Another Comedy Entry by James Van Der Beek

On  Monday (March 31) I watched the premiere of CBS' Friends with Better Lives, a new comedy vehicle for James Van Der Beek.  You can watch the pilot for yourself on the CBS website. 

Overall, it was not a bad combination of friends with relationships in various stages.  I am just not sure any of them have a life that I want to follow on a weekly basis.  Here is the basic set up:

FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES is a romantic comedy about six friends at different stages in their lives - married, divorced, newly engaged and single - who are outwardly happy, but secretly questioning if their friends have it better. Andi and Bobby are happily married with a toddler and another baby on the way, but at times long for the days when they had less responsibility and more fun; Will is newly single and preaching the bachelor lifestyle, but still pining for his ex-wife; Jules and Lowell are high on their passionate new relationship; and Kate has a successful career but may have a breakdown when she finds out her last remaining single friend, Jules, just got engaged. When it comes to relationships, these six friends are finding it a challenge to look at each other without wondering... who really has the better life? 

Much attention has been given to James Van Der Beek, whose earlier attempt at comedy after the long ago Dawson's Creek was Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23.  In the Monday night pilot he did okay playing the divorced Will and best friend of Bobby.  But  Kevin Connolly's Bobby is a solid character that I find more interesting, if only because Connolly plays him so well as with a little bit of Michael J. Fox and Bob Newhart blended in.  And it is nice to see him outside of HBO's Entourage with a new set of friends, though he is still one of the few adults in the room.  

I also liked Zoe Lister-Jones' character Kate, the overworked single female finding every man falls short of her expectations.  Her dramatic facial expressions, thin skin, and interplay with Van Der Beek's Bobby is fun to watch.  

So I guess the show had its moments, but I probably won't watch many more of them.  Given the disappearance of new shows before they get their legs, it will be interesting if this series makes it through a first season.  Check it out while you can.