PILOT REVIEW: I Feel Bad

 I FEEL BAD

Starring: Sarayu Blue, Paul Adelstein, Madhur Jaffrey, Brian George, James Buckley, Zach Cherry, Johnny Pemberton

Created by Aseem Batra
Written by Aseem Batra, Directed by Julie Anne Robinson

IN SHORT: This Show Makes Me Feel Bad

THE PREMISE:
Emet (Sarayu Blue) is a frazzled mother and career woman who spends each day guaranteed to feel bad about something. Whether it's something with husband David (Paul Adelstein) & kids or her overbearing parents Maya and Sonny (Madhur Jaffrey & Brian George) or her team of young, male co-workers Chewy, Norman and Griff (James Buckley, Zach Cherry, & Johnny Pemberton).

THE REVIEW:
Here's the problem with I Feel Bad: it is a very negative show and not in a smart way. I don't want to watch a show every week about a woman who feels terrible about herself for any given reason each episode. In general, I'm more a fan of optimistic sitcoms (hence why I like the ABC family sitcoms) and even the more cynical shows like The Office compensate that approach with brilliant cleverness. I Feel Bad is neither clever nor optimistic.

Then there is the whole Big Bang Theory vibe that adds to the unusual tone of the show. Half the time, it's a family sitcom and then the other half it's like Penny from Big Bang is an older, married woman. The "nerds" at work were not funny and their personalities were all pretty much the same, at least in the pilot (I would much rather see Johnny Pemberton in his hilarious recurring role on Superstore than in this). I'm all for uncomfortable humor but the whole sexy dancing storyline not to mention the conversation Emet led about whether she was "do-able" missed the humor part and was just uncomfortable.

I do think I Feel Bad could get better. I didn't watch the second episode that aired tonight yet, but I plan to at some point because I never think it's that fair to judge a comedy by its pilot. A brilliant comedy pilot is almost always the exception and even comedies that have become great had uneven pilots (look at a show like Parks and Recreation). Comedies take time to gel and the performances aren't terrible. I didn't like the work guys, but I did think Sarayu Blue had a couple funny line deliveries and some decent chemistry with Paul Adelstein. But usually, I can see glimmers of brilliance in the shows I end up loving and I didn't see that here. I don't think I Feel Bad is going to be the next great comedy.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
There has been next to no buzz for this show and it's easy to see why. It doesn't have enough heart to appeal to family comedy fans or enough cynicism to appeal to the type of people who hate the ABC family comedy style. It's oddly in the middle. It seems likely to be gone and replaced by Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Abby's by the time 2019 rolls around.