Playing House

I happened upon episode five by accident and was hooked. Started on episode one and watched them all in one night. I sure hope it is renewed for 2015. Catchy, smart and believable premise, great writing and lovable characters. They way these two best friends bounce off each other is real and funny at the same time...... Everyone has had a friend like one of them. I especially like there is no soundtrack. I like to decide when something is funny and find myself laughing constantly at this. The supporting characters are all a hoot as well. Crazy every day life at its' finest....... and you can never go wrong with Keegan Michael Key! USA delivered a winner here. Definitely 10 stars and a big Thumbs up!

It's hard to tell which one is crazier, but who cares... Since their previous show, "Best Friends Forever," was canceled they are back again. These two are just too funny to get rid of. The creators, writers and stars, Jessica & Lennon, use a mix of script and improv to bring you a LOL funny couple of best friends. Which is what they are in real life. I thought "Best Friends Forever" was a great show, but with Keenen Micheal Keyes as a co-star, this one is even better!!!

The banter between these characters will have you rolling on the floor! Just wait 'til you see Lennon's alter-ego "Beaucephus!" You will laugh so hard you won't be able to breathe. Be sure to DVR the show so you can go back and watch the bits you miss because you were laughing so hard.

Much of the appeal of this show lies in the chemistry between the leads, who co-created it and have worked together for years. They're portrayal of best friends is very real and also very funny. The show manages to touch at the underlying emotions of the characters in a way that never seems saccharine or that even stops the comedy; even the most emotional scenes have humor.

I don't love the premise of a woman who gives up her high-powered job to raise a friend's baby. It's a strange scenario, and presumably the ex executive is living on savings now and at some point will need to get a job. I would like to see that, since raising babies and flirting with your married ex doesn't seem like enough for someone who has spent years in a job she appears to have loved and been good at. But even if the show is a little shy of sense, it is very funny and charming.

ADDENDUM: I wrote this after watching the first season, and had nothing new to say after the second. But the third season is genuinely bad. The writing just fell off a cliff. It's embarrassingly bad sitcom stuff. I don't know what happened!

Emma Crawford (Jessica St. Clair) returns to her hometown of Pinebrook, Connecticut to attend her best friend Maggie Caruso (Lennon Parham)'s baby shower. When Maggie discovers her husband Bruce had been cheating with an online cam girl, Emma decides to quit her high power job to care for Maggie and her pending baby. Emma's first love Mark Rodriguez (Keegan-Michael Key) is married to "Bird Bones" Tina. Zach Harper (Zach Woods) is Maggie's weird younger brother.

Jessica and Lennon have a simple best friends chemistry from their real life relationship. They are also good comedy creators. They do have to be careful not to make it inside jokes. That's not the case here. Keegan-Michael Key adds another great character. He's both funny and a great boyfriend material. Sadly, it got cancelled after three short seasons. It has more room to grow. I thought the cancer story was going to turn into something deeper and darker although maybe it's not the gals' style. They are more lighter and quirkier.

The two leads are also the writers, which didn't surprise me. They're very funny and every episode kept me interested and laughing. They have such great chemistry that I wondered if they were best friends in real life, so I Googled it, and yes, they are. Keegan-Michael Key and Jane Kaczmarek are very good in supporting roles. In fact, the whole cast is quite funny, with familiar faces popping up here and there. I like Key's role, and he does a nice job as straight man who gets to be funny here and there, but it is weird that he is Emma's married old boyfriend. Seems unclear what his purpose is - I almost want him and Emma to get together, but not at the expense of his marriage, which is not bad. The show can be a little edgy and Emma (Jessica St. Clair) can be a little prickly (as can her mom, played by Kaczmarek). But it's all balanced with a sweetness (not the syrupy kind) as the two best friends take care of each other. Now that nothing new is on TV, and all that's left is so formulaic (esp. since Community was canceled), it's really nice to find a truly funny show. So many sitcoms are formulaic and forced. This is definitely NOT one of those. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but definitely worth a watch to find out.