Hounds & Friday Round-Up

Here's our weekly run down of new shows:

American Guns, 2011, 1 season, reality
Hounds, 2012, 1 season, gritty sitcom

And one new season added:

Cold Blood, 2010, added season 5 (3 seasons total), TV documentaries

I decided to take a shot at Hounds. A British comedy (?) that takes place in the world of dog racing. I can think of absolutely no good reason why, but dog racing has always seemed like a shifty world to me, so I was interested to explore it a little more.

The show opens with Marty (Mick Innes) helping his employer, David, into the back of his van to take him to the hospital. "You'll be fine," he assures him. The camera then cuts to Marty and his friends pall bearing a coffin. As Marty sees David's daughter (Susana Tang) weeping, he lets go of the casket to reassure her, letting his corner of the coffin drop askew.

"Sorry, my heads so full of tears I can't think straight," he excuses himself.

"Maybe blow your nose," she shoots back.

He does. This is Mr. Bean, except he doesn't laugh at himself. And for me, that makes all the difference. Without Marty laughing at himself, I have to do it for him. Do I feel bad laughing at such a hapless man? I do. But I laugh anyway.

The protagonist, unfortunately, is Will (Toby Sharpe), David's estranged son. Will is willed David's house and guardianship over his half-sister. In contrast to Marty's earnest dullard, Will is a heartless defense attorney, best around. Marty actually knows and cares for the sister, Lily, so Will keeps him around. And we're off. This is basically The Odd Couple, a familiar sitcom trope. We've got the dumb good-guy, and the smart bad-guy, and they have to live together. Just to keep it fresh this show has a twist of an Asian half-sister.

The ensemble works. Sure it's basically throwing a couple of cliches at each other and seeing what sticks, but this does stick. It's funny, and irreverent. Occasionally broad, but mostly subtle and digging. The world the show is built in is strange. Like Arrested Development strange, so I look forward to exploring around.

Conclusion: Middle of the queue