CBS has a new comedy airing tonight, called We Are Men. The series sounds a bit like Hangover for 8:30 p.m. primetime TV, with four guys having fun lives as single men. It might be fun for them, but it hasn’t been fun for the critics that have had to watch it.
The series stars Tony Shalhoub, who is best known for Monk, which won him two Emmys; Kal Penn from the Harold and Kumar movies; Jerry O’Connell and Chris Smith. The series starts with Smith being left at the altar after a man suddenly interrupts his wedding to declare his love for the woman he’s about to marry. She decides not to marry Smith and the other guys come in to help him enjoy the single life.
USA Today’s Robert Bianco notes that, once Tony Shalhoub enters as the leader of the gang, that’s the extent of story development. “Really: If these are men and those are women, one shudders for the survival of the race,” he writes, calling the series “meh” and as “dull” as Fox’s own maligned sitcom Dads.
“As anyone who has followed his career knows, Shalhoub is a very talented actor — but even he can't triumph over material that is, at best, instantly forgettable,” Bianco noted. “So what you're left with is a series that, while less repellent than the even-more-misogynistic Dads, is equally dull.”
Mary McNamara of the LA Times seems to agree that this is a project not worthy of Shalhoub’s talents. “Shows like this shouldn't happen to actors like him,” she wrote. She writes that this is a show that could infuriate members of both sexes.
Men, McNamara noted, “might begin to feel that comedy has turned against them. Certainly, this fall has trotted out a more motley crew of absurdly flawed and ridiculously inept guys than we've seen in awhile.”
So, if you can find something else to watch at 8:30 p.m. other than We Are Men, that might be a good idea. After all, this is a show that stars O’Connell, who can’t seem to find a role on a show that lasts past one season.
image: CBS