A Man. And His Blog.

Slightly better than the pilot, but the series is still terrible. The comedy is still missing, and the characters are still not likable, because they haven’t any edges. I don’t care, whether the dates of the episode for Ben (Ryan Hansen) and Sara (Danneel Ackles) are failing, and I don’t care, whether Aaron (Zach Cregger) is in love with Riley (Jessica Lucas) and tries everything to get her attention. One thing is for sure now: FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS is another one of those relationship comedies from the last TV season, which failed to be entertaining completely. HAPPY ENDINGS for the win!

So, what did I not like this time? Short answer: The cast is still not good in their roles. Ben is still an annoying main character, and Sara all of a sudden got some crazy characteristics she didn’t have in the pilot. I don’t like what a different character she became in this episode – as if the writers didn’t know the behavior and tone of their characters, and that’s bad writing. In addition, Riley and Paul (Jim Devoti) became the couple who weren’t, which makes their story stand-alone from anything else. The friends are basically connected through their scene in the bar, but for the rest of the episode they have their own stories – not good as well, because it looks like the writers don’t know how to depict a friendship between five guys and therefore split them up for 93 percent of the episode.

Again, the stories weren’t exciting. But while I was kinda seeing the likable things in the Sara/Ben “thing”, I kinda like now what the Aaron/Riley thing could become, because the “group dinner” was the only good “thing” about the episode, since it showed that Aaron might have more interest in Riley than he knows, which is why he will continue getting to her, despite her words to him. Other than that, I didn’t like Matt (John Brotherton) as Sara’s boyfriend of the week, because he was too average and normal for a comedy show (and because he was the complete opposite of Sara, who transformed into a crazy woman between the pilot and this episode), and I didn’t like Colleen (Nicky Whelan) as Ben’s teaser, because the comedy in this story was forced. Like the moment, where she suddenly plays the bagpipes – here I was thinking: Do the writers really want me to laugh at this?

Two episodes in and it’s clearly visible where the problems lie with FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, the TV show. But somehow, this episode was slightly better than the pilot. Who knows if the next episode will be slightly better also… By the way: Please get rid of the “in the head”-monologues/voiceovers. They were terrible paced in the pilot, and this episode wasn’t much better in bringing new information into the episode. Articulating with gestures would be more funnier, instead of hearing the thoughts, but obviously that wasn’t in the script. Cancelled! 4/10

Another fail date for Ryan

"Imma have ma eye on ya!"

Well, that was nothing. No wonder why NBC decided to hold off an airing of this show and burned it off in the summer, because that was really terrible. It didn’t work as a comedy, because there wasn’t one single laughable scene in it, and it didn’t even work as a TV series, because the characters were utter stereotypes and completely unlikable, why the cast seemed to be in robot mode. That was the cookie-cuter approach of a comedy show, with all the bad things and bad actors in it. Oh my god, that was bad.

But to be honest, not all of it was bad. Minor things were working, and there is something with this show that I want to go back to it, hoping it will get better. The friendship between Ben (Ryan Hansen) and Sara (Danneel Ackles) is such a thing. While I think that Ryan is completely miscast for the role and has absolutely zero comedy timing, I kinda like that the writers are probably going into relationship mode after a while with this couple. They started off the series as fuckbuddies, they are the main characters of the show, and the question was already asked, if he might be in love with her. And after all the standards of the genre, it is a must that Ben and Sara will get together as a real couple sometimes later in this show (if it should even survive past the fall). Just think about Chandler and Monica here – Ben and Sara are basically the same couple, just with less sense of humor. But that’s it. That was the only good thing about FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, the TV show.

Because the rest wasn’t working. Fitz (Andre Holland), Aaron (Zach Cregger) and Riley (Jessica Lucas) are clichéd best friends, and the hook-up between Aaron and Riley was predictable (after all, this show is called FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS), when they started talking in the bar. Even more, Riley seemed to be the sex-crazed girl in this show, after she hold her tits into the camera for numerous moments. Yeah, she’s sexy, but it shouldn’t be so obvious that the producers and director have the hots for her. It was like Doug Ellin wanting to have sex with Sasha Grey in ENTOURAGE, that obvious was it. And finally, there’s Fitz, who didn’t have to do anything, because he barely had screentime. His scenes in front of the mirror were ludicrous and embarrassing, and it can be seen as a writing mistake to not give him any kind of material during the pilot. Damn, that’s the pilot, the episode you introduce your characters in, and one of the doesn’t get anything? That’s so wrong.

With it, the stories of the pilot were lame. Starting with the dates between Sara and Rich (Tug Coker), as well as Ben and Dakota (Alexandra Holden). Both were unfunny and completely stupid. Rich brings Sara in a swinger club (where was the humor in that? It seemed like a cheap sex joke), while Dakota licks like a hungry bird, instead of kissing (where was the humor in that? it seemed like a stupid-blond joke). And in the meantime, Aaron’s girlfriend breaks up with him, because he doesn’t see her as a bitch. Seriously, that was nothing. I don’t even know if I’m gonna watch the whole season, when the second episode is like that. 3/10

Split-screen with three awkward, naked characters

Ugly tongue kiss in ugly TV comedy