Fox’s Gob-meets-Felicity-fest!
Note: If you want the scoop on Fox’s other new offerings, check out our reviews on Raising Hope (also hilarious and so worth watching) and the very unique Lone Star (I want to love it…maybe you can help me?).
Running Wilde (Fox)
Premieres: Tuesday, Sept. 21, 8:30-9 p.m.
Time-Slot Competition: Life Unexpected (CW), NCIS: Los Angeles (ABC), Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
Cast: Will Arnett, Keri Russell, Robert Michael Morris, Mel Rodriguez, Stefania Owen, Peter Serafinowicz, David Cross
Status: We’ve seen both the original pilot and the revamped second pilot.
Keri Russell and Will Arnett are back. On TV. Together. In the hands of Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz. You don’t have to be a master chemist to know what that all adds up to: TV MAGIC.
Wilde is weird for weird’s sake, and Will Arnett is pitch-perfect as the spoiled little rich guy trying to win over his childhood love, Emmy (Russell). The cast chemistry seemed uneven in the first pilot we were shown, but problem solved! The supporting cast has been reworked, with the addition of Will’s Arrested alum David Cross. There is definitely great give-and-take between Keri and Will, and Wilde certainly seems to have the recipe for some very solid—and highly entertaining—programming.
The producers and cast seem to be shying away from any Arrested Development comparisons (maybe because America never caught on to the Bluth family’s greatness?), but Keri tells it to us straight: “It is still Mitch, and Will, and now David Cross, and it’s such a specific type of humor, which I think people really love. But what’s different is that it also has a real relatable quality now that there’s kind of a girl-and-guy thing going on.”
“We never had that element in Arrested Development,” Will adds. “There was never a kind of romantic element and that’s what we’re kind of doing. This show has its own voice, which we’re still finding, by the way. In reality, this show, it does have its own tone.”
Tone, schmone…All I know is the hints of A.D. we saw in the pilot are what made it great.
Verdict: Watch. Fo’ sho’! Running Wilde still might have a kink or two to work out, but we’d bet on Will Arnett and Keri Russell any day.
Source: http://au.eonline.com/
