CBS debuts its final of three sitcoms for the 2016-2017 season this Thursday with The Great Indoors! The newest addition to CBS’ Thursday night comedy block follows Jack Gordon (Joel McHale), a famed adventurer and journalist who has just been informed by his boss, Roland, that he won’t be going out in the field anymore, but rather working with a few 20 somethings on the company’s online magazine. Jack finds it immensely difficult to connect with his new coworkers due to their constant references to and use of social media. On top of that, he finds out that his new boss his Roland’s daughter, who he had slept with at a company retreat.
The strongest part of the episode is absolutely Joel McHale’s performance as Jack Gordon. He is great at giving funny, judgmental, blank stares to his younger counter parts. I like McHale as the straight man surrounded by craziness. Additionally, Susannah Fielding is pretty great as Jack’s former fling and boss’ daughter, Brooke. Though she didn’t have any laugh out loud lines, she serves as a compelling foil to Jack and I definitely got a good sense for their sexual tension. The rest of the characters have pretty good chemistry as well, the only odd man out being Chris William’s Eddie, who is a friend of Jack’s and owns the local bar.
Although the characters have great chemistry, the writing is just plain bad. Far too many of the jokes were easy digs about how Millennials like social media and are disconnected from the rest of the world because of it. Though there is definitely some truth to that idea, not every joke needed to be about Jack Gordon misunderstanding a social media reference. It became pretty gratuitous and took away from what could’ve actually been a fun premise.
I think
The Great Indoors can turn into a compelling sitcom if it cuts down on the social media jokes and adds a little depth to it’s supporting cast. There are a ton of hilarious actors in the show, but even they can’t save bad material. Hopefully the writers figure out a voice for each character rather than relying on jokes about how out of touch Jack Gordon is. Episode 2 is called “Dating Apps”, which doesn't inspire too much confidence, but I’m hopeful that
The Great Indoors will figure it out.
Overall Grade: C+
Favorite Quotes:
Clark: I’m Clark, Online Content Curator.
Jack: Hi, “Clark, Obviously Made Up Job Title”
Brooke: So that’s it? You’re just going to leave for good?
Jack: Oh, I’m sorry, do you need me to submit an official resignation tweet?
Will you be staying
Indoors on Thursday to watch CBS’ newest comedy? Let me know in the comments!
About the Author - Doug Greer
Doug Greer is a TV obsessed Leo from the Bay Area. His TV origin story begins in 7th grade, when his friend lent him her Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs and 144 episodes (and 9 days) later, he was hooked for life. All time favorites include (but most certaintly not limited to) everything Joss Whedon, Charmed, The 100, Nikita, Battlestar, and anything with a laugh track. More recently, Doug produced and help write a webseries for The CW called CW FanTalk and also produced webseries for actors such as AnnaLynne McCord and John Lehr. For the 2016-2017 season, Doug will be reviewing 2 Broke Girls and The Good Place.
