Cracking Up is Mike White's new project. Essentially, Jason Schwartzman plays Max Fisher from the film Rushmore as a psychology grad student living with a dysfunctional family. The first episode was nearly laugh free. The second was about forty percent funnier--that's approximately four laughs. Arrested Development uses the same concept of the sane man in the crazy family, but that show is actually funny. Too bad, since Mike White's involvement is usually a sign of a good time.
Wonderfalls (one episode only so far) is the simple story of an ambitionless 20-something sales clerk working at a Niagara Falls gift shop. Unfortunately, inanimate objects begin to talk to her and give her vague directions to do good. One of the working titles was "Touched By A Crazy Person". The deadpan and droll delivery is similar Dead Like Me, which makes more sense when you realize that Bryan Fuller created both. The concept will hopefully explore why wax lions and monkey bookends are talking to her, instead of having the main gal just do good deeds all time. Not that those are bad, but a television series has to be going somewhere instead of recycling the same plot over and over.
If I am going to give an hour of my time each week to a television series, it has to give something back.
