As a 34-year-old single entertainment writer who’s in denial about the fact that it’s probably time for her to sit down and think, for the duration of a commercial break at least, about whether she’d like a shot at having children, I should be Accidentally on Purpose‘s target audience. Watching the series debut last night on CBS, I just kept thinking I could’ve liked it had it been a Lifetime movie à la Flirting with Forty. We would’ve gotten rid of the laugh track, which thought the jokes were waaaay funnier than they actually were.
Jenna Elfman (Dharma & Greg) stars as Billie, a 37-year-old film critic for a San Francisco newspaper who broke up with her boss/non-committal boyfriend James (old Melrose Place‘s Grant Show) a month ago when he failed to propose atop the Eiffel Tower. One night, while out with her hard-partying best friend/colleague Olivia (Ugly Betty‘s Ashley Jensen) and her married younger sister Abby (Lennon Parham), she meets a younger man, Zack (Jon Foster). After determining that a one-night stand with blandly charming Zack would be empowering as opposed to desperate because he’s over 18, she goes home with him. The experience, she says, was “Like eating candy…Young candy. I’m not kiddin’, he smelled like a Skittle. Ladies, I feel like I tasted the rainbow.” (Okay, I laughed at that.) They have sex again, and bam!, we flash forward five weeks to a home pregnancy test. Billie realizes the fact that she had a condom in her purse but didn’t use it might mean that she could have caught an STD she subconsciously wanted to get pregnant (hence the title, accidentally on purpose). She tells Zack she’s fine raising the child alone, but because his father abandoned him, he wants to have a role in his kid’s life. Since the struggling chef is in between crash pads, Billie offers to let him move in with her — only they’ll be roommates, not lovers.
That is actually a decent set-up for a sitcom: Like with Who’s the Boss?, you get live-in sexual tension. Just think about all the times they’ll comfort each other after a bad day or date, all the meals he’ll make to satisfy her late-night (or breakfast) cravings, all the times he and his fellow man-child “buds” will do something stupid, then something sweet to make up for it, and all the times she’ll say “I love you” in a breezy way but wonder if she really means it. Maybe the show, based on Mary F. Pols’ best-selling memoir, will get more subtle, but I fear poor Ashley Jensen, who’s so wonderful and deadpan on Extras and Ugly Betty, will always be asked to do a little too much wocka wocka and that Elfman will always be as large and bubbly as her hair. I’m also not convinced that Jon Foster (who I sort of wish was Bryan Greenberg, for which I apologize because I’m guessing he hears that often) will be 50-50 partners with Elfman. He’ll need to be an equal for the show to work.
What did you think of Accidentally on Purpose? Will you be watching again?
Photo credit: Robert Voets/CBS
I agree 100%; I’ll give it a few more weeks before I decide to keep watching.
You’re a very patient woman.
I thought the show was AWFUL – and the “audience laughter” was sooooo over the top. I have no clue how this show is going to dragggg on for another 8 months!
Agreed. Elfman’s “out there” reactions turned this sitcom into a horrible farce and I couldn’t stand the canned laughter. I only managed to midly enjoy Grant Show’s mega-ego bossman. Everyone else should be recast… Prediction: this show will be cancelled after 2 more airings!!
Pardon me if I’m wrong, but don’t ALL CBS comedies rely on canned laughter? I don’t know for certain; I don’t watch CBS comedies anymore because their laugh tracks irritate the living daylights out of me.
I watched the show but haven’t decided if I like it or not. It was hard to get past Jenna’s out to here hair style and her over the top reactions to the situations the character was faced with. I’ll watch again next week and decide after that.
I actually like it and thought it was cute! I think it deserves another chance.
I like big hair, but this show was not good.
the only reason I watched this rehashed “knocked up” is because it sat between HIMYM and Two and a Half Men. A complete yawner with occasional smart lines.
What the hell was up with the friend’s accent? It was like she stepped out of a lucky charms commercial or something. I couldn’t get over it.
She was born in Scotland.
I don’t know. Pilots are always a little awkward, right? I’ve got my fingers crossed that it will get better, but I’m not holding my breath. And “alison”…you were sooo right about that accent. That was just too much. I love a good accent, but I couldn’t understand half of what she said.
At least it was the actress’s real accent and not some schtick.
I’ve heard her talk on English shows. That’s her own Scottish accent. I don’t know why it sounds so fake to you.
She’s Scottish, not Irish. Maybe you should get out more.
And it set up the line from one of the buds, “She sounds like Shrek.” What can I say, I laughed.
I thought it was Irish too, and hated it! I love Jenna Elfman so I gave the show a shot but I see it like to many of her shows as ending to soon. But for the time being I will keep watching. But I would like it more if they got rid of the girl with the accent…wherever it is from because it just don’t go with the rest of the show!
You’re an idiot. That is all!
You bloody moron, do yourself a favour and stop thinking that America is the only country on this planet. People speak differently.
I liked the show mainly for Jenna Elfman, yes there were a few forced jokes that were just stupid, however i like it and will give it a shot again next week. Of course this show felt like a mensa meeting compared to two and a half men, usually i like it, but man it was grating on my nerves, same old, same old, so this show was a nice change of pace, plus men had the wayy more potty jokes, so i felt like i was watching the spike channel.
The show came off like it was trying to hit us over the head with a mallet of funny. Having it air after HIMYM only serves to remind the viewer of the difference between effortless good comedy and a really huge amount of effort for very little comedy. And just as a side annoyance the book and show have nothing but the title and pregnancy in common, which is disappointing because had they stuck with the simplicity and honesty of the book they would probably had succeeded to achieve a better blend of funny, then the obvious overwrought comedy they ended up with.
It is so true. Watching it right after HIMYM just made it that much worse. They should have left BBT where it was so the two good comedies were together. Clearly if you are watching Two and a Half Men, you won’t mind sticking around for this awful show.
Yeah, the little that was there has been seen before. Still, I’ll give it a few more eps. The hubby says he’s done–there weren’t any laughs. His thing is: what’s the point of watching a dumb sitcom if you don’t laugh? It’s not like this is deep or clever. He’s right–but I’d like a fun girl sitcom. So I’ll hang in to see if it gets better.
this show sucks i watched 15 minutes and gave up there was nothing original or funny about this show i’m shocked cbs would puit this on monday there big comedy night its like nbc putting kath and kim on thursday whicked sucked too it wont make january
I only because it was sandwiched between my Monday night faves, but I’ll admit I enjoyed it. That “smelled like Skittles” line was probably the funniest one in the whole show! Ashley Jensen stole the entire show. If the show survives the next few weeks, it’ll be because of her.
“Live-in sexual tension”? C’mon. We already know they hooked up. Who cares if they do again? Elfman is an over-emoting train wreck who just isn’t funny and Jon Foster is instantly forgettable. This show is just 30 minutes of my life that I can never get back. Look for the 4 episodes that make it to air (plus 2 never-before-seen shows!) to show up in dvd bargain bins next February.
I actually thought it was pretty cute. I’ll be watching. My husband thought the same too, which was odd… but good!
sounds like “Knocked Up” to me…with Katherine Heigl
I agree. There isn’t anything remotely original here.
My husband and I recorded it and watched it over breakfast. It was entertaining. I think it goes well with breakfast but not so much with after-dinner tv viewing. We will most likely record it again next week and watch it the morning after.
Oh, and I also didn’t like the friend’s accent and the canned laughter is distracting!
I agree abou the canned laughter. It was all I could focus on after awhile. Whoever was controlling it had an itchy trigger finger….they were laughing at every sentence, even the ones that weren’t supposed to be funny.
I thought the show was OK, but I didn’t laugh very much. I will watch next week though, since I already watch HIMYM.
Stop going on about someones accent, this is why a lot of people hate Americans it is due to the fact that if someone speaks different to you to quoye yo u “you hate it” get out more you idiot.