Coming to a concensus

So, Quarterlife is on right now and within the first four minutes, I was fairly certain that I had no desire to see the remaining 56.

I know that it was four minutes in because my wife helpfully pointed this out as I voiced my displeasure with the show. She, however, is on board through the first episode. You see our dilemma.

While we each have our "take one for the team" shows - for me, it's her Law and Order in all 14 flavors, for me it's endless baseball games - where we'll watch when the other person is home, but if either of is out, it's safe to assume that those shows won't be up on the screen.

It's important to have a safe overlap of tastes in television, music and movies so that you're not driven crazy in 22-minute bursts or on road trips.

Still, at the risk of sounding much older than my age, I'm not buying into these stupid kids. I'm sure that I've been too unaware of my surroundings until now and that this isn't the first time it's happened, but I liked this concept much better when it was Singles. And was only an hour and a half long. And wasn't quite so heavy-handed.

So, there's all of that.

Sometimes a show takes off after the mess that is defining the boundaries of the pilot. Usually that's not the case, but I'll cross my fingers and hope, because it's apparently been penciled into the lineup at our place.

Still, I have to hand it to anyone who has the stones to take a running start at the whole question of "how does this generation try to change the world." It's a huge, slippery bastard that everyone tries to wrestle to the ground at one time or another - some of us more than once - and virtually no one is ever really able to get a handle on.

The more immediate issue is that I'm not invested in the characters, I'm not buying the premise and at a very basic level, the whole feel of the show is uncomfortable. I'm generally opposed to boiling down entire generations to thumbnail sketches, and I just can't see how the show will keep any sort of momentum. OK, we get it, she's young and she blogs her innermost thoughts... now what?

Well, I can, but the show seems to want more for itself than just a Melrose Place knock off in thrift store garb. I'll give it points for effort, but the execution fell far short tonight.

(Image from LAist.com)