Semi-improvised sitcoms are the hot new thing on TV. Certainly, the failures of two shows following the semi-improvised formula—ABC's Sons & Daughters and Fox's Free Ride—haven't stopped two cable networks from trotting out similar shows to kick off their summer seasons. In a surprising bid to shake off some of its stodgy image as a home for overwrought TV movies and repeats of Golden Girls, Lifetime premieres Lovespring International (Mondays, 11 p.m.), a comedy set at an upscale dating service. Comedy Central's latest skewering of the news business comes courtesy of Dog Bites Man (Wednesdays, 10:30 p.m.), about the goings-on at a small-town TV news station.
Both shows feature talented veterans of improvised narratives: Lovespring stars Wendi McLendon-Covey of Comedy Central's Reno 911!, one of the few critically and commercially successful semi-improvised shows, and Jane Lynch, who's appeared in two of director Christopher Guest's excellent mockumentaries. Dog Bites Man has Andrea Savage, one of the stars of Bravo's Significant Others, an important influence on the current crop of semi-improvised comedies, and Matt Walsh, from the sketch comedy series Upright Citizens Brigade. Despite the talent involved, neither show reaches the heights its genre can attain when done right.
The better of the two is Dog Bites Man, which has a more biting tone and takes a page from The Daily Show, as its fictional news correspondents interview real people who aren't aware of the show's true nature (this has already prompted at least one threatened lawsuit, and an official apology from Comedy Central). But its satirical target—self-important small-time news personnel—is just as easy to hit as Lovespring's deluded dating counselors. Both shows traffic in the comedy of discomfort, as characters inadvertently reveal their pathetic inner lives in interactions with others. Guest has perfected this sort of thing in his films, and even injected a good amount of genuine pathos into his characters, but these shows just come off as strained and, strangely enough for improvisation, fairly predictable.
That wouldn't matter if either show were reliably funny (Reno 911! may often fall flat, but it's just as often hilarious). Dog Bites Man wrings a few more laughs from its pathetic characters, and Savage has solid experience at balancing humor and emotion from her days on Significant Others. Lovespring is more outrageous and thus more obviously trying too hard, and the appearance by executive producer Eric McCormack in the second episode (no doubt to lend some star power) proves that the Will &Grace star definitely does not have a future in improv.
Improv itself could have a future, although it's frustrating that no one has figured out how to use it within the confines of a narrative (as opposed to something like Whose Line is it Anyway?). It's possible for improv to lead to more than just absurdist humor, but neither of these shows has a handle on how to develop characters within the improvised structure. When Lovespring's effeminate dating counselor, played by Sam Pancake, has his dowdy wife and attractive brother-in-law visit the office, it's only a matter of time before he's caught in a compromising position with the young man. None of the dialogue leading up to or out of this is any fresher or less obvious than your average nonimprovised sitcom. Neither, unfortunately, are these shows.
The irony of a "family" network airing a salacious nighttime soap is apparently lost on the folks at ABC Family, which this week premieres the Canadian import Falcon Beach (Mondays, 9 p.m.; premieres June 4 at 8 p.m.). Although the first episode features drugs, sex and family squabbles, it's all rather mild, not nearly juicy enough to compete with American melodramas. Maybe that's why ABC Family likes it so much—it's like a sanitized version of The O.C., set in its own (fictional) beachfront town, full of spoiled rich kids in conflict with hardworking townies.
Soaps don't need to be masterpieces of drama to be entertaining, but Falcon Beach is so atrociously written and poorly acted that even its potentially amusing bits fail miserably. The bitchy insults of the stuck-up rich girl are just irritating, and the "sexy" banter is wooden in all the wrong ways. And, thanks to the channel's family-friendly appeal, any time things threaten to become hot and heavy, something intervenes to slow them down. It's one big tease.