Dorf, Davidson, and Ramras aren't interested in getting particularly deep. They are looking to provoke bigger laughs and more visceral cringes. And, for a few nobodies, they do a pretty good job.
But even though Nobodies works from a familiar playbook and, like its bumbling heroes, can try a little too hard to ingratiate itself, it's still fun, zippy, and Seinfeldian in its ability to braid together plot based on various humiliations.
Beyond correctly identifying Hollywood's core insecurity and layers of inferiority complexes, Nobodies isn't committed to being satire or parody, nor is it especially insightful.
Nobodies is funny, and in a few specific details, it's quite original. In others, it does unfortunately fit a template that seems difficult to escape in the current cutting-edge comedy scene - self-conscious but deliberate navel-gazing.
Beyond correctly identifying Hollywood's core insecurity and layers of inferiority complexes, Nobodies isn't committed to being satire or parody, nor is it especially insightful.
But even though Nobodies works from a familiar playbook and, like its bumbling heroes, can try a little too hard to ingratiate itself, it's still fun, zippy, and Seinfeldian in its ability to braid together plot based on various humiliations.
Dorf, Davidson, and Ramras aren't interested in getting particularly deep. They are looking to provoke bigger laughs and more visceral cringes. And, for a few nobodies, they do a pretty good job.
TV Land's latest offering joins a small-screen mini-boom in what could be called the showbiz cringe comedy: a sort of scrappy, Louis C.K.-style backlot vérité.
It's hard to envision Nobodies sustaining itself for even one season, let alone another one. The bumbling efforts to make Mr. First Lady a fame-and-fortune feature film already seem played out after just the first few episodes.
TV Land's latest offering joins a small-screen mini-boom in what could be called the showbiz cringe comedy: a sort of scrappy, Louis C.K.-style backlot vérité.
