TV Review: 'The Life & Times of Tim'

This is the part where I act like an authority on entertainment, and criticize the work of professionals who are, without exception, more successful than I in the industry in which we both work. Some people would say this is proof I have "balls", or "chutzpah" in Jewspeak. Others would say it's proof I'm a "douchebag". To catch up on any old reviews, you can find the link on the right hand side of the page, or click here.

One of the more pleasant surprises of the fall TV schedule is HBO’s new animated comedy, ‘The Life & Times of Tim’. It’s been sometime since either HBO has introduced a good half-hour comedy (some would say since ‘Entourage’ premiered in 2004, others would say the streak goes all the way back to the debut of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ in 2000), or anyone has presented a quality animated show for adults (the last one, FOX’s ‘Family Guy’ first premiered in 1999), but both streaks appear to be over.

HBO has tried several half-hour sitcoms for adults in recent years -– ‘The Mind of the Married Man’ and ‘Lucky Louie’ immediately come to mind. While I’m fan of both of the creators of those shows -– Mike Binder and Louie C.K., respectively -– they ultimately failed for the same reason: It’s hard to root for paunchy middle-aged married men who just want to get laid. Sure, we can identify with them (at least, I know I can), but it’s a little depressing. The comedy falls a bit flat, not because it’s doesn’t seem real, but because it does seem real. “Real” works great when it’s ‘Seinfeld’ and you’re discussing harmless social quirks between friends, co-workers, and romantic interests. But “real” is decidedly less fun when the happiness of the protagonist’s wives and children are at stake, and he doesn't seem to care.

That’s right where animation comes in. Nobody cares when ‘Family Guy’s’ Peter Griffin or ‘The Simpsons’’ Homer Simpson does something horribly hurtful to their family because they’re not just cartoonish, they're cartoons. Tim is too, and while the similarities don’t end there -– Tim also shows bad judgment and a penchant for embarrassing those close to him -– Tim is closer to ‘Curb’s' misanthropic Larry David than he is to his animated ancestors. Like David, the humor surrounding him usually comes more from awkward, uncomfortable social moments than it does from broad physical comedy.

This formula is introduced in the first segment of the series pilot (each half-hour show is divided into two 10 minute-ish plots), “Angry Unpaid Hooker”*, when Tim’s girlfriend, Amy (voiced by MJ Otto), arrives home with her parents to find Tim with, well...



Tim’s calm refusal to admit he’s done anything wrong, and the logic he uses to try to explain away a situation which defies any kind of explaining away, is a staple of 'Tim'. This, we quickly learn, is not a show going for just the easy laugh –- like ‘Curb’, ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ and ‘The Office’, they want us to suffer with Tim for every agonizing (and humorous) moment possible.

The best examples come when Tim is asked by his un-named Boss (voiced by Peter Giles, the best supporting character introduced thus far) for typically bizarre favors, as he does in the following two clips:





Tim reacts to these ridiculous plans with the same kind of shock and disbelief that we might, yet still agrees to them, and we kind of understand it. In his world, in seems to work somehow. Rather than frustrated by his idiocy, we're happy to cringe as Tim and his boss try to carry off this horribly flawed plan. Sometimes, it's his own fault, but often, it isn’t even Tim who shows the worst judgment. It’s those around him -- like, say, the priest friend who buys beer for kids and has sex with hookers -- and Tim’s just hanging on for the ride.

It’s this kind of diversity of humor which appears to give ‘The Life & Times of Tim’ more legs than the typical bull-in-a-china-shop-type shows like, say, CBS’s new sitcom, ‘Worst Week’, which I find enjoyable, but clearly has a one-note tone, which could easily grow old quickly. Staying power is not something one might expect from a show which got its genesis from an animated short, but Dildarian’s voice (his writing “voice”, not the actual voice he uses to give Tim his stuttering, neuroses-laden, Gary Shandling-esque persona) seems to lend itself to the new trend of “uncomfortable comedy” that's made stars out of Steve Carrell, Ricky Gervais, and to some extent, Michael Cera.

Using the age-old Hollywood scale of judgment –- HIGHLY RECOMMEND/RECOMMEND/CONSIDER/PASS (circle one) -– I rate ’The Life & Times of Tim’:

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

*This segment was originally an animated short by Dildarian, which was bought by HBO, and now serves as the show's introduction.