‘Super Fun Night’: Rebel Wilson comedy almost wins...almost

Rebel Wilson is a hilarious actress. The star of a new comedy, “Super Fun Night,” was incredible in “Pitch Perfect” and beautifully insane at the MTV Movie Awards. A sitcom should be a slam dunk after that, right?

Unfortunately, episodic comedy is harder than you’d think. “Super Fun Night” is thus not quite what we might want.

But ...

Here’s the thing: This is a good show. It’s funny, it’s weird and it makes heroes out of the kinds of women usually shoved to the side in popular entertainment. Basically, “Super Fun Night” is everything that an intelligent -- but socially insecure -- person who also enjoyed “Bridesmaids” would like.

It’s just that Rebel Wilson is so very funny that we expect a glorious cavalcade of laughs in every second. When “Super Fun Night” delivers such hilarity only every few minutes, it feels like a letdown.

But how many comedies can really do better?

So what is this show?

“Super Fun Night” follows the awkward social lives of three lifelong friends. There’s Kimmie Boubier (Wilson), a high-achieving lawyer who kind of missed the part about adulthood’s social graces. Instead of partying and the like, Kimmie has traditionally spent her Fridays at home with her two friends, Helen-Alice (Liza Lapira) and Marika (Lauren Ash).

Then they start going out. Things get really weird at that point.

The motivation for this sudden spurring to social action comes from Kimmie’s job. She gets a great promotion and then meets Richard (Kevin Bishop) -- handsome, successful and the boss’ son, Richard is everything a woman would want. He is also a total dork who finds Kimmie far more entertaining than his more comely colleagues.

One of those colleagues, Kendall Quinn (Kate Jenkinson), does not like this and spends much of the premiere trying to lure Richard’s attention away from Kimmie. Interestingly, Kendall isn’t totally evil. She’s actually a lot like the character of Veronica from “Better Off Ted,” only not as awesome as Portia de Rossi.

It gets better

You should probably know one thing before you watch “Super Fun Night”: The premiere episode you will see, “Anything for Love,” is not the original pilot. Despite some good jokes and the show’s great premise, that pilot sort of bombed with critics.

That pilot is not the first episode anymore. This is a good choice on ABC’s part. “Anything for Love” is much, much better. The episode sends Wilson and her friends to a karaoke piano bar and even references “Sharknado”! How can you go wrong with that?

“Super Fun Night” isn’t the world’s greatest show, but it has some serious potential. Watch the premiere to see that potential. Come back for more to see if Rebel Wilson and her merry band of nerds can turn this into something amazing.

They just might do it. All you have to do is ignore Wilson’s American accent and you’re good.

“Super Fun Night” airs Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on ABC.