Was I wrong to expect more from South Park cohort Pam Brady?

liquidcelluloid-1

Network: Fox; Genre: Comedy, Guilty Pleasure; Content Rating: TV-14 (for language, sexual content and scatological humor); Available: DVD; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (2 seasons)

Sam Sullivan (Bret Harrison, "Grounded for Life") is the youngest executive in the history of an airline that seems like it must have been named, but for the life of me I can't recall. Sullivan finds himself in one wacky adventure after another trying to please his bosses (Phillip Baker Hall and Mimi Rogers) and grow up and away from his still-immature friends – reduced to his brother Sully (Eric Christian Olsen, "Tru Calling") in the sharper 2nd season.

If Pam Brady contributed anything to the early days of "South Park" (Emmy nominated for the show) there is no evidence of that show's profound success in her own creation "The Loop". Pardon me for also thinking that this premise, reduced to a logline, is an untapped comic reservoir. It is hard not to watch the show and constantly be reminded of what it could have been: a fresh fish-out-of-water story about a young college graduate forced into the work-a-day corporate world. The compromises he must make, the drifting away of his old, "fun" life and attempts to re-capture it, insane bosses and even more insane rules for the sake of perception. White collar satire and college hijinks wrapped up into one, always at war with each other. "Undeclared" meets "The Office".

"Loop" under Brady's pen becomes another single-camera "Scrubs" clone with that racy, tacky Fox twist. It makes no attempt to comment on the corporate world or to connect with Generation-Y coming into that world (as "Free Ride" and "Wonderfalls" did). Instead it sets up a stupid sitcom premise and then twists it into an absurd cartoon with all of the poor comic set-piece staging of "Scrub" and none of the heart or creativity. When in doubt the show throws Harrison into a Clay Aiken shirt or his boss's dress for a cheap laugh, or into the arms of that week's hot young babe for a cheap thrill. The women on this show have a zeal for casual sex you'll only otherwise see on late night Cinemax. Harrison, for his part, appears to be using the show as an open audition to show any potential casting agent he can do better.

Speaking of doing better, where the show crosses the line from a simple stupid sitcom to sheer embarrassment is with what it has Mimi Rogers and Philip Baker Hall doing. Rogers may not care about her career but it is agonizing watch her play the cougar to Sam's catnip. Worse, is a truly great actor like Hall reduced to running around as the typical clueless boss and forced to spit out tacky "it's-funny-because-it's-about-sex" one-liners that might as well be from a Fox folder labeled "Things teenagers will find funny when said by an old person". It's an insult.

Should I have expected more from former South Park cohort Pam Brady? I think so.

* / 4

score /10

liquidcelluloid-1 20 August 2007

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1715993/