A lukewarm welcome
I very much wanted to like “Welcome to the Captain” -- the notion of a show exploring the odd and lovely personalities that collide among L.A. renters is so darn appealing. I would imagine that most people who ever lived in a great old apartment building in Los Angeles (or New York or Chicago) have, after five or six beers, looked around at the fascinating characters moving in and out of the charming but slightly dilapidated lobby/courtyard and thought, “This would really make a great TV show.”
And so it has, with names as various as “Melrose Place,” “Hot L Baltimore” and “Friends.”
“Welcome to the Captain,” however, is a particularly local breed, taking place in one of those fabulous residential landmarks that rise or sprawl, depending on the architecture, in various L.A. neighborhoods. (The El Royale on Rossmore Avenue seems to have been the model for the exterior and location.) Not surprising, the inhabitants of El Capitan are of the eccentrainment variety -- offbeat survivors of the Biz. And that goes, in some cases, for casting as well as characters, which is very promising.
Yet setting a comedy in Los Angeles is both tempting and perilous. There is so much to skewer here, but it’s far too easy to swing at the easy shots. And swing writer John Hamburg (who gave us “Meet the Parents”) does, with occasionally amusing but more often predictable and mildly dopey results.
Jeffrey Tambor, who helped define eccentric in “Arrested Development” and “The Larry Sanders Show,” is Uncle Saul, former writer for “a little show called ‘Three’s Company” or “T. Co.” Acting as den mother/gossip switchboard, with doorman Jesus (pronounced biblically and played by Al Madrigal) as his faithful, funny-faced sidekick, Uncle Saul is there to anchor the laughs. The requisite ditsy aspiring actress goes by the name of Astrid (Valerie Azlynn) while the other ingenue -- you know, the smart one -- is Hope (Joanna Garcia), an acupuncture student. (Hey, it could have been worse; she could work at a smoothie bar.) And yes, that is Raquel Welch, playing aging actress/class cougar Charlene with a Mrs. Robinson robe-drop and hair imported from “Falcon Crest.”
If that were not a large enough compendium of Hollywood stereotypes -- er, I mean local characters -- we also have Marty (Chris Klein), accountant to the (B-list) stars, and guess what? He’s girl crazy.
Still, it’s Marty who gets the narrative ball rolling by convincing his best friend, Josh (Fran Kranz), to take the apartment recently left vacant by the death of an aging movie star. Josh is, if you can believe it, a hot young screenwriter-filmmaker. Only maybe not as hot as he was when he won an Oscar for short film right out of the box. In fact, Josh isn’t sure he should have ever moved to L.A. from New York because he can’t seem to write here. Still, that Hope is pretty darn cute, so why not give the legendary Captain a chance to work its magic?
Why not, indeed. Well, there are many reasons. Tambor, God bless him, gives it his all, capturing the absurdity and pathos of a grown man still living in what is essentially a dorm. Welch looks fabulous, but the less said about the cliche she embodies the better. Perhaps in future episodes she will be allowed an actual character to play. Josh is so earnest and callow it almost hurts to look at him; it seems impossible he has ever survived a pitch meeting much less the red carpet. He’s amiable enough, as is Hope, so a hookup seems inevitable, and perhaps interesting complexities will arise, but I don’t see how. Josh may be a writer, but as far as demons go, I think we’re in dust-bunny territory.
Meanwhile, the joke of Jesus’ name was wearing thin 10 minutes into the first episode, and Marty, well, I guess he’s supposed to be the Ari character here. But there is, for better or worse, only one Jeremy Piven, and this ain’t him.
All of which is an attempt to explain why, though one may want to like “Welcome to the Captain,” it isn’t easy to actually do this. It’s not a terrible show by any means. It earns a few laughs, has some clever moments and in the midst of this darn strike, is new anyway. But after watching two episodes, I was left with the thought with which I began: An iconic apartment building full of wacky characters would make a great TV show. Would, though. Not does.
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‘Welcome to the Captain’
Where: CBS
When: 8:30 tonight
Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)
