PILOT REVIEW: Indebted

INDEBTED











Starring: Adam Pally, Abby Elliott, Jessy Hodges, with Steven Weber and Fran Drescher

Created by Dan Levy
Written by Dan Levy, Directed by Andy Ackerman

Indebted is certainly not lacking in experienced sitcom performers. In the same show, we have veterans from The Nanny, Wings, Happy Endings and Saturday Night Live. That's a pretty wide range of comedies that have their fans from all walks of life. So a show with this much talent can't be bad, right? Well, meet Indebted.

Indebted starts in a very strange way, with Dave and Rebecca (Adam Pally & Abby Elliott) basically mid conversation with the laugh track alive and well. It was almost like they cut a few seconds and it made for a very weird start that felt off. Then the show proceeded to immediately tell us (not show us) the plot by introducing Dave's parents, Debbie and Stew (Fran Drescher & Steven Weber). First of all, the show treats Drescher like she's Lucille Ball coming back to TV after years away. I know The Nanny has its fans and most people know who Drescher is, but I'm not sure she's fully earned the praise she gets from the studio audience and the NBC promotions.

After that, the show devolves into being about as pedestrian as it can be. There are really tired jokes about getting away from kids, using labor as a guilt trip from a mother and, of course, being broke. The latter topic is the source of so many lame jokes in the pilot. We get it, they don't have any money anymore. How many one liners need to be said to drive that point home?

Given the expertise of the cast, it is deeply disappointing. Drescher seems to have basically devolved into a caricature at this point. Back when she did The Nanny, she certainly was viewed as a caricature but she had more comedic chops than she sometimes got credit for. But since The Nanny, she seems to be content to rest on her laurels for characters. Weber was one of my favorite parts of Wings, but he doesn't really add anything here. I've always been annoyed by Adam Pally and Abby Elliott is serving the stereotypical wife role that seems to always be in shows like this. A whole lot of talent, a whole bunch of nothing.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
It's doubtful. It's not the worst thing ever, but it's certainly not worth watching again.