PILOT REVIEW: Bless This Mess

BLESS THIS MESS

Starring: Dax Shepard, Lake Bell, JT Neal, with Pam Grier, and Ed Begley Jr.

Created by Lake Bell and Elizabeth Meriwether
Written by Lake Bell & Elizabeth Meriwether, Directed by Lake Bell

IN SHORT: Green Acres: Nebraska

THE PREMISE:
Mike and Rio (Dax Shepard and Lake Bell) have been married for a year when they decide to give up their busy and stressful New York lives to become farmers in Nebraska when they are left a farmhouse by Mike's dead Aunt Maggie. When getting there, they realize they know very little about farming and also deal with some interesting locals including Rudy (Ed Begley Jr.), a neighbor of Aunt Maggie's who lives in her barn, and Jacob (JT Neal), a perhaps dim-witted son of neighbors. Rounding out the main cast is the local sheriff and store owner, Constance (Pam Grier).

THE REVIEW:
Bless This Mess seemed like an afterthought to ABC as the project, originally tied to FOX, was picked up very late and then thrown on the schedule with a mid-April premiere. But there was promise in the ratings and there's promise in the show too. It's not a perfect show but with a premise that hasn't really been seen since 1971 (when Green Acres left the air), it feels a little bit different than anything else even though the classic TV fans will immediately see the similarities to Acres.

Lake Bell is the creator, writer, director, and star of this pilot and she's solid as Rio, but the best casting might have been Dax Shepard who is instantly likable and natural as Mike. Shepard has a natural ease on camera that was evident in his role on Parenthood and he shines again here. I'm kind of surprised it's taken this long to get him back on TV. Shepard's strength doesn't mean Bell is weak, but he is clearly the stronger performer of the two. I'm always a little leery of someone who is doing as much in a show as Bell and she had a couple moments that didn't ring true, but she also had a couple funny line deliveries and made a pretty ridiculous moment with a cow actually work.

This show is also going to benefit from building up the community of this rural area in a way that other rural sitcoms back to The Andy Griffith Show have done successfully. Ed Begley Jr. was a little bizarre. I know that's the point of the role but I'm not sure Begley was the right casting choice. Pam Grier is very strong as the sheriff and store owner and had a great scene with Shepard in the pilot. The ending of the episode where the small community came to help gave me a good indication of where this show can go and left me optimistic about its future.

BOTTOM LINE:
It's tough for a late premiere to get renewed so who knows what will happen to Bless This Mess even with its decent premiere numbers. But it did enough for me to want to watch more and felt a little bit out of the ABC comedy vein in a good way. I'm rooting for it.