I DON’T NEED THIS KIND OF HELP

I don’t know why I do this to myself, but last night I got home a little late after work at the “new” job and some let’s-be-a-team drinks, and I was really tired. But I still decided to sit through not one, but two episodes of the new WB shitcom The Help which I had on my DVR, henceforth officially called a DeVo.

This is exactly the kind of show that depresses the hell out of me because it is impossible that it is better than other comedy series that have been unable to make it to a primetime schedule. I can’t think of one good thing to say about it. None of the writing is clever or original and the “jokes” are completely unfunny, the actors are terrible, and there is more canned laugh-track used than I remember on any show in recent memory. I couldn’t even find any pleasure in watching 80s-TV has-beens Natalie, Donna and Bud because even what they’re given to do is so ridiculously stupid. And it’s not bad in any sort of funny way; it could never actually be a guilty pleasure.

The only reason I can discern that this made it to the air is that it was created by Ron Leavitt, the man responsible for Married … With Children. But what has he dones since then? Unhappily Ever After, which was simply a bad reconception of Married, featuring a bunny puppet voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait. That was one of The WB’s first successful shows, but it never really qualified as a big hit (certainly not along the lines of the WB’s dramas), and it was on the air much longer than it deserved to be.

Luckily, the show is on Fridays so it probably won’t get a great audience. Unluckily, it continues to take up a slot on the air, and the WB continues to be desperate to develop successful sitcoms, so they may be patient with it. I think much as there are “Save This Show” campaigns, somebody should start “Cancel This Show” movements. Get this crap off our air. I find the utter stupidity of The Help to be far more offensive than anything ever said or done on the air by Howard Stern. Even the hot polish nanny doesn’t make this show watchable in the least.