Ground Floor

O M G. I only knew about this show because I like to catch old reruns of Married With Children on the notoriously unfunny channel, TBS. Due to the ridiculous storyline, I knew I would not be carving out time to catch this dullard of a comedy, any time soon. One boring day, I thought it would be convenient to watch an episode on Comcast ONDEMAND. At least I could fast forward through the boring parts if it got stupid.

I eventually had to turn it off. I saw the episode where that guy from Spring Awakening had to decide between going to a baseball game with his boss and going to the game with that girl on the ground floor. Needless to say, I will never know what he did because I couldn't take the cheap puns and ridiculous overacting. The supporting, no name actors probably get stuck with the worst material. But hey, we all have to make a buck don't we.

I will say that I like the fact that the producers choose to cast a beautiful lead actress that isn't the size of a pencil. I think that Skylar guy from Pitch Perfect would be more believable if they had cast him as the gay best friend. Anyway, the show sucks, find something on cable that would make you laugh. Peace

When a new comedy starts in a channel I watch it and secretly pray to be really funny. But almost every time I end up to stop it within the first 5 minuter. Unfortunately "Ground Floor" in not an exception. Bad jokes and this fake laugh is a nightmare.

What is going on with comedy shows these days? They are not funny at all. Series like "Supernatural" or "Castle" are more funny than the comedy shows.

Well, it's not nice for a show to be canceled but I'm afraid that "Ground Floor" has very limited time on TV like so many others before.

I hope someone either writer or producer or channel will care and try to make a really good comedy show like the ones we've used to watch in the previous decades.

OK. I have almost forgot about Ground Floor. Who is in it? Never mind! And I'm totally confusing it with Cristela, another sitcom with a working environment where the Boss is rich and almighty and with his office a few meters ...left of the screen. (note: Cristela came out later.)

Anyway. This is a comedy and it's all about how funny it is and about the chemistry of the actors.

So...this is a fun comedy. I won't bash it or anything. There is a romance and some hidden feelings between the boss and his best employees for a dime's worth emotions. There are some quirky characters to add to the laugh.

Well...it's OK.

Overall: Check it out. Classic sitcom with the usual fake laugh track. It doesn't bother me to watch it.

This show appears to be an example what happens when one party appears to no longer be trying and another party is trying WAAAAYYY to hard to salvage what is being filmed. This is far from Bill Lawrence's strongest effort. Writing wise, it just isn't there. I take it as a bad sign when I'm watching a comedy when I find myself waiting to actually laugh. I have to honestly ask myself if this was a dare that he had to perform in order to get another season of Cougar Town, or if he is doing this to protest some of TBS' programing decisions where they renew barely watchable shows ("Sullivan and Son" and "Men at Work") and not renewing watchable and likable shows (Wedding Band).

John McGinley is totally wasted on this show. His performance is that of a person that senses that he is involved in some weak sauce and is trying way to hard to make it watchable.

Maybe it's my bias for John McGinley and his talent or maybe it's because of Skylar Astin's John Cusack's likable underdog persona, but I want this show to be good. My concern is that my subjectivity for these actors is blurring my objectivity for the artistic and comedic reality of the show. I'm worried that the show has started off in a direction that will suspend it in mediocrity.

Although there is minimal content to work from at this moment, only 2 episodes, it is concerning when the writers take a fairly cookie cutter approach with the characters, concept and writing. There is talent in this cast, and i am hoping that the writing will take advantage of that soon- for who knows how long the half-life is for new sitcoms in today's audience.

Initially I find a lack of depth in the characters. They have easily discernible, rigid roles that define the standard sitcom world- protagonist, love interest, demanding boss- and it can easily lead to one dimensional, bounded characters. Take Harvard, through two episodes he has been established as a pseudo antagonist to Brody, and that's it. Every scene is the same jealous angle from him. Couple this with too many scripted jokes and obvious punch lines and you get a muddled experience from your initial viewing. There was just too much obviousness, low level wit. But there were moments, in McGinley's style and Astin's delivery, that offer promise and should give you a reason to give this show a look.

Today's audience is more intelligent and more demanding than ever. There has to be more than what's directly written and seen for them to want to tune back in. Subtlety in humor, interwoven story arcs that cross paths later in an episode to give it depth, intelligence and curiosity about what will develop. I didn't get that so far from this show, but I want to. The lead characters have the ability to make this show more than what people saw so far. I just hope the writers quickly take the training wheels off and let the characters develop and create a more organic, believable, witty world from the Ground Floor on up. 72 / 100