[BlogEntry] Notes From The Underbelly

Did anybody watch this show? I wouldn't even have noticed it if not for some reference in one of the TV blogs I follow in reference to where it would end up on the schedule relative to American Idol (or Dancing with the Stars, or something like that). It wasn't bad, but I don't expect it to last.

The premise of the show is to take a 30-something couple expecting their first child, and then surround them with every combination of friends with advice that you've ever heard. Start with the happily married couple who are so into researching and practicing their first parenthood that they carry around a doll, and even set the alarm to wake up at 3am to practice feeding. Never met anyone that does that, myself.

On the other end of the spectrum is a zombie-like couple that the central characters meet at a shower who give them much more realistic advice about never sleeping again, as well as several other scary things including a graphic depiction (and delivered upon promise to show them) of what happens to breasts after breastfeeding.

Throw in one oversexed, divorced career woman best friend and you've got a borderline Sex in the City episode. All character development in the show will apparently always devolve back into "I'm in my early 30's, I'm not ready to give up the life I enjoy but I want to start a new life by being a parent and I'm scared silly about it." So the stories will be stuff like whether to swap out the small car (the mini cooper) for a minivan. I wonder if at one point there was supposed to be a joke in there about trading the mini for a mini, but if there was I missed it and it was just confusing.

I don't believe the characters. The husband is supposed to be one of those anal retentive freaks that researches everything on the net first, which is funny when he disagrees with the doctor and has to learn to shut up, but other times just makes him hard to get behind. The couple I mentioned above, who are so gung-ho that they deliberately wake up at 3am, are either completely unbelievable or, if they resemble somebody you know, completely annoying. I don't see them lasting long.

It's on at 10pm on I think Thursday (Tivo will do that to you) so we'll record it as long as it lasts and probably watch it over the weekends. Maybe it will get better if the network gives it a chance. I just wonder if they'll run out of material, bouncing back and forth between "I don't know how to unfold the stroller" jokes and "What do you mean I don't get to wear sexy underwear anymore" jokes.