex Dorothy Crane (JoAnna Garcia) inherits the business and becomes his new boss. There's also a monkey.

I can't decide if this was way too stupid or not stupid enough. Maybe an over the top parody isn't expected to work on the networks and that's why they held back some. But if you put a monkey as a main character, you might as well go all the way. I love the actors here. If not for them, I'd probably never watch this. It didn't help that NBC advertised it so hard. It was never going to be a broad based hit.

I had high hopes for this show because, well, there's a monkey on the regular cast! I loved Justin Kirk in Weeds and I think he's much more believable as a lovable F-Up than as a "Scrubs" Dr. Cox wanna-be.

I also think it's weird to cast Bobby Lee as Japanese- American - why couldn't he just be Korean-American? And the lead female character has no personality at all - no tension to hold the viewer's attention about a potential romance between her and the Justin Kirk character because she is so bland and uninteresting. More fun to imagine him with the freaky Angela....

The whole show is a cute concept but nothing rings true - very two-dimensional.

The current average score for this show is 5.4 which seems somewhat unfair considering 'How I Met Your Mother' has a 8.5 average score and should have been put to rest a long time ago.

Animal Practice is showing on ITV2 in the UK and has a good time slot of 8pm and deservingly so. It arrived on this channel without much fanfare and I caught sight of it during a channel flick and was lucky to catch the pilot in a re-run slot.

I have not seen anything else of Justin Kirk's work but I like his performance in this. His timing and delivery tread a suitable caustic between the comedy and mild drama elements of the show. I particularly liked the episode where we got to visit his relationship with his mother.

Tyler Labine is a favourite comedy foil from other shows like Reaper and Invasion. His goofball approach is its useful sharp self here and he and Kirk play off each other well.

The lack of any hint of a laugh track also helps the watcher also make their own judgment on what works and what doesn't and I find myself laughing at the intended point with ease.

The final icing on the cake for me is the comedic use of 'Dr' Rizzo. Is this character what got the show cancelled? Is there too much reliance on Rizzo? Maybe, but I can't say that seven episodes in Rizzo grates on me. In fact I enjoy the Rizzo moments greatly.

I see that the show got canned after eight episodes in the US, ITV2 will at least be showing all thirteen and I will be watching until the end.

7/10.

1.Best stuff is from the animals. 2.So sad it's camp. 3.Laughable how the vet is even likable. 4.Wrong demographic. 5.If you want to feel better about yourself. 6.The real actor is the monkey. 7.It is a good learning tool how to make a better show. 8.Cute animals. 9.Slapstick comedy. 10.Pretentious enough to make you feel like a rich man looking down on poor folk.Really if you want to watch go ahead just remember this is NBC comedy . Normally don't they have have good stuff 30rock, Parks and Recreation,SNL.I just watch because I wanted to see animals behave in douche bag habitat an they survived if i was a talent scout for a cutesy movie I would hire the animal handlers.Some if not all the material is antiquated it is campy and camp is good wholesome fun.