Did anyone watch 'Are You There, Chelsea'?

[Kimballkid]

I thought it started out OK, but kind of slowed down. I could have done without the weird new roommate, but maybe it will get better.

[The Second Stone]

The weird roommate is the only good part of the story. Other than pretty women cavorting.

[DMark]

It was OK - but too bad Chelsea is too old to play Chelsea - that would have been funnier.
Will watch a few more to see how it progresses, but the pilot episode was really just "OK".

[Bob Ducca]

Originally Posted by DMark

It was OK - but too bad Chelsea is too old to play Chelsea - that would have been funnier.

What's funny is that Laura Prepon (31) is only 5 years younger than Chelsea... But Chelsea looks a hell of a lot older than 36.

[Duke of Rat]

I thought Chelsea's acting was pretty stiff, but Laura Prepon was looking good.

[fiddlesticks]

Holy crap, Chelsea is a few months younger than I but looks like my older sister (by six years). Yikes. Anyhow, I watched it, and will give it a few more shots. Whitney is growing on me, just a little, perhaps it is a better fit for "Funny Chicks Sitcom NBC Wednesdays" rather than "Filmed Comedy/Faux Documentary NBC Thursdays."

I still want Prepon to give up the whole blonde thing. Donna Pinciotti will always be a redhead to me.

[DianaG]

Chelsea Handler is 36? Them's been rough years, I guess.

[alice_in_wonderland]

We watched it and thought it was kind of crap, actually. I don't think either of us laughed out loud even once.

Whitney, OTOH, was actually hilarious for a change.

[Terr]

I watched it. I am a fan of Prepon (although the only role she is apparently capable of playing is Donna Pinciotti) so just for that it's OK. Otherwise - just a formulaic fairly boring sitcom.

And yes, Whitney is improving. Or maybe I just find her mugging for the camera cute.

[Telemark]

Total crapfest. It might make one season.

[Push You Down]

Originally Posted by Telemark

Total crapfest. It might make one season.

Is she still effin' the Head of "E!"? It might make it a bit longer.

[Enright3]

I think Whitney can be good. When I watched it, I kept having flashbacks to when Roseanne first premiered; in that the material will be funny once she learns to act; and not perform stand up. It's was like she'd say something; then smile at her own humor. Very weird.

Regarding Chelsea; I wanted to like it; because I like Laura Prepon; but it was just too many drunk/slut jokes. If you have to rely on cheap sex jokes for your humor; maybe you're not that funny.

[Duke of Rat]

Originally Posted by Enright3

but it was just too many drunk/slut jokes. If you have to rely on cheap sex jokes for your humor; maybe you're not that funny.

Apparently, that's Chelsea's life story. Drunk slut stand up comic.

[obfusciatrist]

Didn't watch it. But from the commercials I am curious (but not enough to watch) does Handler ever actually act as opposed to sounding like she's reading a joke off the back of a cereal box while distracted by the TV?

[Krokodil]

Originally Posted by fiddlesticks

I still want Prepon to give up the whole blonde thing. Donna Pinciotti will always be a redhead to me.

Yeah, it added an extra layer--for a total of 1.5 layers--to the "grossed out about red-haired guys" gag.

[zoid]

Originally Posted by DianaG

Chelsea Handler is 36? Them's been rough years, I guess.

Yeah, poor Chelsea's been rode hard and put away wet.

[Hail Ants]

I know I have (too) high expectations, but I was still surprised at how typically 'network sitcom' pedestrian, ah, just plain bad it was. A chuckle here & there, maybe, but it just reminded me why I don't ever watch network sitcoms. It's so self-referencing ironic comparing something like this to Chelsea Lately, one of the funniest shows since Larry Sanders.

And am I alone in something? I hit play on my TiVo and, less than ten seconds in, I had to hit pause because -

>>>> I heard a fucking laugh track ?!?!? <<<<

Are you kidding me?! A laugh track?! I realized that most of the rest was in front of a live audience, but still. A fucking laugh track!? What, is it suddenly 1966 or something? I was expecting a Chesterfield commercial next.

Sorry but it's fucking 2012. The very idea of a laugh track today I just find incredibly insulting.

[Tom Tildrum]

Maybe Prepon will be able to swing Mila Kunis as a guest star. That I'd watch.

More likely they get Topher Grace, though.

[Kimballkid]

They could do a crossover with 'Two and a Half Men'.

[capybara]

I read the book a few years ago when it came out and remember being disappointed that the title was by far the best part.
(The title of the book of course was 'Are you there, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea", and hence with the change of the title for the show they've wrecked even that aspect)

[blinkie]

It will be gone in a few weeks, total drivel.

[astorian]

Now, I'm only a tepid fan of Chelsea Handler, and don't know that much about her, beyond what she's said about herself- and ANYTHING a comedian says about his/her life should be taken witha grain of salt).

And I don't expect a sitcom based on a humorist's life to be 100% true.

Still, it puzzles me a bit that Chelsea Handler gave herself a goofy fundamentalist Christian sister (played by Chelsea herself), when Chelsea herself comes from a liberal, secular Jewish family. She grew up in suburban New Jersey, which is not exactly the Bible Belt.

Again, I KNOW that countless comedians have either made up phony spouses or relatives for their act or create comically exaggerated versions of their real spouses and families. Rodney Dangerfield didn't really have a wife who cheated on him 10 times a day, and Phyllis Diller wasn't really married to a guy named Fang.

But why would Chelsea make up a stereotypically Christian family for herself? Just to mock Christians? What, she couldn't think of anything to say about her REAL heritage?

[Vinyl Turnip]

Laura Prepon's hotness notwithstanding, I'd rather have my testicles filleted with a greasy spork than watch anything featuring the aggressively unfunny Chelsea Handler.

[garygnu]

Originally Posted by Hail Ants

...
Sorry but it's fucking 2012. The very idea of a laugh track today I just find incredibly insulting.

Do you also get annoyed at the audience when you go see a play?

[Vinyl Turnip]

I would if they brought along a tape recording of other people laughing...

[Hail Ants]

Originally Posted by garygnu

Do you also get annoyed at the audience when you go see a play?

Huh? A live audience and an artificial one are two vastly different things. They didn't even try to make the laugh track sound real.

[pricciar]

Originally Posted by astorian

But why would Chelsea make up a stereotypically Christian family for herself? Just to mock Christians? What, she couldn't think of anything to say about her REAL heritage?

I watched a bit of the show with a friend. (I didn't find it terribly funny. In fact, I found it worse than Whitney. And, I don't care for Whitney.) My friend told me that Handler is playing her own sister, who in real life converted to Mormonism. So, still Christian, just a more specific flavor. Concentrate on being offended by an unfunny show, instead of being offended on religious grounds. The unfunny part is offensive enough that you don't need to look for other reasons.


I think we had the discussion about laugh tracks, or "live audiences" at the start of this tv season with Two Broke Girls and Whitney. Whitney's laugh track REALLY stood out when it came on after all of those shows that didn't feature audiences. Some people the aspect of laughing with someone when a funny thing happens in a show. I don't really care for it. But, I feel like when a show is bad the laugh track makes the show much worse, because the unfunny things are being laughed at uproariously.

[Krokodil]

Not many shows are great with their pilot episode; the focus is more on exposition than on being entertaining. We won't know until March if this show is any good or not.

[Inner Stickler]

I agree with you, but I thought that even for a pilot the exposition was forced and ham-handed. It very much seemed like "HI GUYS, THIS IS MY SISTER, SHE'S CRAZY CHRISTIAN. THIS IS MY FRIEND, SHE'S CRAZY BAD-ASS. THIS IS MY ROOMMATE, SHE'S CRAZY."

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by garygnu

Do you also get annoyed at the audience when you go see a play?

I think you missed his point.

[amarinth]

Originally Posted by DianaG

Chelsea Handler is 36? Them's been rough years, I guess.

I don't believe either Chelsea Handler or Whitney Cumming's stated ages.
The show was very bad. Laura Prepon does an incredible imitation of Handler's awful pacing and timing when she tells jokes.