Comedy Central’s original series have a tendency to be wildly uneven. With “The Sarah Silverman Program,” however, it looked like the network’s fortunes had changed…but, now, we have “Halfway Home,” and we’re somewhere between the two poles.
It seems like a great idea: an improvised show about five ex-cons living in a residential rehab facility. (Y’get it? A halfway house…?) Improvised comedy generally tends to result in big laughs, but if you’re expecting something akin to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or one of Christopher Guest’s flicks, you’re expecting a little too much; in this case, the cast tends to fall back on lowbrow comedy way too often. Example: the second episode revolves almost entirely around the guys in the house attempting to get erections…and it ends with them all taking horse viagra by mistake. Of the three episodes made available for preview, however, two of them contain quite a lot of laughs…and, okay, there’s at least one hilarious line in that erection episode, when Jordan Black, in his quest to rise to the occasion, says, “I’m gonna handle my junk like Fred Sanford.”
Undoubtedly, the big selling point among comedy fans will prove to be the inclusion of this man in the cast:
Given that Oscar Nunez produced the pilot for “Halfway Home” and sold it to Comedy Central, you can’t accuse him of accidentally falling into typecasting, but is it really all that wise to follow up his role as Oscar the gay accountant on “The Office” with this role as a gay male prostitute? Sure, it’s nice to have that funny-gay-guy niche locked up, but, really, Oscar, how about some variety in your resume? It’s not like you’re actually gay. (At least, he says he isn’t in this interview.)
Anyway, it looks like “Halfway Home” is two-thirds of the way to being consistently funny…but let’s see how the rest of the season goes.
