Why?

Auntie_Inflammatory

Who thought this would be a good idea?!

"Hey, let's film a bunch of (mostly C-list) celebrities (reality show "stars," rappers, marginal actors, a TV chef, a football player, a sportscaster, an ex-model, etc.) sitting at home, watching and reacting to TV shows and films with a spouse or relative. Viewers will love it because they'll see that celebrities are real people, just like them!"

No, just . . . no.

In episode 2 they watch; a prime-time drama, a "Good Morning America" story on murder hornets, a baking show, an E.T. story on Elon Musk's new baby, a Gordon Ramsay show, "The Joy of Painting," a docu-series about guys who get bitten by spiders and snakes, and the film "Dirty Dancing."

Are any of these things enhanced by watching a celeb react with, "Oh my God!" or "Look at that!" or "Oh no!"?

Nope.

Of course, since you're watching people who are used to being on camera and crave attention, there's some over-acting going on here. Having witnessed the way that Raven Symone reacts to a baking show, it would be in her best interest to never win a lottery because her head would probably explode.

I'd never seen Jojo on anything before and I don't need to see her on anything ever again. The football player's wife seems stoned in one set-up, as she stares straight ahead, glassy-eyed, and acts ditzy. Ozzy Osbourne struggles, valiantly, to stay upright and awake. Tyra Banks and her mom watch TV in bed together. Why? My mom and I lived together as adults a couple of times. We never got into bed together to watch TV. Weird.

In between viewing sessions, we're treated to domestic scenes like Justin Long and his brother discussing whether they should fix or throw away an old pillow and Sharon Osbourne yelling at Kelly because one of the dogs took a dump in the house. Fascinating! Long gets in a plug for Hallmark movies on his sock.

Occasionally, they throw in a shot of the outside of the cast's palatial homes, so us regular folks can feel REALLY good while watching from our tiny, cramped apartments. On Mother's Day, we see Jojo giving her mom a fancy, expensive-looking cake (don't I feel like a jerk, for just baking my mother cookies?) and Kelly giving Sharon a huge, super-expensive-looking gift basket of "English treats." Yep, they're "just like us!" (Not).

If Fox really wanted to give this a chance, they should've hired comedians (especially people with improv experience) to do the commenting. "Talk Soup"/"The Soup" was funny because it was scripted. Also, using "party" in the title implies that the proceedings will be festive. People sitting on the couch or lying in bed is not party-like.

Are the celebs on this show exempt from the social-distancing rules that the rest of us are currently being forced to comply with? The two guys sitting on the couch with Raven are described as her friends. Can I invite my friends over to watch TV? If Gruesome Newsome sees this, he'll probably send storm-troopers to her house to arrest her!

And, of course, someone (or a whole crew) had to go to the homes of all these people to set up for the shoots as I doubt they all had $4,000 cameras (more than one since they sometimes cut to close-ups), tripods, key lights, fill lights, and the lavalier mics they're all wearing, just lying around! "Do a show from my house? Oh, sure, I've got a complete studio in the closet!" LOL! And who's moving the camera when it occasionally pans? One of the kids? Grandma? Yeah, right.

If you want to see commentary on old films that's actually funny, there are hundreds of old episodes of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," "RiffTrax," and Elvira's "Movie Macabre" floating around. Now THOSE would make for a fun watch party!

score 1/10

Auntie_Inflammatory 17 May 2020

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5745253/