'Perfect Harmony' Episode 1 review: There is music and comedy, but it's all out-of-tune and humorless
Contains spoilers for 'Perfect Harmony' Season 1 Episode 1
"He needs them. They need hymn." With a catchphrase like that, who wouldn't be intrigued to watch 'Perfect Harmony' — the new NBC comedy series starring Bradley Whitford?
If you swear by musicals, this is another show you can give a shot, however, there's a warning you must take note of.
Created by Lesley Wake Webster, the series begins with the same, old, repetitive theme. Whitford plays a former Princeton music professor Arthur Cochran grieving his late wife.
"There is no reason for me to live," he says, begging God to "send him a sign" and the very next moment, a church choir starts singing the 'Hallelujah' chorus and he hurriedly storms out of his car saying, "This will not be the last thing I hear on Earth!"
As he unexpectedly stumbles into an amateur group of musicians who are out of tune in more ways than one, he stops them and does not flinch from flinging sarcastic remarks like, "Whitney Houston, we have a problem, your confidence exceeds your talent."
In fact, it is this sarcasm and witticism that breathes life into the musical comedy mashup! Whitford's bold, brash remarks to the choir group will instantly make you chuckle.
In one scene, when Anna Camp, who plays Ginny, asks him, "Did you read my diary?" he replies, "I wrote it!" and in another, he tells a woman in the choir, "Things change as women get older."
His satirical and sardonic punchlines are peppered with sense too, especially in the scene where he explains: "Singing is about being so utterly in sync that you don't know when one person ends and another person begins."
Determined to escape from the out-of-tune dimwits, he tries his best to steer his way clear. But then, a nonsensical ploy that brings a megachurch choir director into the picture finally convinces him to help them.
The character arcs are also pretty formulaic, with Whitford playing the dominating man who does not think twice about hurling nasty comments and the rest of the cast dancing to his tunes.
Take Anna Camp as single mom Ginny, for example. She is stuck in a typical love triangle between two brothers and wishes her husband signs her divorce papers.
Will Greenberg as Wayne, Tymberlee Hill as Adams, Geno Segers as Shep, Rizwan Manji as Jax and Spencer Allport as Cash do little to add delight or comical relief to the show, and it seems it is all on Whitford's shoulders.
Average and dry, the pilot doesn't touch the right chord. Only time will tell if the makers can turn music and comedy into a winning combination.
For now, what's utterly disappointing is that the show has nothing meaty to make you tune into its next few episodes. That's a huge letdown.
Frankly, even the pilot episode will make you fast-forward to the performance at the end. Can things go any more downhill than that? If you're investing your precious time, you do deserve better!
