Perfect Couples "Perfect House" Review

Every Perfect Couples episode starts with all three couples going through a similar experience, but with each having their own spin on it. This week was "Telling Stories." I won't bore you with the details because the Rex/Leigh and Vance/Amy stuff was pretty lame and unfunny but I did catch myself laughing at Dave and Julia. Dave trying to tell a story without referring to the subject as a black guy was the gist. Not the most original angle but effective. The payoff came when Julia asked Dave if he saw their pet as a dog or a horizontal life force. OK maybe it was just me.

The title of the episode "Perfect House" is in reference to a house Dave and Vance are trying to sell. They fall in love with the house and in the process realize the truth about how they treat one another when a woman is involved. Truth be told I'm not a big fan of the Vance/Dave relationship. We've seen the buddy relationship done much better on many shows before. They're basically coming off as a poor man's Chandler/Joey. Make that a destitute many living under a bridge version.

The only true home run on the show week to week is Rex. If they were to blow out the rest of the characters, recast Leigh and give Rex his own show, I'd give it a watch. He's the prototypical ultra competitive ex jock now getting his swoll' on by selling cars during the week and crushing country clubbers on the weekend.

Leigh however, I've been begging for weeks for the writers to find a way to better utilize Olivia Munn but they're actually taking steps back. Outside of a few sound effects jokes at the beginning and her "bad attitude" as a student she was virtually invisible but not entirely. I have to commend the director, producer whoever made the decision to increase the amount of cleavage. I guess if you can't make her character worth a shit, making her worth looking at is the next best thing. Thanks guys.

I read an article earlier today that said the show was on the endangered list to be canceled at the end of the season. I don't see how the execs at NBC can watch these episodes and be hopeful enough to renew it for next year. It's just not good enough. Then again I don't know how those same execs watched Parks and Recreation and decided to put it on the shelf for six months.

Perfect Couples "Perfect Crime" Review

One of two things happened tonight. Either Perfect Couples is finally starting to find its niche and had their best episode so far or tonight's subject matter really connected with me and my fear of opossums.

I'm kind of thinking it was maybe both.

"Perfect Crime" dealt squarely with the evolving gender roles in today's society. Dave was feeling emasculated because Julie never needing him to handle "man stuff" for her, like shutting up the punk kids making too much noise in front of their house. Vance had more ideas than Amy on how the planning of their wedding should be handled. Amy however is an "expert on all things hick" and was instrumental in the disposing of Dave's dead opossum.

The opossum stuff really killed me, in a good way. The guys reaction whenever they saw the dead animal was spot on. Dave's paralyzing fear gave me the biggest laughs mostly because I have the same paralyzing fear of opossums and all rodents for that matter. I once sat in my car for nearly an hour waiting for a opossum rooting in the hedges to finally wander off.

Olivia Munn's Leigh is growing as a character but the writers still haven't found the right tone for her. They at least haven't figured out how to best use Munn's talents to really make her character essential to the show's comedy. Right now she's just a side bar and a reason to have Rex around. Having Rex around though is essential. He's easily the best character on the show right now. His lacrosse playing, upper crust, macho persona is great. He got just the right amount of cheese and buffoonery to make the macho attributes hilarious.

Perfect Couples "Perfect Jealousy" Review

Watching and Reviewing Perfect Couples has become like putting my kids to bed. It's 7:30 I know what I have to do but I'm dreading the next half hour. I end up convincing myself to just get it over with because once it's over I can enjoy the rest of the night. Sounds familiar huh?

I will admit that "Perfect Jealousy" was the best episode of the season so far. The jokes landed solidly and I found myself laughing throughout the episode save for the Facebook stuff. I think we can all agree there are no more jokes to be made concerning "LOL" and the like. For the first time all season I found Rex funny. His character is much better when he's not paired in scenes with Dave and Vance.

They still have no idea what to do with Olivia Munn. She disappeared for most of this episode. The jokes about their vows being in Vietnamese did make me laugh but for the most part she was a non factor.

Tonight's episode worked because there was enough truth in the story to make it funny but sadly I still don't think the show has much of future beyond this season. The three women are completely unbelievable as friends and the story lines haven't been nearly clever enough.