Unsought Input

Carpoolers

Tuesdays @ 9:30 on ABC

In a nutshell: Office Space in a car

It’s a sad time in TV Land right now, where the WGA Writer’s Strike has sucked the life out of any good show that was on a roll and left use TV lovers scraping the bottom of the barrel for something - anything! - to fill these dark winter nights between football and Lost (yes, all of you football fans I am aware of this “playoff” thing, but as a Clevelander, football is dead to me until after the next World Series.) So, down to the bottom of the barrel we go.
I saw a commercial for this show and thought “OK, this premise won’t last long” but the promo failed to mention that the show was created by Bruce McCulloch of The Kids in the Hall, plus co-produced with Joe and Anthony Russo of Arrested Development, so when I found that up I sat straight up and decided to give it a whirl (and by “whirl” I mean “download.”)

The plot is as you would expect - four guys from the same California neighborhood sharing a carpool to their boring office park. About 1/3 of the show revolves around the actual car driving and the rest is about their quirky families.

Gracen Brooker (Fred Goss) is a mediator (kind of like a lawyer/shrink) whose wife is an aspiring real estate agent (played by Faith Ford) and son is a classic doofus character named Marmaduke. The character of Gracen is ho-hum, but Ford does an excellent job not swinging her character too far in to “goofy housewife-turned-careerwoman” land and this Marmaduke kid is something to be seen. A larger, more disturbing Napoleon Dynamite if you will. Words sort of fail me when I go to describe the character that is Marmaduke (it’s unclear so far how he got his name…) but I’ll go so far as to say that trying to figure out what the hell is up with Marmaduke is the #2 reason to watch the show, behind its association with Kids in the Hall.

Laird Holcomb (Jerry O’Connell - aka “the fat kid from Stand By Me”) is Gracen’s best friend and neighbor. He’s recently divorced and was able to keep the house in the divorce, sans any furniture but his “ab-sizer.” Laird is a dentist and the perpetual lady’s man which sometimes scares but sometimes intrigues the other married members of the carpool.

Dougie (Tim Peper) is the “new guy” in the carpool. He lives in an extremely sheltered world with his perfect marriage to his perfect wife in his perfect house with his perfect baby. The writers have done a good job not making Dougie and his wife Cindy TOO scary or naive, eschewing topics such as extreme fundamentalist Christianity and instead giving them quirky desires to fit in and the wife being oddly proficient at gift wrapping.

Aubrey (Jerry Minor) is a neurotic office worker who is stuck in some sort of personal hell raising seven rambunctious children while his wife (shown only as a pair of lounging feet - even when they go to a neighborhood party) sits idly by. Aubrey is most excited about the carpool, as it is his only time away from his family and thus does the most driving.

The carpool situation is mildly amusing and allows for some short but interesting scenes. The show opens with the to-work drive, in which the guys unabashedly sing along to 80’s songs (one time calling OnStar to get the correct lyrics to “Come On Eileen’) or fight against the evil “cool carpool” for a parking spot. KITH fans take note - Scott Thompson is the leader of the “cool carpool” and is looking fantastic these days.

So far, 7 episodes into the show, the main plots have been ho-hum but it’s been fun watching Marmaduke’s sub-plots, and playing “spot the Kid.” Kevin McDonald shows up in episode 7 as Leila Brooker’s real estate rival - here’s hoping we see more of him and perhaps Dave Foley too.

According to TV Guide, there’s six episodes left so you can still catch this show on ABC. Also, AOL’s goofy TV thing has a couple of episodes up. I say it’s a good one to download once you’re dying for fresh content like I am. I’m hoping it will get better as it goes along much like 30 Rock did (don’t worry, I’ll be recommending that one soon) and won’t be canceled early like Andy Barker P.I. was.

Stand tall, TV fans. There’s always reruns!

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