First Impressions: Whitney

(airs on NBC, Thursday nights at 9:30pm EST)

I’m not sure whether Whitney is trying too hard, or not trying hard enough. Either way, the show doesn’t work on any level. The obnoxious laugh tracks and one-note secondary characters (featuring one-note actors and actresses) set a perfect background for a mediocre comedy, and even that is an overwhelming compliment to the quality of Whitney.

Unlike other reviewers, I’m not going to bitch and moan about Cummings’ acting. Sure, she isn’t a great actress, but in a comedy show, your main character doesn’t have to be an Oscar-winner. Have we forgotten about Seinfeld? Part of the reason Seinfeld worked so well is because the three actors surrounding Seinfeld were more than capable of hiding his limited acting talents (hence the reason Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t act anymore, he knows this!). Unfortunately, Whitney‘s supporting cast feature the likes of Mualik Pancholy, whose underwhelming screen presence shows us why he never got a lot of screen time on Weeds or 30 Rock. And the rest of the cast is so laughingly forgettable, you’ll find yourself tuning out every time someone other than Whitney or her boyfriend Alex (Chris D’ Elia) are talking.

What amazes me most is Whitney – although created and written by its star – falls into the same group of the plethora of women-starring shows on TV, over-sexing every piece of dialogue and being so self-deprecating at times it becomes disturbing (not to mention it’s never funny). All I’ve heard on TV this fall are jokes about women being sluts, or women being uppity, moody, self-serving bitches (Prime Suspect, anyone?). It’s kind of disturbing, considering many of these shows (like 2 Broke Girls, another Whitney Cummings creation) purport themselves as being about strong women. It’s a major illusion on the part of the networks, and if I was of the female persuasion, I’d be getting offended with every ‘I’m such a whore’ or ‘I shit on the men around me because I’m insecure’ joke and story line we’ve seen (like The Playboy Club, which presents us with the theory that pictures of naked women changed the world in a good way).

Enough about this show. Like every other new comedy on TV this fall, this show sucks. SKIP IT!