Despite the gaping hole the absence of Mad Men has left in my television viewing schedule, this summer has not been completely deprived of gripping televised entertainment. True Blood started off its season by leaping a year into the future; Weeds one-upped their HBO competition and fast forwarded three years and moved the whole cast to New York. But in the face of so many shark jumping game changers, sometimes the best medicine is just to keep things simple. And FX's new Thursday night comedy, Wilfred, can be refreshingly infantile in its simplicity.
Wilfred stars everyone's favorite hobbit Elijah Wood as Ryan, a depressed former lawyer whose in the midst of a failed suicide attempt when the pretty and perky Jenna moves in next door. Jenna introduces herself to Ryan by asking him to watch her dog Wilfred, and Ryan obliges. The problem? While to everyone else Wilfred is just another lovable pet, Ryan sees his new canine friend as a gruff, chain-smoking Australian man in a shoddy dog costume. Jason Gann - co-creator of the original Australian series - reprises his role as Wilfred, wreaking havoc on Ryan's life in his pursuit of beer, weed, and amusement.
Needless to say, this is a definitively dark comedy, but the show repeatedly avoids becoming too bleak by falling back on Wilfred's more canine tendencies: he may want Ryan to think he's a world-wise pup, but the moment someone whips out a laser pointer, he's running in circles trying to catch it. Yes, the show often plays up its primary conceit for easy laughs (see Wilfred humping a waitress' leg in the pilot episode), but just as frequently Wilfred uses similar opportunities to illustrate how we relate to our pets, as well as each other. Ryan's sister Kristen may dismiss his new friend Wilfred as "filthy," but when Ryan tells Kristen's boss he'd rather "eat possum ass than be his desk monkey," the audience knows where Ryan's real loyalty lies.
Wilfred airs Thursday nights at 10pm on FX. This network isn't too diligent about rebroadcasting episodes throughout the week - or getting them up On Demand in a timely manner - so consider yourselves warned. The season thus far is up and running on Hulu if you'd like to catch up before this week's episode. And if you tune in Thursday, be sure to stick around for Louie at 10:30. Louis CK's series alternates between stand-up and fictionalized vignettes in which CK plays...himself. But he does it well; he keeps it simple. And by Thursday night, an hour-long block of simple is really all a job hungry hipster could want.
Needless to say, this is a definitively dark comedy, but the show repeatedly avoids becoming too bleak by falling back on Wilfred's more canine tendencies: he may want Ryan to think he's a world-wise pup, but the moment someone whips out a laser pointer, he's running in circles trying to catch it. Yes, the show often plays up its primary conceit for easy laughs (see Wilfred humping a waitress' leg in the pilot episode), but just as frequently Wilfred uses similar opportunities to illustrate how we relate to our pets, as well as each other. Ryan's sister Kristen may dismiss his new friend Wilfred as "filthy," but when Ryan tells Kristen's boss he'd rather "eat possum ass than be his desk monkey," the audience knows where Ryan's real loyalty lies.
Wilfred airs Thursday nights at 10pm on FX. This network isn't too diligent about rebroadcasting episodes throughout the week - or getting them up On Demand in a timely manner - so consider yourselves warned. The season thus far is up and running on Hulu if you'd like to catch up before this week's episode. And if you tune in Thursday, be sure to stick around for Louie at 10:30. Louis CK's series alternates between stand-up and fictionalized vignettes in which CK plays...himself. But he does it well; he keeps it simple. And by Thursday night, an hour-long block of simple is really all a job hungry hipster could want.
