I decided to watch Package Deal, the new Canadian sitcom, because I wanted to give it a try.
I read an article this morning on it and figured it was worth considering. The article mentioned that it had problems and was pulled twice before resurfacing. That would lead one to believe that they fixed whatever problems they had. One would be incorrect to think that.
Twenty minutes out of my life was not going to kill me.
I can only say one thing. Uggh. It sucks.
This blog will be short.
The premise was okay enough to start with. A guy, a lawyer, starts dating a woman and then he lets her know that he comes with two ignorant, overbearing brothers who make it their life's mission to interfere with their little brothers life. There is some room there for good comedy, if written and presented right. It wasn't.
In the pilot, one brother was played by Harland Williams. He is one of the funniest stand up and improv guys out there. If not the best. In this he was lost and wasted. Or better said, he was miscast. His act would not play within the confines of this character and it showed. I would conclude that he is just not suitable for sitcom type of stuff. It was painful to watch him bomb and know how talented he actually is. Reminds me of Don Rickles in the 70s and all the stuff they tried to force feed him into. Big names can't always fit into or save really bad material that also isn't their thing.
As a guest star in this pilot episode they had Eugene Levy. A Canadian comedy icon. Again, it was painful to watch him deliver lame, predictable material. It takes a lot to make Eugene Levy seem not funny. They actually pulled that off here.
What a waste. Those two mega-talents forced to cough up that crap. You could even see it on their faces as they were doing it.
The writing was awful. The actors were awful. That is mostly because of the writing. There wasn't much they could do with the predictable lines that only a laugh track would find funny.
The two lead actors are barely interesting and no names who likely will remain that way. They had one character that looks like a secondary character which was so absurd I wonder how they even came up with it. If you wrote this crap, seriously, get a job at Mickey D's serving fries and consider yourself lucky that you did.
The bottom line: It just wasn't funny.
People say Canadians can compete in any entertainment venue these days. I agree with that. But this shows that there are times when we really get it wrong and look like a bunch of amateurs. Since this was a Rogers Cable production, I put it all on them. I think they probably did it to save some money. They place this crap in the place of an American show that they would have to pay top dollar for...and it shows.
Don't ever watch this unless you have a gun to your head. Even if you do, tell them you would rather they shoot you and save you from the misery that would come next.
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