About a Boy

I really enjoyed the pilot of this show, which surprised me a little. It was unexpectedly clever and made me chuckle.

I thought all three of the main actors had good screen chemistry with each other, which is hard to find.

While it does have several clichés in it (I dare anyone to find something that doesn't), that doesn't matter because the actors pull it off.

I enjoyed every moment of the pilot, and I have high hopes for the rest of the episodes we get.

My concern is that NBC axes things willynilly sometimes, so I don't have a lot of optimism that they'll keep it on the air (much like Bent, which was hilarious and starred the same man as this show). I'll enjoy it while I can, and you should too. :)

Will Freeman (David Walton) is a carefree womanizer living off of the royalties of his one hit song. Weird new-age Fiona (Minnie Driver) and her odd son Marcus move in next door and turn Will's life upside down. Will forms a tight bond with Marcus despite his misgivings. Fiona is horrified at first but grows to see the good in their relationship. Will's best friend Andy (Al Madrigal) is married to bossy lawyer Laurie.

'About a Boy' is a very good movie but it means nothing for a TV adaptation. The story is reasonably set up for a TV sitcom as long as the actors are good. I like all three actors and I love their chemistry. I don't always love Al Madrigal but he's more like a side character. The kid is adorably dorky and Walton is fun. Minnie Driver is a no-brainer. I love the chemistry especially between Walton and the kid.

I watched this show with low intentions. Heck the real reason I watched it is because I've literally seen pretty much every good show released in the last decade. OK it's not Doctor Who or Battlestar Galatica, Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones but despite the budget, the premise and everything I decided to give the show a shot and I'm so glad I did.

This show touched me on many levels. Anyone who feels any sense of entitlement and yet feel lost in a world of so many opportunities will resonate with this show. In fact I think a lot of people can resonate with this show. The show presents and ideology that what we all want, that is people in general just being nicer and warmer to one another. And while this might be a controversial point the fact is since 9/11 American's, especially in the major eastern cities have had a sense of fear instilled in them. Heck from my time in America my opinion was the people were the servants of the Government and not the opposite as it should, and used to, be.

This show may well be in its infancy, but they managed to fit a lot into the devue episode and I think they pulled it off very well. I know a lot of people think the premise for the show has been overused in recent times but I think this show is different enough to break away in future episodes and become truly it's own identity. It's not perfect, but it's good and I highly recommend it to anyone.

As you can see it's not like some of my favourite shows which I listed at the start (all of which have amazing character and storyline development) but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

For those who enjoy this show you may enjoy the slightly darker movie Short Term 12 which has recently come out (about foster children in a short term care house).

I'll finish on that note, which just a quick reminder to not base a show on previous movies but it's own merit. After all a show has opportunities for story and character development which isn't generally available in the Movie time window.

Cheers, Cyn

A very different show, 2 seasons, 30 20-minutes episodes - short & simple.

It follows the steps of the 2002 Hugh Grant movie. It's not a laugh out loud comedy, but it's endearing, funny and has a lot of heart. Or at least it did in the first season.

In the second season it seems that the writers ran out of things to say, and the situations became too forced and not that funny. It still had its moments, but there were too far between. Rates plummeted and the last season was swiftly canceled, with the last 6 episodes being released months later on video on demand.

The series finale was quite good, although all in all I prefer to keep the memory of the fresher first season.