Below is a very positive review of new ABC comedy Miss/Guided from medialifemagazine, including quotes from 3 other critics who all liked it or really liked it. I hope it's as good as this sounds -- I actually enjoyed the previews, and to me this seems like a perfect companion to Samantha Who? next Fall.
quote:
Name of show “Miss Guided”
Timeslot ABC, Thursdays 8 and 8:30 p.m. (premieres tonight at 10:30)
Plot synopsis If you’ve ever been to a high school reunion you know that there’re some things that just never seem to change. That’s certainly the case in the life of Becky Freeley (Judy Greer), the lead character in ABC’s newest comedy, “Miss Guided.”
In high school, Freeley was a flat-out nerd, socially awkward and unbecoming, down to the mouthful of wire. Now an attractive young woman, the insecurities of high school in her past, she returns to her alma mater as a guidance counselor.
But it’s not long before she’s thrown into the sort of situations that make high school so, well, high school.
This happens when the school hires Lisa Germain (Brooke Burns) as an English teacher. She's also a returning grad, but when she was in high school she was one of the perfect girls, the type who seemed to get everything she wanted without even trying.
Her arrival shakes things up for Freeley, who will now have to compete with Lisa for the attention of Tim O’Malley (Kristoffer Polaha), who teaches Spanish. All those old teen-age anxieties are back.
“Miss Guided” is executive produced by Todd Holland, Karey Burke, Mark Hudis, Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg and also stars Earl Billings as school principal Huffy and Chris Parnell as vice principal.
Outlook “Miss Guided” is another light ABC program that skews female and has a cast of quirky characters in the fashion of “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Ugly Betty.”
The main difference here, of course, is that this show is a traditional 30-minute sitcom as opposed to the hour-long dramedies ABC has had so much success with of late. But the show works because of its fast pace, its quip-laced dialogue, and its tendency toward short but funny flashbacks in the vein of Fox’s “Family Guy.”
Tonight’s premiere should see a good amount of sampling from its target female audience, as it follows the season premiere of “Dancing with the Stars.”
The show then moves to its regular Thursday 8 p.m. slot, where it could fit nicely as a midseason replacement for “Ugly Betty.”
"Guided” faces competition in the Thursday slot from NBC's “Deal or No Deal” and Fox's “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” as well as CBS’s coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this week and next, then "Survivor." It also airs opposite the CW’s “Smallville."
But it could draw decently as the most female-skewing show and the only comedy to air on broadcast in the Thursday 8 and 8:30 p.m. timeslots until NBC brings back new episodes of “My Name is Earl” and “30 Rock” in April.
The buzz ABC is handling the launch of “Miss Guided” as a true midseason replacement, according to media people, as opposed to, say, the way Fox threw the comedy “The Return of Jezebel James” on the air last Friday in what's being read as an effort to put the show out of its pain before as few eyes as possible.
“It’s definitely not a burn-off. ABC planned on bringing it in at midseason when it had a better chance of finding an audience,” says Tracie Chinetti, a senior buyer and planner at Blitz Media in Boston. “It doesn’t seem like just filler. It feels like a real launch.”
Buyers and planners see the series as a cute and quirky companion to the female-skewing dramedies that have anchored the network the past couple years. Plus, ABC already had success with a similar female-lead sitcom this season, “Samantha Who?”
“It’s quirky but it’s not far out,” Chinetti says. “It’s a little more mainstream and accessible than some other new stuff we’ve seen.”
What critics are saying “Making comedy work is a tough business. At least in the first couple of stabs at it, ‘Miss Guided’ seems to be poking the right bones to find the funny, and that deserves an encouraging smiley face.” – Tim Goodman, San Francisco Chronicle
“If Malcolm of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ were to grow up, have a sex change and become a high school guidance counselor, he would be Becky Freeley of ‘Miss Guided.’ OK, that sounds weirder than I meant it to. It’s a compliment, I swear.” – Joanne Weintraub, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“‘Miss Guided’ doesn’t quite score 100 - we could do without the irritable bowel jokes - but it manages to achieve both timeless sweetness and frank relevance without messing itself. Just when Greer’s narration or comment-to-the-camera punctuation threatens to feel forced, the show steps back and lets dead-on dialogue do the talking.” – Diane Werts, Newsday
If they really wanted this to succeed they'd move up Dancing results a half hour on Tuesdays and slot this at 9:30. Or better yet, do a Dancing recap from 8 to 9 on Tuesdays with a half hour results from 9 to 9:30. It doesn't look half bad. Certainly not as bad as Cavemen or Carpoolers.
If they really wanted this to succeed they'd move up Dancing results a half hour on Tuesdays and slot this at 9:30.
I recommended that exact thing a few weeks ago mushu, but it went on deaf ears. Still, if tonight's preview does fairly well (within a million and a couple of tenths of a point from Samantha Who-like numbers), and the 9pm- 10pm DWTS doesn't really suffer directly opposite Idol, I would not be surprised to see them move Miss/Matched permanently to Tuesdays as you and I recommended, and moving the results show to accomodate. But it will depend on how good or bad it does on Thursday -- I think their thinking is that the Ugly Betty fans will find it there and like what they see.
Originally posted by mushu_jj: If they really wanted this to succeed they'd move up Dancing results a half hour on Tuesdays and slot this at 9:30. Or better yet, do a Dancing recap from 8 to 9 on Tuesdays with a half hour results from 9 to 9:30. It doesn't look half bad. Certainly not as bad as Cavemen or Carpoolers.
The last thing we need is a one hour Dancing recap show prior to the Result show. The Result show as alot of filler as it is. If you want the franchise to come crashing down, this would be the way to do it. And is probably why ABC didn't do it in the fall.
You can call it what you want, but combining a recap show and a result show would just be taking a one hour result show and making it one and half hours long and people will tune out.
Originally posted by mushu_jj: If they really wanted this to succeed they'd move up Dancing results a half hour on Tuesdays and slot this at 9:30. Or better yet, do a Dancing recap from 8 to 9 on Tuesdays with a half hour results from 9 to 9:30. It doesn't look half bad. Certainly not as bad as Cavemen or Carpoolers.
The last thing we need is a one hour Dancing recap show prior to the Result show. The Result show as alot of filler as it is. If you want the franchise to come crashing down, this would be the way to do it. And is probably why ABC didn't do it in the fall.
You can call it what you want, but combining a recap show and a result show would just be taking a one hour result show and making it one and half hours long and people will tune out.
That's what they did all last spring. If we don't want it that long, then shorten Jim to 30 minutes and air results from 8:30 to 9:30. The first half hour could be filler with the second half hour being results.
Originally posted by mushu_jj: If they really wanted this to succeed they'd move up Dancing results a half hour on Tuesdays and slot this at 9:30. Or better yet, do a Dancing recap from 8 to 9 on Tuesdays with a half hour results from 9 to 9:30. It doesn't look half bad. Certainly not as bad as Cavemen or Carpoolers.
The last thing we need is a one hour Dancing recap show prior to the Result show. The Result show as alot of filler as it is. If you want the franchise to come crashing down, this would be the way to do it. And is probably why ABC didn't do it in the fall.
You can call it what you want, but combining a recap show and a result show would just be taking a one hour result show and making it one and half hours long and people will tune out.
No I agree that an hour recap followed by an hour results show is like a two hour recap -- they recap during the results show as it is. But how about a 32 minute results show, followed by a 28 minute Miss/Guided, if Miss/Guided does well tonight? That would be similar to how FOX had been using the AI results show until this season. Sure, it would bring in somewhat lower overall ratings, but it would give a good comedy a better chance to succeed.
Again, this all assumes Miss/Guided does its part and pulls in SW-type numbers tonight (13 million+ viewers, 3.7+ in the demo)...
I like what I saw for Miss/Guided. Judy Greer character is like Kenneth in 30 Rock. The mock documentary has the similar feel as The Office, and Chris Parnell's character has a Michael Scott feel. Too bad the series is produced by Fox studio. Series not produced by ABC studio are treated like crap. It is very obvious when one compares the treatment of this show, BL, and WMC with UB, SW, and DSM.
Posts: 468 | Location: SF Bay Area | Registered: 08 December 2006
The last thing we need is a one hour Dancing recap show prior to the Result show. The Result show as alot of filler as it is. If you want the franchise to come crashing down, this would be the way to do it. And is probably why ABC didn't do it in the fall.
Well, that's what is happening for the next two Tuesdays.
Posts: 2243 | Location: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: 27 January 2007
Originally posted by spotupj: Amusing, endearing, and probably doomed, this was quite possibly the best half hour program I've seen on ABC this season.
quote:
Originally posted by patrick555: This comedy is as sharp as Arrested Development!
Wow! Great reviews! I DVRed it but did not get a chance to watch last night -- I'll definitely make room for it now based on that feedback!
Originally posted by patrick555: I like what I saw for Miss/Guided. Judy Greer character is like Kenneth in 30 Rock. The mock documentary has the similar feel as The Office, and Chris Parnell's character has a Michael Scott feel. Too bad the series is produced by Fox studio. Series not produced by ABC studio are treated like crap. It is very obvious when one compares the treatment of this show, BL, and WMC with UB, SW, and DSM.
Completely agree. ABC shows in-studio bias more than any other network.
Originally posted by spotupj: Amusing, endearing, and probably doomed, this was quite possibly the best half hour program I've seen on ABC this season.
quote:
Originally posted by patrick555: This comedy is as sharp as Arrested Development!
Wow! Great reviews! I DVRed it but did not get a chance to watch last night -- I'll definitely make room for it now based on that feedback!
OK, I watched it last night and agree with the positive reviews. This show is a breath of fresh air in the stale comedy realm! Hopefully most people that sampled it in that strange 10:30 timeslot will come back to watch it on Thursdays, starting tonight.
I like a lot of the actors on the show, but i didn't think it was THAT great. Has potential- like some of you mentions- potential that ABC will somehow kill.
I think Carpoolers was just as good- if not funnier. I watch Samantha, again because I like a lot of the actors, but it's not a great show.
Mediocre sitcoms are on the menu I see....
Posts: 206 | Location: Longisland, NY | Registered: 28 November 2006
ABC needs to get back to its roots in comedy: the multi-camera, laugh track family sitcoms that populated their lineups in the 90s and early 2000s. I'd take a 2 hour block of 8 Simple Rules, GLo, Life with Bonnie, and Less than Perfect reruns any day over the comedies they have put out this season. I also enjoyed the Damon Waynes sitcom My Wife and Kids and hope ABC has the brains to pick up his new sitcom and pair it with Cedric's sitcom this fall on Tuesdays, not Fridays. Leave cheap gameshow like Duel and older skewing female dramas like Women's Murder Club on that night. Better yet, have Dancing be their lead in next year to ensure viewership at first and then cap off the night with ABC's best dramedy, Boston Legal! At midseason use either Supernanny or Wife Swap as a family friendly lead in during Dancing's break and the enjoyable Eli Stone can fill in for repeats of Boston Legal.
