Mad at Mad Love

Comedy can be a pretty hit or miss genre and all networks struggle to find the shows that stand out. NBC for example, gives us both Community (one of my favorite shows) and Outsourced (one of my least), while ABC has both Modern Family and Mr. Sunshine. CBS is no exception to this rule, but they tend to please my comedic pallet a little more often than the other networks between the Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. So when I heard they had a new comedy coming out on Valentine's Day, I allowed myself to be hopeful and get a little excited.

I wasn't able to catch their new show, Mad Love, live last night, as I was busy watching the very sweet, sexy and all around smile-inducing V-Day episode of Chuck. Instead, I tuned into Mad Love this afternoon when it went up on the CBS website. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, let me explain to you how it starts out. Ted and Marshall are standing on the balcony of the Empire State Building looking out over the city discussing Ted's impending break up with his long term girlfriend and how he wants a more meaningful relationship... Oh wait a minute. Did I say Ted and Marshall? I meant Larry and Ben. The moment reminded me so much of an episode of How I Met Your Mother that I forgot they were different characters for a moment.

And can you blame me? The main character, played by Jason Biggs of American Pie fame, is almost identical to Josh Radnor. The two could be twins. Even Ben Radnor's mannerisms scream Ted Mosby. It's uncanny. Add to the mix that Bigg's love interest is played by Mother recurring actress Sarah Chalke, and they have a favorite bar that they meet in at least twice in the first episode, and it's easy to get confused.

So where does the show differ? Well first, the voice over narration is done by Larry, not Ben, so that's a change. It makes the fairytale story of Mad Love somewhat more sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek than Mother's roundabout path to the happy ending we all know is coming.

Also, Mad Love only has four friends who do everything together as opposed to Mother's six. It makes for a much more confined group dynamic. Larry seems like a combination of Marshall and Barney with the goofball attitude of the former and the womanizing bite of the latter, while Kate's (Chalke) friend seems like Robin with a little more attitude. But there's no loveable Lilly to balance out the crazy. I guess that's supposed to make it funnier. Throw in the girls' ditzy roommate and an incompetent elevator operator and you've pretty much got every character in the show.

Then there is the laugh track. As in, Mad Love has one. Now I know a lot of people who will instantly write off a show without bothering to view it just because it makes use of this artistic device (if you can call it that). Thankfully, I am not one of them. If I was, I would have missed out on some great mindless comedies like That 70's Show and the previously mentioned Big Bang Theory. When done well and combined with a show whose jokes are intelligently written, the laugh track can become an extra character that fades into the background and subtly affects the rhythm and pace to help tell the story.

I say all this by way of pointing out that I have nothing against a laugh track as an option. I just have something against it in this show. The laughter was even more noticeable than usual, and it pulled me out of the story, rather than helping me invest myself. There were an unusual amount of moments where I would hear laughter coming from my computer and think to myself "was that funny? Really?"

With all the similarities between the two shows, it's only natural that CBS put Mother and Mad Love back to back to try to piggy back their new comedy on to the coattails of the older success, but I'm worried that the natural comparison is only going to hurt the already fading Mother and it isn't going to help the newbie. Every time I think about how much Mad Love reminds me of Mother is another moment I'm not thinking about the jokes or the story.

Plus, having Mother and Mad back to back just makes me think of drunk driving.