napierslogs "My Boys" is actually quite impressive in its mix of romantic comedy type sitcom and sports. In its first season, each show started with a sports reference and the episode successfully carried the dating to sports metaphor. That's what drew me in, but the characters kept me watching.PJ (Jordana Spiro) is a 30-ish tomboy sports writer, and perpetually single. She isn't me exactly, but I do see myself as her. The stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan plays her brother Andy and has many funny lines. I often find myself laughing-out-loud at his delivery. Brendan (Reid Scott) her best friend from college and Bobby (Kyle Howard) her colleague are both very good looking and between the two of them they offer something for every girl. Aspiring stand-up comedians Jamie Kaler and Michael Bunin round out her boys with their own quirky characteristics. The writers have been particularly adept at playing up the natural chemistry between Bunin and Kellee Stewart (PJ's only female friend, Stephanie).Spiro brings out the inherent ease and charisma in PJ, so it's easy to relate to her and follow her ups and downs in work, life and love. The boys provide most of the comedy and some of the romance and I always look forward to PJ's romantic adventures and how it really does relate to baseball. "My Boys" is perfect for all the tomboys out there.

attorney-13 My husband and I enjoy this show tremendously. We watch it together, and find it funny and realistic. We were sorry to see the season over so quickly and can't wait for the new episodes. We've enjoyed every episode, with the acting superb and the different relationships well established. It is a witty show and the cast has great chemistry. Spiro is excellent in her role; we find her comedic timing very good. I can relate to what she goes through, as a female in a male-dominated profession. Jim Gaffigan is a riot, even though he needs to have a bigger role. Also, my husband is dying to get an Andy t-shirt from the birthday bash episode!! Keep up the good work, as this show has the ability to be a long-term hit!!

liquidcelluloid-1 Network: TBS; Genre: Romantic Comedy; Content Rating: TV-14 (for occasionally strong language and suggested sex); Perspective: Contemporary (season 1 - 4); Seasons Reviewed: season 1 In a sense, I have to feel for "My Boys". It isn't easy trying to put together an urban romantic comedy with the genre pretty much already perfected by "Sex and the City". Not to mention the frustrating reality that viewers come to these shows with their own relationship baggage and selfishly demands that these shows conform to their own personal experience. Even with this uphill climb TBS's (the sister station of TNT, Ted Turner's station that dreams to be FX) scripted comedy attempt doesn't hold water. Any slack I've given the show gets strained as episode after episode goes by without a single, solitary laugh.PJ (Jordana Spiro, who despite her inexperience looks and sounds the part quite well) is a sports writer, adamant Chicago baseball fan and the glamorous Hollywood version of a tomboy. Her best friends are 5 guys - her roommate Brenden (Reid Scott), loudmouth Mike (Jamie Kaler), meek Kenny (Michael Bunin), ex-boyfriend and co-worker Bobby (Kyle Howard, "Related") and kept married man brother Andy (Jim Gaffigan). Let's start with these characters. They are oddly likable and that likability keeps the show watchable (which is more than I can say for TBS's other "10 Items or Less" or "The Real Gilligan's Island"). And in a sense they act like real guys. A smoothed over sitcom version of real guys but still a welcome change from the cheating, scheming sex-obsessed pigs of most TV.But a winning personality aside, the acting is awkward all around. "Boys" is a first time effort for creator Betsy Thomas as well as most of the leads. It shows. The chemistry feels manufactured, nobody feels comfortable, and while that can be chalked up to Freshman season kinks the idiotic amateur-hour characterizations cannot. We know that Kenny is the pathetic one because he's bald. We know that Brendan is the cool one because he is never seen without a T-shirt or jacket with Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath or The Ramones blazed across it. The only name in the cast, Gaffigan, is handcuffed in the corny I'm-funny-because-I'm-not-funny role. Let's not forget the only female influence in PJ's life, Stephanie (Kellee Stewart), as the requisite "strut your stuff" girly girl. This is the type of character you see and just know the phrase "how long has it been?" is about to come out of her mouth. There is a half-way descent character somewhere in "Trout" and the show almost squeezes a laugh out of him in an episode about an exclusive club called "the Streisand" (said in hushed tones) that works best because it most successfully manages to pilfer from "Seinfeld" and "Sex and the City". Both of which you can catch in reruns on TBS.The show's creative ace-in-the-hole is PJ, the reality that Spiro brings to the character and the simple potential of a tomboy - something that we just rarely see on TV in a real way. PJ could have an identity crisis, conflicted between her a love of guy things and uncomfortable with the mores of femininity required to date guys - or maybe she can't date at all. The show could strike a blow against the "men and women can't be friends" myth that has been allowed to grow long since "When Harry Met Sally". But all the show can think to do is have PJ's boyfriends get jealous of her time with the guys. As for that "When Harry Met Sally" myth, let's just say the season finale is a big disappointment. "My Boys" may not have a typical sitcom laugh track, but it is so riddled with sitcom beats, tones and clichés that it might as well. The writing is flat-out awful. If I hear one more baseball metaphor about how PJ and the guys make such a great team I'm going to throw up. Those annoyed by Carrie Bradshaw's ability to turn everything under the sun into a relationship metaphor will go nuts with all of PJ's lame life-through-baseball narration. And it's not that I didn't want to be taken back to that "Sex and the City" magic, because I did. But the show fails to be either wondrously romantic or critically insightful and it sure isn't funny."My Boys" is brought to you by match.com "Boys" itself is like a match.com ad perpetuating the idea that everyone finds somebody and there is little more to life than dating and sports. PJ's got it all - brains, looks, IQ - she just needs a little Guy-Q. Good God. Thank you, Dr. Phil, I just threw up again.* ½ / 4

tree1957 My impression of the first show was that they were working too hard to bring viewers into an established group of friends, to put the group across and show the rapports between characters. It didn't seem to be representative of the interactions between a real group of friends, or perhaps if representative, representative in hyperbole. I could watch the show without too much pain, but would definitely prefer to avoid it. OTOH, Sex in the City was a favorite, and I found the relationships between the women to be generally believable, even though their relationships with men didn't always play, for me, often. For instance, Charlotte not having sex during the entire first month of marriage, and this other hairy man that she liked but she expected him to remove his hair for social/aesthetic reasons, both of those plot lines were ridiculous, but maybe they were meant to be. If the intent was to be an overt satire about the absurdity of relationships, those two cases would be fits and served their purpose.Getting back to the relationships between the My Boys characters, they aren't a fit for me. Somehow, they have tried too hard.