Worst Week

Poor,beleaguered SAm Briggs(Kyle Bornheimer,who seems to have been born with a 'I'm screwed!'face)is about to marry the lovely Melanie(Erinn HAyes),but has the dangerous task of trying to impress her parents(KUrtwood Smith and NAncy Lenehan,both great!)and seems to wear bad luck around his neck. EAch element of their impending nuptials becomes fraught with peril,all laying out traps for our intrepid hero.

THis comedy has worked so far(At this writing,about twelve episodes deep). THe timing and reactions of all involved work well enough(Or better yet,they stay out of the way of the natural humor to develop)that this show has a true charm and appeal to it. I'm probably mincing details here,but I still cannot help but feel like naming a show "Worst Week" suggests that this show's running plot is a singular or finite problem. Since the mere nature of a TV series is,usually,to continue indefinitely,the naming of a show set around a singular worst week seems to present a bit of a problem. Or maybe that's just me.

UNless there's been a revelation as to the time constraints of this show in a previous episode(or episodes)that I've not been cognizant of,I cannot help but feel like a show with the kind of genuinely funny quality and rich potential,the producers might want to change the title. Some suggestions: "Worst Weeks"? "Another BAd Week"? "ONe Bad DAy After Another"?

Again,just suggestions. Good show,though!

I really didn't know much about the program before I watched it. I wasn't expecting much. I just finished watching the first episode of Worst Week and I'm still wiping the tears from my eyes. Yes, I laughed until I cried. This episode was one hilarious event after another.

It was a cross between Meet the Parents and sometimes Weekend at Bernie's. The main character had the worst luck of anyone I have ever seen! I only worry that the premise might get old and become less funny episode after episode. I hope not.

One great thing about this show is no laugh track! Yay!

Don't miss this one! It's one in a million.

After watching the pilot episode, I found myself laughing hysterically as I saw Sam Briggs go through one mishap after another, while he's trying to make a good impression with his girlfriend, Melanie Clayton's parents.

In addition, who else could could play the role of Melanie's rigid father, Dick Clayton, better than Kurtwood Smith? He has always made me laugh back when he played "Red" Forman in That 70s Show. I can't think of anyone better who would be a better fit for the role.

Although I enjoyed this show immensely, I have one reservation, which is, will I still enjoy it six months from now, or will I want to watch something else? It's funny as I mentioned watching Sam go through one mishap after another and watching things go from bad to worse, but will the one thing that makes this show successful be it's downfall? It may come to a point, where it may not be funny anymore, just like Kenny McCormick on South Park when he died in every episode. Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker once found it funny, but after awhile it was no longer funny to them, trying to find new ways to kill Kenny, so they killed him off for good. This is what I fear what will happen to the show as things start becoming predicable and unfunny. Will the show find the same fate as Kenny? Only time will tell.

This is one of those surprising shows. You know, the kind that you see by accident and are completely amazed by. I'm not very well tapped into the hype of television (got Tivo, so I don't see much in the way of commercials), so I don't know if it was given a big promo campaign or not, but I really hope the network gives it multiple seasons. The idea, a British import, follows an idea similar to "Meet the Fockers". An average good guy who seems to have cataclysmic bad luck is marrying (and having a child with) his loving girlfriend who comes from an uptight upper middle class family with a domineering father. There are also echoes of "Everybody Loves Raymond" here, with themes of overbearing in-laws and the quirkiness of family.

While I loved "Meet the Fockers" and "Raymond", in many ways I appreciate "Worst Week" because of some subtle but gratifying different choices made by the creators. In Fockers, for example, Ben Stiller's character is almost always alone in his antics. When something goes wrong and he finds himself in the middle of a mess his girlfriend is, along with her family, a judgmental observer, leaving the viewer to feel like Focker, alone and ashamed. Of course, she forgives him by the end, but it always felt a little harsh to me as this was supposed to be his future wife and mother of his child. "Worst Week", by comparison, places the girlfriend often into the role of co-conspirator, so that even if everything goes wrong you still have the foxhole "at least we're in this together" sort of feeling. And while I'm a huge fan of "Raymond", I like that the story of Sam and Melanie (the two main protagonists) is starting much earlier. In many ways Sam and Melanie are still kids themselves, and it's kind of nice to watch as they grow into their roles of husband and wife (and mom and dad) rather than picking up the story much later in their life.

All in all, the humor is well written and acted. Especially Kyle Bornheimer, who is a real find as the hapless everyman Sam. And Erinn Hayes, who plays Melanie, does a fantastic job of portraying the formerly rebellious girl all grown up, neatly skirting the line between hip thirty-something and quasi daddy's girl who is drawn towards a conventional family life. Every show I've seen so far has consistently gotten good laughs out of me, so I think that if you enjoy a good warm family kind of humor you will really like this show.

This is a rare example where the American version of a TV show is better than the British original. The original was merely frustrating in its Sisyphean contrivances whereas the American is more sweet-natured and the actors are more likable. I particularly loved the scene where a stunned budgie is mistaken for a growing erection in the hapless hero's pants while he watches his fiancée's sister breastfeeding – it's more complicated than that of course but still hilarious! The fiancée's father is played by Kurtwood Smith from Dead Poets' Society and many other good movies. Unfortunately Channel 10 in Australia gave up on the show after a few episodes because of poor ratings.