PILOT REVIEW: Ben and Kate

BEN AND KATE

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Nat Faxon, Lucy Punch, Maggie Elizabeth Jones, Echo Kellum

Created by Dana Fox
Written by Dana Fox, Directed by Jake Kasdan

Ben and Kate is a new sitcom with a male and female lead, only this time they are siblings. Older brother Ben (Nat Faxon) is a dreamer who hasn't been able to hold down a job or a girlfriend. Younger sister Kate (Dakota Johnson) is a young mom to Maddie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) and the opposite of Ben - straight laced and unwilling to take risks. Rounding out the main cast is Ben's friend Tommy (Echo Kellum) and Kate's friend and co-worker at a bar, BJ (Lucy Punch).

THE GOOD: Comedies are much tougher to judge on pilots than dramas because the timing and familiarity doesn't happen right out of the gate. So I look for promise and potential in the premise and dynamics and I definitely saw it in Ben and Kate. Nat Faxon is playing a type but does it well with charm and a good sense  of comic timing. His scenes with the young Maggie Elizabeth Jones were some of the best moments of the pilot. Dakota Johnson started off weak but got better as the season went on. I feel like she needs to play the "straight man" role because she was better with subtle neuroses than when she was being weirder as she was at points in the episode (such as the scene with her date in the restaurant). She has a ton of potential but I just didn't buy her in the character all the way through. The idea of Ben and Kate going under the table to talk was already used on Modern Family but it was cute nonetheless. In fact, the whole show was cute. Not laugh out loud funny, but enjoyable.

THE BAD: I already spoke about how I feel like the Kate character needs to be a little more focused but I would just eliminate Lucy Punch as BJ. She brought down any scene she was in. She is basically a carbon copy (but weaker version) of Catherine Tate's character on The Office, which isn't that good to begin with. I found every scene with her to be painfully unfunny. A sweet show like this doesn't need a shrill, dirty character like that.

BOTTOM LINE: Ben and Kate has real potential because the dynamics between the leads are good. It's refreshing to see a brother-sister comedy rather than a romantic one and the premise and timing is there, which is everything a pilot can really ask for. It's not reinventing the genre and it's not going to be one of the best comedies ever or even on TV today, but it's sweet and watchable. That's all it needs to be.