Title: Do Over
Stars: Penn Badgley, Natasha Melnick,
Angela Bethany, Michael Milhoan, Gigi Rice, and Josh Wise
Executive Producers: Rick Wiener, Kenny
Schwartz, and Warren Littlefield
Running Time: 22 minutes without
commercials
Media: The WB Television Series
Premiere Pilot (NTSC VHS Screener)
World Premiere Thursday, September 19,
2002, at 8:30pm (ET/PT)
Network: The Warner Brothers Network
(Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
Joel Larson is a 34-year-old salesman,
who is single and disappointed in his dysfunctional parents and sister. When his
father accidentally sets the family home on fire, Joel arrives just as
firefighters are leaving the scene. His sister, jokingly, pulls a pair of
defibrillators from the paramedics’ truck and pretends to revive Joel’s
thinning hairline. Not realizing the defibrillators are charged, she unwittingly
zaps his head, knocking Joel out only for him to awake at home back in 1980 as a
teenager with a memory of all the events that will transpire in the next 20 plus
years and a second chance to create a brighter future for him and his family.
I remember the 1980s quite well. I
attended high school in the heart of the 1980s and it is odd for me to look back
and realize that even then it was a more innocent time than today. So it appears
that every decade television takes us back to an idealized or hyper reality of a
decade twenty years before it. The 1970s had “Happy Days,” the 1980s had
“The Wonder Years,” and the 1990s had “That 70’s Show.” So here we are
at the dawn of the twenty-first century looking fondly back at the 1980s and
participating, albeit passively in the fantasy of returning to our formative
years with the knowledge and experience we have now with the ability to use that
to change things. That is all well in good, but there are a few points about
this series that made me think twice about this sitcom. For example the means by
which Joel goes back in time is somewhat morbid when you think that for all we
know this is all some dream and the real Joel is in some hospital at this very
moment in a coma from his sister’s accidental jolt. The other potential
pitfall I see is that even being given the ability to rectify our mistakes does
not mean that we are absolved of the consequences that can result from what we
choose now and while I realize this is a sitcom and not a drama, I still feel
that if this series is going to work Joel is going to have to make certain areas
of his life or others’ worse if there is to be any believability or empathy
for the characters. Even hit shows like “Friends” have their characters
encounter pitfalls, but still carry on the comedy to a point where the drama
enhances and defines not only the characters, but also the comedy series as a
whole. So if “Do Over” is going to work, it will need to add inject some
drama to offset the fantasy.
This is a small caveat and one that
might have been rectified already for the upcoming series premiere, but I feel I
should mention it anyway. In 1980 the “New Wave” music scene was just coming
out and classic punk was already history. Some of the music I heard in the
series that was supposed to be playing on the radio, circa 1980 was from pop
bands like “Wham” and songs like “You Spin Me Around” which had not yet
even come into existence. If we are to be true to that time we would more than
likely hear early solo Peter Gabrielle, Pat Benetar, later Blondie as well as
solo Debby Harry, David Bowie circa “Scary Monsters,” The Cars, The Police,
The Ramones, and there would also be a carry over from the 70s too. So if I were
to turn the dial I might catch Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Genesis, and even The
Rolling Stones in addition to other pop singers like Rick Springfield, Olivia
Newton John, and Sheena Easton not too mention the disco hold-over from TV shows
like “Solid Gold” and early rap music like “Rapper’s Delight.” America
had not yet really begun to change into the “Regan Era” as we know it and
some of the fashions are a little too ahead of their time. They should have set
the series at about 1982 to get the effect they are trying to mimic. At least
they got those “Members Only” jackets right.
As it is, “Do Over” is sitcom with
50/50 chances to get it right. Otherwise I found this trip down nostalgia lane
to be a flawed representation of an era I know well because I grew up in it.
“Do Over” will premiere on Thursday, September 19, 2002, at 8:30pm (ET/PT)
on The WB.
© Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.