If you turn off the audio, this show looks like it accurately depicts the modern generation of twenty-somethings. The settings, fashions, hair-styles & accessories all look relevant.
But once you turn the audio back on, this show sounds like it was made back in the 80's or 90's. The lead characters have one-dimensional pursuits, retro dialogue & totally cynical natures...which all lead you to believe there's a generation gap.
If you're in your mid-late twenties (as I am), then you're part of the most curious & engaged generation North America has ever produced. Those who live it know it, and those who don't are welcome to check academic & public opinion studies on the subject.
This generation has melded sharing & consumption, vanity & morals, & the personal & the civic. They're harnessing their purchasing power to affect the way companies design & produce their products. They're harnessing the very act of being fashionable to make statements. They're harnessing their bodies to fill the ranks of NGO's & social movements like #OccupyWallStreet. And they're harnessing their online presence to push both individuals & society towards pursuing higher standards of quality.
This is not the generation the show depicts.
The problem seems to be the characters of Jason & Tina. Since they receive the most individual & paired screen-time, the problems surrounding their characterizations end up dragging the show down.
The most obvious problem is the bizarre dialogue. Jason & Tina sound like a pair of mid-90's stand-up comics who watched way too many Woody Allen movies. They motor-mouth ridiculously long commentaries, in tones fit for staged theatre rather than naturalistic television. They also blurt out dated pop-culture references (seriously, few people my age even know who Steve Buscemi is...much less bond over him in public parks). None of this is the fault of the actors because it's impossible to deliver that sort of dialogue in any realistic manner.
A bigger problem however is the one-dimensional nature of Jason and Tina. It's impossible to believe they actually grew up in the era of the internet & global awareness. Sometimes, it's even hard to believe they've lost their virginity's. They have no interest in anything...except for mating. It seems like their every word & deed is structured to remind the audience of this shallow fact.
The biggest problem though, IMO, is that the writers might actually despise the very generation they're depicting. Why is it that every twenty-something character Jason & Tina come into contact with is depicted as annoying or stupid? Especially when these characters are reflective of certain mass cultural groups like hipsters, immigrants, environmentalists, & even recently lower class black kids. As Bill Maher said, these people aren't the fringe or counter-culture...they are the culture. If you don't respect them, then you don't respect us.
It's sad, because the actors look good & are definitely talented. But the writers seem to be ignorant about the people they're trying to depict.
