Good Morning, Miami

I can't see how the creators expect this show to last more than half a season.

Good Morning, Miami is attempting to be a romantic comedy and a workplace ensemble comedy at the same time (the sideplot between Jake and his grandmother is actually pretty good, but it barely intersects with the rest of the show, so let's ignore it), but failing miserably at both.

First, as a romantic comedy, this is a subpar clone of the Ross/Rachel relationship from Friends. Jake, like Ross, is such a jackass it's embarassing to watch. Dylan, like Rachel, is completely undeserving of Jake's obsession (and Jake, like Ross, even knows this). Rachel is a walking haircut--with Dylan, this is even made explicit (not only is she a not-particularly-exceptional hairdresser for a living, but twice people have referred to her as "the haircut" in Jake's presence, with no objection from him).

In fact, as much of a buffoon as Gavin is, it's easier to root for him and Dylan. For a guy who's both as needy and as superficial as Gavin, Dylan is perfect. And, while the codependent validation that she gets from Gavin may not be healthy, it's at least a step up from what she'd get from a guy who's obsessed with her for no other reason than that she's teddy-bear cute.

Besides, once Jake and Dylan get together (as, the ads tell us, all of America is rooting for) after half a season, where can the show go? This isn't Sam and Diane, or Dave and Lisa--this isn't even Monica and Chandler. The romantic comedy plot pretty much ends when Jake gets his prize.

On to the ensemble workplace. In this case, the source is clearly News Radio. Jake is Dave, the young boss trying against all hope to do a decent job with a hopeless staff. Gavin is Bill, the pompous newsman who has no idea how pathetic he is. Frank is Matthew, the most incompetent and pathetic man on the planet. Penny is Beth, the weird, tough-but-ditzy secretary who never does any work but seems to be the only one who can understand the others' relationships. (Lucia and Sister Brenda are such ridiculous stereotypes they didn't have to be ripped off from anywhere.)

This kind of ensemble worked in News Radio because the writers were brilliant enough to make us relate to the characters even though they were ludicrous and unsympathetic. Will and Grace has followed the same path.

But Good Morning, Miami has made no attempt to take that road; instead, the writers seem to be already trying to "humanize" the characters to make them sympathetic (what a dying show of this type usually does in its last season), while at the same time playing them for one-off laughs.

More importantly, the relationships between the characters that News Radio, Will and Grace, and other shows successfully developed made their stereotyped characters funny for years. Without Karen's relationships with Jack and Grace, or Matthew's relationships with Bill and Joe, neither one of them would be worth watching by the end of the first season. While there's been a half-hearted attempt to show Frank and Sister Brenda interacting on the sidelines, there's no humor whatsoever there. Lucia and Sister Brenda were both played out by the third episode.

I agree with a lot of people here, that the show's quality treads somewhere between as bad as the critics' say and pretty good. I think, essentially, the show has a lot in common with many other failed NBC sitcoms, Conrad Blooms, Stark Raving Mad, Jessee, Naked Truth, Working, etc. Characters are cliched, jokes too obvious sometimes, but it's not THAT bad, the chemistry between the characters and the writing is enough to keep us tuned into next episode. What also kept us tuned into season 1 was the whole Jake/Dylan thing, he liked her, and it was a good move to have them get together by season 2 cause while at times that suspense, was enough to keep us interested to see what happened, it couldn't have realistically gone on forever, like Daphne/Niles or any other long-running crushes. So that was a good move, another good move, was getting rid of the right characters and keeping the wrong ones, the latino Cuban host, the grandma, and the flying nun needed to go. The ones that stayed all add something to the show, Frank's Jere Burns has played a lead before, he's one-dimensional in his patheticness but it's improving, Penny's definitely likeable, Gavin's finding his niche, Mark Fuhrestein's not bad, and Dylan's pretty charming. I think, essentially, this is a show that's takena w hile to find it's footing, and I'm glad NBC kept it for a second season, cause it could very well take-off, it hasn't happened yet, but it could go int he right direction. Also, Jillian Barber's kind of fun, too.

Sitcoms need a workable, believable premise. Ensembles need characters with some depth to play against the premise and each other. The combination of elements leads to comedic combustibility. Well structured, well thought out sitcoms are like fireworks. They have a limited life, but as they explode, they reveal layers of light, color and magic.

"Good Morning, Miami" is a firecracker. Pop, it's gone. In the first episode, a new producer arrives at a failing TV morning show as a candidate to turn it around. (Actually, he just wanted the free ride to Miami to visit his grandmother. He's taking another job.) He meets the show's hairdresser and falls in love. She doesn't know. She's with the male anchor, a recovered substance abuser who credits their relationship with turning around his life.

Okay, a good setup. A great comedic triangle. Except: there's no chemistry between the producer and the hairdresser. At all. His attempts to get her attention generate sympathy for the anchor, who is drawn as the villain vis-a-vis his dismissive attitude toward the producer. Sadly, there's not much more chemistry between the hairdresser and the anchor. (There is unexplored chemistry between the producer and the anchor, but that would be another show.)

The weakest link in the triangle is the hairdresser. There is no character there. She's nice. She's pretty. She's...? Now weeks into the series, we still know nothing substantive about her.

Other characters are broad caricatures of religious people (the weather nun), and Hispanic women (the female anchor). There are also two workers whose functions on the show-within-the-show are as unclear as their functions on the show proper.

The grandmother works, but then, she's been road tested. She's an aged version of Karen Walker from "Will & Grace". We don't see much of her except in some repartee with the grandson-producer. She's like a Greek chorus, commenting on the action but removed from it. Too bad.

Sometimes a show can turn around a few episodes past the pilot. This one has not. It has no idea what it wants to be past getting the designated romantic leads together (which is what every episode is about). It's a lesson that should have been learned from the one-note sitcom "Cursed", or the child who asks at the end of a fairy tale, "and then what happens."

The opening episode of this sitcom shows promise: the setting is interesting (if a bit overused lately--see "Life With Bonnie") and the characters seem appropriately "zany" for a successful ensemble show. I like the team of Kohan and Mutchnick who also brought us "Will and Grace" and the underrated "Boston Common." The cast is also good, even if Suzanne Pleshette seems unlikely as Feuerstein's *grandmother.* The laugh quotient wasn't as high as one would like, but the romantic chemistry is fine--which brings me to the first structural problem the show has. It's been packaged and promoted as a romantic comedy. If they intend to keep the focus on this one romantic pairing (Jake and Dylan), they're doomed to failure. Shows centered primarily around the development of one romance ALWAYS fail; once the characters are in a stable relationship the show is dead, yet if you keep them apart too long, the show is likewise dead. The romance must coexist with other appealing elements and compelling characters.

"Good Morning Miami" doesn't look promising on either front. Jake himself is a nice enough fellow, intelligent and attractive, but perhaps a bit dull. This has been a problem with Feuerstein's previous series. I don't know if he has the charisma to be the lead, though he's been fine as a supporting player.

The other characters and the milieu of an ineptly produced morning television show reveals another problem. What is funny about it is also why it can't sustain a long-running sitcom. If Jake does his job well, he will either fire the other characters or eliminate the quirks that make them funny characters. If he fails at his job, he will be fired. Either way, "Good Morning Miami" is on borrowed time.

NBC has done it again. While they frequently create fantastic, likeable, original shows like "Ed", "Law and Order" and "Friends", they also create generic, dull flops like this show, which rely on jokes and situations that have been beaten to death and beyond in previous sitcoms. I hope they end it and end it soon.