John Walker's Electronic House

I mentioned this before when the pilot was generously made available to the viewing public by the kind folks of piracy. Now it’s real and proper and on television, and there’s been two of it.

Everything is wrong with this sitcom. The premise is so flimsy (two super-geeks live across the hall from a ditzy big-boobed blonde, and want to win her affections), the 1970s dynamic is dallying around sexism (super-intelligent guys compete to win dumb girl’s affections, girl has giant breasts, guys are nerdy and unattractive), and the gags involve missing trousers, walking into doors, and having difficulty moving heavy objects up stairs.

Which makes it hard to justify why I laughed all the way through both episodes. Well, it’s not hard. I just have to admit that either I’m an idiot for not seeing the levels it’s working on, or I’m an idiot for laughing at the bad TV show. In conclusion, I’m an idiot.

It’s written by sitcom writing vetern Chuck Lorre and former Henson cohort Bill Prady (who when he stood for governer of California, stated he’d “solve all the state’s problems in twenty-two minutes and forty-four seconds with two commercial breaks and a hug at the end.”). Two men who know sitcoms, even if they’ve spent most their writing in the middle-of-the-road, with shows like the occasionally sufferable Dharma & Greg, the horribly underrated Grace Under Fire, and one of the best sitcoms ever, Roseanne. So it’s all safely familiar.

The cast is more interesting, with sitcom regular Darlene’s “Johnny Galecki” BoyfriendfromRoseanne and the pretty much unknown Jim Parsons. Both are excellent, with fantastic deliveries, Galecki even getting away with a walking into a door gag thanks to pristine timing. The breasts are played by Kaley Cuoco, who is better known for voice acting in cartoons. Hopefully the hints in the first two episodes that she’s not completely stupid will blossom, and she’ll be given a slightly more rounded character than a Cheesecake Factory waitress who just broke up with her boyfriend. It’s telling from the all-male writing team that the only ways they’re able to create her character is defining her through relationships with men. She’s great in her part, and thankfully is bullish and strong despite the weakness in her lines.

If they can evolve their writing staff to a slightly more advanced state, and write Cuoco a distinct and interesting character, as rubbish as everything about the programme should be, this could creep into 3rd Rock From The Sun territory.