Better Than Joey

I've watched the first few episodes of Episodes.  It's a new half-hour show from Showtime.  The premise is a British husband-and-wife writing team are convinced by a bombastic Hollywood network exec to adapt their hit sitcom for American television.  We see them making compromise after compromise, the first being Matt LeBlanc forced on them as the ill-suited lead.

The British couple are Stephen Mangin and Tamsin Greig, who have a nice back-and-forth rhythm, even if we feel we've seen this before.  In fact, if the show has a problem, it's the satire feels so familiar--the sex-crazed mogul, the cringing assistants, the general philistine aura of Hollywood.  But it's sprightly enough, and the twist of LeBlanc playing a version of himself works pretty well.  It's a seven-part series and I figure I can stick around at least that long.