Quick spoilers for last night's "My Boys" coming up just as soon as I contemplate a second cookie... As someone who's gone through periods of spending way too much time on Facebook, and having way too many Facebook friends(*) and activities, I sure found a lot to relate to and laugh at in this one, particularly Mike's desperate attempts to get the Dalai Lama to join his Mafia Wars team.
(*) FYI, in order to keep my virtual life manageable, I'm trying to keep my Facebook friends limited to people I actually know in some way, so if you've sent me a request and it was ignored, my apologies.
That said, Mike's subplot was kinda silly even by "My Boys" standards. Once he made the object of his and Brendan's desire into a Facebook friend, wouldn't she start to suspect that all these amazing overlaps in their personal taste was really just Mike reading her profile? I bought that Mike would be oblivious when a woman tried to do it to him, but I kept waiting for a punchline where the one he was pursuing revealed that she was onto him.
Beyond that, though, there were a lot of funny throwaway moments, whether it was Kenny's Walter Winchell impression ("to all the ships at sea!") or Andy asking, re: Bobby's ex-girlfriend Suzanne, "Is she the deputy secretary of Yowza?"
I'm really glad the show got its fastball back this season. What did everybody else think?
9 comments:
I still think the show is weak overall, mostly because they STILL haven't really developed PJ's character. The storyline was meh. You can't create drama between PJ and Bobby when both characters are constantly smiling and reaffirming how strong their relationship is. And I guess it makes sense that this group (late twenties, early thirties) is just discovering Facebook, but most of the observations made about Facebook came out over a year ago. Maybe if it was about Twittering...
I think the show is funny and pretty steady. JMO that the last two eps were kinda weak, but I really enjoyed this one. Yeah, the FB topic is a little dated, but it's still ripe for material.
I *do* find PJ and Bobby boring as a couple, but as I've mentioned, I think Bobby is the weak link in this show. He's just too perfect and not funny. But their interaction with the rest of the ensemble saves them and the gang still delivers smiles and laughs each week.
I agree that Bobby's too perfect (always has been) but i disagree that he's not funny. I find him very funny a lot of the time, I just find him to still be "new guy". Which, whether it's by design or not, kind of works for me. He fits in, but he's still just enough of an outsider to work as both the logical love interest and the guy who can make the observations and have them seem like actual observations instead of just banter. I mean, honestly...it's just a dumb sitcom, so it's not like there's a lot that ripe for analysis, but the pieces fit together well for me.
wrt the idea that Bobby and PJ are too perfect and it kills any chance of drama: I appreciate that this isn't a show that needs drama. It's not "Friends" with it's annoying dancing around the issues and wacky misunderstandings and unrequited crushes. Something comes up here and they get to the point pretty quickly. Short arcs work, long arcs aren't necessary.
There aren't too many sitcom people that I'd want to hang out with, but I'd be happy to sit around doing nothing with these guys.
As I was watching this episode, I couldn't help but think how much I would enjoy this show more if PJ wasn't the central character. Center the show around Mike, Brando or Kenny and have PJ be just one of their gang who happens to be a pretty hot tomboy that can't land a man. But Andy needs to remain a peripheral character. A little of him goes a VERY long way
I also thought it was odd that the woman didn't catch on to Mike, but decided it didn't matter when they took the joke in an entirely different (and funnier) direction -- that all the things she and Mike seemingly had in common didn't matter, because she was still only interested in the cooler, better-looking guy anyway.
The last scene at the poker table was probably the best of the season for me. Everything worked so well that I was smiling throughout and was a little disappointed the episode was over. That doesn't always happen with a My Boys episode, but I hope it continues for the rest of the season.
And um, I've had what happened to Veronica, happen to me with a guy like Mike. Thankfully I realized what was happening early on to nip that one in the bud.
Just a minor correction - it was Kenny trying to get the Dalai Lama to mob up.
I agree with how well the final poker scene worked -- sharp but realistic banter between friends comfortable with each other, which is the charm of this show.
So what are the chances My Boys will be back for a fourth season?
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