A Dog
I watched the first couple episodes of Wilfred, the comedy that's been playing alongside Louie on FX, and I don't think I'll be watching more. It's based on an Australian comedy which was apparently well-liked. For that matter, I hear the ratings on FX are good. Must be a lot of dog lovers out there.
Ryan and Wilfred hang out together. They have adventures, discuss life and even get high. That's pretty much the show. Most of the humor comes from the bizarre juxtaposition of a guy in a dog suit--nominally a dog--acting like a human (with some dog mannerisms), and a rather cynical one at that.
Even if I liked the premise, there's something that annoys me. It's seen in a lot of sitcoms and movies, except in this case it's a dog and not a human doing it: Wilfred, as a friend, is a complete jerk who does nothing but get Ryan in trouble. This is what moves the plot forward, but it doesn't make it enjoyable. Even if Ryan has some weird need to hang out with Wilfred, why should I watch as the dog does hateful, stupid things to Ryan each week? Not my idea of fun.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:11 AM
2 Comments:
Did you like Alf? I've never watched more than one episode. It seems like a similar set up (except a muppet instead of a dog suit).
I guess I have trouble with the required suspension of belief related to poor special effects. Because I don't have a problem with Mork & Mindy, which I quite liked. I even thought Mr. Ed was pretty good, given Ed was a real horse.
P.S. I liked the Muppet show, but that's because it wasn't a "situation" comedy - it existed in its own universe and the characters were themselves - muppets. But I hated that short lived show with people in dinosaur costumes. Am I being inconsistent?
I did sort of like Alf, though I didn't love it. That show was as much about hiding Alf as anything else, though by the end so many people found out his secret I think they outnumbered those who hadn't.
I think the two shows are fairly different, partly because Alf was the central character, whereas we see Wilfred (even if the show is named after him) only in relation to Ryan.
I don't think your argument about suspension of disbelief applies here. The whole point is that only Ryan sees Wilfred as a human in a dog suit. This may be because Ryan is psychotic, by the way, but the show tries not to get too heavily into those questions. Anyway, the more ridiculous the actor looks in the dog suit, the better the comedy should play. (I just don't like the comedy.)
As far as having rules for what works and what doesn't in entertainment, I find they're easier to come up with after the fact.
Post a Comment
<< Home