PILOT REVIEW: Living Biblically

LIVING BIBLICALLY

Starring: Jay R. Ferguson, Lindsey Kraft, David Krumholtz, Tony Rock, with Ian Gomez, and Camryn Manheim

Inspired by "The Year of Living Biblically" by AJ Jacobs
Created by Patrick Walsh
Written by Patrick Walsh, Directed by Andy Ackerman

THE PREMISE
Living Biblically is based on a book about a man who decides to live his life for a year literally according to the Bible. When Chip's (Jay R. Ferguson) best friend dies, Chip goes into a funk that is broken when his wife, Leslie (Lindsey Kraft) tells him she is pregnant. Chip decides to improve his life by living for a year according to the Bible with the assistance of his priest, Father Gene (Ian Gomez). Rounding out the main cast are co-workers and friends, Vince (Tony Rock) and Rabbi Ableman (David Krumholtz) as well as his boss at a local newspaper, Ms. Meadows (Camryn Manheim).

THE REVIEW
Well this was a pretty cringe-inducing pilot that once again proved everything that is wrong with the current state of multi-camera sitcoms. I have not read the book it is based on but despite being a little bit gimmicky, I don't think the premise is all that bad. In fact, I could have seen this working as a quirky single camera comedy. But the problem is it's a niche, gimmicky concept that is presented as a very generic sitcom with a laugh track (and an annoying one at that).

As is so often the case with shows like this, one of my biggest problems is that the dialogue just doesn't feel natural at all. It feels like setup-joke-setup-joke. Obviously that's not how people talk in life and it's glaringly obvious when a show is written by jokes instead of by characters. When you have a well-written sitcom, the humor comes naturally and it doesn't feel forced. That doesn't matter if it's a single or multi-camera sitcom, it all comes down to the writing. The poor writing was evident from the very first scene where a very fake sounding audience laughed at one bad line after another as the show explained the whole plot in a very uninspiring way. The fact that it had a surprisingly tender moment at the end didn't erase all the cringing that happened throughout the pilot.

As far as the cast, Jay R. Ferguson was fine in the lead role and I could actually see him being funny in a better written sitcom. But he's not strong enough to overcome the writing. The rest of the cast ranged from adequate to forgettable. Camryn Manheim is doing some serious overacting here which is a shame for an acclaimed actress. And I know she's not a regular but Sara Gilbert was super annoying in the pilot in a role that was very similar to her role on the short lived Bad Teacher sitcom a couple years ago. I certainly hope her reprisal of Darlene on Roseanne in a month is nothing like her recent track record. And just one final comment, does a mom really believe her son is in hell and if she does, would she joke about it at a memorial service? Of course the answer is no and that's another way to hammer home the fact that nothing about this show felt real.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Probably not. I don't know if this is the worst new comedy of the year but it's certainly a contender.