Nine Muses

So, there’s a new show on CBS called “The Class” that I caught on the Tivo preview (and then the actual pilot was Monday night or so, I think.) It’s got that whole ensemble thing going for it, and I’d think their goal is to be the next Friends. Considering that I haven’t found anything comedic that interests me in a while, I decided to give it a shot

The premise is thus: Ethan (Jason Ritter, who I adore since Joan of Arcadia) really likes his girlfriend, Kate. It’s been twenty years since the first day they met, on the first day of third grade. He gets this idea to host a party for her and invite as many people as he can from their third grade class. Comedy ensues.

We’ve got a number of archetypes covered: There’s the gay guy, the slacker, the hot chick turned trophy wife married to the older guy (a sports star), the overachieving business woman (who named her little blonde daughter “Oprah”), the oddball, the failure, and the crazy mean artistic type.

It was entertaining. Some of the scenes felt a little forced (like overachiever chick calling out the gay guy for her prom night debacle), but the stuff between failure and oddball was priceless. Actually, my favorite part with the failure was when he received the phone call for the party. He had a glass of water and a pile of pills in his hand. He’s bringing the pills to his mouth and the phone rings. He hesitates. He starts to bring the pills to his mouth again and the phone rings again. He answers the phone and then says, “What time is it,” as he sets down the pills and picks up a pen to write down the particulars.

So, overall, it was a little weak but it shows potential. If you watch the early Friends episodes after seeing the later stuff, you’ll notice that even those seem forced. Here’s hoping that “The Class” takes off and does well and becomes more solid. More laughter is always good.