Friday, September 27, 2013

Tune In or Tune Out: The Crazy Ones (CBS)

The Crazy Ones (CBS)
Created by: David E. Kelley (The Practice, Ally McBeal, Harry's Law)
Starring: Robin Williams, Sarah Michelle Gellar, James Wolk, Hammish Linklater, and Amanda Setton


Robin Williams made his big splash on television with Mork & Mindy (1978-1982), and after this he went on to take on film where he was nominated for four Oscars (won in 1997 for Good Will Hunting, and was nominated for 8 Golden Globes post his initial television run winning three,  Williams meet television goddess Sarah Michelle Gellar who has been an icon on All My Children as Kendall Hart, and of course as Buffy.  When these collide with a great supporting cast, you get magic.

The Crazy Ones centers around an advertising agency run by a father daughter team Simon Roberts (Williams) and Sydney Robers (Michelle Gellar).  Simon is of course off the wall crazy playing with large rock em' sock em' robots, and Sydney is the daughter who is trying to keep things together even.  The rest of the team has their quirks as well too, Zack (Wolk) is a bit of flirt/man whore, but can riff with Simon like no other.  Lauren the receptionist/assistant played by Setton did not get to shine as much, but she has a similar role to which she had in The Mindy Project, let's just hope they use her better.

The pilot of this show was both clever and heart warming, the characters have all the quirks of a traditional David E. Kelley show, like Ally McBeal, and Boston Legal.  Kelley who wrote the pilot knows how to blend humor and sentiment well.  There are moments when he can lose focus or he tries too hard with the quirk, but with the talented cast, and more contained writing he has another hit on his hands.  I will add Hammish Linklater was more window dressing, and needs to be used more.

Tune In: Kelley and the cast have some "crazy" magic


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