Still, it's Marty who gets the narrative ball rolling by convincing his best friend, Josh (Fran Kranz), to take the apartment recently left vacant by the death of an aging movie star. Josh is, if you can believe it, a hot young screenwriter-filmmaker. Only maybe not as hot as he was when he won an Oscar for short film right out of the box. In fact, Josh isn't sure he should have ever moved to L.A. from New York because he can't seem to write here. Still, that Hope is pretty darn cute, so why not give the legendary Captain a chance to work its magic?
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A lukewarm welcome
The cast of characters in an L.A. apartment building is colorful, but the show feels a bit too paint-by-numbers.
TELEVISION REVIEW
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday, February 11, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction
"Welcome to the Captain": A review of the new TV series "Welcome to the Captain" in the Feb. 4 Calendar section said that the show's writer, John Hamburg, also "gave us" the film "Meet the Parents." Hamburg shared writing credit on that movie with Jim Herzfeld.
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Why not, indeed. Well, there are many reasons. Tambor, God bless him, gives it his all, capturing the absurdity and pathos of a grown man still living in what is essentially a dorm. Welch looks fabulous, but the less said about the cliche she embodies the better. Perhaps in future episodes she will be allowed an actual character to play. Josh is so earnest and callow it almost hurts to look at him; it seems impossible he has ever survived a pitch meeting much less the red carpet. He's amiable enough, as is Hope, so a hookup seems inevitable, and perhaps interesting complexities will arise, but I don't see how. Josh may be a writer, but as far as demons go, I think we're in dust-bunny territory.
Meanwhile, the joke of Jesus' name was wearing thin 10 minutes into the first episode, and Marty, well, I guess he's supposed to be the Ari character here. But there is, for better or worse, only one Jeremy Piven, and this ain't him.
All of which is an attempt to explain why, though one may want to like "Welcome to the Captain," it isn't easy to actually do this. It's not a terrible show by any means. It earns a few laughs, has some clever moments and in the midst of this darn strike, is new anyway. But after watching two episodes, I was left with the thought with which I began: An iconic apartment building full of wacky characters would make a great TV show. Would, though. Not does.
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mary.mcnamara@latimes.com
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'Welcome to the Captain'
Where: CBS
When: 8:30 tonight
Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)
