applesarahgate The cast is pretty good and it is funny, but it lacks the depth of the British version. Nbc took a rather dark comedy focused on two broken people trying to put there life together and turned it in to a cheer work place comedy focused more on an ensemble of wacky characters than the hardships of the two original characters. The original puts a greater emphasis on Helen dealing with the lose of her fiancé and Alex is in a lot more turmoil over his divorce. The restrictions on swearing and other crudeness may have contributed to its lack of substance but it seams to me the lack of character development is more to blame. If they had focused more on the relationship between Helen and Alex and less on the other characters it might have gone a lot further.

nwpaddler Someone wrote a bunch of fake 1 star reviews...this show is one of the funnier sitcoms in a long time. Way better than the show before it Up All Night...that NBS promoted the hell out of. Up All Night is the dumbest show in a long time...this show is really funny! Honestly, probably a 8-9 star show...but all the jack-holes that gave it 1 star...it needed AND deserved the boost!Hank Azaria is real and funny...his co-star is hysterical as well as she it a complete nut job and plays it well! Enjoy the show and write a review to offset the reviews by those who wouldn't know a decent show if it kicked them in the head!!

CharWoman and doesn't treat the thirty-and-fortysomethings like they're elderly. We find it funny and enjoyable and don't understand the highly negative ratings this is getting. I could do with less of Emma personally, but there's a lot of funny stuff and as has been mentioned, the cast are great. As for the people who say it's worthless because it "doesn't compare" the UK version, well... haven't seen the original, might or might not ever see it, but definitely don't care how this compares to what inspired it. Same with The Office. Each succeeds or fails on its own merits.Sad to hear Free Agents on the bubble, especially since the deplorable Whitney seems to have been picked up. I give this a 7, which means we'll keep watching every week, and expect it to improve with time, if it's allowed to prosper.

ForCenturies Having recently seen The Smurfs, seeing "normal" Hank Azaria was a bit of a shock, and I'll explain - I'm used to hearing his voice on The Simpsons and commentaries on The Simpsons, and while I know what he looks like, the stuff I've watched never really has him in live-action, the only one from memory I can recall being The Birdcage.He plays a newly-divorced guy who's just had sex with a widow (the underrated Kathryn Hahn). The show is about these two trying to deal with this development without their colleagues/friends finding out. Or at least, that was the plot of the first episode. Hahn shines, especially in the second half of the episode counting the pictures of her dead husband. It's being labelled as a "black comedy" and I disagree. Black comedy to me something like Death at a Funeral or Eulogy. Finding comedy from death, or morbid subjects. This is much more like Eastbound and Down, although less funny. The comedy is slightly sporadic, but the characters are charming, vulnerable and warm, and most of all - likable. I'll certainly buy the Blu-Ray, I'm mightily impressed with what i've seen and will purchase the original British series to tide me over till then.